This is work collected as part of the Montana State University Library COVID-19 Special Collection in response to the pandemic of 2020. For more information please see: https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/16009 Greg Louzan Professor Murphy 5 May 2020 HSTR 416 COVID-19 Food Journal April 16-April 30 April 16th On this first day of my COVID-19 food journal, I started my day with dinosaur oatmeal and coffee before beginning my online classes for the day. As much as my Xbox is calling my name, I am fighting the urge and powering through my assignments for the day. For our online classes I have had to make an effort to work hard in the morning because once it gets past noon I have little motivation. The exception to this rule is only when I have an important assignment due and then it can occur at any point in the day. For lunch today I had Campbell’s chunky classics Sirloin Burger and vegetables. At the onslaught of the pandemic, my roommate and I went on a shopping spree at Town and Country and bought plenty of soup before they implemented the “Can Only Take Two of Each Item”. Sure we bought into the panic but I’d rather have extra soup than go hungry! For dinner my roommate and I made bacon cheeseburgers on the grill. We got a large bag of frozen preformed patties from Town and Country and they have gotten a lot of action throughout the pandemic in addition to our gas grill which has been extremely convenient. April 20th Prior to the pandemic I was eating out at least one meal a day, but since the onslaught of COVID-19 I have been eating out quite a bit less. This has been a huge benefit to my bank account and I feel like I’ve lost some weight in the process too. Not that that has been my goal but I feel like I have been eating healthier since the virus started. On this day I started my day with 2 eggs scrambled, 3 slices of bacon and a piece of buttered toast. Not an unusual start to the day and I accompanied it with Kirkland brand coffee out of our massive tub. Drinking a lot of coffee has been normal throughout the semester though I feel like I have been drinking it more consistently since we switched to online classes. On this day I didn’t eat lunch and rather opted for a granola bar and apply sauce packet to tide me over until dinner. This isn’t standard unless I have taken my ADHD medicine for the day in which case it seriously stifles my appetite. By dinner time my appetite has returned and my roommate and I made a dinner of New York Strip steaks with asparagus and scalloped potatoes. This was a great way to end the day and hit the spot after not eating much until the end of the day. We have found it is important to treat ourselves to a steak dinner or something of the kind once a week during these uncertain times. April 23rd On this day I woke up early to get an assignment in for my Capstone class. When I got up at around 6:30am I made myself a microwaved breakfast sandwich and some English breakfast tea. Recently I have switched to drinking tea most mornings because I ran out of my preferred coffee and haven’t made the trip to the grocery store since I ran out. The tea is also a bit more mild and doesn’t seem to have the same levels of acidity. After breakfast and completing my assignment I took a break to play video games and had a bowl of Fruity Pebbles. Later on in the day I made myself a tuna melt sandwich with my favorite bluefin in olive oil. That night for dinner my roommate and I collaborated to make a delicious shepherds pie. Neither of us had made the dish and my only experience was seeing my friends dad, who is British at least, make his recipe. Surprisingly it came out well and we enjoyed our latest COVID creation. April 26th April 26th I woke up at around 9 and made myself a few pancakes and eggs with slices of bacon. I had been craving pancakes for a few days and it felt good to finally make them. After settling down for a few hours, finishing my homework for the day I started to think about lunch. Since my roommate and I hadn’t really been eating out much we decided to eat at Cafe Zydeco as a way to support a local business even though it was really about satisfying our cravings for Gumbo. So for lunch we went to Cafe Zydeco and even though I didn’t get the gumbo, I got some Shrimp E’touffe instead, it really hit the spot. We weren’t super hungry by the time evening rolled around since we had eaten so much cajun food for lunch. Instead I waited a few hours and made myself a quesadilla for a late dinner before falling asleep to start a new day. April 28th As the homestretch for my journal approaches, I really feel like I have gotten better at cooking throughout the whole quarantine period. That was one of my Dads recommendations when it started that I would regret not coming out of this time with a few new skills under my belt. For breakfast on the 28th I made cinnamon buns, not homemade but from Pillsbury. They were the orange icing variety and were a great way to start the day. I had a lot of work to do today so I knew that the sugar rush would come in handy for getting started on my mountain of homework. For lunch I took a quick break and made myself a peanut butter sandwich and played a few rounds of video games before getting back to my homework. For dinner this day we didn’t do anything special, I just made fish sticks and we used our favorite chipotle mayo sauce. Fish sticks have become a go to snack over the last few weeks since they are easy, quick and easy; a great combination for any quarantine food. April 30th The last day of my COVID-19 food journal! It has been a fun way to reflect on my eating habits and show myself that I haven’t quite been as healthy as I thought. While I have gotten better at cooking, making smarter choices with what I choose to make will be an ongoing struggle. When thinking about my diet moving forward it really wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep a food journal even during non-quarantine times. This has forced me to see concrete evidence of what I’ve eaten in a day, seeing it in writing makes a lot fo difference. For my last day of the journal I ate instant oatmeal and had a coffee for breakfast. After working for a few hours I made the short walk over to Pickle Barrel and got a Ken’s Special sandwich and a few pickles. For dinner on this day we made a spaghetti sauce out of the ground venison from my 2020 Mule deer that I shot a few days before Thanksgiving. This was a delicious meal I’d been thinking about making for a while and one that I’m glad could close out my 2020 COVID-19 Food Journal!