It's Michaela.

And although I've been posting videos of travel related videos on YouTube recently, I've actually been home most of the time since mid March.

Now self isolating and just going through my old video footage and putting out content, but mostly staying home.

And this weekend, instead of going out doing Hana Bi, I'm sitting in front of my big window and I'm enjoying the sunlight, enjoying the green in front of our balcony.

But staying indoors and being Loki, when I think about what I've been through in Japan now, I've been here 15 years, and I was here in the 2008 economic crisis when the yen got super expensive and all I had was Canadian money that was practically worthless.

I've been here through the nuclear meltdown, the big earthquakes, the Kumamoto earthquake and through all of these trials and tough times like I've persisted, we've persisted, and we're gonna get through this, too.

But I think if this is your first crisis that you're spending overseas, it might be a little bit intimidating and even a little bit scary.

And if you're here, I think at this point you're in it.

You're in it for the long haul.

You're in it for better, for worse.

And you don't know how things are going to turn out, but you're in it.

The first thing I want to say is you absolutely are not alone.

And we're all in this and we're gonna get through this like everything else that has happened in the past 10 15 years in my life.

I can tell you, I have overcome them and Japan has overcome them.

And we've come out stronger than ever before and this time is no different.

We're gonna be okay.

We just need to be careful.

And we need to take care of ourselves and do the best that we can every day.

So at the moment, Japan is not on lock down.

But I do for see it potentially happening in the future just because people have a full sense of security at the moment, I think because there is no transparency in what is actually going on around us, and as soon as we start getting an idea of how big the problem is in Japan, I think people are going to start taking it a little more seriously.

I know that in Tokyo people have already started panic buying foods and that's kind of sparking concern for a lot of people.

But in other prefectures across Japan, I haven't really seen that much of it yet and I think that now is a good time to prepare yourself.

You don't have to panic but maybe prepare yourself.

I think it's important to prepare for the possibility that we will be in this for a while and that things are gonna get better, but not before they get worse.

So on that note, while we still have our freedom, there is a little bit of information I want to put out there that you can do to maybe prepare yourself and maybe easier own mind and be sure that when things do get a little bit more difficult, you will be OK.

When I started seeing videos online of people panic buying foods in Tokyo, I started to get a little bit anxious and I started to think maybe I need to go out and buy as much as I can as well, but the first thing that I did, the first thing that I did this time, I was going to rearrange my kitchen and take stock of everything that I have on this side.

I have the desserts, canned tomatoes, coconut milk.

Then I've got my Curries.

So I love curry, and I collect different types of curry paste and spices.

I do have instant noodles, but, um, I like the Korean cold bills.

They're really nice, and it's easy to stack vegetables on top and make it healthy.

There's some instant miso soup over here.

I've got some seasonings.

This is Mexican tomato salad, avocado salad, rice flour for gluten free bread, organic Tamami, spaghetti, A regular spaghetti for me, since this is quite easy to buy and stock up on, and it doesn't go bad very easily, and I surprisingly, because I am a food order, I have a lot of food, and that helped ease my mind because once you know what you have, you know what?

You're missing it.

Once you know what you need, you can make informed decisions about what you need to get, rather than thinking that you need a lot of something or too much of anything else.

I don't expect you to stock up to my level.

But looking at all the things that I have in my pantry, I'm able to tell you the things that I use the most and the things that I definitely think you should have.

I'm gonna make a list and put it in the video description so you can check it and you can bring it with you if you're shopping.

Just for those of you who have not been through this before, or people who are not used to cooking at home or stocking up their apartment, maybe this list will be helpful for you the next time that you're out.

Grocery shopping.

Now the number one thing that I would recommend that you stock up on is curry.

And there are so many different types of curry and Japanese supermarkets.

You're bound to find the curry I'll, where there's rows and rows of different brands of curry.

Different flavor is different origins.

There's Indian curry.

There's Thai curry, this Japanese curry.

There are so many different options now.

If you have never made Japanese curry before, it's insanely easy and won t know howto make it pretty much.

Every single box on that shelf will be accessible to you, so let's go through it really quick.

Saute the onions, then add your meat.

Add potatoes and carrots and anything else you want, I added.

Mushrooms.

Saute and add three cups of water and let boil for 10 to 15 minutes, then take out your box curry and break into cubes.

Turn off the heat, add the cubes and stir.

You can add more vegetables here if you want.

Simmer over low heat second and prepare your side dishes.

Add some chicken cheese on top and served.

Now.

The best part about making a big pot of curry is not only that, it's extremely cost effective, but a big pot will last you at least a few days.

And the Japanese?

They often say that curry tastes better the next day.

And if you've made a pot of curry and you're tired of eating it the way that you normally see that you could make curry went on, you could make yaki curry.

It's extremely customizable, so you can add meat if you want.

You could not have me if you want.

If you want to make it completely vegan, I recommend buying curry powder instead of the curry boxes instead.

But you can make it pretty much the same way.

I would just add the curry powder before you add the water on if you're buying.

If you're using the blocks, I would throw them in after you have the water.

Eating healthy is very important when you are self isolating.

I can't stress this enough.

If you are socially isolated, you're not going outside.

You're not getting fresh air, you're not getting son, and you're not eating healthy.

This is a recipe for depression, and in order for you to get through this and to get through this with a strong immune system, you do need to be eating as well as you can.

So yes, please consider buying boxes of curry and then carrots, potatoes and onions.

These are the basics that you need.

And not only that, but, like once you have carrots, potatoes, onions, you can use them in other things, too.

Extremely versatile vegetables.

Extremely versatile dish.

Hello, Another great thing about Japanese Korea's that it's usually easy to find in agent supermarkets across the world, lots of import shops seem to stock it.

So I have heard that in North America, Asian grocery stores and Asian supermarkets are often spared from panic buying because people think that it's not safe to shop there.

You're in luck.

If they have curry by a box, try it at home and let me know how goes.

Another thing you'll notice in my little recipe segment is that I used instant Museo soup.

I recommend stocking up on a few of these as well.

You can usually find them in your local Japanese grocery store.

All you have to do is add water and different freeze dried blocks of different vegetable combinations so you could buy a few different ones and figure out which one is your favorite in a pinch white rice, miso soup and a side.

So grilled fish or some sauteed vegetables or some meats?

That's all you need for a simple Japanese style taste.

Good meal.

It's a very low effort, low commitment, way to balance on a meal.

So pick up a couple of these.

If you see them in your supermarket, they're really useful.

Now most Japanese grocery stores will also have cooked D'oh!

These cook do boxes will have sauces and flavors and seasonings for very typical staple Japanese and Chinese foods.

And they're really easy, really, really easy to make.

Usually they only require one or two ingredients, some of them you might already have.

Some could be really easily purchased at the supermarket while you're shopping.

And these are great ways to make a killer side dish for a meal without spending too much time, but also while using fresh ingredients.

So it's not all preservatives and yucky stuff.

Canned diced tomatoes.

Now these could be any brand.

Not particularly, doesn't have to be the brand that I'm holding right now.

I always pick up diced tomatoes when I'm out shopping because they're so versatile.

They're so good to have in your pantry for when you have no idea what to make.

Soups, stews, curry past Uh, yes, sautes of onions, bacon, some eggplant throwing your dice tomatoes.

Season with a regular salt pepper.

Throw it on some past.

You've got past the sauce.

It's It's so easy to work with nice tomatoes.

You don't need to buy a lot of them.

You don't need to buy like all of them, but maybe pick up a cantor to the next time you're shopping.

If you see them because they are very, very useful to have spices.

Spices are really, really helpful because they help elevate even the most basic meals.

If you don't have a lot of spices, olive oil, salt, pepper are really good with fresh vegetables.

But if you are looking thio, jazz up the same old, same old instead of buying all those spices individually, what you can do is buy Italian seasoning by tandoori chicken spice seasoning.

If you could find different seasonings for different purposes, you can collect those and use them on your vegetables.

You can use the wonder mashed potatoes.

You can use them on your meats, of course, and you can use them to elevate meals that would rather otherwise taste bland.

All right, I forgot to mention this in the video with Super important invest in a good Yaqui Nico sauce.

Having one of these when you're at home helps add flavor to a simple meat and vegetable dish.

I like to take leftover vegetables and fry them on the frying pan until they kind of get charred and then throw them over rice and put the AC unique sauce on top to make a Yaqui Niko Rice ball.

It's a great way to get your vegetables, and it tastes really good.

I also recommend getting ponzu, and this is a user Poland, so it's made with uh uses Citrus instead of regular lemon.

But a ponzu is usually a Citrus soy sauce, blended sauce that's very fragrant, very tangy.

And I like to use this one on steamed vegetables and also in sautes when I sauteed greens like bok choy or Shinjuku.

Um, any sort of Asian greens tastes really good with poems.

Oh, breads passed A and rice are really important to have.

Make sure that you have some bread can always be frozen, so buy a loaf of bread.

You don't need to buy tons of bread and tons of rice and tons of pastor.

But having a good variety means that you can have flexibility when you're cooking at home and you won't get bored.

Okay, so next I want to talk a little bit about Japanese supermarkets.

For those of you who have not lived here very long, you might not know, but Japanese supermarkets will always discount their deli products of their bentos about an hour before closing, so in a pinch.

If you are running low on cash and you need a good meal, you can usually drop by your local supermarket near closing time.

After the dinner time Russia, usually around after 67 o'clock, they will start discounting all of the deli foods and all of the bentos, and they will usually mark it down to about half price.

So in a pinch, if you're starving and you really need like a nice balanced meal, I think this is an option that you should keep in mind.

Also, whenever you are in a supermarket and you see discounts in the meat section, I recommend snapping those up because of me.

Always be frozen and used later.

It's good to have a good variety of frozen meats because you never know when you're gonna have trouble finding them in the future.

And sometimes in a pinch here just really, really happy to find like, Ah, full frozen chicken breast in the freezer so we covered meets Next.

I want to talk about buying vegetables when I buy vegetables.

I tried to buy one of every color, and this is for a few reasons, one because I've heard that eating a variety of different colors in your vegetables helps ensure you're getting a good balance of vitamins and nutrients.

I don't know if that's true, but I like to think that it is, um, but to also because it makes food more visual.

You're killing, and I think that when you are eating at home making foods that are visually appealing, it just makes a huge difference having a bunch of different colors on your plate, it helps you feel like you're treating yourself, and not that you're stuck here eating whatever you have.

For example, for color variety, I like to buy what they call cut off demon, which is like colored peppers on the's air.

Great I shop at farmers markets rather than supermarkets.

You can find lots of really cute things that air seasonally available that are normally not found in big corporate supermarket chains.

So I also got rainbow chard, which I'm really excited for.

Swiss chard.

All the stamps are bright, vibrant colors, and this makes saute is more fun, like instead of sauteing something that's completely green, you've got little bits of red, yellow, pink and white in there as well.

Now Finally, one of the most important things that I want to talk about is mental health, and we're learning more and more about the situation in Japan and the situation in the world day by day.

And really we can only take it day by day.

Try not to focus too much on the future and what's going to happen a week from now, two weeks from now or a month from now, because nobody knows keep in touch with the people around you because even and I know that there will be people in the comments will say like, Oh, I don't have a good relationship with my family or I don't have a lot of friends so nobody would care if I got sick.