Make Your Own Bread

It's hard to find bread in some places right now, so it makes sense to make your own. Flour seems a little easier to come by and you can use white or whole wheat, spelt or other wheat types of flour to make loaf bread.

There are ways to make gluten free bread with other grain flours but you'll have to go looking for recipes there because I have never made that.

However, if you're short of wheat type of flour or want to stretch what you have, you can substitute a fourth to a third of other grain flour and still make a decent loaf of "light bread." Oat flour, rice flour and barley flour are commonly used. Be aware that they will impart a slightly different flavor to your bread.

No sugar? No milk? No oil? No problem. Bread: Frugal Staff of Life shows you what to substitute and how to do it. And if you don't have yeast, you can get sourdough started. Making sourdough bread is pretty much the same as making yeast bread, it just takes a little longer to raise.

Even if the shelves are empty you can still have bread - and better bread than you can buy anyway! 

All things in moderation

Were you stocked up before this virus hit? Have you bought more than one product when a good sale was on? Kept a few weeks' worth of meals in your pantry and/or freezer? Used coupons to add to your stock?

I hope you have been doing this all along and not rushing to the store now and panic buying in multiples like so many are. It's cheating and very selfish to grab more food and paper goods than you need right now. That puts an incredible strain on the delivery system and it hurts others who need products, too.

I'm not saying you shouldn't get a little extra of things that may be hard to find. Maybe an extra dozen eggs or a box of tissue, but not an entire cart load! Leave some for someone else, for heaven's sake.

If we would all do that and quit panicking, there would be enough for all, just like there always have been. I'm not naive enough to believe that people will actually come to their sense any time soon, so for those of you reading this, please do your part.

Don't panic. Be careful but don't live in fear. This isn't the only pandemic the world has seen and it won't be the last. "All things in moderation" is a very good thought to go by all the time and times like these remind us why.

What to do if you run out of toilet paper

First of all, don't call 911. Really. Some people have done that.
Secondly, take stock of what you do have.

Things you can use include:

Paper napkins
Facial tissue
Paper towels
Baby wipes
Adult wipes
Face wipes
Any other soft paper product you might have

Except - don't use cleaning wipes! And never, never flush these other paper products. Only real toilet paper should be flushed. We are having local problems because people are flushing other things down the toilet.

Put container with a lid near the stool and put used paper products in that. 

Now is the time to bring out those old t-shirts or rag material. You don't have to use them for your bum if you use them instead of paper napkins, facial tissue, etc. You can wash and reuse after using as a substitute for those things while you may not want to wash "toilet paper." (That's another post and if you do it, more power to you.)