My Hoarded Pandemic Food Is Almost Gone, Pandemic Should Go Also

When lockdown was announced in Santa Clara county on March 16, I packed up my stuff from my new office at my new job at Milestone Inc. and headed out to the car. My new CEO Anil was pulling in, and we had one of those weirdly human moments that crises make us more likely to feel. I told him I was going to the store to hoard some food. He smiled. I asked him where he was coming from and he said, "Trying to hoard food at Costco, but the line was incredibly long." We said goodbye and thought "good luck" and "oh my god" and "is this happening?"

When I got to the Lucky's on Pruneridge, there was barely any parking, and you had to wait to get a hoarding cart. I went into the store and realized I was late to the hoarding game. Most of the fresh food was gone. Then it occurred to me that I did not have a food hoarding strategy or framework. What should I hoard? I called my wife, no answer. How much should I hoard? It would have to fit in the freezer or cabinet. Had to be sure not to fill the cart with stuff I didn't want to eat, and my wife already was blind to food she did not purchase. Why are we doing this? I thought. Shutdown did not mean the factories would close, did it?

The butcher still had fish but no pork. We like fish. Ok, give me a few pounds of salmon. Well, that was like 50 bucks. This hoarding is expensive. How much fish do I need per meal? Hoarding food is tougher than I expected.

There was a lot of dried fruit, which seems like a reasonable hoarding staple. I got dried kiwi, dried ginger, and dried dates. The kiwi were horrible, and I guiltily threw them out. The ginger is not really food, and you only needed a small piece, but we liked them. The dates were in the middle. Kinda hard to eat because of the seed, sweet but also dry and tough.

Seven months later, and I have 2 dates left. Hard to believe it lasted this long, the pandemic and the dates. In lighter moments I imagine finishing those dates will end the pandemic, so I am reluctant to eat the last two and find out the pandemic is still here.

So, I didn't need to hoard food. Thanks to the essential workers in the food processing facilities and the transportation system and the grocery workers (which included my wife) the stores are still full. I really look forward to going to the supermarket, and it makes me feel good to wear my mask and see everyone working together doing the same to prevent the spread.

I will go to the office today to shoot a video of Milestone's president Benu and meet a candidate. Maybe I will pick up more dates and ginger on the way home.