I spent much of last night filling shelves with sacks of flour and bags of sugar.
In the continuous overbuying that has accompanied the COVID-19 crisis, flour and sugar are outranked only by hand sanitizers, paper towels and toilet paper.
Baking, it would seem, is the ultimate comfort.
Wegmans is selling cake mixes, chocolate chips, baking powder and condensed milk at a clip never before seen.
Customers evidently are filling their homes with the aromas that real-estate agents advise when trying to sell a house.
Except people are not selling. They’re staying, more than they’ve ever stayed. And their kids, furloughed from school, are happy to scarf up cookies by the sheetful.
The sweets don’t begin at midday.
Maple syrup is also flying off the shelves. I’ve restocked Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth more times than I can count.
And then there are the empty ice cream coolers. I always marvel at how ice cream sells before major storms. Why do we crave icy cold when we’re snowed in?
What the pandemic has made clear is that Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk makes us feel better, no matter the weather. (Nancy Pelosi knew this before the rest of us; it’s her favorite breakfast.)
So the ultimate menu during stay-at-home orders? Pancakes in the morning, cake and cookies midday, and ice cream at night while bingeing Netflix.
Consider it a sacrifice for the greater good.