If you’re going to ask a friend what to stock up on during COVID-19, a simple reply of “food” might not be precise enough for you.
At this point, you probably don’t need to be told to buy toilet paper or pasta (ensuring you leave enough for others, you animal), but there are plenty of items you may not have thought of.
Use the below as a quick list for reference while at the grocery store or before you head out, we’ll try to keep it as unobvious as possible, without forgetting some of the essentials:
1. Survival Essentials
Everything you need to make sure you survive – besides your nutrition – should be considered.
Should the power go out, you better have a generator ready to go, and that includes the diesel/kerosene/gas to run it for a period of time.
Motor oil and fuel if you plan on driving your car through the walking dead, and a first aid kit with extra bandages, antiseptic and rubbing alcohol in the event you get swarmed by said zombies.
Never too late to stock up.(via creative commons)
In order to cook, you need cooking supplies. Purchase slow-burn firewood to heat up your pressure cooker or maintain a fire, or buy a battery-powered device…for which of course you’ll need a supply of batteries. What’s the quickest way to start a fire? A bulk pack of lighters.
If the power does go out however, preserve your food the way they did when they crossed the Atlantic, with salt.
While you’re buying salt, stock up on your favorite spices because those may be the first thing to run out.
For worst-case scenarios, get a supply of vitamins, aspirins and any other basic medication that is likely to become scarce.
If you’re prepared whenever one else isn’t, you won’t have to panic, and you may have some bargaining chips or at the very least enough to share with loved ones.
For food, medical supplies, water, tools, and anything else you may need for an emergency situation that requires you to shelter in place or start moving on the go quickly, you should consider survival kits for you and your family.
If you are curious where you can find something that has you covered no matter what, checkout Outbreak Provisions, a new company that has already seen success in providing food shortage and survival kit solutions for the outbreak.
2. Less-Perishable Food
Other than non-perishables, there are lot of less-perishable foods you should stock up on in the case of an emergency.
It’s easy to get your proteins and vitamins from food such as: beans, canned fish, canned veggies and popcorn; all of which are essentially free of expiry, and can make you the most popular person on the post-apocalyptic block.
Although they have about a year on the shelf, the following items are still worth adding to your supply: oats/cereal, chocolate, honey, nut butters.
As well, consider your favorite ground coffees or powdered milk. Worst case scenario, you can easily stir these into a drink to get what you need.
If you’re looking for specific items or meals with years of shelf life, reference our other article on long-lasting food items.
3. Water
While this seems obvious, as shortages at stores continue, bottled water may be a bit harder to come by.
Cases and jugs of water, distilled or not aren’t only good for drinking, but for cleaning, bathing and cooking.
This luxury will be hard to come by (creative commons)
If you think you might run out, you may need to buy a water purifier. An awesome, handy device available on Amazon is the LifeStraw; a personal water-filtration device that could save your life.
4. Food You Can Freeze
So long as the power is still on, your ability to store food marches forward. Bread, fruit, veggies…the sky is the limit. Frozen beef should last you about a year, chicken a few months less, maybe around six to eight.
Yes, dairy products can be frozen, but after thawed, the water and dairy are going to separate and it isn’t going to taste very good without some sort of preparation.
The coolest place to be during quarantine (creative commons)
Don’t be too proud to stock up on frozen dinners, so long as they remain frozen they are good to go and can add a lot of variety in terms of what you may be stuck eating.
What’s most important about all these items is that you monitor how long they can stay fresh. What did they use before refrigeration?