Chicken Strips, Waffles and Ramen

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I weaved my cart through the other customers to the back of the self-checkout line.

I looked at the line ahead to assess my waiting time, my eyes meeting the woman’s in front of me for a brief second.

I sensed the woman was looking around in anticipation, waiting to start a conversation with the first person to acknowledge her.  By making eye contact, I had opened the door.

The woman was older and small.  Her bony finger raised and pointed to the Tastykake pie display we were standing near.

“Paying one dollar for those pies is ridiculous,” she began.  “And they’re so small anymore.  Back in the day they were BIGGER in their own package wrapper.  Now they put them in those foil pans and box them.”

“I remember the package wrappers, you’re right,” I acknowledged, dropping my phone into my purse.  “The pies were bigger.”

The woman’s finger remained outstretched pointing angrily at the pies.  I noticed half of her finger was missing.

“Not only that!  One dollar is the SALE price!  The normal price for one of those pies is one dollar and seventy-nine cents!”

I saw the wonder on her face and went with the feeling.

“That IS ridiculous,” I affirmed.

The line began to move forward, us with it.  As the woman moved forward, her attention moved forward, and she began to conversate with the woman ahead of her.

The grocery store was the second store on my journey.  Although I purchased other items, I left our house with three particular items on my list.

Chicken strips, waffles and ramen.

Routine encapsulates more than just Declan’s schedule.  Routine encapsulates diet too.

The chicken strips ran out days ago.  I had attempted to load up on them before the quarantine, but they were sold out.  When they ran out, the hole was filled with other staples: ramen or waffles.

The chicken is particular.  Declan only eats Target brand chicken strips.  If Declan’s taste buds have evolved in anyway it can be gauged by his choice of chicken.  Perdue was the original chicken strip of choice, which evolved to Tyson strips.  Now, it’s Target brand.

When Declan is on a chicken brand, only that chicken will do.  Every other chicken is in a separate category: disgusting.  Try and serve another brand to him and he will physically start to gag.

Oh, how wondrous and strong the mind can be.

When I made it to Target, I noticed what other shoppers have noticed.  It was quiet.  No one talked.  No one looked at each other.  It might have been because it was early, but no one shopped on the same aisle. 

And the aisles were still empty of products.

We all seemed to stare at the empty shelves to determine where the product we were looking for was supposed to be to confirm it wasn’t there.  I was able to get the last two packages of the required chicken.  But shelves for waffle mix and ramen noodles were empty, leaving me without.

The grocery store was busier.  There was little eye contact or conversation, except for my pie lady.  Fresh fruits and vegetables filled my cart alone, Ramen and waffle mix sold out.

It was at CVS, my final try, where I found success.  With waffle mix and 7 packages of ramen in hand I checked out.

“I didn’t check, but by chance, do you have any Clorox wipes?” I asked the checkout clerk.

“No,” he smiled, “Still all out of those.”

“Just so you know, you’re the only place that has this mix and ramen left in the area.  It’s all sold out.”

“The mix makes sense.  I’ve been doing retail a long time so I like to watch shopping trends. I know, I’m a dork.  We’re out of cake mixes, icing, marshmallows and rice krispies.  It seems like parents are trying to find activities they can do with their kids inside to keep them busy.”

“Makes sense,” I replied, thanking the clerk and leaving, finally with all the items checked off my list.

One more week of food purchased, ready to meet the routine of Declan’s diet.  Which gives me one more week to hope to return to the store and find stocked shelves and shopping normalcy. 

What a unique time we are experiencing!

28 thoughts on “Chicken Strips, Waffles and Ramen

    1. That happened to me! And I sure do not want to upset the cat 🙂 Thankfully, Amazon had it to me in two days. Whew!

  1. I really hope so for you. My son has the same set 7 day diet. Been like that for years. The only variations Have been switching the set meals from one night to the next. This week we have just run out of certain items. I’ve booked in the next home delivery in a week and the items are still off line. Thinking of you and your wonderful family.

    1. Oh no! Here’s hoping your items all your items are delivered! Thank you 🙂 Thinking of you guys too! x

  2. Oh, the chicken nuggets and ramen search😱 Ben will only eat the TGIFriday’s boneless wings. Either BBQ or Buffalo (same nuggets, toss the sauce packet in the trash) We’re out. If he HAS to have chicken nuggets, I’ll have to drive-thru the Golden Arches🙄

    The ramen is Maruchan Soy Sauce flavor ONLY! Ramen sold out at Amazon last Friday, we tried to order some. Luckily the corner market had an entire case, I bought 8.

    Ben likes thin steak, pan fried with butter & garlic and cubed chicken breasts cooked the same way. We had a bag of frozen chicken breasts and I had bought a pack of 6 or 7 steaks before the panic. Good thing too because the meat section is still empty at the store without the line to get in.

    Those special diets… we’re used to having to stock up on certain foods, arent we?😘😂

    1. Haha! Yes! I didn’t want to take all the ramen packets so I left three there (chicken flavor for D :-)) now I am thinking I should go get those bad boys before they are out! I’m going to end up being the person driving from drug store to drug store for ramen! Oh my, it’s funny but true! 🙂

  3. Welcome to the new normal! 🙂 Ramen would be nice right about now. Might go out and get some now. Enjoy and stay well!

    1. I know – it’s crazy! It’s the weekend right? I USED to be super excited for a Saturday 🙂 Thank you! You too!

  4. I laughed out loud. It is so nice to see others who understand the food struggles. Brandon’s brand of choice for frozen waffles (he gags when I actually make them) has been out for a week. Ugh. Hang in there!

    1. Oh, that is so funny! Declan likes me to make the waffles with sprinkles in the batter – any other waffle is “disgusting.” Oh no! Hope his waffles come back in stock soon! You too!

  5. Hi Robyn, I’m so sorry for my absence recently, but I’ve had to stop blogging altogether for a while owing to study and life pressures. And now this! I sympathise completely with you struggling to keep afloat with supplies for Declan. Nathan is just the same, and it’s a constant worry that we won’t be able to get the exact type of cereal he eats or his beloved square crisps… The world’s gone mad. Well done for stocking up for the week to come, and I hope next week yields the same success. This crisis is bad enough for everyone, but it’s particularly hard for those of us with special needs kids to cater and care for. All the very best to you and yours, and stay healthy. 🙂 <3

    1. Hi Alli! I have been thinking about you and am glad to hear you are well (considering especially to these crazy life circumstances). I hope you can keep food in stock for Nathan as well. All the best to you and yours too! Take care! Great to hear from you!

      1. You too, Robyn. I’m hoping to be back in touch a little more in the near future, and maybe even get a post out myself at some point! It’d be lovely to keep in touch through this period of utter madness. Take care. 🙂

  6. That was really nice of you to respond to that lady, she obviously needed some social interaction and sounded stressed.
    I can relate on the note about routines being far more then schedules. These past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of losing routines and figuring out how to try to piece them partially/ creatively back together.

    1. I agree! Thankfully we still have online school and a directive for one hour of physical activity – it helps me piece our day together and keep a small routine, which helps so much! Good luck to you on yours!

  7. The OCD gagging reflex is hell. I’m going through a phase where I can’t brush my teeth without gagging. So now I brush for about thirty seconds several times a day. For a while, I gagged every time I saw a friend’s husband. I mean, he was an ass, but gagging?

  8. I have a base stock of supplies since I really want to avoid going out at all if I can. My neighbors text every time they go out and pick up anything I need to fill in. I’m so glad I can tell that if the store has no canned pineapple they can get me canned tropical fruit cocktail like they did last weekend. I can’t imagine having to search for very specific items at this time. Hopefully shelves will be better stocked soon.

    1. I hope so! It has been a whole week of no chicken. The entire section is sold out so I can’t even improvise if I wanted to. I’m ready for a normal shopping experience!

  9. I’m so glad you were able to find some of his foods and I really hope that you will be able to grab those Target chicken strips soon! I was in our local target yesterday and the only empty sections were toilet paper and baking. The chicken had been restocked! I hope the same is true for you as well.

    1. It’s so weird to me – the store seems so empty of people, yet there are so many shelves empty!. I’ve gone back and checked twice this week with no luck. They’ve got to be coming any day now!

    1. That would bother me too. I haven’t been in awhile but the last time I was there it what barren of people and supplies. I can’t wait for things to get better too!

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