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So, what should I get at the grocery store?
Just looking for some general advice in the event of a quarantine. I'm already thinking I will make sure to get plenty of flour, rice, beans, and water. But I would definitely like to hear from the more forward thinking members on what to get!
Assuming the possibility of a 14-day quarantine, but available electricity and water, this is what we made sure to have in house for two mostly vegetarian people (given that we're living in an apartment). It's more-or-less a regularly maintained stock of pantry staples, but with emphasis on both a few things for longer keeping, and some items for variety.
Apologies for the English system units of measure...
30-day supply of critical medications
Basic first-aid items and cold/'flu remedies, plus Pedialyte- type electrolyte mix
(1) dozen eggs
(2) 1/2 gallon containers of milk
(2) loaves wholemeal bread (freeze one)
2 lb. coffee
1 lb. sharp cheddar cheese
2 lb. carrots
2 lb. potatoes
3 lb apples
2 lb. squash
2 bunches green onions
2 lb. cabbage
(8) jalapenos
2 lb. yellow onions
2 bulbs garlic
1 lb. fresh spinach leaves
1 lb. fresh cherry tomatoes
1 - 2 each lemons, limes, oranges
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans tomato paste
2 lb. peanut butter
1 lb. raw cashews
4 cans tuna fish
1 quart olive oil
1 quart vegetable oil
5 lb. all-purpose flour
Baking soda & baking powder
8 oz. Kosher salt
1 lb. honey
1 lb. sugar
1 pkg. each frozen broccoli, peas, corn, spinach, edamame
2 lb. frozen boneless chicken thighs
(2) quart containers of chicken stock
(2) quart containers of vegetable stock
2 lb. dried black beans
2 lb. red lentils
2 lb. oatmeal
1 lb. each dried dates, figs, apricots, raisins
2 lb. 32 bean/8 vegetable soup mix (available in bulk at most health food groceries)
2 lb. brown rice
Misc packets of ramen soup and pasta
2 pkg. whole wheat crackers
1 lb. misc dark chocolate
Misc. cooking sauces - soy, red wine vinegar, mayo, mustard, etc.
This list, plus regular seasonings, should provide plenty of nutritious calories and variety, without anything that goes bad quickly if you can't eat it, and some left over for hungry neighbors. [Also, this list assumes you like to cook...]
Non-edible items:
1 gallon household bleach
(2) toilet bowl cleaner
(1) dishwashing detergent
(1) laundry detergent
(2) surface cleaning/sanitizing spray
(6) pack bar soap
(6) rolls toilet paper
Misc personal hygiene items - shampoo, shaving supplies, etc.
You would eat all of that within 2 weeks with 2 adults?? That is a massive amount of food, no? Also you must have a nice pantry. I'd never be able to fit all of that in my small apartment.
No takeout or eating out, remember? If there's extra, great. If you run out, you've got problems. It's surprising how much food it takes to provide 2,000 calories/day/person, as I've discovered when hefting a backpack for a week-long hike (more like 2,500 - 3,000 calories/day for that kind of activity).
Vegetable staples go quickly, and don't have very high calorie density, but they're there to keep you healthy and not crazy from lack of variety.
We did get lucky with pantry storage, but if you're genuinely at risk, you shouldn't be concerned about what you can store neatly in your kitchen space.
I would eat the eggs in 3 days.
That it does! Non-chefs like me would starve with this in the pantry. :)
I would stock up on a fortnight's worth of canned food & frozen meals (and only a fortnight's worth - no more than I actually need).
If you are mincing your garlic in recipes like I am, you can get it pre-minced in jars and there is a lot. I'm not sure if there is a downside I am missing, but I love it like this. 1 half a teaspoon = 1 bulb minced garlic. And we love garlic, so I'm always putting in more than what's required.
You can get ginger pre-minced as well!
I'm not sure if you mean a country-wide quarantine like Italy is doing, or if you mean a personal isolation period.
Even in Italy's extreme quarantine, they're still allowing people to go to the supermarket to buy supplies. Maybe you could be careful about how often you go, and at what time you go, but you can still buy food & other groceries.
If it's a personal isolation, that only lasts 14 days. Just consider what you would normally eat and use over the course of a fortnight, and buy that. Maybe add 10% for contingency.
Done!
Even if you are in personal isolation, that doesn't mean the outside world will stop. If you find out halfway through your isolation period that you're running low on something, you can order it online via a supermarket's website and have it delivered, or phone a friend and ask them to get it for you (tell them to leave it at the door, and be rude and don't invite them in).
Please don't panic-buy or hoard goods. This is becoming a severe problem here in Australia, and it's negatively affecting elderly people, disabled people, and poor people in general. The healthy & wealthy people are stocking up because they can afford to buy more than they need. Then the sick & poor people turn up to buy their necessities, and they can't buy anything because the shelves are bare. Panic-buying and hoarding is hurting people.
We're remote enough to be at the end of a long supply chain. I'm actually less concerned about self-isolation than a shortage of delivery trucks to the grocery stores here. There were a couple of hairy weeks in a snowy mid-winter where the shelves were getting bare. I don't think the list I proposed represents hoarding - just what we'd expect to have on hand for a similar situation to the past January, or from prior hurricane experience (minus the freezer items).
U.S. government advice is actually to have two weeks of supplies on hand if possible.
I agree.
I agree. Even without making a special effort, I probably have enough food on hand right now to live on for nearly two weeks. I shop weekly, and I always have "one and a spare" of everything (I hate running out of something!). That means that, by default, I have one week's supply and a spare week's supply.
However, here in Australia, some people are buying enough supplies of some products (especially: toilet paper, rice, pasta, flour) to last them literally months. And, in doing so, they're emptying the shelves so noone else can get these items at all.
I'm sorry to hear that - I don't doubt that there's crazy excess buying as people try to assuage their anxiety through shopping, without much regard for others.
I haven't seen that where I am yet, in part because many people are accustomed to winter provisioning since they might get snowed in for a few weeks. They're also inclined to share excess with neighbors, friends, and seniors - we weren't in town for a week before someone offered a few spare pounds of venison. If I get stuck at home, I plan to bake and cook for friends and neighbors in the same apartment building; we already leave things at each other's doors.
There was a news story a few weeks ago on an Australian television channel, which reported on toilet paper shortages in Hong Kong. It seems Hong Kong imports most of its toilet paper from mainland China, and mainland China was shut down because of the coronavirus, so... no toilet paper in Hong Kong.
Aussies saw this news report and made the connection between "coronavirus" and "No toilet paper!" and went on a buying spree. Noone told them that we manufacture most of our toilet paper right here in Australia, so there's no possibility of any shortage like they saw in Hong Kong.
No amount of reassurance from toilet paper manufacturers, wholesalers, supermarkets, Australia's chief medical officer, or even the Prime Minister has been able to stop the panic. People are buying toilet paper as fast as it can be delivered to supermarkets. My own local supermarket has had three massive deliveries of toilet paper this week, but I haven't seen a single roll on their shelves (I've been there every morning, trying to buy a pack before I run out).
There has been literal violence in shops over toilet paper.
The people worried about a shortage of toilet paper created the very shortage they were worried about.
And, while they were panic-buying one product, they figured it made sense to panic-buy other staples as well. So there are lots of empty shelves in lots of supermarkets...
If you want to minmax, Potatoes + any dairy product (milk/butter/etc) provides all of the minerals, vitamins, etc. you need. It's a complete diet!
Albeit, you should probably eat some fruit/vegetables so you're not relying on potato skin for vitamin A&C.
Rice + Beans is a good choice too, but even better when it comes to emergency preparedness IMO, since unlike most Potato and Dairy products they are actually shelf stable when dried/canned, so when stored properly (cool, dry, dark) can last for many months/years. And if you also pick up some dried/dehydrated fruits to avoid the scurvy, you should be all set come the apocalypse. ;)
I'm in Seattle. The main thing I'm planning for right now is not quarantine per se, but supply chain disruption. Truck drivers get sick, fewer truck deliveries happen. That and any number of things can disrupt the global supply chains that exist for most of the goods we buy.
The thought experiment I've been using is not "what if I'm quarantined" but "what would I do if I had to go X weeks without a real grocery shopping trip". Maybe the 7-11 in my neighborhood is open, maybe it's not. Maybe the larger grocery store I have to drive to is open, maybe it's closed, maybe it's only open limited hours due to staffing limits. If it is open, probably its shelves aren't full with the variety they normally have.
And I'm not so much concerned about running out - if I was actually close to starving, I know there'll be a food bank or something that would help. My goal is to not need to run out to the store, or rely on that food bank, if I can avoid it. I'm young, otherwise healthy, and relatively high-income. I'm quite unlikely to be directly affected by covid-19. The best thing I can do is try to leave sufficient slack in the system that it can absorb the various other shocks that pandemic creates.
The things I've been stocking up on so far:
dry staples (rice, beans, lentils, oats)
spices - I could tolerate rice / beans / lentils for a long time as long as I have curry paste, sriracha, garlic powder, etc
cat food & litter
backup toiletries (a running joke around here is how everyone is buying the 144-roll packages of toilet paper, but I think having a month's worth of shampoo, body wash, and toothpaste is just as important and probably overlooked)
I'm hesitant about panic buying, as I don't expect stores to actually close. People buying up everything in a panic could contribute to a food shortage and just cause more problems. So far, even in the most extreme quarantines (Wuhan, all of Italy), grocery stores have remained open and stocked with food and other necessities.
That said, it is never a bad idea to have at least a few days of non-perishable food on hand.
I think in general, if most people are eg. halving their trips to the grocery store by increasing purchases of non-perishables and buying in bulk, that's overall a Good Thing™.
Not when you turn up to the supermarket and the shelves are empty of staples like rice, flour, and pasta.
From what I've been able to gather, nowhere has this been a constant. The only constant is the shortage in face masks and hand sanitizer, but pretty much everything else is getting re-stocked as fast as it's flying off the shelves, even in Italy.
Have you visited Australia lately? ;)
I was at my local supermarket literally 10 minutes ago, and there was no pasta, no rice, and no flour. And, of course, no toilet paper. It has been like that for about 2 weeks. According to reports, it's the same everywhere.
Here, it's flying off the shelves as fast as it's getting re-stocked.
The irony of that situation is that Australia actually seems to be way ahead of the curve as far as containment protocols go too, so Australians panic buying goods makes the least sense out of almost everyone, IMO.
Exactly! It's totally irrational.
I work in grocery in the US, and this is the case for us. Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and hand soap are impossible to keep in stock (and are getting shorted on orders more often than not), but everything else, even the bulk bin stuff like rice, beans, and flour, has been in stock consistently and hasn't been utterly cleaned out for more than a day.
Last night, word got out that we still had some toilet paper in stock, and we had a crush of people (30+) pile in fifteen minutes before close to clean us out.
That may change, since I work in a more 'natural foods' type store, I could see people cleaning out the traditional supermarkets before making their way to us.
Ultimately the issue will start to be if truck drivers and the warehouse workers at the distribution centers start getting sick en masse to the point of disrupting shipments. Even then, we have plans for temporarily switching vendors to ones with local DCs if our main out-of-state one falls to this, and I'd imagine any large grocery chain has similar ones.