Wherever you are in the world right now there’s no doubting you’ve been impacted in some shape or form by the coronavirus.
What has been your Covid-19 experience?
For some it’s been a time to stop and refresh, to count your blessings, so to speak, and consider what’s really important and necessary in your life. For others we’ve heard the opposite experience. It’s created panic, fear, headaches and perhaps a new appreciation for the teaching profession?! For some it’s meant the end of a business or significant operational changes. Some closed their doors for good, while others found ways to operate differently. For all of us we’ve had to consider what might be best when things return, or rather change, to the ‘new normal’.
Spending more time at home has meant getting onto that project you’ve been pushing aside. Or spending time in the garden and trying new recipes. For some it’s created an opportunity to slow down and spend time binge-watching the latest release on Netflix or finally read that book.
However this time of isolation and social restriction looks for you, we hope you can find the time to rest in it, and to gather yourself for the days ahead.
Changes in our purchasing behaviours – the good and the not so good
As things started to change, we saw the start of buying frenzies in relation to toilet paper (read our PROPPR post about using less toilet paper) and many pantry staples.
While demand has certainly stabilised and things have returned to the shelves we found it interesting to read some commentary from the CEO of Woolworths, Brad Banducci. He noted some interesting changes in purchasing behaviour that indicate we’ve become healthier and more adventurous in our cooking.
He stated, “While the slow cooking movement continues, we’re also becoming increasingly adventurous. Ingredients such as cardamom, saffron and dried sesame seeds have doubled in sales. Roasted peppers are up 65%, Asian and hot chilli sauces are both up 40% and capers are up 35%.” We thought that was pretty cool.
He went on to say that “It’s also interesting to see customers think about their health, with a big rise in vitamin sales, plus ground ginger and turmeric sales up 120% and sauerkraut up 76%. On a related topic, sales of cough and cold products are much lower this year compared to last year.”
It would seem we are thinking seriously about our health, what we consume and how we look after our gut health too.
As for us…
Zhenya has spent extra time in her garden planting herbs, playing in the kitchen and pulling out recipes that before now “took too much time”, and finding old furniture to restore. Her dog Dixie is loving the constant company and extra play time. And of course Z has enjoyed working from home in her Ugg boots!
Jacqueline has also found extra time to try new recipes and get into the garden. She’s been enjoying the results with salad greens and home grown herbs now regularly consumed. She’s also been playing table tennis, walking lots and getting into ‘Zoom Pilates’ as part of the weekly routine. She also participated in a photography project called “Portraits in Isolation” with a local south coast photographer; which was a bit of fun.
What about you? What have these past weeks looked like for you?