What's in your prudent purchasing pile?

We're supposed to be very anti-stockpiling. Of course I am. Did I buy 24 surplus loo rolls or snatch the last bag of Waitrose rice out of the hands of a pensioner? Dear god, of course not.

But. Did I, over a month ago now, start uneasily reading headlines? Did I stop running down the stash of international ingredients I'd collected in case of Brexit price gouging, not to mention the stash of chickpeas, tomatoes and oil that I'd collected in case of outright no deal chaos? Yes, I did. I started running it up, in fact. Buying the odd extra can, the odd extra packet of long-life cheese, one pint of UHT milk. And if this convincing twitter thread is right, I am in fact part of the problem. The supermarkets just weren't calibrated for all of us doing a bit of prudent laying-up of stores in case we're housebound for 14 days. I'm trying not to feel bad about this.

Because I started early, and do not have much of a freezer, a few prudent early purchases are starting to need eating up. Which is fine for most of them, though we're going to have to have a conversation about the fatty bacon slab I bought in our amazing, and well-stocked, CostCutter on the way home from the theatre 11 days ago, because *shrugs*. I do not have a plan for that. That absolutely was panic buying, after going out for what I knew was a last fling, and which even at the time I wasn't sure was a good idea.

But some filled pasta? Fine. I can use that. A spare courgette? Sure! The end of some Cheddar? Gimme.

Absolutely no shame in convenience foods. Whatever gets you through. (Besides, who makes ravioli? If you do, tell us!)

Dinner tonight is therefore some slightly salty porcini ravioli, with grated cheddar, and a sauce(ish) made of grated courgettes cooked low and slow in plenty of oil. I can't remember where I got this recipe, and whatever refinements it's supposed to have, it doesn't now when I make it. This is just oil and seasoning on a courgette. Plenty of sauce for one.

Not pretty, but tasty

I'll tip the spare pasta and any spare courgette scrapings into the remains of yesterday's asparagus soup. It turned out fine, but needed lots of dill and lemon to zhuzh it up. It will do fine as pasta sauce tomorrow.

Do I sound cheerful? I am a bit. It's been a beautiful sunny day. I have done two really good live yoga classes online, through my proper studio, which feels like home. I even got out to Boots, so I have almost a year's work of meds thanks to my GP not messing around at this time.

Most importantly for my frame of mind, I managed to find a veg/basics box delivery that was still accepting new customers (Sussex/London only), and got one over to my 80something, self-isolating parents. After trying too many websites unsuccessfully, I found them thanks to this list of ingredient deliveries, which is really helpful for keen cooks and basics alike. Parents have eggs, potatoes, bread, tomatoes, green things and random roots. They are planning soup options. For someone who likes to take care of others, and who specifically feeds people to show love, it's just very, very relieving that they've got this.

Phew. I can go back to fretting about more global issues over which I've got no control.