The answer is a big yes @tomatotomato. We often use it if we don’t want to open a quart of the organic chicken stock we always have on hand, or if we don’t have any homemade chicken stock in the freezer. I have found that it’s not quite as concentrated as the Penzeys, and is lower sodium, so I typically have to use more than I did of the Penzey’s chicken base, and generally have to add a bit more salt. It does make an excellent soup, can’t remember if you mentioned onion, but I would definitely sauté some first and use a Turkish bay leaf or two. Good luck experimenting.
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I agree with the prevention steps. I eat tons and tons of citrus this time of year. My mom used to give us elderberry as kids. That stuff is delicious!
I saw a handful of people in the airport to Costa Rica with masks. None on the actual flight that I could see.
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YES, to using better than bullion as a base!! I do it all the time when I’m in a rush. It packs a lot of flavor and also gives the broth that lovely yellow hue.
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@Lambchop, @gracieggg—thank you! I’ll test actually using Better Than Bullion for a broth that stands on its own, as opposed to being “hidden” in risotto. I want to avoid an experiment that had no chance of being worthwhile.
I generally favor homemade stock but our freezer is small so it’s impractical to keep much make-ahead stock on hand.
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In case you decide to make some of your own stock, @tomatotomato…
I usually make my stock without salt, and reduce down by 50% if I’m planning to freeze. Sometimes I freeze stuff in ziplock bags, flattened in a cake or loaf pan… then store upright in the freezer, like a book. Saves space.
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Good tips! Thanks for sharing.
What sorts of pantry items do you usually eat? What could you handle eating for 2 weeks?
In our household, we want frozen peas, some proteins (some cooked, some raw), bread and soups. Shelf-stable pantry items, on normal rotation include tinned tuna, tomatoes, artichokes, preserved citrus; rice, pasta and pulses; various dried vegetables (espec. onions, carrots, garlic) and Chinese-y things, mushrooms; jam, marmalade, some jarred sauces and dressings; oils, vinegars, numerous seasonings. These would be items we have on hand at all times, and I rotate the stock. My income can be, uh, unpredictable; so I almost always have 2-4 weeks of food in my inventory. We could easily go 4 weeks without shopping if I could handle the lack of variety.
Non food items: TP, paper kitchen towels, diapers for the grandbabies, menstrual care items for our kids, laundry soap, dish soap, and general use meds.
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Thanks for the mention of canned tuna, always keep it on hand, but I will check inventory. Also like Costco tinned chicken, makes excellent chicken salad in a pinch & handy to add to quick soups. Extra jar of mayo. I like to have regular canned artichokes too, as we use in a favorite Greek recipe. Have tons of home canned tomatoes plus frozen ones and tinned pastes & sauce too. Pretty well covered on condiments, excellent and various vinegars, and Asian ingredients too. Have an entire shelf of Indian products that I haven’t dabbled with much. We also keep tons of pastas and different types of rices. We could feed friends and family for quite awhile, if necessary.
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No. Too salty for a full chicken soup, IMO. Even the lower sodium. I would mix it with homemade or store-bought chicken broth or stock.
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Thank you for sharing. Sounds like a pre-need test drive is well warranted for me, then. For my tastes, I often explore the limits of commercial products as in: Will I like the result or not?
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Absolutely and totally agree. All the bouillon and stock bases have way too much salt for my taste. I buy the Tetra packs of Kitchen Basics no salt added and find I still don’t have to add salt to most dishes.
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@gracieggg and @Saregama, do you suppose St Germain counts as a preventative, since it’s made with elderflowers? I like it mixed with Tanqueray, Prosecco and lemon slices? Lots of potentially protective botanicals in the gin too 
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love it. always buy the chicken flavored ones from Costco which comes in a bigger jar than grocery store. They often run out. I use it to add extra flavor to my chicken broth as well. Has since stopped stocking chicken broth in liquid form since I discovered this .
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I am not a doctor but that sounds like a perfectly acceptable use and mindset! 
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About halfway through inventory of the pantry and plans for the freezer. Been a while for both and the Sam’s Club list is getting longer.
This is reminiscent of the Y2K panic, but I think more ominous. I’m officially a senior with an impaired immune system. Something’s going get me, but I’m not in the bunker mentality.
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Both more and less ominous–more likely to happen, but less likely to involve infrastructure failure. That is, extra food and meds are a good idea, but a generator and fuel supply is probably overdoing it.
I agree in principle. I use situations like this as an opportunity to think things through. Y’all put your engineering hats on. grin Risk management means a lot more than most people appreciate. At its most simple you separate probability of occurrence from impact. A risk with 90% probability of occurrence for an impact of a hang nail doesn’t deserve the attention of a risk with 1% probability of occurrence with an impact of death, or even 2% chance of death gets more attention.
Part of the process is to identify assumptions. Stocking up on frozen food has an implicit assumption that power won’t go out. Suppose it does? What is the response to restore power likely to be? All those multi-state responses to wide spread outages may be delayed or just not happen. If you’re on a well no power means no water. If you’re on utility water and a pump goes down who fixes that? Do you have enough insight into local and state emergency management to be confident in their plan? My local emergency management people can’t manage their way out of a paper bag if you shine a flashlight in the opening. sigh We’d be waiting for the state who are probably distracted by a nearby city with a history of riots, looting, and arson. big sigh
Don’t panic (for Douglas Adams fans “Don’t Panic”). Be calm. Be thoughtful.
We’re stocking up just to our normal “full” levels. We’re paying more attention to our plans (same as we have for hurricanes and winter storms) for things like generator fuel, water reserves, trash bags. We’re filling car fuel tanks sooner than usual. We’re doing inventory. We fully expect this will only be an exercise for us but it is good practice. We’re not preppers and we’re not hoarding. We’re stocking up a little more carefully to normal “full” levels.
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Especially 'cause that was about a thing that might happen - computers gone mad! ATM’s refusing to give you money! riots in the streets! And this is about a thing that is happening - people are getting sick and some of them are dying. I’m nowhere near panic mode, but I rolled my eyes - hard - at Y2K. And I’m not rolling them now.
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That’s us too.
Pretty much the same thing we do when major snowstorms are expected. We were out of a lot a goods in order to rotate items that we had hanging around for awhile. I don’t want to be bereft of a lot of staples, which was where we stood.
Plus you can’t share with your neighbors when the cupboard is bare, and we have an older neighbor who is like an auntie to us. She looks out for us too and spoils our dog, so there’s that to consider. 
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