The following blog post contains old information. I pitched this to an online food magazine in March. No success. It is funny what type of things Fred and I did at the beginning of COVID versus now.

My husband and I have been social distancing with teleworking since the week of March 16 (like most Americans were). It’s already April and we noticed how we have changed the way we eat. We are not as wasteful as before; we cook our favorite meals and we break bread together (eat together).

Before the virus hit, daily my husband was at his office building by 9 a.m. and home by 5 p.m. I on the other hand, didn’t wake up until 9 a.m. when he was settling in at work. This is because I do not get off work until 11:30 p.m.

However, we still must work those hours via telework. Here’s what has changed.

Not Wasteful

Now that we both can roll out of bed later, breakfast is served by 10 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. Being that he’s the better cook,  he gets rid of the potatoes and eggs to make us hash (I eat small portions because my weight is out of control according to my doctor). One thing that I noticed at the beginning of this quarantine was we still had food that we bought in early February. I was so glad my husband cooked what was left of February’s groceries. We even started making banana bread with the bananas we are not eating fast enough.

Before quarantine we just threw away money monthly by not eating what we had.

More fruit and veggies in the apartment

I notice when my husband goes grocery shopping, he’s purchased more fruit and vegetables. In the past, it would only be a bag of green apples and two bananas. We now buy apples of various colors, Halos and bananas as snacks. In my mind, this allows us to stay healthier in the apartment. This is important because we go walking since the gym is closed. I am hoping this produce boosts our immune system to fight off anything that comes our way.

Favorite Meals are Cooked instead of buying out

Another way we are trying to fight what comes our way is through trying to cook our favorite meals rather than buying them. This section will be slender because we just started this and still struggle. The most prominent example of this is that we enjoy going to McDonald’s to get egg and cheese biscuits with hash browns. We have stopped doing that by purchasing a can of biscuits, cheese slices, and we buy a pack of frozen hash browns. We now make our own egg and cheese biscuits. We have our nights when we want an Olive Garden salad. We do our best to make our own version at home, and save money doing so.

Breaking Bread Together

While reading this, you may have noticed how much I mention that my husband and I can now eat together. Because our work schedules are so different, we do not get to eat together. One of my favorite things to do now that we are home together is that we can have breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. I have been enjoying that because it has been in my life for so long. As wicked and strong as COVID-19 is, it has really made me step back and see what has changed. It is almost as if this was a pause to get me a new structuring on how to eat.