Coping with COVID in a small space—resources, recipes, and tips
With the spread of coronavirus and social distancing in effect, I thought I’d share some resources I’ve found helpful, recipes that use non-perishable items, and some tips for coping with being cooped up in a small space.
I know I said I’m on a publishing hiatus until I launch my rebrand in April, but I couldn’t help but pull some resources together that I’ve been finding useful.
The vibe in New York changed on a dime. When I first caught wind of the seriousness of coronavirus in late February, I stocked up on non-perishable food items, cleaning supplies and toilet paper. I also took out some money at the ATM and checked our medicine supply—specifically ibuprofen for dealing with a fever. I then headed to Maine for a planned to trip to see family. It all still felt far away until I sent out a note to my newsletter subscribers which is still pretty small list of about 600 people. One of my readers said she had been quarantined on the Diamond Princess Cruise ship. When I got back to NYC on March 9th, things were vastly different. Grocery store aisles were completely empty of canned and dried goods. Could not find any disinfecting cleaning supplies and not a roll of toilet paper in site. Tons of stuff was cancelled, including a work conference I was set to host in late March.
I know there is a ton of information flying, and one more blog post won’t do much good, but I do consider myself well read and I take more time than the average person to read and work to understand tricky subjects, so I’m sharing some things I’ve found useful on the interwebs along with surfacing a few of my own posts.
I hope that you are taking good care this week and manage to stay calm and grounded during this time of uncertainty. I know all the closures and news feels ominous, but taking the extra care to do social distancing is really an amazing act of solidarity. By sacrificing and taking part in some inconveniences now, we’re giving nurses, doctors, and hospitals a chance to get in front of this.
Coronavirus reading and research
There’s a lot of information flying around and it can be hard to know what to trust. I’ve found these resources to be particularly useful and pass the sniff test on reliability. None of these are easy/enjoyable reads, but I urge you to put in the work rather relying on the clickbait headlines.
TL;DR
Globally there is vast underreporting of confirmed cases and confirmed cases lag behind real cases so whatever you “feel” like is happening, is about 10% of reality.
The US is failing to administer enough tests (we’re below Vietnam on tests performed per million people)
Exponential curves are hard for the human brain to grock. But the US already has the same number of confirmed cases that Italy had. Italy did not implement social distancing and has lost a lot lives.
Tips for coping with social distancing in a small space
General small space tips
Stay on top of cleaning and tidying. Small spaces feel messy easily and you'll feel more spacious if things are neat.
Open the blinds to let all the light in, maybe even the windows if it's warm enough outside.
Make the bed (or put the bed up if you have a wall bed)
Do some stretching.
Organize a drawer to feel accomplished at home.
Put on some good tunes. If you need to work I like this Spotify playlist to focus while boosting my mood.
Do something you don't normally do because you're never home. Last night I baked a small olive oil cake. Today I plan to spend more time playing my keyboard.
Sharing your small space with someone
The key is to take extra time to be especially considerate of each other!
Let each other know what your work schedule is so you can coordinate taking meeting calls and plan noisy activities such as cooking ahead of time. For example, my husband has a lot of long meetings and I only have two today so I set up shop in the building hallway and made a quiet lunch.
Wear noise-canceling headphones when you are listening or watching something so the other person doesn't have to hear it. Let that be the default, and then if they ask to watch TV with you, you can listen together.
Be mindful of needing extra sleep. If one person is coughing through the night or just generally anxious, it might not be the best day to start waking up early.
Grind coffee the night before and fill the kettle with water so you can get the coffee started with minimal noise and frustration. With coffee (and each other) we can face almost anything!
Recipes with mostly shelf-stable ingredients
Almond butter + fig jam smoothie
Skip the fresh figs.
Chia pudding
Use dried fruit instead of fresh.
Make ahead gluten-free protein muffins
One-pot-pasta puttanesca
Use canned, whole peeled tomatoes.
Butternut squash and tomato bisque
Using frozen butternut squash, frozen kale, and canned tomatoes.
Simple sheet pan butternut squash soup
Use frozen butternut squash.