Week 112: A Big Bread Problem

I had a bit of a gluten issue this week. Thankfully, I didn't find out that I have something horrible like gluten intolerance, but I did have a massive, bread-related problem... This was all thanks to our recently discovered favorite app, Too Good To Go.

I saw a great deal on the app for a $6 Surprise Bag from a place called Rubicon Deli in Mission Hills, so I reserved one before it sold out. My pickup time was 8:10 - 9:00 pm, so I headed out around 8pm.

Outside of Rubicon Deli

I found a parking spot right across the street and headed inside quickly. I was looking forward to maybe a loaf or two of bread to eat with soup for dinner. It looked like they were in the middle of closing shift, because the floor was freshly mopped and there was music playing. I waited a while before someone came out behind the counter to greet me. I explained I was there for a Too Good To Go bag, and he said, "Great! Just grab one of those bags on the shelf!" and then headed back to his duties. I was a bit confused.

Surely he couldn't mean the MASSIVE brown paper bags full to the brim with bread? I tried lifting one and it was genuinely heavy. I was scared the handles would rip, so I hugged the bag with both arms and struggled out the door.

My passenger princess: large bag of bread

I was breadstruck, which is like starstruck, except gluten-friendly. It was a LOT of bread... Like a shocking amount of bread. I manhandled the bread bag into the passenger seat and laughed out loud. I even considered putting the passenger seatbelt over the bag just in case the airbag sensor might go off.

I swear, the bag was probably at least 20 pounds. It was full of cheesy rolls and a large assortment of loaves. I lugged it all the way from my parking spot up the stairs to my apartment and genuinely felt winded.

The bread bag next to the stove for scale.

ALL of the bread on the counter...

A whole wheat loaf and an herb loaf

A jalapeno cheese loaf

A Dutch crunch loaf

A bleu cheese loaf

After doing a bit of inventory and completely invading the kitchen counterspace, I counted 6 Dutch crunch loaves, 10 small rolls, 5.5 cheesy loaves, 1.5 whole wheat loaves, 3 herb loaves, 3 jalapeno cheese loaves, and 5.5 bleu cheese loaves.

In total, this is 24.5 loaves of bread and 10 rolls, which is way more than one person could eat in a reasonable amount of time. I wasn't sure what to do. I immediately sliced some rolls and stuck them in the freezer and Googled "Best Way to Store a Lot of Bread."

I set some aside for myself, but still had about 20 loaves left, which leads us to the problem of the week: what do I do with all this damn bread?

After a little bit of researching and a couple phone calls to some shelters, I solved my bread problem by giving a majority of it to Rachel's Womens' Center in Downtown San Diego. I called ahead to make sure they were willing and able to accept a random bread donation from some random person (me) and surprisingly, they told me to come by any time! I sorted the types of bread and labeled them with some sticky notes before putting them in Trader Joe's bags (my Google search earlier confirmed that paper bags are best for bread storage).

When I dropped the bread bags off, the woman who met me at the buzzer gate seemed genuinely touched by my donation. It was a bit unsettling, but she looked really deep into my eyes when she said thank you. It was nice, and I hope the people at Rachel's Womens' Center enjoy some extra gluten from Rubicon Deli.

Bonus: I hosted our Annual Girls' Trip Planning event for my friends and had a nice spread :) It was the first time my friends have seen my new apartment since moving, so it doubled as a little housewarming party.

After we decided on a desert vacation to Arizona in June and booked our stay, I also sent each of my friends home with a couple loaves of bread as a strange party favor. To gluten and beyond.

See you next week!