Stocking the cupboards in the event of a pandemic in the USA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys do to keep calcium supply and vitamins going in some healthy way? I froze few Philadelphia cheese bricks, Got some dry fruits.

Calcium: Shelf-stable chocolate milk; cheese; sardines.

Vitamin A: Carrots. Canned carrots, if you really expect the apocalypse.

B vitamins: Nuts; brewer's yeast; liverwurst; vitamin pills.

Vitamin C: oranges; frozen orange juice.

Vitamin D: canned fish; eggs.

Vitamin E: nuts.

Vitamin K: canned spinach or other canned leafy greens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone been out to the stores today/recently? Where - how did it look?

Went to Target Falls Church (Seven Corners) last night around 8 pm. Do NOT bother. The shelves were wiped clean -- no soap of any variety; no Advil or Tylenol; no TP; maybe 5% of paper towels left; no wipes or cleaners generally -- a few lingering cans of Ajax on the shelves; 80% of laundry detergent gone; 90% of feminine hygiene products gone -- apparently people plan on menstruating more than once a month or being shut in for like 6 mos.

Food was relatively ok. No bottled water. Pasta/PB/granola bars/gatorade -- you can get but likely not the brands/sizes you'd actually want. Cereals and breads were fully stocked; oatmeal was a bit low but still there.

IDK if this was after the MoCo cases were announced. It's not that the store was packed -- it actually wasn't; it was just picked over probably all day/for days on end. Doesn't seem like this particular location is handling ordering and shelf stocking all that well compared to other places I've gone which weren't THIS sold out (though that was Wed so maybe things got worse everywhere?). They had 2 employees wandering around, not restocking anything -- I'm guessing bc ordering/distribution is messed up so they have nothing to stock.

I just went shopping this morning (Friday) at a Safeway, CVS, and Harris Teeter in NE/SE DC and there were absolutely no shortages of anything other than hand sanitizer (and I even found some of that at Dollar Tree). Plenty of paper towels. Handsoap and disinefectant wipes a little thin, but still plenty.

We should map where the shelves are most bare to find where the paranoia is the deepest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great. So because of the food hoarders, the rest of us won’t be able to do a normal grocery run. Thanks guys. ?

I think real hoarding must be happening in certain areas, not all over the place.

I'm in an urban area outside of DC that now has a fair number of confirmed coronavirus cases, and lots of morbid speculation about working from home. But my stores all have everything except for hand sanitizer.

My dollar stores have plenty of hand sanitizer, and huge amounts of the ingredients you need to make your own sanitizer (alcohol, aloe vera gel).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great. So because of the food hoarders, the rest of us won’t be able to do a normal grocery run. Thanks guys. ?

I think real hoarding must be happening in certain areas, not all over the place.

I'm in an urban area outside of DC that now has a fair number of confirmed coronavirus cases, and lots of morbid speculation about working from home. But my stores all have everything except for hand sanitizer.

My dollar stores have plenty of hand sanitizer, and huge amounts of the ingredients you need to make your own sanitizer (alcohol, aloe vera gel).

Maybe it's in areas where most shopping is at big box stores? I'm also in an urban area with both big grocery stores and tons of bodegas. The only shelves I've seen empty are hand sanitzer and lysol spray at my local CVS (but they still had other disinfectant sprays). All foods are still completely stocked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I stocked up 2 weeks ago precisely to avoid this nonsense. Everything was fully stocked. Why did everyone wait?

Yep I've been stocking up for 3 weeks slowly -- regular grocery shopping + a bunch of extra items each week. Every time I'd go out for a regular stop at a grocery store (for say milk or fruit), I'd grab more pasta, rice or wipes or whatever, as I'd knew there would be a frenzy eventually. I actually planned it this week so that I'm not going anywhere near a grocery store this Friday-Monday-- as I think that's when everyone who hasn't stocked up or is stocked up but just panicked is going to hit the stores from Friday to Sunday. From the Target Falls Church poster, it sounds like it even started last night. And then when they wipe out the stocks, it's going to take stores all day Monday and probably into Tues to re stock -- just like when there are snow storms and it takes a while for shelves to get full again etc. If we're still moving around normally next week, I'll look to see what I need next Wed.

[Anonymous]

I def got caught up in the hysteria this week. I thought I'd pick up some OTC meds on my way home from work Monday since we wiped out our stash when a cold ran through the house a couple of weeks ago. When I go to the store and all the Mucinex, kids Advil and Tylenol, tissues, tp, Lysol, and water was gone, I thought I'd just hit up Amazon fresh for these things. gone. Well F*@&.

I know it wasn't rational, but at that point, I thought all the crazy hoarders were going to buy up the stuff before the rest of us normal people could get what we needed. Here we are on Friday, every surface in my kitchen is covered in shelf-stable items and I'm feeling pretty good about my apocalypse stash. I've officially moved myself into the crazy hoarder column.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stocked up 2 weeks ago precisely to avoid this nonsense. Everything was fully stocked. Why did everyone wait?

Yep I've been stocking up for 3 weeks slowly -- regular grocery shopping + a bunch of extra items each week. Every time I'd go out for a regular stop at a grocery store (for say milk or fruit), I'd grab more pasta, rice or wipes or whatever, as I'd knew there would be a frenzy eventually. I actually planned it this week so that I'm not going anywhere near a grocery store this Friday-Monday-- as I think that's when everyone who hasn't stocked up or is stocked up but just panicked is going to hit the stores from Friday to Sunday. From the Target Falls Church poster, it sounds like it even started last night. And then when they wipe out the stocks, it's going to take stores all day Monday and probably into Tues to re stock -- just like when there are snow storms and it takes a while for shelves to get full again etc. If we're still moving around normally next week, I'll look to see what I need next Wed.

Same.

And I didn't even buy any hand sanitizer or masks. Just a few more nonperishables here and there. Advil, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just came home from Costco. Why are people stockpiling flats of individual bottles of water? I cannot see how "bad flu" means we wont' have water coming out of our taps??

Maybe when you are sick you just grab a-bottle and no trips to the kitchen?

It think the consensus ~20 pages ago that people are afraid if something happening to the water supply (boil alert, water main break, etc) that repairs won't be done in a timely manner. And also that COVID-19 will eventually get into the water supply.

No one thought it'd get into the water supply?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great. So because of the food hoarders, the rest of us won’t be able to do a normal grocery run. Thanks guys. ?

I think real hoarding must be happening in certain areas, not all over the place.

I'm in an urban area outside of DC that now has a fair number of confirmed coronavirus cases, and lots of morbid speculation about working from home. But my stores all have everything except for hand sanitizer.

My dollar stores have plenty of hand sanitizer, and huge amounts of the ingredients you need to make your own sanitizer (alcohol, aloe vera gel).

Maybe it's in areas where most shopping is at big box stores? I'm also in an urban area with both big grocery stores and tons of bodegas. The only shelves I've seen empty are hand sanitzer and lysol spray at my local CVS (but they still had other disinfectant sprays). All foods are still completely stocked.

I'm the Target Falls Church poster -- I think the paranoia is the highest in the suburbs -- i.e. big box land -- and it's a lot more of just walking by things and just grabbing 10 of each thing whether you need it or not. I mean wiping out all of the Tide and feminine products and even low stocks of things like paper plates (WTF - if you're full time telework you'll have all the time in the world to wash dishes) suggests it's people with money who are just like BUY BUY BUY. These are also people who drive to the store so can pack a car (instead of carrying home bags) + don't necessarily live in apartments so they have all the room in the world + don't have an issues dropping $500 on a Thursday night for groceries/products whether they need them or whether 3 mos from now they'll end up tossing/donating most of them. I work in DC near a Giant on H street and it's NOTHING like this. I haven't been in a few days but as of Wed. the store was fully stocked. Even had wipes and Lysol -- you could tell stock was low but not too low and you could still get them. You could tell water and oatmeal were selling but still more than plenty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stocked up 2 weeks ago precisely to avoid this nonsense. Everything was fully stocked. Why did everyone wait?

Yep I've been stocking up for 3 weeks slowly -- regular grocery shopping + a bunch of extra items each week. Every time I'd go out for a regular stop at a grocery store (for say milk or fruit), I'd grab more pasta, rice or wipes or whatever, as I'd knew there would be a frenzy eventually. I actually planned it this week so that I'm not going anywhere near a grocery store this Friday-Monday-- as I think that's when everyone who hasn't stocked up or is stocked up but just panicked is going to hit the stores from Friday to Sunday. From the Target Falls Church poster, it sounds like it even started last night. And then when they wipe out the stocks, it's going to take stores all day Monday and probably into Tues to re stock -- just like when there are snow storms and it takes a while for shelves to get full again etc. If we're still moving around normally next week, I'll look to see what I need next Wed.

Same.

And I didn't even buy any hand sanitizer or masks. Just a few more nonperishables here and there. Advil, etc.

+1. After I saw how Milan and Iran shut down within hours about 3 weekends ago, I basically got better with my own grocery shopping. Like the PPs -- just made sure nothing was ever out or running too low including cleaners; picked up extra boxes of pasta whenever I was buying it anyway, made a run to the Indian store as my rice and lentils were running a bit low. Last I went into a store was Wed. night for milk and produce, and it was interesting to see what people were buying. Seems like everyone is buying the exact same things and wiping them out -- peanut butter, pasta, canned goods, water. Meanwhile no one was in the produce section, very few buying frozen veggies etc. I mean a 10 lb bag of potatoes will last you a LONG time. Sure it's good to have some canned foods, but why the fight over oatmeal when you can just buy 5 cereals your family otherwise eats (sure you'd run out of milk but some cereals can be eaten dry) or the aisles full of bread and jam that are available??

[Anonymous]

In line at Bailey’s Crossroads TJs right now. Every single register open and probably 5-6 carts deep. Still have plenty of the usual stuff on the shelf.

[Anonymous]

When this is all said and done, I am going to really enjoy reading an analysis of all the companies that made money off of the mass hoarding, and all of the donation centers that received a glut of donations.

Every time I see a new product recommended on any site I wonder if someone is trying to shill their product or a local food bank is hoping for a certain item to come their way. (And then I give into my panic and order random product #287. Because of course I need ____ if quarantine happens)

[Anonymous]

It has to be FOMO. Hand sanitizer and Lysol are being used in higher quantities now. There is no toilet paper shortage people. And unless they are grossly understating the symptom of explosive diarrhea with COVID-19, there is no logical reason people should be buying 3891 rolls of Charmin.

[Anonymous]

Everyone is so concerned about schools, meanwhile Costco lines are crazy. The virus is probably all over Costco and pharmacies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have kids in college, are you telling them to prep a little? I venmo'd my 19 yo some cash and a list and told her to go to Target.

I just Amazon'd everything straight to them.