I spent about $150, because we have a pantry stocked well enough for every day dinners, but we don't do Costco type shopping. So now I have a big shelf in the basement filled with cereal, shelf stable milk, beans, tomatoes, canned fruit, tuna, sunbutter, jelly, oatmeal, rice, pasta, sauce. And some extra bread for the freezer. Paper towels, TP, bleach based spray cleaner. Things we should have on hand anyway.

In the big snowstorm a few years ago we definitely would have benefited from having extra cereal and pasta and stuff by the end of the days that we were snowed in. It won't last us forever but will buys us a couple of weeks until things settle down. I don't trust our government at the moment to manage a mass quarantine.

Anonymous wrote:In McLean today at CVS out of Tylenol, but tons of Advil. Any reason to prefer tylenol?

Due to the one medication I am on, I can only take Tylenol and not Motrin, Advil etc. Drug interactions may be why?

Recently widowed and living with my DD. We are both chefs. DD is a savory chef and I am a pastry chef. We are also both preppers, so the food thing is not an issue for us. My late husband worked for the leading nutrition supplement store in the US; therefore, we are stocked up on vitamins and supplements. We especially like building our immune systems with a good multi-vitamin mineral supplement. fat soluble C vitamins, and zinc. Fresh garlic too.

I ordered and received face masks, medical gloves, tissues, toilet tissue, paper towels, paper plates, plastic garbage bags , soap etc. awhile ago.

What worries me is that I work in an assisted living facility. I am presently needed at work to feed the residents. Will they need to hire an outside company to deliver the meals, or will I be expected to continue to arrive at work each day? My job is not one that can be done from home. The residents already have weakened immune systems. I can only imagine how fast the virus would run through the facility. I am senior aged but so far I am healthy. If I cannot work how will the bills get paid? I do get social security, but that only goes so far.

I stocked up on the following:

bottled water
pasta and sauce
beans and rice
soups
sodas, seltzers
in general, about 2X more of some foods than normal (if we usually have 2 bags of frozen corn or fruit I now have 4)
ibuprofen - kid and adult
cold medicines
allergy meds
tissues
paper hand towels
hand sanitizer
lysol wipes and some spray

I don't know that there is anything else we need but I will be sure we have stuff like backup brownie mix and vegetable oil and maybe some canned fruit and stuff to make bread. The plan with food is to just keep shopping like a non-crazy person and now that I have enough extra we will have a stockpile if we need it.

We don't have masks and don't plan to get any, and I fly next week and DH and older child fly the week after (quick middle of the country flights). Not crazy about that, but I don't expect things will go nuts within two weeks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been to 3 stores which were all out of stock for children’s Advil. Even on Amazon I’m seeing it out of stock.

Nah, I see children's advil on Amazon in stock.

Advill chewable aren't available right now. They are in the future.

In McLean today at CVS out of Tylenol, but tons of Advil. Any reason to prefer tylenol?

Anonymous wrote:2nd Target our of bleach, too

Aldi had lots

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been to 3 stores which were all out of stock for children’s Advil. Even on Amazon I’m seeing it out of stock.

Nah, I see children's advil on Amazon in stock.

Anonymous wrote:Is this really the kind of illness where you want to hold the fever down the whole time. Surely you’ll beat it quicker if you let the fever do it’s job, as long as your not in febrile seizure territory.

This is exactly correct.

2nd Target our of bleach, too

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been to 3 stores which were all out of stock for children’s Advil. Even on Amazon I’m seeing it out of stock.

I decided to stock up today at the pharmacy near my office downtown, and there was still plenty of children's motrin and Tylenol.

I’ve been to 3 stores which were all out of stock for children’s Advil. Even on Amazon I’m seeing it out of stock.

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Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain powdered milk? Is it for drinking - just add water?

- not a prepper but need lattes to survive

My mom used to buy this in the 1980s because, she claimed, she didn't want us to drink milk from "Chernobyl" cows. But really, she was just CHEAP. Yes. You mix it like Koolaid. Its nasty.

Its probably more for adding to baked goods or upping the caloric content of other foods rather than drinking...

I vaguely recall tv ads in the 60s for carnation powdered milk as in drinking it. My parents went thru a stretch where they bought it in bulk and would mix it half and half with regular milk so it would taste better, has a kind of cooked milk flavor otherwise. I've used it to make homemade hot cocoa/chocolate milk mix, once on a long train trip to the west coast where I was too broke to buy food on the train for myself and my 5 yo.

My mom went on a powered milk/budget kick in the 1970s, it was awful! We also had a goat for a while, maybe that's an option?

:yes .definitely an option, especially in a one bedroom apartment with a green shag rug.

NP and I am a third poster whose parents had goats and sometimes gave me powdered milk.

I was just in Brazil. It was the strangest thing, but every time I ordered milk for my 1 year old, they would make him powdered milk. I speak Spanish and not Portuguese, so the first time I didn't even understand what they were asking me. Hot water or cold? No I want milk. The kids drank it just fine but I was grossed out and I didn't like the smell.

I buy the tetra packs of milk in the US (like the kinds Europeans drink that don't need refrigeration) but they're $$$. I also personally don't like the taste. Those little milk boxes for kids are $1-1.50 each, which adds up.

Agree. Those little boxes also generate a ton of trash.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain powdered milk? Is it for drinking - just add water?

- not a prepper but need lattes to survive

My mom used to buy this in the 1980s because, she claimed, she didn't want us to drink milk from "Chernobyl" cows. But really, she was just CHEAP. Yes. You mix it like Koolaid. Its nasty.

Its probably more for adding to baked goods or upping the caloric content of other foods rather than drinking...

I vaguely recall tv ads in the 60s for carnation powdered milk as in drinking it. My parents went thru a stretch where they bought it in bulk and would mix it half and half with regular milk so it would taste better, has a kind of cooked milk flavor otherwise. I've used it to make homemade hot cocoa/chocolate milk mix, once on a long train trip to the west coast where I was too broke to buy food on the train for myself and my 5 yo.

My mom went on a powered milk/budget kick in the 1970s, it was awful! We also had a goat for a while, maybe that's an option?

:yes .definitely an option, especially in a one bedroom apartment with a green shag rug.

NP and I am a third poster whose parents had goats and sometimes gave me powdered milk.

I was just in Brazil. It was the strangest thing, but every time I ordered milk for my 1 year old, they would make him powdered milk. I speak Spanish and not Portuguese, so the first time I didn't even understand what they were asking me. Hot water or cold? No I want milk. The kids drank it just fine but I was grossed out and I didn't like the smell.

I buy the tetra packs of milk in the US (like the kinds Europeans drink that don't need refrigeration) but they're $$$. I also personally don't like the taste. Those little milk boxes for kids are $1-1.50 each, which adds up.

Anonymous wrote:Is this really the kind of illness where you want to hold the fever down the whole time. Surely you’ll beat it quicker if you let the fever do it’s job, as long as your not in febrile seizure territory.

I keep fever reducers on hand for kids who can’t sleep at night or are completely miserable.