Italian-American Guidelines for Food Rationing during the Coronavirus Lockdown

Before most Italians were very worried about the Coronavirus, l'americana was starting to panic.  I did my grocery shopping early.  I didn't clear out the shelves, I was just thinking ahead.  No more weekends on the island meant I needed more food at the house in the country.  No more trips to the pizzeria meant I needed frozen pizza. I certainly bought more than I've ever bought before, but I only filled one cart.  I even thought I'd be laughing at myself in a week or so when my cupboards were filled with this extra stuff that I don't really even like and I was back to going out for pizza.

That was three weeks ago.  I still have almost everything I bought.  I've been eating the old stuff that's been in the cupboard for months.  There are jars of things I never sent as Christmas gifts because the package weighed too much at the post office, so I removed them. I found boxes of tea that I tried and didn't like and had frivolously gone out to buy new flavors. Today I ate frozen zucchini curry soup that had gone uneaten because I'd added too much peperoncino. (It's homemade soup because in Italy we don't have an aisle dedicated to Campbell's.)

Don't get the wrong idea. Grocery stores in Italy are still open, but I haven't been in one for three weeks. Living without lettuce and carrots seems a little easier than living with the Coronavirus. I'm sure I'm overexaggerating, but it doesn't make sense to have cancelled English lessons two weeks before the lockdown and then head out into the real world at the peak (wishful thinking) of the problem. Instead of waiting in line in the grocery store parking lot to enter one at a time and then follow the newly painted lines at the checkout indicating the safe distance, I'm thinking about how to ration.

I've already started diluting my beverages. 6 bottles becomes 12 if you fill the glass halfway with water first. Crackers (I've been out of bread for two weeks) don't need peanut butter AND jelly.  Unfortunately I found myself with more jelly than peanut butter, so I go two days with jelly and the third with Jif (wishful thinking again.....it costs 6 euros in Italy). Fortunately I've found 5 different brands at Gli Africani (Italians' friendly name for the African food stores) and they're all reasonably priced.

Expiration dates are being read more carefully.  First, to make sure you consume the fresh mozzarella that only has a few days left before you grate the parmesan which seems to last forever. Secondly, because what used to be thrown out on the date of expiration probably doesn't really have to be.

The most difficult decision is when to eat the chocolate.  I'm still cutting the Lindt balls in half and have just opened a box of individually wrapped Loacker cookies from Christmas. I made brownies and froze them because the eggs were about to expire and I thought brownies in the future sounded better than scrambled eggs right now. I've found a simple hot chocolate recipe that takes nothing more than melting a chocolate bar and pouring it in a cup of hot milk.  I just can't decide when to open the last carton of milk.

I was also thrilled to find a container of frozen chocolate chip cookie balls. It's an attempt at being a good Italian hostess.  No matter how big your surprise visit is, you're always invited in for coffee and something sweet. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work for me.  While waiting for those unexpected guests I usually end up eating the balls of dough one at a time.....until now.  It was already in my mouth when I thought of my brother-in-law that easily refused raw cookie dough for fear of salmonella. His fear of salmonella became my fear of an Italian hospital during the Cornavirus outbreak. Spitting out the half eaten ball was one of the saddest (and grossest) decisions I've had to make in the past three weeks.        

Nutella (which is cheaper here than in the States) has always been well-scraped from the inside of the jar before opening a new one. Now the scraping resembles that last squeeze of toothpaste, when there's always a little bit more. Until that day when there really isn't.  Fortunately I found a new jar because it wouldn't be a real Italian household without Nutella.