Spinoff: What is your emergency stockpile?

[fla4fun]

I only need to cook for one (moi!) so I got enough to stuff to make two pots of chili that will last 4-5 meals each, spaghetti for another 4-5 meals, frozen pizza (pizza is one of my must have comfort foods), canned soup, ramen, POP Tarts (my junk food choice), two boxes of cereal, and then my regular weekly shopping. If I do the regular weekly shopping like normal until I can’t, I should be able to stretch to three weeks. I figured I would start with the chili and spaghetti first, since those require cooking, and the other things will ultimately end up as hurricane supplies later in the year If I don’t need them sooner. I also have a couple flats of bottled water that will also become hurricane rations if not used. I already had cleaning supplies and paper products.

I like my chili extra spicy and it’s usually good for clearing the sinuses!

 

[tasha99]

For DH55, me (43) and DS22
Also, knowing I'd give more stuff to DD27 and her boyfriend, and my parents if necessary (I already gave DD stuff I knew she couldn't afford, and my parents stuff they wouldn't have thought of).

90 day supply of my blood pressure medication
Anti-diarrhea meds
Cold meds
Fever reducers
Zinc lozenges
Masks
Respirators
Non-latex gloves
Sono Wipes
Clorox wipes
Antibacterial hand wipes
Purell
Alcohol
Lysol cans
Lysol pocket size for purse
TP (more than usual--100 rolls)
Paper towels--36 rolls

We have enough food if the power doesn't go out to last maybe 6 months. I don't anticipate power outages, but just in case, I added canned foods (soup, chili, hash etc) to last a couple weeks. We need to refill our propane tank for BBQ so we could cook outside in any situation. Only 10 gallons of water. Not enough for disaster guidelines, but in a dire emergency, we'd tap into our hot water tank.

Edit: Also, a case of Gatorade

 

[TLSnell1981]

My pantry and freezers are ALWAYS ready for doomsday. I never learned to shop for two, so I can feed an army at a moments notice. We also keep extra cans of gas for the generators and plenty of batteries. I like being prepared.

 

[rascooby]

I hate worrying about rotating stock and end up throwing stuff away because I forgot about it. Last year I bought a couple buckets of the emergency food supplies from Costco or somewhere like that when it was on sale. It's supposed to last about 25 years and I think I got a couple weeks supply for our family of 5. I'm sure it's gross and I hope we can throw it away eventually, but at least it's there for emergency (I hope). We also keep some blue jugs around the house that hold 7 gallons of water, but I'm sure we don't have nearly a 2 week supply. We're only about a mile from the lake, so I guess in an emergency we'd have to get some there.

 

[North of Mouse]

Lol, I'm sort of like a pp, I never learned to cook for just us two empty nesters! No extra stock piling, just my usual well stocked pantry and freezers. Expect if any picky eaters are around, now might be the time they'll learn to eat most meals prepared, whether it's the few things they want to eat.

Hopefully none of us will need to be quarantined though!

 

[disneychrista]

I was afraid someone would suggest we should use the time to clean out closets.

We were without power for 3.5 days in October and this is exactly what I did. What else do you do when you are home with nothing to do and NO electricity.

 

[disneychrista]

To answer the question. I don't have a stock pile. In fact there are things I bought when our power was shut off that I am still using. We have plenty of food in the house and as long as there is electricity I am good.

 

[ronandannette]

Why shelf-stable? You'll have electricity.

Here's a question I have about that: If we really believe we may all need to be shut-in and subsisting on stockpiles, who is it that's going to keep infrastructure and essential services running? I've yet to hear anybody take that into account.

 

[BLAZEY]

I hate worrying about rotating stock and end up throwing stuff away because I forgot about it. Last year I bought a couple buckets of the emergency food supplies from Costco or somewhere like that when it was on sale. It's supposed to last about 25 years and I think I got a couple weeks supply for our family of 5. I'm sure it's gross and I hope we can throw it away eventually, but at least it's there for emergency (I hope). We also keep some blue jugs around the house that hold 7 gallons of water, but I'm sure we don't have nearly a 2 week supply. We're only about a mile from the lake, so I guess in an emergency we'd have to get some there.

We have 2 of these emergency supplies enough for the 3 of us for over a week. We live in an earthquake area and we're waiting on the "big one"

Here's a question I have about that: If we really believe we may all need to be shut-in and subsisting on stockpiles, who is it that's going to keep infrastructure and essential services running? I've yet to hear anybody take that into account.

I took it as if your family was to be required to quarantine, and couldn't leave the house, not the whole city shut down.

 

[Traveling on cc points]

Here's a question I have about that: If we really believe we may all need to be shut-in and subsisting on stockpiles, who is it that's going to keep infrastructure and essential services running? I've yet to hear anybody take that into account.

during natural disasters/states closing down, on the news they say only essential employees should report to work.
I would assume people who keep our electricity & water on would count as essential, but people who clean the water/electric companies would stay home.

 

[ronandannette]

We have 2 of these emergency supplies enough for the 3 of us for over a week. We live in an earthquake area and we're waiting on the "big one"

I took it as if your family was to be required to quarantine, and couldn't leave the house, not the whole city shut down.

Although it might not be possible for everyone, if the bolded was the case, I'd just have whatever I needed delivered. No need to stockpile whatsoever.

 

[BLAZEY]

Although it might not be possible for everyone, if the bolded was the case, I'd just have whatever I needed delivered. No need to stockpile whatsoever.

That's the idea I had too, order on line and have grocery delivery or call extended family with a list and have them grab needed items (my family lives 5 minutes away), and e-transfer the money for the cost

 

[Searc]

Here's a question I have about that: If we really believe we may all need to be shut-in and subsisting on stockpiles, who is it that's going to keep infrastructure and essential services running? I've yet to hear anybody take that into account.

Ask someone who thinks we'll be dealing with an apocalyptic situation. I'm not one of them.

 

[ronandannette]

That's the idea I had too, order on line and have grocery delivery or call extended family with a list and have them grab needed items (my family lives 5 minutes away), and e-transfer the money for the cost

Totally. Things could get dropped off on the doorstep and nobody would ever need to make contact. Ha! With all the money I'll save from having to cancel my upcoming dream vacation to the UK, maybe I'll just "Skip-the-Dishes" for every meal.

 

[barkley]

on the news they say only essential employees should report to work.
I would assume people who keep our electricity & water on would count as essential, but people who clean the water/electric companies would stay home.

it's always up for debate.

technically- according to my then government employer i was an 'essential employee' in california during the loma prieta earthquake but according to the then governor i was not and that further extended in that i resided outside the county i worked/across a bridge he wanted closed. push pull, push pull. where i live now the electric company employees are through a non government entity so no one except their employer can require them to report to duty, water is well or local cities so it's either nothing or multiple agencies with multiple policies within an individual county.

all in all-disorganized and ineffective.

 

[wenrob]

during natural disasters/states closing down, on the news they say only essential employees should report to work.
I would assume people who keep our electricity & water on would count as essential, but people who clean the water/electric companies would stay home.

My DH is a power plant operator, he’s considered essential. At least here if the units need to come up or be shut down ASAP it would be “all hands on deck.”

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I don't like calling it a stockpile, I prefer the term "food storage". Anyway, the main thing with food storage is to rotate it, so you should only purchase larger quantities of the foods that your family normally eats, otherwise there's a lot of waste. I cringe when I see those commercials for a year's supply of bulk freeze dried foods; most people will buy that and then it will sit on a dusty shelf for it's recommended 7+ year lifespan and be thrown away. I used to be much better about keeping a rotating pantry with about 3 months worth of food, but back when I was married I had a large pantry, a huge refrigerator and a chest freezer. Now I live in a townhouse with a galley kitchen, small apartment sized fridge, no chest freezer and no pantry or cabinet space.

1. Who you're stockpiling for and their ages:

Me (38), my kids (17 and 8)

2. How long do you hope your stockpile will last:

the recommended 2 weeks is all I'm worried about for this extra food that I bought. I keep a small quantity of shelf-stable pantry items anyway, so I've just added a few things to make a possible 2 week quarantine a bit more pleasant

3. What's in your stockpile and how you plan to store it:

Comfort foods:
green tea
frozen lemon juice
sugar
frozen concord grape juice concentrate
easy mac
ketchup
sugary breakfast cereals--6 large boxes
potato chips--4 family size bags
tortilla chips and salsa
chicken stock
flour
sugar
assorted chocolate candies
butter
peanut butter
honey
potatoes
2 weeks of bottled water for each of us
1 week of Gatorade (assuming 1 20 oz bottle per day for each of us)

General things I don't want to be stuck at home without:

Extra dishwasher tabs
big bottle of vinegar for cleaning and sanitizing
bleach
laundry soap
bar soap
hand soap refill
shampoo and conditioner
vitamins
feminine hygiene products
backup inhaler
my asthma meds
ibuprofen, for both adults and children
zofran (I don't know if COVID-19 makes you sick to your stomach, but the idea of not having access to my beloved zofran strikes fear into my heart)
viva paper towels

--butter is in the freezer, cereal and junk food is in baskets on top of the fridge, everything else fits on my little "pantry" shelving unit except for the drinks, which I'm thinking I'll just make each of us responsible for our own case of bottled water and tell my kids to put a case under their beds. I mean, if we are sick in bed it makes sense to have water easily accessible anyway. Right now all the drinks are stacked by the front door which is NOT ideal. Soaps and stuff all fit where they were supposed to, so no need for finding extra storage space. The only thing I didn't buy is toilet paper, because all Sam's club had left was those big pallets of it. I don't need 50 mega rolls of toilet paper for the 3 of us! I'll pick some up at Aldi because I only have 3 rolls in my house right now. But I honestly don't get the panic over toilet paper, there's lots of things you can use to wipe your butt. I think people would do better to focus on making sure they have foods they can easily prepare if they or a loved one gets sick.

4. Any unique issues you have:

our only issue with food storage is the lack of space. Initially I thought that since I work in a public school and my kids attend public school that we were more likely to end up home for weeks on end if school was cancelled, but the administration just sent out an email informing teachers that, since COVID-19 doesn't seem to be risky to children, there will most likely NOT be a school shutdown. Doesn't really make sense to me because even if kids don't get real sick with it, they've got to be carriers, right? Children are walking germ factories! And since I have a student cough or sneeze directly into my open mouth at least once a week, I'm going to be exposed. I guess we will see.

 

[Carol_]

Rum.. sugar based and cures common colds too.

Vodka. Drink it, or use it to clean wounds, and to clean surfaces when there’s no bleach.

 

[SC Minnie]

Yarn. There have been good sales since Christmas and my supply was depleted.

Oh, wait, you meant food and cleaning supplies..... No, not stockpiling any of that.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Yarn. There have been good sales since Christmas and my supply was depleted.

And here I thought I was the only who was concerned with keeping my hands busy. Not C-vid related, but I did recently purchase two new cross-stitch patterns and all of the floss and fabric to make them. I am set for the duration if we have to shelter in place!

Of course I was just being proactive and buying my craft items before everyone else rushed out to buy things to stave off boredom. I was able to strike the craft store supplies while people were distracted elsewhere, grabbing cans of tomatoes and bags of beans.