26:20 and 27:21

26:20

Didn't work, Went to doctors on Monday, hospital to get X-rays, then I lose track of when I filled out the paperwork at the physical therapy clinic, Friday maybe? 

It had gotten to where I literally couldn't walk, couldn't get up from sitting, the pin was s intense if I twisted just so, everything felt like it was getting tighter, tried using cane.

Once taking medicine, about an or hour or so later I got up carefully and there was 75% less pain, there was still a burning in my spine, and a grinding when I walked. 

27:20

Didn't work, grinding and burning still going on, starting to radiatiate up more, and dampen the pain less, like my body is getting used to the pills.

Wednesday went to pt then to work to drop off note

Hunny Bunny made groceries.

Go back to pt Friday, then every week after that until am graduated

25:19

Well my back went out about midway through Tuesday.

Tuesday was pinto beans and rice, we had bell peppers, onions, celery, and tomatoes donated over the weekend that went in to the beans, added plenty of d'arbo chili, spouse says they were really good beans!

Sorbet, bread on the side.

Wednesday ham and cheese sandwiches, potato salad (end of 80 pounds of donated potatoes that didn't go bad), had sour cream donated, that was added to the mayonnaise -thirsty potato salad, pickle spear and sorbet on the side.

Thursday, we had chicken patties donated, so did a good old fashion chicken sandwich on bun, soaked the chicken in brother to heat up, mayo and mustard, lettuce; potato salad or dawn salad on the side, and sorbet. The dawn salad is lettuce and carrots with a blow of mayo and salt and pepper.

Spoke to my boss about taking month off since my doctors usually has me rest for two weeks, and I want to really ditch this issue so I am hoping a month will give me enough time to hit doctors and get better.

24:18

This week was mainly 20 servings daily. Triple digit temperatures last week and this, been trying to serve cooler items.

Tuesday was ham and cheese sandwiches, potato salad w/ pickle spear,  and blueberry sorbet on the side.

Wednesday I did two spaghetti reheats with bread. The main meal was egg and ham on an English muffin, with home fries, salsa, and sorbet on the side.

Thursday I will be doing a breakfast rice that consists of 4 dry cups rice, cooked, 1 can broth, sautéed celery, red bell, onions, and breakfast links chopped. 

There is also some left overs, will serve those first.

Starting to see clear outs of areas where food is kept at work, pantries if you will, slowly making a dent!

New girl training in the resource area, for another assistant position here!

23:17

Tuesday we did left overs defrosted from freezer, which included pork pot pie filling with bread, and beans and rice, had fruit on the side.

Pushed 2 cases of bananas and about a dozen bags of potatoes on people when handing them lunch.

Received home grown zucchini, and spaghetti squash, froze last weeks zucchini. 

Averaged between 25-30 servings given out  during the week.

Wednesday we had precooked fajita meat, I brought it back to life with fajita seasoning, 2 diced onion, 3 stalks diced celery, 2 diced and precooked potatoes, a corn of the cob donated last week. Spread spicy refried beans on soft tortilla, added good amount of filling, drizzled some salsa, folded, served with potato salad on the side.

Thursday was ham and cheese sandwiches, chips and fruit sorbet on the side.

Next week will probably be:

Egg and ham sandwiches on English muffins, roasted potatoes to go with sounds good. 

Also considering breakfast rice again with precooked sausage links, and any left over egg and ham from previous day; but that may also end up being dirty rice, and do breakfast rice another day.

Third, more ham and cheese sandwiches with more potato salad.

Back still hurting. Feet still hurting. Love my job though. Meeting on Zoom this upcoming Monday.

22:16

Change of co-worker, and one co-worker out. Pretty quiet from 8am-10, we all have very different hours and jobs.

Tuesday: So pintos and rice again (celery, bell, onion, and seasoning), salad on the side along with some farina made into halwa, and some donated pastries. Had left overs, froze, maybe 8-10 servings.

About 80 pounds of potatoes and 2 cases of bananas were donated late Tuesday.

Wednesday-more left overs, about 12 servings-worth: lentil spaghetti, French bread and pastries the side. Some took bananas. Try to push harder tomorrow, and bring some home for banana bread for work, and freeze some to make into ice cream.

Thursday-Planned to do jeweled rice, beans, zucchini, carrot, onion, raisin-may turn it dirty with chick livers and gizzards; and the left-over spaghetti, bread, dessert bread, and fruit on the side.

Jeweled rice happened. Zucchini and crook, about 7 large, diced and roasted with onion and celery, pre-cooked carrots (about 5 cups), 1 can garbanzos, 1 can kidney beans, 1 can northern beans, 1 large can black beans, 4 cups dry rice, cooked with cardamon, oil, salt, ginger, throw in a handful of raisins, diced tomatoes, add in garlic, salt, pepper during cooking, I added gravy also. 

We've been averaging 20-30 diners daily.

Next week may end up being a lot of sandwiches so I can make potato salad, and pickle spears on the side: we have precooked chicken breasts, and I sliced a lot of sandwich ham, and we have some precooked fajita meat...seems like a fun week if ya like sandwiches. 

Also, one of our helper dudes is having teeth issues and his eyes glazed over thinking about mashed potatoes, so did a test batch for him to eat this weekend. Mashed potatoes, I can premake and bring in, do a version of shepherds pie probably.

Someone tried to donate us 2 bags of pooled eggs- but they were dated last month so after he left we had to throw them out once we realized- also I only had freezer space, and it woulda taken a couple weeks for that much to defrost. It was a lot of eggs, guessing 10 or more liters.

21:15

This week

Tuesday did more pinto beans and rice (seasoned with celery, onion, garlic, cumin, pepper, salt, paprika), salad and pumpkin bread/home baked corn chips (from corn tortilla donation in freezer). We served about 30.

Wednesday was about 10 servings of previous frozen left overs from last week, added to pasta, 2 packaged sautéed sliced mushrooms, 3 large onions, 6 cans corn, 1/2 the juice (reserve other half if you need it later), carton of broth, 4 cans cream of mushroom soup, 4 cans of water, roasted poultry, seasonings of choice (garlic, onion, celery, green chile...) (add anything else you want also-squash, carrot, potato, tomato). We served about 30  

Thursday, pulled left of pork and beans from last week out the freezer (about 15 servings), added to it more pork and beans 1 #10 and 1 small, baked beans-3 2 small, and 3 can northern beans. Salad (romaine, ice burg, green bell, carrot, apple) and fruit served on the side. We served about 30 as I was leaving.

Didn't sleep Tuesday night- had a migraine, threw up, other issues, so left about 12 on both Wednesday and Thursday just dragging from being so nauseated because of last of sleep, from headache, probably because of some bad frozen fruit I bought without realizing it (it was melted in a block and everything else I had had spouse had too...who knows).

Been revolving between mainly two masks, getting elastic next week to make some new ones for both spouse and self. I'm sure I must have some extra Star Wars fabric somewhere here. 

Free Mask if you need one shipped to you: dhvani

Next week is a co-workers last day, will probably be all vegan week, actually. Thinking beans and rice as normal, lentil spaghetti that went over so well, and a jeweled rice (different beans, vegetables, seasonings, rice, fruit. At the end of July, we lose another co-worker.

We still have myself and another person, and a new person (but I wasn't introduced to her so I honestly don't even know how long she will be there).

I must always look busy and no time for anything, I think people have more recently been inferring that, even though they have a broad smile about how busy I am. I just am so sweaty and gross after I finish making the food and serving it, and it's like 99 degree average weather, just kinda don't want people to smell me. Ah well. That's why I don't make assumptions or judgements out loud, I don't know what the deal is with someone else!

Still irritated with people not wearing masks. Making another request for reusable masks so I can at least try to make sure our people can contribute to sending the right signals to everyone else. I think they think we are trying to protect ourselves from them, no one seems to understand that we are wearing the mask to keep our breath/cough/speech/sneeze aerosol and spray from getting on them and infecting them. We who are working in the public know that we will probably get it because the people we deal with will not wear masks, because others are very bad about spreading misinformation. 

For instance- one of our outside volunteers, as I was leaving told me I was going to get brain damage if I kept wearing the mask, that it was happening to everyone. I shake my head and reply, "I'm fine for 5 hours, and the nurses and doctors seem to be fine wearing them entire shifts for decades, as well... so, have a great weekend, bye!"

w20:c14

Tuesday Beans and Rice again, loquats served in a container on the side along with pumpkin bread, rice crispy treats and protein nut balls.

Wednesday was Biscuit Pork Pie- homemade biscuits, a creamy sauce with roasted pork and no less than a dozen vegetables sautéed and all created in the electric roaster!

Thursday was Chili made with sautéed onions, celery and corn, with various sized cans of hormel and wolf chili, and an added #10 can of whole tomatoes in juice that I crushed. Served with bread and blueberry sorbet.

My coworkers will be leaving, one in one week, one in a month. We still do not have volunteers because we are trying to be cautious. No campers at the moment, and none can be admired unless a new camp guard volunteers.

Had dental appointment for teeth cleaning, good. Had separate appointment with dentist to actually exam me and go over X-rays- bad, he didn't wear a mask, but I'm guessing he has a condition. Normally I love going to the dentist, and if I do not get sick I will be happy to go back in 6 months. 

My freezers and pantry are still very full, I think I can still make it another month mostly, maybe aside for buying bread. I always hesitate buying bread or vegetables sometimes because we end up with a donation, and then I feel like I wasted org cash because I am not a mind reader :) 

This upcoming week, I have carrots, mushrooms to get to so there will be a white pasta thing going on, left over from last week, beans and rice, and maybe baked beans again we still have 2 #10 cans of pork and beans and baked beans.

Also froze some iced coffee, determined to make coffee freeze desserts and pudding pops once the sorbet is gone.

work 19: covid 13

This week I thought I had a dental appointment and after a handful of texts, my volunteer help was established for the day needed. The day came and the appt was rescheduled. poof.

Anyways so Did a stir fry on Tuesday with one very large head of diced cabbage, 4 good-sized red onions, diced, half a bunch of celery, 1/4 cup soy/aminos, added salt and pepper to taste, 9 matchstick-cut carrots, I also added about 1 tablespoon ginger, could have used double, easy. Totally forgot to add egg we had in carton form, but there was roast pork in the stir fry as well, peaches on the side along with watermelon.

Wednesday was the day of the appointment, so I'd planned on just reheating stuff- finished off the stir fry, 2 servings of bbq chicken sandwich, and one ham and cheese sandwich, peaches, banana bread and pumpkin bread on the side. Also had bananas and red onions to give away!

Tomorrow will be left over baked beans with pork from last week, and ham and cheese sandwiches (possibly egg too, if I have time to micro cook them), green beans and the fruit breads. Still have some bananas and red onions to give away again, also.

Guy on Tuesday came up asking what we were, what kind of assistance was normally offered...
My lovely assistant explained since she worked there longer than I did, and then told him we had free fresh meals for lunch, did he want one.
"What's the catch" he says.
"No catch, we just need to write down a name so I know how many servings to make each time" we say
"Is the the food bad?" he asks
"Well, we don't think so, (we pop open the box and let hime see what we are describing) homemade fruit bread, peaches, stir fry" I say
"Stir fry, I heard about it, I'll take one!" he exclaims

So he either heard people talking getting stir fry, or he heard local diners talking about MY stir fry? who knows, but it was fun to put a smile on his face, and ours, and give him food for truly free!

LOVE MY JOB

Just Before Weeks 19:13 (Job:Covid)

Has it been mentioned I spent more time running the kitchen during Covid than I did "normal".

Dentist has rescheduled me for my biannual! This Wednesday. So been trying to decide on menu for the week.

Stir Fry on Tuesday for a change, cabbage, eggs, carrots, rice, amino/soy, celery, pork on the side, fruit on the side.

Wednesday is the appointment, luckily there are left over pork and beans I'll just reheat, and serve with bread and fruit or sorbet.

Thursday may be beans and rice day, served with pumpkin bread and more fruit or sorbet.

Our dog died two weeks ago, mentally still dealing with that, had our 26 year marriage anniversary, and husband had a birthday. Also in the month of May managed to give all co-workers a gift (well, last one this week), for their birthdays and basically just because I like giving people I respect a gift for no reason. This confuses people, makes it awkward because I'm awkward but oh well, seems like I am still a good fit for this organization! Gifts were: A tie dyed shirt, 2 different pewter pendant necklaces, 2 desert glass material pendant necklaces, and even for campers- made them journals (although only 1 is left now).

Still waiting to see if the county/city will allow the Center to continue to offer camping for our houseless.

Considerations being made about moving the kitchen or moving the serving area (or both).

Getting things in order at home finally, thank goodness for long weekends.

Back and forth with weekend fasting of breakfast, utilizing shakes, and still dealing with allergy issues since the nasal swab.

18:12

Our numbers dropped dramatically. and I hear a lot of numbers around town have been dropping for people needing actual food and meals! This is a good thing, we all hope! We are all a bit concerned.
Numbers had dropped about half once covid began, and this week it shrank half again.

So Tuesday was left over chili beans from last week of pinto, and some of red added this week, peaches, bread.

Did potato salad over the weekend and pork loin, so Wednesday's meal was sweet picnic pork and beans, potato salad, peaches, bread.

Thursday after some more abundance we had left over lentil spaghetti with more lentils added to it, potato salad, coleslaw, bread, and pudding with granola parfaits.

Next week we will have to do cabbage and sweet potato sides, or or something, and include onions too- those were our main donations, so I am swimming in about 40 pounds red and white onions, I am already trying to use 4 onions every time I cook a meal. We'll also be finishing that pork and beans. Gunna be reconfiguring how to do the meals if the numbers are fluctuating as they are.

Cooking-wise I don't have many options, for those just tuning in I have basically been cooking out an electric roaster, but using precooked beans, having to sautée vegetables for a good while longer, canned, frozen and fresh vegetables. So it's almost -dump and go- but there is art to it, you still bloom spices and build the meal and flavor

Then again I also envision chicken enchilada rice in the roaster next week and a pasta lasagna. I mean cabbage keeps for a while depending on how the fridge is handling on this empty-full treatment. We shall see, I do have enough stored for like a few weeks of meals at this rate of low diners, may not have to go to grocery for anything aside for napkins!

17:11

Tuesday was pinto beans seasoned with tomato sauce and sautéed veggies, cornbread, and fruit sorbet.

Had only about half our diners, so 20 servings went into the freezer for next Tuesday.

Wednesday was another vegetable stew, curryish, served with left over cornbread from day before or pumpkin bread, and mixed fruit sorbet

2 heads cauliflower cut and par cooked 

4 carrots medium dice, par cooked also

2 pounds cooked garbanzos

1 pound cooked yellow split pea

1 small can peas

2 cans creamed corn

2 cans vegetable soup

1 diced and precooked potato

4 small cans tomato sauce

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup broth

1 medium can diced tomatoes

4 diced onions

Thursday will be lentil spaghetti unless something happens different, bread on the side, probably canned fruit or sorbet on the side.

4 pound lentils

#10 can diced tomatoes +

#10 can pasta sauce +

4 onions

3 packs stick spaghetti, broken

1 can black olives

2 containers sliced mushrooms

16:10

Work week 16, 10th as a mobile kitchen.

All donated this week aside for 32 sandwich buns, and 3 loaves store brand sliced wheat loaves. Theres a deal, so the total was something like $6

Tuesday, 40 servings, left overs went in freezer as back up

In the full-powered on Electric Roaster, Dressed Pintos
Sautee 4 + diced onions
1+ diced bell pepper
1/2-1 sliced bunch celery
1 tsp salt + add more as needed as you go
1/2 tsp pepper "
in oil, 1/2 cupish
cumin
(oregano had I had it)
2+ tbsp garlic

Once going a good half hour or so, stirring after that, not to burn, but also resisting opening the Electric Roaster since that's how you loose a lot of great heat, by peak, don't do.

add in 2-3 #10 cans pintos, cooked were 9-10 lbs
(and anything else you think you want in there, diced tomatos, more protein, squash, hominy, tomato sauce)

Let this go for about an hour, stirring only once or twice, taste testing and making your fellow workers taste test, add seasoning, if it tastes bland-add more salt.
Drop the heat down to serving temp, at 4000ft+ I like mine around 200f

Serve this with Nutriplenty rice on the side, piece of pumpkin bread, 3 cookies, fruit sorbet

Wednesday 40 servings, but only passed out 32 buns, the rest went into freezer as a back-up.

In the Electric Roaster, BBQ Turkey Bunwiches
Start with sautéing in 1/3 cup oil, 4+ onions, sliced fine, brisket rub seasoning blend, garlic, salt, chili powder, after about a half hour (full power)...
Add 2-3 small cans tomato sauce, the cooked turkey (2 boneless, roasted previously, and frozen turkey), defrosting and slicing it before potting it.
Once up to heat, about 15-20 minutes later, add 1/2-1 cup+ barbecue sauce, 3 squirts of mustard (about 3-7 tbsp), heat and keep warm until serving.

Serve that on a bun, we had mandarins or pineapple on the side today, and donated chips.

Thursday is Ham and Cheese mayo and mustard Sandwiches, guessing another 40 serving aim, the servings keep fluctuating even though I aim for 40, but either way it seems we always just enough)
salad (no dressing, but I will whip up some with what we have here) on the side (another huge donation made after lunch previous day, need to use it quick)
potato salad
the rest of the chips, cookies, bread

At the end of the week

In the Fridge:
Tub o bbq sauce, mustard, mayo, cauliflower, carrots, broth paste, hot sauce, lemon juice some parmesan.

In the mini freezer: 50-75 sorbet servings

In the freezer: pie crust, 3 bags frozen peaches, 30-40 packages blueberries (more sorbet), 1 meal-worth roasted turkey, 3 packages sliced ham, 1 package rice pulp for thickening, 3 - 2lb package cooked garbanzos, 3- 2lb packages cooked beans, 2+ - 2 lb packages cooked rice, 5-6 loaves pumpkin bread, 300 corn tortillas, milk, broth, cooked chicken in broth

In the pantry: cumin/salt/bl pepper/garlic/garlic salt/brisket rub/ no-salt fiesta seasoning/rosemary/paprika/chili powder/d'arbo chili powder/taco seasoning pouch, molasses, broth paste, sugar, lemon, flour, 10 lb potatoes, 15+lb onions, 48+ small cans tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, canned pork and beans (7), wolf chili with meat (8+cans), dry beans (30+ lb), 20 lb brown rice, 30+ lb white rice, lots of nutriplenty rice meal, 6-#0 can +mixed fruit, 2 cases and 1 #10 can green beans, #10 hominy, small menudo, #10 diced tomatoes, #10 tomato sauce (2), 3 bags little shells, radiator box, 2 packages spaghetti/linguine, 3 package egg noodles (nightmare, dislike these, they do not work in our situation), 1 can salmon, 1 can chicken, small case of star pasta (looking forward to doing a modern spaghetti o's with this :)), 3 jugs tomato sauce, 1 jug juice, 2 jug salsa, 6 cans chicken broth, 2 can tomato soup, 1 can cream of mushroom, soy curls, syrup, corn bread mixes, pancake mixes, dried milk, and a few more things above my height

-Next week may be a salsa rice with cauliflower and chicken added to sautéed veggies and salsa, Mac and cheese made with potatoes and carrots (ham bits added to serve), and the beans and rice.
-Week after that might be a spaghetti, I think coworkers have some sort of meat they wanna donate; I wanna do a butter chicken and vegetable with the soy curls, beans and rice.
-And then another creamy vegetable and chickpea dish with homemade biscuits on top, taco stew or chili, bans and rice
-Fourth week I think we have enough food still, right when I think I am about to empty something, we get a donation!

work week 15: covid week 9

What can I say, it has been another glorious three days at work.

Donated items from last week were cabbage and cauliflower, more tomato sauce (I have about 50 mini cans in the pantry, 20+ lbs potatoes, 2 watermelons, a ham, marshmallows, rice crisp cereal, crust, peanut butter, #10 green beans, #10 salsa diced tomatoes.

We have a guy who obtains food for us, whether it is from the food bank or elsewhere, I have no idea, just accept it because I cook proper meals with it all and re-disperse it to those who have no way to cook the food they may be given because they are houseless or have no electricity, etc. I am trying to come up with a good nickname for him because he named me "cookie", which I of course LOVE. I appreciate cowboy cooks, travel cooking, green rooms, movie food caterers, its very neat how they all do their jobs, their tips-primo.

(Tuesday) Had 1 can black, 3 can turtle, and 3 lb pinto beans for the main yesterday-
4 good-sized onions, salt, pepper, cumin, lemon pepper, tomato sauce, all the canned liquids, served this atop brown rice
ham, watermelon on the side, some potato salad as side when watermelon ran out, pumpkin bread with blueberries

Wednesday

Cabbage (and Ham), bread, watermelon

2 Onions, diced

1 1/2-2  heads Cabbage, diced, par cooked 

7 Potatoes, cooked and large chunked

2 cans tomato sauce

Italian seasoning packet

2-4 tbsp garlic and garlic salt, d'arbo pepper, more to taste

3 cups veg broth Broth

3-5 lb Ham (precooked, diced, ready to add on the side, not cooked in) 

bread and watermelon on the side.

Sautee the vegetables (precook potato in microwave or boil/roast depending on time). Season throughout. Add ham after vegetables, once warmed through, add broth too

Thursday 

is Curry, a mild one, not sure how any of my diners feel about that, so gunna take it easy and wait for feedback for the future.

oil

5 Carrots, sliced, par cooked

7 Potatoes, parcooked and quartered

2 heads Cauliflower, diced par cooked
1/2 head cabbage par cooked

#10 can Garbanzos

2-4 Onions, diced

7-10 mini cans tomato sauce

1-2 cups celery, diced or sliced
2 -16oz, quartered mushrooms
1-1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1  cup boiled peanuts
2 tbsp better than boullion

1/8-1/4 cup Curry powder
1 tub of raisins 20+ ounces
 additional spices at work kitchen-cumin, salt, chili powder, turmeric, garlic

1lb cooked Split pea mash, or more as needed

Bread and sorbet (lemon, sugar, apple juice, raspberries, peach, blueberries) on the side.

EDIT
It went over well, it was 25 heavy servings, probably coulda stretched it to 35-40 if in the smaller clamshell I noticed at work- will use those next time. so fun to use the raisins, peanut butter, and boiled peanuts unexpectedly for some. It wasn't too hot, Brought home to sample.

Work project updates:

-folded t-shirts that coworkers and campers cut, sewed and turned into bags now that the city has banned plastic bags! so exciting!

-made notebooks for 3 campers and the thrift manager out of spaghetti box, 2 tea boxes, and a bandaid box, gave other coworker a mini clipboard with notepad that I initially bought for me but it is very fitting for her so much more. it gives her a small mobile board to use while she books across the country later this year. the notepad says "first I do the coffee, then I do the thing" so perfect, we love coffee she and I

-Still trying to get through togo containers: the soup containers and do a variety of food, so putting bread in sandwich bags on the side and the sorbet I make and freeze in single-serve containers which have lids, again something I was trying to use before covid!

(our clam To go boxes are pretty good for our current needs since I try to throw different items in the boxes like bread/fruit/dessert)

-have about 24 containers of blueberries in the freezer that need to be sorbetified before they get freezer burn, its hot, they will go quick!

-the pantry is arranged pretty good now, sounds like my boss has a pallet of food for the pantry, but my back is out, so that will be interesting, but I think one of my co workers told her she had room in her private office

-also need to ask the campers what it was again they were thinking they needed me to make for them- they need someone to teach them how to whip stuff up back there instead of relying on me, because they have food, they honestly just need some tips, they have electric burners back there and a coffee pot. if it works when I'm camping, I am sure they can figure something out, too. I would like to help but they haven't asked me yet.

- still need to work out back up meals that could be assembled in an electric roaster without much fuss and without me if needed, from what we already have, 3 meals-worth

-still have to go through my pantry shelf of food while making the back up plan, and having too to take more donations

14th week of work, 8th of covid

Tuesday, did I mention Tuesdays I would probably just start killing off these 2 20lb bags of pintos, and 2 bags of rice I believe, the regular meal? Yeah.

So Tuesday,  sautéed chopped onions, bells, celery in oil in the electric roaster, then some seasoning, let everything really melt 30 minutes or so while heating up pre-cooked beans and rice. I'm gunna say 6-8 pounds of both to go with about 2+ cups each of the previous vegetables, more seasoning.

Served with bread and more sorbet. almost fill the vitamix, about 24 oz of a fruit, about 5 tablespoons sugar, 4 squirts of lemon juice, 1- 1 1/2 cups juice or water (or a milk for a sherbert), makes about 12 servings in our to-go cups.

Wednesday, had roasted the last donated turkey over the weekend again, did turkey dinner again, this time it was 

5 boxes of stuffing, made with half the broth I got from the turkey and water; 

-

the turkey reheated in half the broth diluted with water, 

-

threw green beans in the electric roaster this day- a #10 can + a little one, added salt and pepper, and 1/2 cup butter

-

3 cans of cranberry sauce mixed with 1 largish can of strawberry pie filling (yes, it was a win)

-

4 large cans of "yams", two real pre-cooked sweet potatoes, half bag of mini marshmallows, 1/4 cup butter, salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, smashed that by hand and heated that in the microwave 

Thursday, I had previously cooked a donated beef roast, thawed that and added it to sautéeing onions, bells, mushrooms, seasoning, donated fresh rosemary, pre roasted potatoes and carrots, 3 cans peas, 3 cans green beans, 1 small can rotes tomato and gr chile, then made a gravy in the electric roaster, and added a donated can of gravy, bread and canned pineapple on the side.

This week we had donated to the kitchen a few hams (this months days off projects), 2 cabbage heads, 2 cauliflowers, more taters precious. We shall see. I foresee a curry, and ham and black beans already, potato salad is a big request, too, and I have more cooked turkey in freezers, could do bbq sandwiches again with dills and sorbet on the side, yes, filled the mini freezer with blueberry sorbet; have about 15 or more batches of frozen fruit to do that to.

This weekend I make pumpkin bread and rice crispity treats from donations. I keep busy with work even if not at work. But its because I love what I do, not because I'm a workaholic, which I am so totally not.

Basic Pumpkin Quick Bread

3 1/2 cup flour

15 oz can pumpkin

1/2 cup apple sauce

1/2 tsp salt

2 cup sugar

2 tbsp baking powder

2 tsp lemon juice

Mix will be clumpy, it is ok, do not try to make smooth batter, only try to make just mixed muffin-like batter. 

375f for an hour (altitudes around 4,000 feet) start checking at 45 minutes and make sure not to burn, but take it right to the edge to thoroughly cook

Makes 2- 7 x 3 loaf pans.

7 inch pie pans-

12 inch pullman-

Other options

Add 1 cup walnuts

1/2 tsp nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, or allspice

1/4-3/4 cup blueberries or other similar cut/shredded fruit/vegetable

(cherries, apple, pineapple, carrot, zucchini…)

Alternate some sugar for a different sweetener

1 cup chocolate chips

Give the top a crumble with a mixture of butter/oats/brown sugar

13th of week, 7th of covid

Tuesday included a shopping trip, I think I got everything I wanted!

Tuesday Pinto beans and rice with mixed fruit, and bread
Precooked about 3 pounds of each, then the rice just gets preheated.
The beans stay fridge until 2 onions, 2 belle peppers, and a good handful of celery is sliced and sautéed in the roaster, add seasoning, broth, then heated up beans.

Wednesday will be turkey dinner
Roasted turkey will be reheated, stuffing made and kept in a heatable container, yams mixed up and heated, cranberry sauce, and green beans heated in a roaster.

Thursday will be a white sauce with left over pork sausage, veggies and egg noodles.
Sautéed stuff, make roux, add, add, add; bread and fruit on the side.

Forgot to mention I purchase things from the thrift store more that we are in quarantine, book, spoon rest, couple of shirts, and got to have free stuff for the making lunch part (helps so much when you can easily get a spatula to scoop out cans, getting drying cloths, pillowcases for potatoes and other roots not in the fridge).
Today I tried to pay for a wood stool, but was asked to -take- it! OOOH happy day! Hardly anyone throws out jeans my size, but I can always look!
This week is a co-workers' bday. Same co-worker wants us to come up with a quarantine craft. All I got is blank journals with the covers made of cereal boxes and such we use. We shall see. Our area may have some restrictions lifted in two weeks so that may change the time I have free, where I prep food, her schedule, and the building schedule.

In the 12th week of work 6th of covid

Got the C19 nasal swabs this morning about an hour and a half into my 6 hour day.
The left one was done first, after I blew my nose. It was actually pretty painful and I have had about 15 kidney stones, uti's and kidney infections; passed out while giving blood while in trade school, convulsed and everything, short term memory loss on that one.
Then I coughed before getting the right one done... It hurt immensely, so much so I screeched and was about to get way out of control. I kept backing up in pure pain, and she kept right on shoving in there like she is supposed to. She said sorry, and that I was probably swollen up there (from allergies). I apologized for screeching.
But seriously it hurt so much I would take kidney stones over this, take a GIL of my blood, over this.
I was very runny, coughing, eyes...it was awful, thank goodness I'd already chopped the onions for lunch, that calmed down after about an hour and a half. But I have this headache and my eyes hurt, and I swear my vision has become blurry.
Anyways lunch was beans and rice that were pre cooked and then reheated with fresh sautéed onion and bell pepper, didn't realize I'd used the last of the celery. Hotdog buns that were in the back of the freezer, and peach and raspberry sorbet.
Tomorrow I already promised would be bbq chicken, so I will sautée up more onion, bell pepper to add to that filling; make coleslaw for the side with cabbage, carrot, radish, mayo and seasoning, sorbet on the side,
So Thursday will be pizza spaghetti with pork sausage bits, ham bits, black olive, tomatoes, sauce, onion, bell pepper, spaghetti bits, parm cheese, bread, sorbet.

Just before 12th week of work, 6th of covid kitchen

This is the Monday before the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I work physically in town (for the food contract freelance job I call work). Found out I get the Covid test on Tuesday after work. Exciting, I feel like a part of history!

Today is when I focus my planning, grocery lists (for work and home), transport, storage, projects- the job pays for the time I am in town, but the auto gas and at-home time and electricity I put into it is basically volunteer work. Our electricity is probably an extra 30$ a month since I have to cook donated beans and rice at home since it is too hard to try and cook and prepare a normal meal, AND precook beans and rice for another time.

Right now my "extra" time at work is being spent turning our frozen fruit donations into sorbet

Sorbet

for every cup, 1 1/2 cups of frozen broken up fruit, add 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and about 1/4 cup juice or water. This is blitzed in a Vitamix that is a piece of refurbished kitchen tool I get to use, along with an instant pot, and electric roasters.

This week, after looking back I am now deciding to do a beans and rice meal every week to spread out variety in lunches as we wind down the rest of the donations. So lets see, with what we have, the next weeks may look like this:

Tuesday-Beans and Rice, bread, sorbet (peach, raspberry, and blueberry).
Wednesday-Spaghetti Pizza with pork sausage bits, ham bits, black olives, mushroom, bell, onion, part, shred ched, bread, fruit
Thursday-turkey, stuffing, yams

Tuesday-Beans and Rice, bread, fruit or green beans
Wednesday-posole made with wolf chili and hominy, bread, fruit
Thursday-bbq chicken sandwiches, coleslaw, ?

Tuesday-Beans and Rice, bread, fruit or green beans
Wednesday-Vegetable Pie Stew with roast beef bits and rice, bread, fruit
Thursday-Wolf Chili chili, bread, fruit

Tuesday-Beans and Rice, bread, fruit or green beans
Wednesday-Soy Curls as Chicken on Noodles with béchamel and vegetables
Thursday-Turkey Divan, bread, fruit or veg side

11th week of work, 5th week in covid kitchen quarantine

Tuesday

Pork and beans,

see there was an ice cream tub (possibly 1 1/2 #10 cans) in the deep freeze- it wasn't ice cream, so it and 2 #10 cans of pork and beans were added to the roaster after 2 onions were sautéed with garlic, salt and pepper, and after 12 sliced up hot dogs were added.

This was served with fruit cocktail, piece of cornbread, and some nutriplenty rice to soak up the juice underneath. Numbers dropped down to closer to 30, so left overs were also served the next day.

Wednesday

Shoney's Breakfast Rice - A - Like

1 onion, diced, sautéed with

2 red bell pepper, diced and 

4-6 stalks celery, diced with

garlic, d'arbo chili flakes, salt

then add 40 pre-cooked, diced pork sausage patties, 

30 wide slices of ham, diced, 

1 dozen scrambled eggs, cooked

3 lbs pre-cooked rice, white, brown, or mixed (ours was cooked in chicken water from instant pot and  chicken also precooked to freeze for later use

Then to get everything really hot and not dry anything out, 4 cans of chicken broth were used.

Served with left over corn bread and fruit sorbet made in a Vitamix from donated frozen peaches and raspberries. Will continue to make fruit sorbets (strawberry, blueberry also) until the fruit is used up! Left overs, about 4-6 servings for the next day

Thursday

Rice- a- Roni

we had vermicelli (3)  donated, going to toast that after sautéing 2 diced onions,  garlic, peppers, 4 stalks of celery in oil and then adding 3 bags peas and carrots (frozen), 13-15 cooked chicken diced breasts, 2-3 pounds cooked rice, 1 carton broth, water-probably same amount.

Will serve sliced bread and sorbet with.

Next week is looking like bbq chicken sandwiches; pizza spaghetti; turkey/stuffing/yams. 

Week after that maybe turkey Spanish Rice; turkey noodle stew; pantry posole.

If there is still turkey left, still have ham, do a turkey cordon bleu soup; an everything soup with a roast still in there and a bunch of miscellaneous vegetables; and a loaded Mac and cheese could be quite nice.

Then, last we have unless more donations are made are beans and rice.

I'll edit post if anything changed for the day, otherwise...

So you know Kaylee from Firefly...

Well she is a girl character in a tv show called Firefly, and then a movie called Serenity. The character knew engines, knew and loved her (space)ship (the name of the ship is Serenity). People could babble on and such but if you said something about the ship or were talking about ships, she would always pipe up, stick up for her ship, and such ("You hear what that purple-belly called Serenity, Captain?")

More and more I find myself that way with food/kitchen. Today I got fussed at for not paying attention to the arrows on the ground (because of covid19) that were not there last time I went in to that store. I'm standing there with my mask on, gloves on, and am looking for a spice I hadn't found in three weeks; on the way to work; picking up work food and 3 items for home since I have to be in a store with others.
My eyes got big when this hooman started speaking to me, it went in my brain, gears had to restart on a new project, speaking to this person. I think I just apologized and said I was just trying to find something I hadn't been able to in 3 weeks, found it, dropped it, and left- out the wrong way probably.

So yeah, I have a problem, I can deal with food, recognize food, understand it. I do not understand people, deal with them or recognize them. I think the person fussing at me was either trying to make small talk because we met each other a few times, or genuinely fussing at me, and for that I am sorry. I didn't know about the arrows, I am not used to waiting to follow these lines before going in to work when all I need is 1-5 items. It's weird and we all make mistakes. But please tell me it counts somewhat that I was wearing a mask and gloves. I apologize for not taking that third step in protection.

I had blinders on. Food. Make food. Get to kitchen. Get food, get to kitchen, to make food, serve food, clean, go home, do again. I love my current job, I love how less people are around and less businesses are open. Point A to Point B. Then for the first time in my life I got fussed at while not at work. It was surprising and it was not food. So it just made me shocked and mad, then sad, now unsure if I should be doing jack shit since I am so incapable of following the arrows.

10th week of work, 4th week of covid alternate kitchen

Alternate kitchen for the record means I am not preparing food in a commercial kitchen. I control a section of our pre-covid dining room, sanitizing it before I begin, following all the covid handling rules- explaining and re-explaining how to be sanitary while dealing with the food/social distancing/hand washing and gloves/temperature checks/masks. Guy helping me today asked if it was required to wear the gloves and face mask. I said yes. It is a daily battle to keep us safe because some people feel this is just a normal flu and think the rest of us following directions are over-reacting. Very frustrating but I never give up explaining and giving facts. Our Organization boss is fantastic- she got a portable sink for our guests to use before and after eating, pretty sure no one else in town is doing that. I love my boss, and my co-workers, and my diners. They may not be making too many requests, but I still consider myself their personal chef. I am lucky to be able to learn this job so thoroughly, every day is a new learning experience and lesson learned. I love my job, my town, and I do not mind being an essential worker right now. I have love, our diners deserve the love and respect.

Tuesday

Chick (pea) A la King 40 servings, served with bread and tangerines or crushed pineapple

Sidenote-Don't cook egg noodles in the sauce like spaghetti bakes. I knew this in the back of my head, but did it anyways, by the time they cooked, they then broke down and melted into the sauce.

Otherwise, start by sautéing in about 1/2 cup oil:
2 large diced onions, 2 ribs of celery, 2 sweet bell peppers(not green), 4 large diced carrots, seasoning (1 tbsp salt, 2 tsp pepper, 3 tbsp other seasonings you have and like (1 tbsp 2 tsp garlic, 1 1/2  tbsp paprika, 1tsp sage)
once transparent, toasted and cooked, add flour for the sauce, about 1/2 cup, stir and let cook about 3-5 minutes, then add:
4 diced and precooked potatoes
6-7 cans chick peas with juice-add juice if needed
2 cans peas- add rice if needed
2 cans yellow corn- add juice if needed
Taste test and add more seasoning, or broth if needed, and even more veggies, then serve on cooked noodles, with bread and sorbet on the side!

About two loaves of normal sandwich bread.


Wednesday

White Turkey Chili, served with sorbet and slice of bread or 5-8 crackers

Also donated was our meat, so since this thing has started, all I bought was a tiny bit of bread, and fresh vegetables to sautéed. The rest of the canned veggies and mea all donated, I just try to find fun ways to stretch it and not repeat meals too much. Still putting nutriplenty rice packets to use, cook 2-3 bags and use that at the bottom of the chili bowl as well

the turkey chili

the meat off a roasted turkey (8-11 lbs give or take)
sautée
2 diced onions, 2 yellow bell peppers, 4 celery ribs, diced, add seasoning, then roux the flour a minute, I didn't have cumin but I had a seasoning blend with cumin and paprika, added 2 large cans of tomatillos, 1 large can of green chiles, 2 lbs cooked white beans, 2-5 potatoes precooked and diced, and the turkey meat. make to your consistency by adding or not adding broth, stretch it by adding hominy or corn or garbanzos, and another can of green chile!

The Sorbet

Frozen fruit and prune juice donated, the sugar and lemon juice were bought items/
it was about 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 3 tbsp prune juice - per cup of fruit. Mixed in a Vitamix blender that we just so happened to be in our storage pantry (much of our other equipment, seasonings, are still locked up in the professional kitchen that is on lockdown).
SO we had blueberry sorbet, raspberry, and peach versions. Did three batches, about 5 cups of each fruit- smallish servings, about 30.
Have a lot more fruit left, looking forward to doing these at least twice more, still have strawberry to try as well!

Thursday

Biscuit Pot Pie 40 servings, about 30 given out, with one being large portion, no fruit, extra biscuit

More roasted turkey

another base like the a la king and white chili, add mixed veggies like lots of carrot, pea, cauliflower, onion, bell pepper, celery, potatoes, green beans. add the turkey and make sure it is seasoned throughout. Serve with biscuits and pineapple.

Checked in with everyone I normally text anyways, but some, it had been a month, so that was fun. made masks last weekend; been tending to potatoes and onions growing, everything else got taken by pests; the home freezer was mostly socked last few weekends with homemade vegan meats like sausage links for the fire pit, breakfast sausage patties, burgers, meatballs, soon he'll make soy milk, we'll then have pulp (okra) to make fake fish and chicken!

There were many people not practicing precaution, but we at the store do, and when I ran errands in the next city over that does have it, they were mostly following precautions.

We are hopeful that we have learned enough from this, and we have all noticed people not taking it seriously. It's just like everything else we do in life that requires integrity- we do the best we can. I hope everyone remains safe and healthy

9th week of work, 3rd week operating mobile kitchen during c-19

We had a half case of tomatoes and a bunch of other donated items we needed to get through!

Vegan Minestrone in the Electric Oster Roaster served about 40

oil
30 tomatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
4 celery ribs, diced
1/2 head cabbage, diced
seasoning***
2 small bags of frozen peas and carrots
6 cans/ #10 can of garbanzo beans, drained
2-3 cup veg broth
3-5 small cans tomato sauce

Sautee the first 6 ingredients until nice and soft, crossing up is ok, about 30 minutes on high with lid on.
Open, stir, add rest, stir, bring to a boil with the lid on, cooking all through, about 30-45 minutes.

Nutriplentry rice - 2 packs, precooked and 1/4 heaping cup per serving, minestrone was served on top.

***The current mobile kitchen seasoning donations are as follows, The Kitchen (me) decides what will work in what dish, take your pick:  salt, pepper, hot Chile flakes, brisket rub, no salt fajita mix, roasted garlic, garlic salt, paprika, paprika complete seasoning blend (my secret).

Turkey Cacciatore served about 40

2 onions, diced
5 cans spaghetti sauce
6 cups bone broth
5 pounds cooked, diced turkey, light and dark meat
1 large bag of tube pasta (3lb?), uncooked

Same as above, sautee vegetables, add the rest, heat everyone to boiling, 165 is a good temp, pasta took about 30-45 minutes to cook- we are altitudy, at over 4000 ft.

Turkey BBQ 25, sloppy sandwiches

1/2 head cabbage sliced thin
2 carrot, shredded
5 pounds turkey, precooked, shredded
1 -2 cups bbq sauce
seasoning
broth
thickeners, flour, 2 pieces of bread bun from sandwiches

Did this and Ham and cheese on the side and there was still some cacciatore to give out.
---
Didn't go and pre-buy any thing, usually just shop major once a month. So now about to run out of my normal amount of lysol, and other small cleaning staples.
But, if I had to stay home right, I think we have enough food to hold out a month. I mean the fresh stuff would run out quick but I find the produce section is usually pretty stocked, so if I had to go back in town, I would probably only need that, and want almond milk.

All in all my view, looking at less pollution, people possibly communicating in different ways, new hobbies, skills. I love less people around. It'd be cool if I could buy tp, disinfectant, clothes detergent, alcohol, peroxide, Neosporin, and plain bakers chocolate bars 78%, almond milk, oh and the nestle non-fridge choc syrup.
Things I was able to get a month supply- probably everything we really need, aside from those.
Otherwise the shelves were empty of what I normally buy, oh and no flour (I bought the last 20 lb blue bird flour they had last week because I was out of flour and amazed when I saw shelves getting cleared out of everything, rye, cornmeal...
And today was the first day I got scared- I've been wearing a scarf for 3 weeks, just got a mask yesterday. Guy in front of me in line at the store, 60's-70's, said he thought "everyone was making way too big a deal about this covid19 thing". Fabulous, or as we say here fabulosa. Then I hear my better half witnessed a guy going into veterinary clinic, picking his nose then directly grabbing the door handle. We know this virus will go everywhere, we are waiting for it to arrive here, not trying to be positive, trying to be realistic. It is truly amazing that there can be 5,000 deaths just in our country, and people still think it is no big deal just because it hasn't made it here yet. Scary.

8th week, 2nd for covid-ness

Turkey and Rice in the Roaster (reheated-pre-cooked items)

4 packs of nutriplenty, cooked
9 pounds turkey meat precooked and shredded or chunked
1 small bag frozen peas and carrots
6-8 cups chicken broth

That served about 40, bread and fruit on the side

Ron's Chili

half a roaster of sautéed, cut up tomatoes and sweet peppers
Seasoning
4 pounds pre-cooked red beans
6-8 cans tomato sauce

I had the volunteer go with it, handing him cut up veggies, showing potential seasoning bottles, and providing the sauce and beans. bread and fruit served on the side.

Served about 40

Left overs were served on the third day, about 10 of the turkey, 6 of the chili, and made another 24 ham and cheese sandwiches, for 40 more servings, green beans and fruit and bread served with.

Pantry at work finally arranged.

It hasn't been horrible, I don't mean the meals, I mean everyone staying at home.
less travel, less spread, even though it ravages along. Need a shower. Spouse been making me tortillas when I get home every day, have a protein bar at work, and oats, rarely dinner- on the work days. on the off days I binge half the time, we go for a hike or a drive, work on outside projects, et cetera. Life hasn't changed too much for us in that respect.
Wondering when it will get here, to this county, wonder if it is already here, if I will get it, if I will give it to anyone else, if I will know anyone who dies, and geesumpetes, I don't want anyone I know to get it or die from it.

7th week, and 1st week of C-19

So...We -will not- be having the expected menu previously mentioned.
The whole covid-19 thing got in my state so things ramped up day by day. Thursday was a VERY different day than today, 6 days later. Some locals don't seem to realize how nasty this thing is, they don't have news. So I made sure to post information about the virus in English and Spanish on the water tank, symptoms, what to do, distancing
Went to the store to scope things out, picked up a handful of stuff to use today, and one other thing I knew would keep a while.
Water and Lemonlime gatorade with cups were served outside.
(We cut back on the hot drinks-tea, coffee, cocoa)
Tuna, made enough tuna salad to make 50 sandwiches, only served about 25 today.
For 50 sandwiches, fork and napkin, cup:

4-5 loaves bread
2 very large cans tuna in water (6-7 inches tall?)
3 carrots, shredded
6 stalks celery, shredded
1 jar mayo- large home size

Tomorrow will be pre-cooked beans- make a vegetable soup out of it, with pureed nutriplenty, bread and butter on the side, napkin, spoon, cup. (probably a dessert)

The next day will be left overs of the sandwiches and soup. (probably a dessert, too)

 The virus came up. I had a feeling it might, but just never found time to shop three weeks ago, newish job and all, so trying to get my shopping done in tandem with work, bunch of stuff will have to wait.
The Thrift Store side is closed for the time being.
The Resource area is open but limited people in building, especially during lunch prep-everyone pretty much leaves the building to administer the back yard. EVERYONE is getting temperature checked coming in. But things happen, so no matter how well we think we are doing it will come before we realize.
I saw mistakes being made, even by myself. We are human. We are trying.
Next week we have more frozen seasoned beans, maybe make chili, serve with crackers, and banana bread; also have more ham for sandwiches, I think without buying much we have enough for 6-9 meals.

6th week, learning curves, and c19

Mystery meat did end up being like steak-um, so we had steak spaghetti- how fancy!-wednesday after the Tuesday ham and cheese sandwiches- potato salad on the side, desserts donated (rice crisps bars and banana bread), then Thursday instead of meatballs we just did steak sandwiches with the meat.

Didn't do the fruited bread pudding, just using the bread for sandwiches and the bread we would normally buy.

Gave some dessert ingredients to volunteer who loves making food for us, and helping us cook things we do not have time to cook under contract.

Steak Spaghetti

5-7 lb steak um-typ meat, pre cook with garlic, onion, salt, pepper

Oil

1 onion, diced

1 package sliced mushrooms

2 yellow bell pepper, diced

Garlic

Basil

Salt

Pepper

Thyme

#10 Tomato Sauce

#10 diced tomatoes

Sautee the best in order while the meat is cooking.

Steak sandwiches

Oil

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

2 onion, diced

1 pack mushrooms

Bbq sauce normal bottle 16-20 oz

Bbq marinade liquid same 16 oz

2 small tomato sauces

Fajita powder seasoning mix

Pot roast seasoning

2 packages brown gravy mix

Thyme

Smoked paprika

Garlic

Peppers

Carne asada seasoning

5-7 steak um-type meat

1 lb ham, sliced in strips

Sautee in order, cook as long as you want after the meat is fully cooked.

Potato Salad (with ham and cheese sandwiches (4-5 pack ham, “ cheese, 4-6 loaves bread, mayo, mustard)

11-15 pounds potatoes, cooked and cooled

1 -1/ 1/2 tsp Salt 

1/2- 1 tsp pepper

1/2-1 tsp Celery powder

1- 1 1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/8-1/4 cup mustard

I think next week will be this:

Minestrone

2-16 oz Frozen Corn

16 oz Frozen spinach

1/2 package Carrot, diced

1 cans Peas

2 cans Green beans

1 can Lima beans

1 lb Red beans

1-3 small can Garbanzos

#10 tomato sauce

(Onion, diced)

The peccerino rind

Thyme

Rosemary

Garlic

Small pasta

A La King

#10 garbanzos, possibly bring 6 more small

(Diced potatoes, pre-cooked)

3 Corn 

1 Carrot

1 Peas

3 green beans

(Onion)

1/2 package carrot, diced

Oil

Flour

Salt

Pepper

Thyme

Garlic

White Chile

2 #10 white beans (use pre-cooked beans in freezer for one of these cans, instead, and 

bone broth)

5 onions, diced

1 package celery

Two cans tomatillos

Cumin

Peppers

Garlic

Salt

Oregano

Other seasoning blends

Green chiles

Part of this depends on what we have, and if we end up with new fresh donations that need to be used up first-and hopefully still getting to shop for fresh vegetables.

Learning curves.
There's been some,
-like getting a bunch of fresh donations right after I've already trucked supplies over to the kitchen for 3 completely different meals that get changed at the last second so I can accommodate donations.
-getting unlabeled stuff from other food banks-they should be labeled people steak ups is not the same as ground meat- but they were fantastic as spaghetti and bbq steak sandwiches!
-being told you have a case of onions, not putting them in the fridge, because they are onions, then come in and see it was two onions on top of a case of lettuce, entire case of lettuce had to be thrown out
-not everything comes in a #10 can, darnit
-our donations are out of control in some respects. I had a melt down because I literally ran out of room for my food donations and didn't want to take up the entire resource area we borrow to do lunch.
-people are all very different and volunteer for different reasons:bored at home, bored alone, wanna donate time while on holiday, want to learn about the organization, what we have I common is that we care about our community, we want them to know they can trust we are working for their benefit, we care about each other, we try to lift each other up.

This also all depends on the pandemic. We probably come in contact with over 100 people a day, between the resource center, diners and the store, so not sure if I will be cooking and transporting alone, if I will even be allowed to work for 3 weeks, or if everything will be normal. 

Its devastating, but it is super interesting to me, better than watching politics every day. And my fantasy brain says :

What if a year from now all the people who got infected and recovered-what if they all become zombies?! What if they start turning 6 months from now. Fantasy worlds can be fun. What if's are a neat way to work through things

Lessons and rest of fifth week

So that last day, I did quick running around so I could meet a volunteer. Looked at what I thought was sausage, ended up being hot dogs. So we had oven-baked hotdogs, veggie cacciatore, bread on the tables (many loaves of donated bread).

Cacciatore

3 zucchini and squash quarter and sliced
5 precooked potatoes diced
#10 tomato sauce
small can diced tomatoes
2 packages mushrooms
2 small onions
4 spaghetti seasoning packets
tomato powder broth

Ham and cheese sandwiches (75) on Tuesday, I hope? with
Mixed fruit eggless bread pudding (we have all the ingredients for it, so it's free).
Thinking 2 pans with small scoops of ice cream (and whipped topping on half).
Grease pans.
6-8 loaves bread, broken up into mixing tub.
2-6 cups milk?***
12 bags of frozen fruit
1/4-1/3 cup flax, ground, added to milk, stirred in well
6 Tbsp seasonings (cooks choice-vanilla, all spice, cinnamon, ginger, maple, molasses, nutmeg)
1/4-1/2 cup diced butter on top of each pan
500 for 45 minutes until very brown

only have to buy pickles and spears, maybe 13 cents a serving.

We got a mystery meat, prompting me to write a sign in log for food donations, so I can see. ow many pounds and what this frozen meat is. Supposedly it came from a reputable source but if we are all following the food safety rules, which we should be, that would be labeled. We cannot take venison because of parasites, hence while I am hesitant to trust unlabeled meat, come on people. please give us a list of your donation or sign a sheet , or label each package. Please.

With this mystery meat, and more bread already in fridge and ingredients already in kitchen- sloppy Joe, will have to buy cheese and shred it, but hopefully that's all for 45 servings or so, not bad- 13 c a head not including beverages. My Tuesday volunteer is making cookies, so they can go out or be froze.

With the same mystery meat, I make meat balls and a brown gravy ragu on pasta and use up parmesan in dining room. bread on the side, make a combination butter. pasta will be the 13 cents a serving.

Did I mention I passed the food manager course, I am certified for 5 years, huzzah.

So I have been writing recipes to use the pantry ingredients, not using the ingredients to write my recipes. Hard to explain but I am sort of tweaking the way I was cooking, and buying even less.

Fifth Week

First of the Month.
I keep forgetting to make less at the beginning - less people are as in need of the meal - of the month.

So first meal was Mexican Ham and Beans
Which I printed a copy of but I guess didn't save lets see if I can remember most of the ingredients diced tomatoes, hominy, pinto, ham, lots of seasoning, onion, zucchini, squash.

There were left overs which we had today, along with some frozen soup someone else made this past weekend, a potato and leek soup! Lots of donated desserts yesterday and today. Also received lettuce and decided to change menu for tomorrow from Sausage Pizza Soup to Sausage Caccitore-sausage, mushroom, potatoes, onion, squash, zucchini, spaghetti sauce. So that I can make a nice chunky hot substance to go with the salad (lettuce, sweet peppers, bacon bits, parm, dressing. Bread on the side of course! We also received a carton of chocolate milk, so that will be a drink option tomorrow.

Still more potatoes, more sweet peppers, lettuce, frozen drinkcicles, ice cream, bananas, whipped topping.

So I actually could have spent today at the not kitchen to get everything done, and to get more other stuff done.

Also, because of how and what the donations are, I think I want to start considering doing two smaller dishes for the same meal, that way my volunteers can have more control if they so wish.

The Fourth Week

Tuesday my Kitchen volunteer cooked her version of 

Goulash

#10 can marinara

#10 can diced tomatoes, 2 other cans, about 20 ounce each

#10 can tomato sauce

4 onions

6 green bell peppers

3lb + elbows

12 lbs ground meat

Not sure how it was cooked or seasonings.

The reason I was not there was to attend class/lunch/and take the exam for Food Safety Manager.

Class was almost 4 hours, the test was almost an hour. 90 questions, you must get 75% to pass. You'd think "oh ya know it or you don't" well, yes I knew it, but they threw questions at me I didn't remember reading in the book or hearing in class. Fingers crossed, I think I did fine.

Wednesday I reheated a pan of left over goulash, boiled 3 dozen eggs, cut 2 honeydews, and

Strata

3 dozen eggs

2 pound ham, diced

1 onion diced

3 dozen corn tortillas sliced into dices

1 package frozen spinach

seasoning

Block of shredded cheese

That took about 30 minutes to assemble, if not more, washing, floating, cracking, scrambling eggs. Took about 2 hours to get to temperature (160 for eggs, 165 for casseroles).

Today. a lady requested personal cooking lessons from me, that will happen after work tomorrow, probably.

Tomorrow will be

Scalloped Potatoes with Spicy Sausage

4 packages sausage, diced

10 pound potatoes, sliced

1 head cabbage, diced

2 onions, diced

salt, pepper, garlic

The Actual Third Week

Tuesday as I was doing my after cleaning at the serving area/dining room, a police man came in and was talking to our resource division (I am the Kitchen Division, and there is a Thrift Store Division as well). Then the owner of the Org walks in, and after some polite talk I didn't hear, they headed out to the back where we have a temporary tent village, in about a 1/4 acre behind the building (it was approved for 6 months to help people make it through the winter, I want to say there are about 8 tents back there maybe).
On the way back officer spots a young man and asks if he is so-andso, he says yes, and the officer tells him the department has had several calls just wanting to make sure he is ok, and to please contact his family. He does and two days later he was getting bus tickets printed to go home :)
Then the officer and the other two went to the back yard. They were there to evict a tent resident (we call it Camp Silver). He was in a bad mood, in his tent, and saying he needed to get his jacket on before coming out of the tent to talk. As he puts his jacket on, they could tell he was hiding something just inside the jacket. Officer asks him three or more times to please put his hands where he can see them.
Young man doesn't comply, just ays he doesn't have to do anything he is being told. Officer says he doesn't want to tase him. Kid lunges, officer shoots taser, taser has no effect on kid, kid starts punching officer, gets him on the ground, puts him in a choke hold. Officer asks another tent resident for help to get kid off, he does, possibly saving officer; at the same time officer was pushing radio button asking for back-up, within three minutes there are 5 more police vehicles, and an ambulance.
I had one of our dining guests that also volunteers, to lock the door behind me, not to let anyone in because we had loved up the whole shop, all three divisions, to deal with the altercation. Kid was taken to jail after I left, the next day went on as normal.
Otherwise Tuesday was normal (the same volunteer cook I have on Tuesday will be cooking in my place with a different volunteer while I take the food safety course). Wednesday my normal male volunteer was there, Shepherds pie was awesome. Thursday a volunteer friend and her husband helped that day, its really so nice to have volunteers, even if they are just cutting, stirring a pot, washing dishes, taste test adjusting, the more help we have , the easier it is, and the more you can chat and have real connections. Connections help volunteers figure out which jobs they enjoy, are comfortable with, or want to learn from.
Wednesday we were donated about 8 dozen eggs, so the menu changed for next week, but I think we are having my Volunteers Goulash Tuesday, Ham and Cheese Strata (like a quiche from what I gather), and Thursday probably spicy sausage lasagna.
Supposedly I am saving them at least half what they were spending in the previous cooks' menu program! I am using 50% or more in donations to make meals, I am just cleaning out four freezer/fridges of meat and bread and stuff, so once those meat donations go away I told her the menu cost may go up, but all I can say is that I buy frugally.
Three people asked me about my soup bases in the past 2 weeks. All I do is sautéed the veggies until transparent, about 5-10 minutes, add flour to begin a gravy, seasoning, dry milk (we had donated) if it is a creamy soup. But I tell them it is just about adding flavor while cooking every part of it, and I told the last enthusiastic lady to come by the kitchen anytime and I will help her cooking any way I can (she said her soup always tastes like water)
So I made it through the study book once last weekend, I will do that again this weekend, then the test on Tuesday, then about 10 days after that I am Kitchen Manager Certified when it comes to safety!
For the future meals, I think I can do SoS, but with all the extra ham that is frozen, Mac and cheese if I still have more ham left over, spinach lasagna, all the home favorites, and the odd donations I cook on the side (roasted vegetables like potatoes, spaghetti squash, they all taste good roasted!