Recent crisis affecting our mental health in 2022

With the global coronavirus pandemic entering its third year, it looks like food shortages have continued into 2022. During our regular therapy sessions with clients, our clinicians came to know about the shortages of food from which has led to stress and anxiety for everyone. The inclement weather has played a big role in short supply of food and other products which are usually found in abundance at local grocery stores. 

Food shelves were empty and some of the missing products were milk, meat, vegetables and fruits. The stores that were massively affected by it were Trader Joe's, Giant, Safeway and Aldi but Costco and Harris Teeter weren't affected that much. Today, we will be sharing some tips that you can follow in order to cope up with this kind of crisis.

• Start looking at Caribbean or African stores as well for things such as meat, vegetables & eggs, etc. Some of these stores carry some of these missing items!

• Always stock up canned food items like beans, soups, can veggies, and peanut butter, etc. for times like this. 

• During the winter months buy frozen vegetables since they last longer and are cheaper in bulk. Also, you can share meals or swap food items.

• If you are on an affordable budget, you can always share the cost with a family member or a friend.

•  Start preparing meals to last for 5-7 days, like chili, soups, one-pan dishes.

• Utilize local food banks or visit churches to see what food resources are available. 

• Last but not the least, this upcoming Monday, the community is providing free meals at any of the restaurants and booster shots if interested at Beltway Plaza Mall in Greenbelt, MD. You don’t have to be PG County Resident in order to attend this. It will be held from 12-4pm.

The additional anxiety of Omicron has definitely increased our feelings of anxiety, stress and depression because of food insecurity, unemployment and extreme weather conditions but this is just a matter of time and this uncertainty at this point of time is hard on all of us but together we will be able to get through this. Please share the information with anyone who is struggling with the current situation and let us know if this was helpful.