The Food Truck-- An Adventure During Stay Home Orders!

The Food Truck parked at the door going into
The Wattenberg Center

During these times of staying home and not being able to see or visit friends and acquaintances has been hard on me as I love socializing!  One of the things I used to like doing was my monthly visit to the Food Truck.  To begin my story we need a little background.  Once a month on the second Tuesday, the Food Bank of the Rockies comes to Walden.  It is a semi-load of food for people who need groceries for their families, senior citizens, volunteers who help distribute the food and, in Walden, about anyone else since they need to leave with an empty truck.  I have been going for the past two years and it is quite entertaining for me.  I don't get out much any more and it is fun to be able to visit with people I may or may not know while we wait for the food to be set out and ready for us to gather up.  I hear all the latest gossip and see old friends and former students that I hardly recognize any more.  I kind of wish we could wear name tags because it is sometimes embarrassing 

to ask who they are when I know I should recognize them. I have exchanged recipes for some of the more exotic foods or ones we hardly see in our community, such as beets, some kind of vegan sausage patties, dried yellow split peas (I think they are what is called dahl in India), fresh hoseradish (we didn't get this but a lady told me how to prepare it when I would dig it up since we had some on our ditch banks).  Also since many of us are only feeding 1 person we get more food than we can use.  In my case, I only have a very small freezer, so we give each other tips on how to preserve or use the foods.  Right now I have a gallon of Raspberry vinegarette I need to do something with!  HA!  The reason we have so much time together is that many times the truck is late getting up here due to bad weather or truck breakdowns and we have to wait until it can be unloaded by the drivers and set up in the big room for us to file in and gather up our food.  

Cars lined up in front of me waiting to pick up groceries

Here is the procedure.  When we arrive we go into the kind of lobby of the Wattenberg Center.  The truck is backed up to that same door and the driver and their helper bring the cases, bags and bottles of food off the truck and pass through all of us into the big room.  It has been set up with tables around its perimeter.  The food is set out on the tables by volunteers who have the boxes behind them so they can keep replenishing the tables. Meanwhile out in our little room there are chairs set around the room with a path through the middle for the carts loaded with cases of food to pass through.  We like to speculate on what is really in those cartons and cases.  We sit in order of first come first served and the chairs fill up pretty fast so people then stand in a line that kind of snakes back and forth trying to stay out of the way of  the unloading process.  When it is warm outside the line goes outside. When everything is set up we are allowed to start going into the big room.  We must first sign in and sometimes fill out some forms which slows down the whole process.  Due to privacy we can't get too close to those who are signing in.  Finally we can start around the room cafeteria style filling up the bags and boxes we have all brought with us (well, we are supposed to, but most of the time I have used the empty boxes they brought the food in.  This hasn't worked too well the last few months since someone is breaking those boxes down as soon as they are empty, so there aren't any by the time I get there.  I now use my insulated big grocery bags.) At the end of the line are more volunteers waiting to help us carry our food to our cars.  Sometimes they are teenagers and younger kids who are home schooled as well as adult volunteers.  It is really wonderful that we have such great people in the community that volunteer their time for this.

Cars lined up behind me waiting for food.
The people ouside are filling in our
 paperwork from 6 feet away

Some of the foods I got today.  That's
frozen eggs in the blue carton

This was a weird one this month. 
It's vegan sausage, I think.
It looks like cookies and it is frozen.

So you may wonder what sorts of food comes up to Walden. There are always dried foods such as pasta, dried beans, and rice (although not so today), milk of all sorts, like today it was whole milk and Almond Silk, but many times it is 2% and even that kind that you can keep on the shelf until you open it.  There is quite often breakfast cereal in boxes, alway some kind of canned foods, usually canned fruit and sauces like pasta sauce, and tomato sauce.  There are frozen meats, whole chickens, fish sticks, pork roasts(one of my favorites), weird non meat patties, chicken tenders, drumsticks, and shredded cheese at different times.  Also frozen vegetables and fruits.  There are always fresh things too.  Lots of times whatever is in season is available in large quantities to freeze or can.  Almost always there are potatos, sometimes as much as 25 or 50 lb bags!  A few times there have been lots of bananas. They almost always have some kinds of drinks like juices, pop, fizzy water or just plain drinking water.  Several times they have had cases of individual yogurts which I love because they last a long time and I eat yogurt every morning for breakfast.  Boxed mac and cheese is popular too.  At the end of the line are all kinds of breads, rolls, and pasteries.  We usually get a choice of 2 or 3 of these items.  Their due dates are pretty current but they do freeze, if you have the space.  Then there are the treats! Almost always there are some surprises  One time I got a tube of  Hello Kitty toothpaste.  Another time it was a CASE of dark chocolate butterfingers! We have recently gotten candy canes, 2 boxes of 12 each.  Another time it was 2 boxes of Russell Stover chocolates and another time it was like 2, 2lb. bags of pistashio nuts.  Last month I got a 1lb. bag of shelled walnuts. 2 or 3 months ago we got maybe 10 lbs. of fresh (storage) beets.  The kind you have to boil and skin.  I made pickled beets and eggs.  A summer specialty of mine.  The eggs were also from the truck.  We got 3 dozen, a dozen each from 3 different farms plus a quart of frozen eggs!  Margarine and "plant butter" (I'm thinking it also is margarine) are also frequent items. Ok enough, you get the picture, we really are lucky to recieve these foods!

The staging area with volunteers and loaded boxes

I was really concerned about whether there would be a food truck this month since we have been hearing about the food shortages and the long lines at the Food bank of the Rockies in Denver.  With so many people out of work I can see that it is a huge problem all over.  Well, not to worry the truck arrived as scheduled today and our volunteers had it all worked out for social distancing and it went like clockwork!  We barely had to leave our cars. we drove by the tables set up outside, stopped, opened our trunks, got back in the car and volunteers, who had filled the boxes earlier, put them in our cars and off we went back home.  The foods were a little different but the food was plentiful and the basics were in the boxes.  No sweet surprises but yes, there was some fresh produce.  This could have been a problem since it was extremely cold this morning, around 15 degrees.  It was 1 degree when I got up.  I was a little worried the lettuce and spinich might be frozen but it wasn't.  There were grapefruits, oranges and apples and potatos, as well.  My freezer is stuffed full and there is plenty for me for another month!  Hallelujah! Thank You to all of those who stood out in the cold to help us out! 

Maybe tomorrow or the next day I will have a picture of my final project in my certification class!  It is really kicking my butt!

PS:  The bunny placemat that snuck into my picture of food truck food was something I made last Easter but didn't get it finished in time so it is being used this year.