Death by Annie Hall

So it’s our Daughter’s birthday today (all together now, say awwwww!) She’s 26, and she’s decided for her special day she wants to meet for lunch at her favorite San Francisco restaurant, Cha-Cha-Cha. Cuban- and Jamaican-inspired tapas, mmmm. And ohhh yes, the sangria!

Unfortunately, afterward she’s decided that since it’s likely to rain we should take in a movie. Not just any movie — a Woody Allen movie (shudder).

My wife’s never seen a Woody Allen movie. I know she’s going to hate it. Guaranteed, within five minutes she’s going to be glaring at me and muttering “is the whole thing like this?”
To offset the brain-numbing exposure to neurosis and incompetence personified, I’m at least doing something competent this weekend: I’m going to replenish our vehicles’ seven-day food packs at Trader Joe’s. My wife’s developed a taste for their prepackaged bowls of Thai noodle soup. I had previously stored seven days’ worth of cheap Costco Ramen noodles and Cup-O-Noodles, of which she’s not so fond. Gotta store food your loved ones will actually eat!

I’ll have more on our vehicle survival packs in a bit.  Each car has glovebox contents (here and here), two “Grab-and-Go” kit bags hanging behind the front seats with survival gear and three days’ worth of food (I’ll detail them tomorrow), a seven-day food pack (below) and some other goodies I’ll get to later.

Below is a list of what was in the food packs for most of last year. I’m making some changes and additions. The bleach, a poor man’s water-purification kit, was a bad idea. Hint: bleach fumes corrode things.

Blue rolling duffel:
Right pocket
60-oz. bleach, eyedropper (to purify water)
Clear water: 3 drops per liter or quart; cloudy water: 5 drops
16 oz. rubbing alcohol
2 rolls toilet paper

Left pocket
3 rolls toilet paper
1 roll Kirkland paper towels (80 sheets)

Center pocket
Blue bath towel
Cooking kit with small cup, mayonnaise packets
1 set knife/fork/spoon, 1 set knife/fork
Fold-A-Stove w/12 cooking tabs; 24 extra cooking tabs
8 survival candles, matches, magnesium firestarter
5 Cup-O-Noodles
10 packets Ramen
3 boxes Ritz crackers

Bottom pocket
3 boxes Saltine crackers
Can opener
11 cans corn
1 can green beans
4 cans green peas
10 cans tuna
8 cans each Costco (Kirkland) chicken and beef
6 cans of various types of fruit