The last time I went to the grocery store - the last time we bought food other than a beer pickup and the strawberries we picked on Saturday - was 4 weeks ago.

The plan is to go another 2 weeks, maybe a little bit more.

I did an inventory check over the weekend, focusing on main course proteins like meat, eggs, beans of all kinds. Thankfully, we’re in great shape. The chicken is just about done but there’s lots of pork and ground beef. Beans - no problem, though we’re going to have to think ahead about the cooking time required for dried beans. No need to check on the starches (rice and pasta) as I know we’re set for a while there. Vegetables and fruit? My line in the sand is onions and garlic; we’re okay on those.

Other than the pictured onions and garlic, there are 4 potatoes, 3 lbs of carrots, a few stalks of celery, an entire cabbage, and even a half a cucumber and half a red pepper in the fresh veg department. Apples have pleasantly disappeared in afternoon snacks. Our picking expedition netted us 7 lbs of berries, almost half of which have been deliciously enjoyed.

I’ve been making yogurt using dried milk, as will be the case when we’re cruising. The coffee “creamer” is now evaporated milk, a decent 1:1 substitute for half and half.

Our rotation of cooking duties has been a grand success, helping spread the load of both kitchen chores as well as the angst of choosing a dinner menu. Skills like timing food, substitutions, presentation, and cleanup time are being honed. It’s not easy for me to keep my mouth shut - I love control in the kitchen. This has been good for me in that regard too.

People have asked a couple of questions about this exercise.

Why don’t you get grocery delivery or do curbside pickup for groceries?

Did I mention I like control in the kitchen? Besides delivery or curbside times being limited to the point of inaccessibility (people talk about waking up at 3 am to TRY to get a time), there are the stories of substitutions of totally unlike items (or no substitution at all, just no item) - at no change in the pre-paid price. If I need flour, it doesn’t help me to not get it in an order. When I hit the stores, at least I can make sure I come home with what I need even if I have to go to a few spots, wearing different masks and gloves each time. If there’s a substitution to be made, I can decide then and there if I’m comfortable with it. Though I am a bit freaked out about going to the store at all, we’re not in any high risk population.

Do you have to go 6 weeks?

No, of course not. There are farmers markets starting back up again. I could join the mass of humanity and go every week or so to the grocery stores or those farmers markets. We’re already getting creative in terms of fresh items (the lettuce and herb plants I bought on the last outing are starting to give us yummies!). The “grocery dream” list on the pantry door gets longer each day. I wrestle with this constantly. What harm does it do to go grocery shopping more frequently than I am?

I joke semi-seriously about this being great cruising prep. Even when we’re cruising, though, we tend to pick up fresh stuff when we can. It’s rare to go 2 weeks between visits to a store of any kind, let alone 6 or more. There are a lot of entries in our log books about buying one tomato or 3 onions! We stock up with long-life basics like beans and pasta and canned tomatoes and supplement with available delicacies when we can. I consider shopping local to be one of the highlights of cruising. Obviously, when we set off to cross the Pacific, with a 30 or 40 day (or more) passage time, we won’t be able to casually pick up something we’re out of. Making do and substituting - and especially making sure we stock up as well as we can - will be the name of the game. The fact that I didn’t buy more chocolate chips the last time out is a sore spot right now, I can tell you.

For us, this “go 6 weeks between shops” is a game to play at this stage. Going without, making do, is a skill to be honed, informing provisioning lists and amounts and helping us stay grateful for what we have. A glass of milk, a cup of orange juice, a platter of fresh vegetables as dinner - these will taste ever so much better when they’ve been lacking for a while.

Meanwhile, dinner tonight shifted from a curried kidney bean stew to a couscous with fresh naan when I realized it was going to be close to 80 and sunny all day. Less cooking (couscous “cooks” after 5 minutes of being covered with boiling water) and a chance to use a few of those freshies.

Plus we’re having strawberry shortcake for dessert. It’s always feast or famine around fresh provisions - and we are definitely on the feast end of the berry provisioning!