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

[Anonymous]

What would you want in your house? If you are already prepping in general for a natural disaster or general interruptions of service, are you adding anything in the event of a pandemic like Coronavirus coming to the US? In part I’m thinking about the desire to avoid potentially contagious people out in public spaces like target and the supermarket. Thoughts on this? Is this just regular prepping like if we were getting a bad snow storm?

[Anonymous]

We aren't preppers but we love deals on meat and have a Costco membership, so it might be a distinction without a difference. We have enough food to last us about 3 months (I'd start to miss fresh vegetables), and paper products to last about 6 weeks. I think if we got really scared about the virus we'd hit CVS for a bunch of OTC stuff, buy a bunch of canned veggies at Costco on the next run, swap out for a full propane tank, and maybe get some big multi-gallon water bottles.

[Anonymous]

Water, cans of food, dry goods like cereal.

No need to run out today! This is just something to keep in mind if coronavirus cases in your state start to spike. It might never happen, so relax for now.

- microbiologist.

[Anonymous]

I really don't think you have to be concerned at the moment. We are a geographically isolated country with very few cases and no deaths so far.

[Anonymous]

If I were really afraid of a pandemic that would be extremely dangerous for those in my household (I don’t think this corona virus is it), I would get a freezer for the garage. Lots of meat, frozen vegetables, breads, and milk.

I would fully stock the pantry with rice, grains, beans, cereals, plus all the other things we normally keep- chicken stock, soups, pasta, etc.

I wouldn’t assume that power would go out or water cut off. I would prepare just to be housebound for potentially months. I would stock differently I were afraid of power or water shutoffs.

[Anonymous]

Indian-American household. We have so much rice, beans, lentils, various kinds of flour, various kinds of cooking oils, spices, salt, sugar, canned and frozen goods as a matter of routine that we can probably survive for months.

We are also cook-from-scratch kind of people - so that helps.

[Anonymous]

lol

This title made me laugh. Of course the most obese nation in the world is worried about running out of food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lol

This title made me laugh. Of course the most obese nation in the world is worried about running out of food.

[Anonymous]

I'm more worried about a potential grocery store labor strike than I am a pandemic at this point! But we always have rice and beans available, plus a decent quantity of ground beef and chicken in the freezer. Some frozen veggies. I haven't figured out a place to keep a spare bag of dog food, but I should.

Stockpile recently came in handy when DH was hospitalized. I got away without going to the store and we could still eat well at home. (Did order a pizza one crazy night when we couldn't even handle cleaning up the dishes.) Had to do a huge Costco run after that, but we turned over a lot of what we had!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Water, cans of food, dry goods like cereal.

No need to run out today! This is just something to keep in mind if coronavirus cases in your state start to spike. It might never happen, so relax for now.

- microbiologist.

Op here, I agree! Not panicked or trying to invite panic. Just thinking theoretically and that it is easier to plan when not under immediate pressure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm more worried about a potential grocery store labor strike than I am a pandemic at this point! But we always have rice and beans available, plus a decent quantity of ground beef and chicken in the freezer. Some frozen veggies. I haven't figured out a place to keep a spare bag of dog food, but I should.

Stockpile recently came in handy when DH was hospitalized. I got away without going to the store and we could still eat well at home. (Did order a pizza one crazy night when we couldn't even handle cleaning up the dishes.) Had to do a huge Costco run after that, but we turned over a lot of what we had!

Yes, was definitely thinking this morning about the dog. She’s the household member with the most specialized diet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't think you have to be concerned at the moment. We are a geographically isolated country with very few cases and no deaths so far.

Geographically isolated? The US is not New Zealand or Antartica.

[Anonymous]

Remember petfood as well.

[Anonymous]

You want to stock up now, before panic buying hits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Water, cans of food, dry goods like cereal.

No need to run out today! This is just something to keep in mind if coronavirus cases in your state start to spike. It might never happen, so relax for now.

- microbiologist.

How would coronavirus affect water supplies?