Homemade substitutes you've tried so far

[Nocturnal Submission]

There's got to be a TV show in here somewhere. Panic Buy Cooking! with Ainsley Harriot (if he's still alive). Ainsley sets two couples a task to make a standard dish - but half the normal ingredients are missing! Both couples must do the best they can with a range of wacky and varied ingredients left on the shelves of the supermarket set. That's the 10.30am slot on ITV sorted for the next few months. You could dress them all in masks.

I saw a selection of programmes that the terrestrial TV channels were planning to unleash on us during the crisis and they were so grim I couldn't bear to share them with everyone.

[Moonlight Shadow]

What a weird thing to hoard. Does all tomato paste in the UK come in tubes, or do you still have the retro small tins/cans that are common in much of the US?

My mother found culinary "bargains" irresistible and once convinced her favourite Chinese restaurant to sell her a five gallon can of soy sauce for slightly more than they had paid for it.

it was more than 80 percent when she died more 20 years later.

Got little Cirio pots today

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Never tried my soy sauce sub plan in the end as Signora decided on something else. And today went to big Asda and they had some (I know you'll be relieved to hear). Still might try it though as an experiment one day.

[treibeis]

You don't need to check use by dates on condiments. They only put them on to boost sales

In EU countries, it's the law, except for, I believe, wines and spirits. Nobody checks whether the best-before date is "realistic", but you have to have one, at least on pre-packaged comestibles.

[Ginger Yellow]

What a weird thing to hoard.

Not really. Used in lots of things, lasts forever unopened.

Greenwich Waitrose tomato paste sitrep: No Cirio apart from passata. Still some small cans of Essential puree and various sundried tomato paste tubes

On the hoarding front, one guy had at least a dozen gallons of milk in his trolley.

[ursus arctos]

I was thinking more of supplies being exhausted

I presume the milk was for resale? Or was it UHT?

[treibeis]

On the hoarding front, one guy had at least a dozen gallons of milk in his trolley.

He might run a place that sells cappuccino, and would have bought it anyway

[Ginger Yellow]

I was thinking more of supplies being exhausted

I presume the milk was for resale? Or was it UHT?

Skimmed. I presume he would have been prevented from buying it once he got to the till. They had a "three items of essential goods" policy.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Much as I support the general practice or restricting the number of items that can be bought at any one time in an attempt to restrict hoarding, it does make things a bit trickier for those of us buying for self-isolating neighbours.

[treibeis]

Much as I support the general practice or restricting the number of items that can be bought at any one time in an attempt to restrict hoarding, it does make things a bit trickier for those of us buying for self-isolating neighbours.

Yes, or that. But fuckers looking at other people's trolleys and then finger-pointing about "hoarders" don't consider things like that. Otherwise they'd keep it shut.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

We grew garlic for the first couple of years on the allotment, but have given up now, the over wintered kind ended up with half of it rotting, spring planted took up too much space needed for other crops. Same with onions, not worth the effort when they're so cheap in shops, and neither tasted superior for being homegrown.

This bit about rotting is the important bit. the soil needs to be relatively dry. There were only certain parts of the garden that were suitable. It's another tick in favour of planting in raised beds. Garlic and onion are really nice if you eat them more or less straight out of the ground, but for most of the year, they are every bit as old and stored as the stuff you get in shops.

My mother found culinary "bargains" irresistible and once convinced her favourite Chinese restaurant to sell her a five gallon can of soy sauce for slightly more than they had paid for it.

Oh stop it. You know the food was only incidental. She spent three hours Browbeating that poor chinese guy because she loved it, and he only sold it to her, because it made him feel alive.

[Balderdasha]

Today I found a recipe for rice crispie cakes that doesn't require melted blocks of chocolates (which we don't have). Substituted it with cocoa powder, honey and butter. They don't taste exactly how they should but the kids really enjoyed making them and eating them.

[Fussbudget]

Much as I support the general practice or restricting the number of items that can be bought at any one time in an attempt to restrict hoarding, it does make things a bit trickier for those of us buying for self-isolating neighbours.

Our local Co-op limits purchases to one per item, which is fair enough except 1) there are no signs anywhere in the shop to warn you of this and 2) the shop is still festooned with BOGOF and 3-for-a-tenner offers, so the cashiers spend half their time apologising to people at the tills for removing loads of stuff from their basket, while some other member of staff is constantly going around the shop putting it all back on the shelves. Work in progress, I guess.

[hobbes]

What a weird thing to hoard. Does all tomato paste in the UK come in tubes, or do you still have the retro small tins/cans that are common in much of the US

I had to buy a couple of Tins last time I went shopping as they had no tubes. They're annoying as they're about 20% too much for one bolognese/slow cooker dish but what are you going to keep 20% of a small tin of tomato paste for?

Got a couple of tubes yesterday though.

[hobbes]

Our local Co-op limits purchases to one per item, which is fair enough except

They did that at one of ours (not the other though.) The bloke wouldn't sell me a bottle of coke zero and a bottle of fizzy water because "they're both fizzy drinks..."

[Hot Pepsi]

It's a very different world you live in, Rogin

We have entire aisles devoted to Passover food at this time of year.

Even we have Passover food here. Not aisles of it, of course. But a section and matzah is featured. I often buy it.

It’s never clear how big our Jewish population is. There’s just one fairly small congregation - doesn’t even call itself a Synagogue - but PSU has one of the largest Hillel groups in the US.

[Sporting]

Our local Co-op limits purchases to one per item, which is fair enough

So only one carton of milk, for example, for a family of three or more? I thought the idea was that we go to shops as infrequently as possible.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

You can't find soy sauce on the shelves in either of our supermarkets. Googling suggests that reducing down a tablespoon or so of sugar and two of salt into a shallow small pan of boiling water will produce something that tastes broadly similar. As I was cooking fried rice tonight I was thinking of trying it but has anyone ever tried this before I even attempt it and completely waste my time?

Here's a vegan home made recipe for a soy sauce alternative.

[Balderdasha]

Son wanted to make rice crispie squares today (found an article about them in a magazine). Usually these would be made with melted marshmallows. I only have a tiny bag of marshmallows left which the kids like having on top of hot chocolate so using them seemed like a waste. Instead I've found a recipe which uses tahini, honey and sesame seeds (with a Palestinian mother-in-law I always have a couple of jars of tahini in the cupboard). If this works and the kids eat it, then it's actually a healthier alternative. They're cooling / setting in the fridge at the moment.

[ad hoc]

I discovered that our village shop sells packets of soy mince/tvp. I've not had that since horrible school dinners in my childhood. Anyway I bought some to experiment with and found a recipe for vegan sausages which I substantially redeveloped to suit my available ingredients and, what do you know, they're excellent. This will be something I keep making after lockdown

[Balderdasha]

Son wanted to make rice crispie squares today (found an article about them in a magazine). Usually these would be made with melted marshmallows. I only have a tiny bag of marshmallows left which the kids like having on top of hot chocolate so using them seemed like a waste. Instead I've found a recipe which uses tahini, honey and sesame seeds (with a Palestinian mother-in-law I always have a couple of jars of tahini in the cupboard). If this works and the kids eat it, then it's actually a healthier alternative. They're cooling / setting in the fridge at the moment.

So, in conclusion, these didn't stick together the way proper rice crispie squares should, but they are tasty eaten with a spoon and I have inadvertantly discovered a way to get my son to eat both tahini and sesame seeds, hurrah!

[Balderdasha]

Made vegan banana bread today due to our egg shortage.