- Hey guys, it's Candace The Edgy Veg.
And with everything going on in the world
I thought a few things.
A, I wanna keep things as normal as possible,
keeping being like an escape for you guys,
keep in my own routine.
So I wanna keep putting out videos.
But I also wanted to help you guys out
in case you were struggling with what to do
during a quarantine or social isolating
and some really easy ways that you can stay healthy
and save some money at home during this time.
So, today I want to show you the 20 things
that I got for when we are socially isolating.
And I'm socially isolating with this guy. (laughs).
So the first thing that I suggest is a shelf-stable milk.
So I got lots and lots of soy milk.
I prefer soy milk actually because it has
a high protein content and it is almost always fortified
so you're getting lots of nutrients
and you're getting a high level of protein.
So it's really great for cooking.
It's actually the most stable when it comes to cooking.
But also you're getting some added nutrients in your coffee
or your cereals or whatever you're adding it to.
Of course, if it is sold out
which it is in a lot of different places,
you know, oat milks, cashew milks, almond milks,
as well as vegetable protein milks
like pea protein milks like Ripple.
I actually went to get the aseptic container.
So these are the ones that are shelf stable.
You don't have to keep them in the fridge.
Okay number two is whole grains
so things like quinoa, things like oats,
steel-cut oats, really great because it is high in protein,
it's high in good carbs but it actually
keeps you fuller for longer and it's a really nice base
if you wanna make things like grain bowls.
So you can use that as the base.
It's also really great for hot cereal
and fillers and things like soups as well.
So you're getting nutrients, you're getting carbs
that are good for you, you're getting satiated
and there's a lot of really great ways
that you can cook this stuff up.
Number three is nuts and nut butters.
So keep your favorite nuts on hand.
Things like cashews, walnuts, as well as peanut butter,
tahini, almond butter.
Now only are these a great way to again,
keep you satiated they're also a great way
to flavor your meals.
They're a great way to make a plant-based milk
if you run out.
You can use things like cashew butter or just plain cashews
to make a cashew milk at home.
They're also actually really easy for snaking on
and you know, if you want to make toast
it's a nice comforting snack that you can have at home.
Number four is dried beans and lentils.
While can beans and lentils are great
I find that tends to the be the first thing to go.
And because a lot of people don't know how to prepare
dried beans and lentils, they tend to be left over.
So not only will these keep on your shelf forever,
they're also really cheap.
So you're paying a fraction of the cost
for the same amount of the dried counterparts.
So with these guys with a little bit of forethought
you can make all kinds of things.
You can make curries, you can make stews,
you can make soups you can make hummus.
Lentils like this you don't even really need to soak them,
especially if you have a pressure cooker.
But if you just soak them overnight and keep them
in your fridge you can make all kinds of different meals.
Plus they're highly nutritious, high in protein,
high in fiber, and they keep you full for a long time.
So I always have this on hand and I suggest
you guys do as well.
I've always said this, it is bouillon.
So whether it is bouillon paste,
like Better Than Bouillon or the bouillon cubes
they are flavor powerhouses.
So if you aren't able to get a lot of fresh produce
right now you can flavor things like your soups
with this guy.
It also is a nice alterative to buying bulky,
pre-made broth.
So instead of having a huge container of broth,
you can just use this guy and there's like,
50 servings in something like this
as opposed to liters and liters of vegetable broth.
Plus you can marinate things with this.
So if you have TVP at home, if you have tofu at home,
you can marinate with this guy
and get a nice meaty flavor and get that comforting feeling
that you're probably missing right now.
Canned tomatoes are one of my favorite things.
I always, always have a pantry full of canned tomatoes.
They are the base for so many delicious meals.
So with tomatoes, they have a really robust, strong flavor
so it gives that flavor a richness and comfort.
Not only can you make spaghetti with tomato sauce
or Bolognese with TVP that you have in your freezer,
you can also use this to make curries
and you can repurpose this really, really easily.
Let's say you make a tomato sauce one night
and then you have spaghetti.
Well you can use that same tomato sauce
and use leftovers to make lasagna the next night
or you can just it as the base for a curry or a chili.
So it's super-versatile and because it's so rich
it makes you feel like you're having a really decadent meal.
All right, during this time you probably
are going through a lot of different things emotionally
so you're not always going to want
to make everything from scratch.
So I say just having a couple of your favorite canned
or jarred sauces at home to make you feel
like you have a sense of normalcy and a sense of comfort.
Things like having ranch dressing.
You can easily throw it on a salad
if you don't want to make your dressing.
Or the La Dee Da butternut squash beet sauce.
Whatever your favorite sauce is have it on hand
because you're not gonna wanna make everything from scratch.
You're going to want a sense of convenience and again,
you can repurpose these in a multitude of different ways.
All right the next thing I suggest is boxed or dried pasta.
So obviously pasta is the ultimate comfort food.
Like, I really don't need to go into this.
You guys know why I'm suggesting pasta.
But not only can you make your favorite pasta
with like, a walnut sauce with the dried nuts that you have.
But you can also throw these in soups and stews
to add a level of heartiness to them.
Again which will keep you fuller for longer
and it adds just like a richness and a texture to it
that makes you feel comforted.
The ones that I grabbed when I was out
was I grabbed a couple of the traditional flower pastas
but I also grabbed some gluten-free corn pasta
and I also grabbed some red lentil penne as well.
So I have a variety and I'm not constantly eating
the empty carbs of a traditional dry pasta.
So having oils on hand are super, super important.
Not only do we need a variety of healthy fats right now
from things like coconut oil or avocado oil,
but also they're great for flavoring.
Oils like pure sesame oil which you can use
in sauces or your favorite Asian-inspired meals,
but also you're going to need cooking oils
like olive oil or coconut oil for cooking.
You are not going to want to eat canned things
and dried things all the time.
You want something fresh in your life.
So I suggest vegetables with a long fridge shelf life.
Things like celery, things like carrots,
beats, that sort of thing.
They last for a few weeks so you don't feel like
you have to consume them right away.
Plus, things like carrots and celery
or the staples for most like, soup bases
and most sauce bases.
So it's good to have on hand.
It's good to have something fresh.
You don't want to feel like you're constantly
just eating canned food.
It's not to like, chew on a juicy piece of celery,
something I never do. (laughs)
But you get what I'm saying.
So as well as keeping produce on hand
that is good in the fridge for a long time,
you also wanna keep produce on hand
that's good outside of the fridge.
So things like bananas, apples, oranges.
Things like potatoes, onions, those things
have a really long shelf life.
You don't have to worry about using them right away.
And you still get a semblance of like, normalcy
because you get to eat fresh things.
And when things like your bananas start to turn,
you can freeze them and then you have frozen fruit
for things like smoothies or your oatmeals in the morning.
Or pancakes, they're really good on pancakes too.
All right, tofu's a huge one.
I decided to get a variety of different types of tofu.
So I have the firm, extra firm, I have medium.
I also went and grabbed some smoked tofu
because I love this stuff, really great for sandwiches.
But the thing about tofu is that you can buy them
in aseptic containers, so that means that they are
shelf stable outside of the fridge forever.
But you can also buy the ones that are kept in the fridge
and they're good for months on end.
As well as they're easily frozen.
So tofu is something that is low in fat,
high in protein, low in calories.
So it's something that you can have on hand
to give you that feeling of being full,
give you that feeling of normalcy.
You can fry it, you can cook it,
it'll flavor to whatever your favorite flavor is.
So it's one the easiest things to keep on hand,
something that will be good for many different things.
You can also make soy milk out of it, yes you can.
So another thing that I usually have a variety of on hand
but I actually did go out and get more of is vinegars.
And I'm not just talking white vinegar
which is a great thing to have on hand to disinfect
not only your home but also your produce.
I've been washing all of my produce with vinegar
before consuming it because you never know
who's touched it.
But also vinegars like apple cider vinegar,
rice wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar.
They are so good for sauces, for dressings.
They had a little bit of flavor to anything
that you're cooking, so it's a great thing to have on hand.
Plus they're really good for you as well.
Rice is a big one.
We're actually starting to run out
so it might be time to go out and get more of that.
I have some brown rice and other rice in the pantry
but this is just our basmati rice.
Rice is super versatile as well.
It keeps you full for a long time.
It can be good for a base
for a multitude of different meals.
You can also actually use rice to make vegan cheeses.
I've made vegan cheese fondue with a rice base
and it stays shelf stable forever.
Some things you can make with rice obviously
are stir fries but you can also add it to soups
to add more heartiness to that.
You can make veg-friendly sushi
if you're quarantined at home and you miss
your weekly sushi date with your bestie
you can use rice to do that.
Oh and dessert, you can make rice pudding,
one of my favorite things.
Something you should always have on hand
but definitely right now are a variety of herbs and spices.
So obviously salt and pepper,
those are the other clear ones.
My favorites are things like taco seasoning,
the typical Italian seasonings like thyme and basil,
oregano, parsley as well as curry seasoning.
So if you have masala or just, even the one
that just is generic curry that you get
at the grocery store.
Having things like that on hand
will easily flavor your meals.
It'll allow you to get more creative during this time.
Eating good food and feeling like you're taking care
of yourself, it definitely helps
with our mental wellbeing and our stability.
All right, just because we are quarantining
and isolating doesn't mean
that you shouldn't have convenience items.
I highly suggest that for the sake of normalcy
and your own sanity and your own comfort
you go out and get convenience items
and things that you love.
So having easy snacks like trail mixes, granola bars,
chocolate bars, something that's gonna give you
that sense of comfort is really important
because you're not going to always
wanna make everything from scratch.
So keep that stuff on hand.
Things like, I love this really vegan chocolate
muffin mix, they also have a brownie mix
that's delicious and decadent.
So if you love to bake, keep baking.
If you love to eat a brownie every day,
make brownies and eat them every day.
Make popcorn to watch movies with.
What else are you doing?
I had convenience items and then I had comfort items.
So frozen fruit is a really important one
because again, we want to have produce in our life.
So it may not be fresh fruit.
But it's frozen fruit so not only will these
turn your smoothies into nutritional powerhouses
you can also put them on your oatmeal.
You can whiz it up and put it on vegan ice cream
that you bought for the comfort food section of this talk,
this TED talk about convenience foods.
But you can make desserts out of them.
You can just thaw them and snack on them.
Just having something that feels less
like it's coming out of a can is really important.
So the next one is frozen vegetables.
I always have things like edamame, frozen corn, frozen peas.
I freeze a lot of stems like kale stems,
broccoli stems, that sort of thing, things like this.
Because I like to put them in soups so this is a great time
to use all of that.
So not only again will you get a feeling
of like having fresh produce but you can throw them
into soups you can make smoothies with them.
Things like spinach, kale.
Brussels sprouts I usually have, you can roast them.
I like to roast actually the frozen vegetables
and then throw them into a soup
'cause you're really adding to that flavor
instead of just like, taking a frozen vegetable
and throwing it into soup.
If you roast it first it's really, really good, too.
Having baking items on hand like your typical flour, sugar.
For me, yeast is the big one.
You can make all stuff at home.
So if you run out of bread you go on the internet,
search bread recipes and you have all that stuff
on hand to make that.
So things like baking sodas, baking powders.
You can bake your own treats.
Just make sure you have a couple simple things on hand.
It's amazing what you can make out of just yeast,
flower, water, salt and sugar.
You can make naan at home, you can make sourdough at home,
you can make challah at home.
You can make like little pitas, buns, scones,
just with those ingredients.
So I definitely suggest always having that on hand.
All right guys, let me know in the comments section
what type of things you have stocked up on.
I wanted to throw out a little PSA now.
Don't go and hoard ingredients, sort of hoard toilet paper.
There is enough for everyone.
There is enough to go around if you just really, like,
think ahead and think about what you actually need.
If you are quarantining for two weeks,
but enough stuff for two weeks.
One thing I hate seeing out there on social media
is the people that are really in need,
the people that are really vulnerable, the elderly,
not being able to buy the things that they need.
So don't hoard, stay safe, help out small communities
and let me know in the comment section below
if you are struggling during this time
and let me know what kind of content
I can make for you guys.
And I'll see you next time, bye.