I've been using Azure Standard since around 2005, I think -- it might have been earlier. Over the years the drop coordinators and drop locations have changed, but I always have access to one no more than 15 minutes from the house by car.
Back in September both our in house refrigerator and our in garage chest freezer stopped working. We replaced the refrigerator right away, and last month I gave up and got a new chest freezer. Since we bought the old one they've started selling "garage ready" models and we can see how much more insulated it is. I bought some extra sliding baskets for it since I had a lot of trouble with organizing the old freezer -- this model has a second layer of sliding baskets and I love them. I'll admit that I hate our new refrigerator, and I'm pretty sure it will end up being a garage refrigerator soon. Stainless steel was my only option for a replacement that could be delivered within the month, and I really miss having a white refrigerator that isn't so hard to keep nice looking. I guess I grouse about it on the regular, because DH told me to just get something I want, especially since one of the college kids changed their plans and is back at home. If I do that I'll have space for more eggs, milk, fresh produce, etc. And I do love having an extra fridge when watermelons are their least expensive and I buy 4 at a time.
We're well stocked on meats, mostly from ButcherBox (loved the sales right after Thanksgiving and Christmas), but I also bought b/s chicken breast for $1 per pound knowing that my oldest and their friend will be here for spring break -- athletes do love their lean protein. I also grabbed a couple of pork butts for spring break as well.
My pantry isn't all that full, but I do have beans, rice, flour, wheat berries, popcorn, etc. I'm keeping fewer canned and jarred goods on hand, really only keeping 1-2 extras of the things we use regularly, except for canned pineapple which I buy a case at a time. I've also stopped trying to think like someone who lives in colder areas -- I have access to local fresh produce year round and there's really no reason for me to go crazy stocking large amounts of canned or frozen produce. In the new freezer I have 10# mango, 8# strawberries, 10# corn, 5# peas (for Indian dishes), and a Costco bag of edamame -- I don't know how much that weighs. I buy frozen fire roasted sweet potatoes and frozen organic shredded potatoes regularly, as the major convenience foods I allow myself. I still make almost everything from scratch, but those two items in particular are making life a little easier right now.
I use my food processor to grate cheese. We really like Tillamook medium cheddar and I can buy blocks of it at Costco and grate it before freezing. I also use the food processor to "grate" real parmagiano-reggiano cheese into the size you find in the green cans, since we use it in meatloaf instead of bread crumbs, for binding and flavor.
The young adult kid at home would love for us to have a french fry cutter! And the idea to use a deep fryer outside is a good one. Both of those items could be a good birthday gift and maybe they will be the one to learn to make fries -- and to clean up the mess! I know someone else who makes their own frozen fries and swears by them. I like fries but DH and I don't eat them often. I'm not fond of the air fryer mess, but I'm thinking the air fryer lid for the Instant Pot would create an easier to clean up air fryer, since you can immerse the Instant Pot inner pot to clean it. We've been using the "sous vide" mode on the Instant Pot for tri-tip and sirloin cap steak, with fantastic results. My old Instant Pot didn't have sous vide, but I gave that one to my BIL when he moved and am using a $50 Black Friday special.
I guess I'd say we've found a good balance. Our lives are different than they were at the beginning of the pandemic, with one fewer young adult living at home. With the gluten free young adult at home we naturally eat less gluten, which simplifies things -- our carbohydrate is usually potatoes, rice, or corn. DH and I eat two meals per day which also simplified things. Meal #1 is slightly more breakfast-y and is based on eggs or bulk sausage (and sometimes bacon if we got it free), either sweet potatoes or white potatoes, and then vegetables. Meal #2 is usually meat or fish, a side carb (I don't always eat this since the kid eats so much rice that I make white rice to lower the arsenic content), and lots of vegetables. I make a couple of meatless main meals each week as well, but not as many as before the kid came back home. I'm not baking much bread at all anymore, which feels odd but it's just where we are in life right now.
This means my at home "grocery store" needs to have plenty of meat and fish in the freezer, some frozen produce (they eat smoothies before practices and we eat corn with steaks instead of potatoes), rice, beans, and wheat berries/flour in the bulk buckets, basics like salsa and peanut butter, cooking fats (usually ghee and EVOO), things to add flavor like herbs, spices, and vinegar, dairy products including butter, yogurt, sour cream, and milk (the kid drinks it and that's a major improvement over the soda habit they picked up while away at university).
We buy plenty of fresh produce every week or two, along with any other needed perishables, although I prefer not to need to shop for eggs and dairy weekly. I buy less perishable produce like potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbages, broccoli, etc. and then I know I have produce options. On any given day I can make our meals without worrying about not having what we need. I definitely use the "pantry principle" rather than planning meals on grocery ads.
I'm starting to let up on the grocery delivery now that we know Omicron isn't highly deadly for those who are vaccinated and boosted. We still mask up in indoor settings, but we aren't just staying home anymore. I have a few more months of a free Instacart trial offered by our credit card, and then we'll let it go unless things get bad again. I plan my trips for when the stores should be the least crowded -- weekdays at opening are great for Sprouts, whereas Costco is better just before closing on Tuesday or Wednesday. I've only been back to Costco twice since last summer, as it made me the most nervous because it's the most crowded.
We're considering a garden for this year, or maybe just a few tomato and zucchini plants. We're planning to put in a couple of avocado trees, which we should have done years ago, really. Come fall I'll try my hand at cabbage and a few other winter crops. I always say I'm going to put in a lemon tree, but so many neighbors have lemon trees that I always have what I need -- some neighbors put them out front in baskets for anyone to take, and some tell us to pick a few anytime we need them.
Oh, for refried beans, I just cook pinto beans with garlic, salt them after cooking, and then puree with a hand blender, adding cooing liquid if needed and fat if we want to. My Mexican MIL adds a little milk to make them creamy, but my oldest is dairy allergic so I don't do that. We don't add any other seasonings, and they're perfect. When I was first married I would cook the beans with onion, added cumin, etc. and my husband just didn't think they tasted authentic to what he ate growing up.
