hey guys how's it goin it's Makayla and
although I've been posting videos travel
related videos on YouTube recently I've
actually been home most of the time
since mid-march now self isolating and
just going through my old video footage
and putting out content but mostly
staying home and this weekend instead of
going out and doing economy I'm sitting
in front of my big window and I'm
enjoying the sunlight enjoying the green
in front of our balcony but staying
indoors and being low-key when I think
about what I've been through in Japan
now I've been here 15 years and I was
here in the 2008 economic crisis when
the yen got super expensive and all I
had was Canadian money that was
practically worthless I've been here
through the nuclear meltdown the big
earthquakes the Kumamoto earthquake and
through all of these trials and tough
times like I've persisted we've
persisted and we're gonna get through
this too but I think if this is your
first crisis that you're spending
overseas it might be a little bit
intimidating and even a little bit scary
and if you're here I think at this point
you're in it you're in it for the long
haul you're in it for better or for
worse and you don't know how things are
gonna turn out but you're in it the
first thing I want to say is uh you
absolutely are not alone and we are all
in this and we're gonna get through this
like everything else that has happened
in the past 10-15 years in my life I can
tell you I have overcome them and Japan
has overcome them and we've come out
stronger than ever before and this time
is no different we are gonna be okay we
just need to be careful and we need to
take care of ourselves and do the best
that we can every day so at the moment
Japan is not on lockdown but I do
foresee it potentially happening in the
future just because people have a false
sense of security at the moment I think
because there is no transparency in what
is actually going on around us and as
soon as we start getting an idea of how
big the problem is in Japan I think
people are going to start taking it a
little more seriously I know that in
Tokyo people have already started panic
foods and that's kind of sparking
concern for a lot of people but in other
prefectures across Japan I haven't
really seen that much of it yet and I
think that now is a good time to prepare
yourself you don't have to panic
but maybe prepare yourself I think it's
important to prepare for the possibility
that we will be in this for a while and
that things are gonna get better but not
before they get worse so on that note
while we still have our freedom there is
a little bit of information I want to
put out there that you can do to maybe
prepare yourself and maybe easier on
mind and be sure that when things do get
a little bit more difficult you will be
okay when I started seeing videos online
of people panic buying foods in Tokyo I
started to get a little bit anxious and
I started to think maybe I need to go
out and buy as much as I can as well but
the first thing that I did the first
thing that I did this time was going to
rearrange my kitchen and take stock of
everything that I have on this side I
have the desserts and canned tomatoes
coconut milk and then I've got my
curries so I love curry and I collect
different types of curry pastes and
spices
I do have instant noodles but I like the
Korean cold noodles they're really nice
and it's easy to stack vegetables on top
and make it healthy there's some instant
miso soup through here I've got some
seasonings this is Mexican tomato salad
avocado salad got some rice flour for
gluten-free bread organic edamame
spaghetti at regular spaghetti for me
since this is quite easy to buy and
stock up on and it doesn't go bad very
easily and I surprisingly because I am a
food hoarder I have a lot of food and
that helped ease my mind because once
you know what you have you know what
you're missing once you know what you
need you can make informed decisions
about what you need to get rather than
thinking that you need a lot of
something or too much of anything else
I don't expect you to stock up to my
level but looking at all the things that
I have in my pantry I'm able to tell you
the things that I use the most and the
things that I definitely think you
should have I'm gonna make a list and
put it in the video description so you
can check it and you can bring it with
you if you're shopping just for those of
you who have not been through this
before or people who are not used to
cooking at home or stocking up their
apartment
maybe this list will be helpful for you
the next time that
grocery shopping now the number one
thing that I would recommend that you
stock up on is curry and there are so
many different types of curry in
Japanese supermarkets you're bound to
find the curry aisle where there's rows
and rows of different brands of curry
different flavors different origins
there's Indian curry there's Thai Korea
there's Japanese curry there are so many
different options now if you've never
made Japanese curry before it's insanely
easy and once you know how to make it
pretty much every single box on that
shelf will be accessible to you so let's
go through it really quick saute the
onions then add your meat add potatoes
and carrots and anything else you want
I added mushrooms saute and add 3 cups
of water and let boil for 10 to 15
minutes then take out your box curry and
break into cubes
turn off the heat add the cubes and stir
you can add more vegetables here if you
want simmer over low heat to thicken and
prepare your side dishes
[Music]
add some cheeky cheese on top and sir
now the best part about making a big pot
of curry is not only that it's extremely
cost effective but a big pot will last
you at least a few days and in Japanese
they often say that curry tastes better
the next day and if you've made a pot of
curry and you're tired of eating it the
way that you normally eat it you can
make curry udon you can make yaki curry
it's extremely customizable so you can
add meat if you want you could not have
me if you want if you want to make it
completely vegan I recommend buying
curry powder instead of the curry boxes
instead but you can make it pretty much
the same way I would just add the curry
powder before you add the water and if
you're buying if you're using the blocks
I would throw them in after you add the
water eating healthy is very important
when you are self isolating I can't
stress this enough if you are socially
isolated you're not going outside you're
not getting fresh air you're not getting
Sun and you're not eating healthy this
is a recipe for depression and in order
for you to get through this and to get
through this with a strong immune system
you do need to be eating as well as you
can so yes please consider buying boxes
of curry and then carrots potatoes and
onions these are the basics that you
need and not only that but like once you
have carrots potatoes onions you can use
them and other things too extremely
versatile vegetables extremely versatile
dish
[Music]
hello another great thing about Japanese
curry is that it's usually easy to find
in Asian supermarkets across the world
lots of import shops seem to stock it so
I have heard that in North America Asian
grocery stores and Asian supermarkets
are often spared from panic buying
because people think that it's not safe
to shop there you're in luck
if they have curry buy a box try it at
home and let me know how it goes another
thing you'll notice in my little recipe
segment is that I used instant miso soup
I recommend stocking up on a few of
these as well you can usually find them
in your local Japanese grocery store all
you have to do is add water and
different freeze-dried blocks have
different vegetable combinations so you
can buy a few different ones and figure
out which one is your favorite in a
pinch
white rice miso soup and a side so brill
fish or some sauteed vegetables or some
meats that's all you need for a simple
japanese-style patient group meal it's a
very low effort low commitment way to
balance out a meal so pick up a couple
of these if you see them in your
supermarket they're really useful now
most Japanese grocery stores will also
have cook do these cook do boxes will
have sauces and flavors and seasonings
for very typical staple Japanese and
Chinese foods and they're really easy
really really easy to make usually they
only require one or two ingredients some
of them you might already have some can
be really easily purchased at the
supermarket while you're shopping and
these are great ways to make a killer
side dish for a meal without spending
too much time but also while using fresh
ingredients so it's not all
preservatives and yucky stuff canned
diced tomatoes now these could be any
brand not particularly doesn't have to
be the bread that I'm holding right now
I always pick up diced tomatoes when I'm
out shopping because they are so
versatile they're so good to have in
your pantry for when you have no idea
what to make soups stews curry pasta yes
saute some onions some bacon some
eggplant throwing your diced tomatoes
season with oregano salt and pepper
throw it on some pasta you've got
a sauce it's it's so easy to work with
nice Tomatoes you don't need to buy a
lot of them you don't need to buy like
all of them but maybe pick up a can or
two the next time you're shopping if you
see them because they are very very
useful to have okay spices spices are
really really helpful because they help
elevate even the most basic meals if you
don't have a lot of spices olive oil
salt pepper are really good with fresh
vegetables but if you are looking to
jazz up the same-old same-old instead of
buying all those spices individually
what you can do is buy Italian seasoning
by tandoori chicken spice seasoning if
you can find different seasonings for
different purposes you can collect those
and use them on your vegetables you can
use them on your mashed potatoes you can
use them on your meats of course and you
can use them to elevate meals that would
rather otherwise taste bland alright I
forgot to mention this in the video it
is super important invest in a good
yakiniku sauce having one of these when
you're at home helps add flavor to a
simple meat and vegetable dish I like to
take leftover vegetables and fry them on
the frying pan until they kind of get
charred and then throw them over rice
and put the yakiniku sauce on top to
make a yakiniku rice ball it's a great
way to get your vegetables and it tastes
really good I also recommend getting
ponzu and this is a yuzu poem so it's
made with yuzu citrus instead of regular
lemon but a ponzu is usually a citrus
soy sauce blended sauce that's very
fragrant and very tangy and I like to
use this one on steamed vegetables and
also in sautés when I sauteed greens
like bok choy or shinjuku any sort of
Asian greens tastes really good with
ponzu breads pasta and rice are really
important to have make sure that you
have them bread can always be frozen so
buy a loaf of bread you don't need to
buy tons of bread and tons of rice and
tons of pasta but having a good variety
means that you can have flexibility when
you're cooking at home and you won't get
bored okay so next I want to talk a
little bit about Japanese supermarkets
for those of you who have not lived here
very long you might not know but
Japanese supermarkets will always
discount their deli products and their
Bentos
about an hour before closing so in a
pinch if you are running low on cash and
you need a good meal you can usually
drop by your local supermarket um near
closing time after the dinnertime rush
so usually around after six seven
o'clock and they will start discounting
all of the deli foods and all of the
bentos and they will usually mark them
down to about half price so in a pinch
if you're starving and you really need
like a nice balanced meal I think this
is an option that you should keep in
mind also whenever you are in a
supermarket and you see discounts in the
meat section
I recommend snapping those up because
meat can always be frozen and used later
it's good to have a good variety of
frozen meats because you never know when
you're gonna have trouble finding them
in the future and sometimes in a pinch
you're just really really happy to find
like a full frozen chicken breast in the
freezer so we covered meats next I want
to talk about buying vegetables when I
buy vegetables I try to buy one of every
color and this is for a few reasons one
because I've heard that eating a variety
of different colors in your vegetables
helps ensure you're getting a good
balance of vitamins and nutrients I
don't know if that's true but I like to
think that it is but to also because it
makes food more visually appealing and I
think that when you are eating at home
making foods that are visually appealing
it just makes a huge difference having a
bunch of different colors on your plate
it helps you feel like you're treating
yourself and not that you're stuck here
eating whatever you have for example for
a color variety I like to buy what they
call cutoff PMON which is like colored
peppers and these are great I shop at
farmer's markets rather than
supermarkets so you can find lots of
really cute things that are seasonally
available that are normally not found in
big corporate supermarket chains so I
also got rainbow chard which I'm really
excited for Swiss chard all the stems
are bright vibrant colors and this makes
sautee is more fun like instead of
sauteing something that's completely
green you've got little bits of red
yellow pink and white in there as well
now finally one of the
most important things that I want to
talk about is mental health and we are
learning more and more about the
situation in Japan and the situation in
the world
day by day and really we can only take
it day by day try not to focus too much
on the future and what's going to happen
a week from now or two weeks from now or
a month from now because nobody knows
keep in touch with the people around you
because even and I know that there will
be people in the comments who will say
like oh I don't have a good relationship
with my family or I don't have a lot of
friends so nobody would care if I got
sick I promise you for every single one
of you there is someone who would be
devastated if something happened to you
and you probably don't even know they
exist or you don't know that they feel
the way that they do but I promise you
everybody
has somebody who cares about them and
for us and for the people who do care
about us the best we can do is do our
best to take care of ourselves yeah if
you're feeling lonely if you're feeling
like nobody cares about you maybe just
reach out to the people around you and
see how they're feeling because you
might be surprised to know that others
are feeling the same way everybody who
watches this video I really want you to
be careful I want you to stay snuggled
up at home I want you to eat good food
be healthy if you are staying home as
much as possible make sure that you keep
your windows open get a nice air flow
going through your apartment so that you
are constantly breathing fresh air at
the moment and this might change over
the next couple of days or weeks it is
not illegal to go outside so if you are
feeling claustrophobic you can't go for
a walk around the block you can go to
the grocery store to pick up ingredients
you can go check out the Sakura blooming
near your house the important thing is
to keep to yourself keep a distance from
other people don't go to clubs don't go
to izakaya don't go to no BK don't go to
hanami don't gather in big groups even
small groups I would avoid at this point
I'm only talking to one person right
and that person also lives here I'm
shooting this video inside instead of
going out but you see sitting right in
front of the trees I can hear the wind
blowing through the trees I'm getting
the natural sunlight I'm getting my
green so this is as much outdoor
activity as I'm today anyway guys thank
you so much for watching this video I
hope that these tips have been useful
for you and if you want a list of things
that you should be buying I'll make a
little grocery list or like flesh out my
tips down in the description box please
leave a message in the comments if you
have any other tips to add and if you
are going through a lot of this stuff
ahead of us in Japan because we are
quite slow and you have additional
pieces of advice to give I think that
information is extremely valuable right
now so please leave it in the comment
section below otherwise I hope that we
are all taking good care of ourselves I
hope that we are staying in we are
washing our hands we are staying healthy
and being super protective of ourselves
in our mental health at our physical
health thank you for listening
stay safe and we will talk again soon
you