Stocking Up Ahead of Coronavirus
As the COVID-19 Coronavirus started to look like it might turn into a pandemic a few weeks ago, Hawk and I agreed we should stock up our pantry a bit more. We considered these 4 reasonable risks in our risk profile:
For our earthquake supply we assume that electricity, natural gas, and water will be interrupted for several days. Our earthquake food supply includes a lot of shelf-stable food such as pasta, rice, beans, canned fruit and veg, and nuts. Oh, and water.
For outbreak preparedness we assume no interruption to power and water service. Yes, it's conceivable that an outbreak could be so bad that the power company and water company can't even keep their own machines running, but that's Hollywood-thriller, disintegration-of-society type stuff. We're not including it in the reasonable risk profile. So in the past week we've added a lot of fresh food and frozen food to our kitchen.
Through this we're careful not to slip into over-preparedness. We're not buying 3 months of food. We're not buying shopping carts full of bottled water, alcohol wipes, and toilet paper. We're not buying things like powedered milk and Spam, which we don't like, just because they're shelf-stable. We're only buying stuff we expect we'll enjoy eating. We're just buying it a little ahead of schedule.
- If we get sick and need to self-quarantine, we won't be able to shop for a while. It'll be important to have food available at home.
- Even if we don't get sick, if there's an outbreak in our area it might be inadvisable to go food shopping. There could be restrictions on going shopping. Stores might even be closed.
- At some point there will be panic-buying. Even if we're healthy and there's no outbreak in our area, stores will be sold out of important things.
- If outbreaks are severe in other areas, shutdowns could interrupt producers and/or the supply chain of processors, warehousing, and transportation that deliver goods to our grocery stores.
For our earthquake supply we assume that electricity, natural gas, and water will be interrupted for several days. Our earthquake food supply includes a lot of shelf-stable food such as pasta, rice, beans, canned fruit and veg, and nuts. Oh, and water.
For outbreak preparedness we assume no interruption to power and water service. Yes, it's conceivable that an outbreak could be so bad that the power company and water company can't even keep their own machines running, but that's Hollywood-thriller, disintegration-of-society type stuff. We're not including it in the reasonable risk profile. So in the past week we've added a lot of fresh food and frozen food to our kitchen.
Through this we're careful not to slip into over-preparedness. We're not buying 3 months of food. We're not buying shopping carts full of bottled water, alcohol wipes, and toilet paper. We're not buying things like powedered milk and Spam, which we don't like, just because they're shelf-stable. We're only buying stuff we expect we'll enjoy eating. We're just buying it a little ahead of schedule.