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Plus: A recipe for vegetable chowder soup, dressed as you like

A sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ reader, Kevin, sent me an email asking if I had any recipes not requiring ingredients that are consistently out of stock at grocery stores during the pandemic.

Judging by how little flour I saw for sale at supermarkets last week, it appears many people have stocked up.

Nancy, a sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ reader, asked if could do some columns that offered basic cooking skills and tips using simple ingredients, items you can likely find easily in grocery stores during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Kids are off school, and if you’re looking for an activity, baking something together can be tasty fun. The adult can run the operation, while the kids help with such things as fetching ingredients, measuring and mixing.

With all the worry and concern about COVID-19, this seems a good time to offer a recipe for a comfort food — something simmered that fills your home with a wonderful aroma, a welcoming dish grandma might have made when times were tough.

When I was a kid, my family had a Saturday tradition where we would all pile into the car, go to the supermarket and do our grocery shopping for the week ahead.

For economic, ethical and other reasons, finding ways to use vegetable scraps — rather than simply tossing them out or composting them — has been a trend the past few years. Books have even been written about it.

Give the dish a Vancouver Island twist with local bread, beer and cheese

If you have a craving for cabbage rolls, but don’t have time to make them, shorten the preparation process and make a fairly simple soup that tastes like them.