Asourfoodsuppliesweredepleted,wetriedtobookanotherdeliveryslotwithJumbobutthesoonestdatewecouldgetourhandsonwasalmostamonthawayandalltheothersupermarketdeliveryplatformswerejustasfaroff.Stilldeterminedtostayawayfromanyplacethathadmorethat2people,Iscrambledtofindalternativesuppliersonline.Afterhoursuponhoursofsearchingontheinternet,mypartnerandIwereabletofindalternativefoodsuppliers.Wehadtoko4all.nl(mylittlephilippines)forasianingredients;mushroomxl.nlforproduce;beefensteak.nlformeats;boerthijsbezorgt.nlfordairyandafewproduceitems;andkaasmarktonline.nl(VandenHerik)forcheese.Itwasreallyinterestingtofindoutaboutthesesmallandmediumscalebusinessesaseachofthemseemedtohavetheirownstoryastradersandfarmers.Forthemostpart,theirservicesfeltverypersonalbecausewegottotalktothemonthephoneforonereasonoranotherevenifweorderedeverythingonline.Strangelyenoughthepackagingthattheirproductsweredeliveredinseemedtomatchourimpressionoftheir"personalities".Wealmostalwaysgetsweetlittlefreebiesfromtoko4all.nl(mylittlephilippines),andthecouplethatownsitevenpersonallydeliveredourordertoourdooronetimewhentheystruggledtosendourorderviatheirnormaldeliveryprovider.They're clearly my favourite supplier discovery (I might be biased because I love getting free snacks) but generally all of our alternative suppliers really provide high-quality products and excellent customer service. My partner and I have decided to keep some of them as food suppliers post-pandemic, augmenting them with supermarketpurchases only for a handful of products that are too expensive for us to continue purchasing regularly or household products we need but are not available from our alternative suppliers. I'mnotreallysurewhyweneverconsideredgettingourfoodfromsourcesotherthanthesupermarket,butthisexperiencehasdefinitelytaughtusadifferentwayofdoingthingsinourhousehold.
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Butofcoursebecausetheyweren't supermarkets, the product options weren'tasextensive.Wejusthadtoworkwithwhateverproductstheyhadonhandandwhateverbulkquantitieswehadtobuythemin(eithertomeetminimumdeliveryrequirementsortooptimisedeliverycosts).Mydomesticskillslessonshadbecomeadomesticskillsmissionbootcamp.Itookoverthekitchenfull-timeandmypartnerwasdemotedfromcheftodishwasher.
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Firststepwastoplanamenuschedulebasedonwhatouralternativesuppliershadonhand.ItfeltlikeIwasonthatcookingshowwheretheyhadthosemysteryingredientchallenges-challengeaccepted.Ilearnedaslewofnewrecipesfrommyownasianbackgroundplusalotofotherculinarycultures.Ialsosummonedmymemoriesofmypaternalgrandmother's food preservation techniques and dishes. This was largely guesswork because, while my huge paternal family is almostALWAYS EATING when we'realltogether(mypartnercanattesttothisfromhisbeingpolitelyover-fedbyrandomfamilymembersofmine),Ineverpaidmuchattentiontothecookingandonlyprettymuchtookpartintheeatingofthefood.Planningamonth'sworthofmealsmayseemoverlydramatic,butitwasreallymoretoensurethatthefoodweorderedwouldnotgotowasteandthatwewouldhaveenoughfooduntilthenextdelivery.Wediddeviatefromthemenuscheduleonoccasionandmovedaroundsomeofthedishes,suchaswhencertainingredientswereabouttogobadsoonerthanweanticipated.Althoughnowweknowbettertheapproximateshelflifeofourfoodandtrytoarrangeourfridgeandpantryaccordingtoexpirationdate.Thedessertsandsweetsarenotprojectedonthemenuplanandarerandomlyrationedbasedonintensity-of-craving-in-
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Thesocialdistancingguidelinesandthesemi-self-imposedhomequarantinehasdefinitelyacceleratedmydomesticskillsacquisition,althoughmypartnerstillmaintainsardentlythathe's the better cook despite his demotion to dishwasher. Oddly enough, I'vefoundjoyandcalminthisnewprocessasitbecomesournewnormalandwelearntocopetogether.