# Self-quarantine dining: in or out? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101 "2020-03-23T16:11:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/41 "2020-03-24T15:44:08Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > My wife is going to attempt to make injera at some point this week. Frankly I don’t see it going well, but I guess I’ll find out. I’ll report back. I made injera once and it was a giant PITA. We ate ours over rice. There’s an Ethiopian grocery a couple of miles from us - I might check it out on one of our future grocery runs. If anyone has a suggestion for a flatbread that works well with Ethiopian food that isn’t a giant PITA, please post! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/42 "2020-03-24T15:50:26Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > I made injera once and it was a giant PITA. We ate ours over rice. There’s an Ethiopian grocery a couple of miles from us - I might check it out on one of our future grocery runs. If anyone has a suggestion for a flatbread that works well with Ethiopian food that isn’t a giant PITA, please post! I suspect it’s one of those things that’s relatively easy if you both have all of the necessary equipment already set up and have made it before, but extremely difficult if you haven’t. Given the extensive trial-and-error it took to master just simple corn tortillas, injera will probably be a weeks- to months-long learning process. Luckily we’re looking at probably _a lot_ of free time in the house presently. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/43 "2020-03-24T15:59:01Z")
Still cooking 3-5 times a week, a night or 2 of leftovers, and “dining out” (ordering in) once or twice a week. This week cooking-in: Monday: Mussels in white wine sauce with linguine Tuesday (today): Chicken tortilla soup Wednesday: Teriyaki Salmon with Asparagus Thursday: Sous-vide Buffalo Chicken Wings Friday: Hazelnut-crusted mahi-mahi w/ lemon cream sauce Pretty good menu for the mini-pocalypse. I’d invite youz guyz over for dinner, but ya know, social distancing and all that. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/44 "2020-03-24T16:59:55Z")
We used to get takeout once a week, mainly because the teens requested it. Now it’s all frugal homecooking because jobs have been cut. I’m just glad I can cook. Hopefully, the teens will begin to realize it’s important to have certain old-timey basic life skills at times like this. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/45 "2020-03-24T17:30:23Z")
I haven’t really changed much. I usually cook during the weekend, purposely cooking extra servings so I have leftovers to eat for most of the week. Friday evening I go get takeout as a special treat. Usually the In-N-Out Burger drive-thru, but sometimes I mix it up. I rarely eat inside the restaurant anyway. I did order food from an Indian restaurant last Saturday through DoorDash, mostly just because I was tired after tilling and planting my garden and didn’t feel like cooking, not really anything to do with the stay at home order. One thing that has changed is that I would usually go out to lunch once a week – the business park where my office is hosts a food truck day every Thursday, so I would try to go to that. Since I’m working from home I’m obviously not doing that. One thing about working from home is that since I don’t have a commute anymore, I now actually have time to cook after work. I’ll probably start doing that once the leftovers run out. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/46 "2020-03-24T17:33:47Z")
I’m cooking at home more. There are a couple of restaurants that I want to support by ordering take away, but I haven’t ordered out yet. Coincidentally, just before this story hit, we did one of our twice yearly trip to Costco and I bought a bunch of meat from a farmer friend for our freezer. The only thing we’ve run out of is bread and fresh veggies. There’s a farmer’s market near us that let’s you order online then they tell you when to come. They load it in the car without any contact, but because of the time of year, they don’t have much variety in their produce yet. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/47 "2020-03-24T17:44:24Z")
We’re staying in and cooking all our meals at home. The only difference is that I’m learning how to cook C.H.U.D. so that we’ll be prepared for the post-apocalyptic hellscape to come. And if that doesn’t materialize, well, there is always the neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/48 "2020-03-24T19:02:25Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I suspect it’s one of those things that’s relatively easy if you both have all of the necessary equipment already set up and have made it before, but extremely difficult if you haven’t. Given the extensive trial-and-error it took to master just simple corn tortillas, injera will probably be a weeks- to months-long learning process. Luckily we’re looking at probably _a lot_ of free time in the house presently. 🙂 I think I am going to try [this “instant” injera recipe](https://www.veganricha.com/ethiopian-injera-100-teff-flatbread/) tonight with the rest of last night’s Ethiopian food. We still have some teff in the house from my previous experiment. Normally you can order from Bob’s Red Mill, but [holy cow, are they out of a lot of things right now.](https://www.bobsredmill.com/shop/flours-and-meals.html) ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/49 "2020-03-25T07:26:46Z")
**Eva Luna,** thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/50 "2020-03-25T12:16:40Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > **Eva Luna,** thank you! You’re quite welcome. BTW, the “instant” injera was OK - not quite like regular, but it scratched the itch. I used about 1/3 teff flour, 1/3 barley flour, and 1/3 sourdough starter. If I do it again, I’d probably let it ferment much longer than the recommended hour. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/51 "2020-03-25T12:26:25Z")
Brussel sprouts, tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then air-fried were delicious. Served with grilled salmon and baked yams. Not bad. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/52 "2020-03-25T17:19:01Z")
I smoked a chicken and had we it with carrots and mashed potatoes. Tonight is that meal again as leftovers, but with barbecue sauce on the chicken. Tomorrow, I’ll make a shepherd’s pie with some of the ground lamb we have in the freezer. We haven’t had any bread in about a week, we’ll probably try to make a grocery run sometime tomorrow or Friday. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/53 "2020-03-25T18:19:54Z")
I normally prepare meals at home. Before the pandemic, we’d eat at a restaurant up to once a week. Now I’m cooking all of the meals at home. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101/54 "2020-03-25T20:25:39Z")
I didn’t vote, because I only started teleworking yesterday. I last went to the grocery store a week ago, and I kind of stocked up – mind you, I live alone and I don’t cook, so “stocking up” was some pasta and a _lot_ of frozen food. Since then I’ve eaten at home more than I normally would, but I did hit the Burger King drive-through for lunch on Monday (and learned that the Crispy Chicken Sandwich is inferior to the Original Chicken Sandwich, as I’d always suspected). Sometime yesterday, it occurred to me that it might not be a bad idea to start getting some delivery/takeout while the restaurants around here are still open. I meant to order Jimmy John’s for lunch today, but ultimately didn’t feel like getting dressed (heh). Tonight, though, I will be DoorDash-ing for dinner. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-dining-in-or-out/850101.md?page=2)