The other day on social media, I shared a photo of some soup I was buying to help beef up my emergency food supply in the face of the coronavirus pandemic that is currently shutting down cities and travel (in China, Italy, etc.). I ended up deleting the post on Facebook (it still lives on IG) because there was sooo much arguing in the comments, including plenty of “stop panicking,” and one person even said I’m being an “alarmist.”
I had to stop and think … what about 8 whole cans of soup says I am panicking? So, I thought we could take the discussion over here on the blog where there is a lot more room for explanation and understanding.
Just for the record, I don’t think the world is about to shut down or there’s going to be a food shortage. But quite a few people out there are dealing with self-mandated quarantines (i.e. not allowed to go anywhere!) after inadvertently coming into contact with someone who has COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
So it’s not a bad idea to BE PREPARED with some supplies (as directed by our government, see below) in case you are quarantined and can’t leave your house for a couple weeks. Some commenters in Colorado said they were told to stock up just like a snowstorm was coming. I thought that was good advice!
This is the current recommendation from the U.S. government…
Before a Pandemic
- Store a two week supply of water and food.
- Periodically check your regular prescription drugs to ensure a continuous supply in your home.
- Have any nonprescription drugs and other health supplies on hand, including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes, and vitamins.
- Get copies and maintain electronic versions of health records from doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and other sources and store them, for personal reference. Get help accessing electronic health records.
- Talk with family members and loved ones about how they would be cared for if they got sick, or what will be needed to care for them in your home.
According to the Department of Homeland Security
Why This Is on My Mind
I started my social media post off by sharing that I was supposed to fly to California this week, but the trip was canceled because the large natural foods expo I was a part of (along with 85,000 other attendees) was no longer happening—on two days notice! I was planning on bringing my younger daughter on this trip and, because she has asthma (an underlying health condition), I had been almost obsessively researching all the latest coronavirus developments so that I could make an educated decision on if it was a good idea for her to still go.
I literally changed my mind every hour (I thought, we wouldn’t cancel our trip because of the flu, and many more people have that, but wait … the way this is being handled by the authorities seems a lot different than the flu!) until it was no longer up to me and the show was postponed.
If we had not been in this situation I would not have spent nearly that amount of time researching the virus and what may be to come. And when I started to read about people in Washington state who’d been walking around for weeks with the virus and it could not be traced to any international travel (i.e. was community spread), it became clear this could quite possibly get a lot bigger than some might think.
This personal impact in the face of COVID-19 gave me pause. I’ve never lived through a pandemic where I’ve been personally impacted like this, so it’s hard to say what’s to come. We do have a little bit of an emergency food supply for hurricanes, ice storms (welcome to NC), and such, but I thought maybe I should check our stash and add a few more things.
What’s in My Emergency Food Supply
As one commenter pointed out … when you eat mostly fresh, real food you don’t have a lot of canned soups and other non-perishable prepared foods on hand. I routinely make and freeze homemade soups, so canned soups aren’t something we buy on a regular basis.
I bought what’s pictured here, which is honestly for a “worst-case scenario” where I couldn’t cook or purchase ingredients weekly like we usually do:
I already had the following “just in case” soups on hand (that we have yet to use in an emergency!). Yep, we still like things clean and organic even in a situation like this:
We also have an extra freezer, and I have no reason to believe we won’t have power in a pandemic, so I feel comforted by our decent stash of frozen meats (and those homemade soups that I mentioned)! If we were in a different type of emergency situation where we might lose power (because of a storm) we do have a small generator that I made my husband buy a while back. Losing all the food in our freezer would be a BIG loss!
Lastly, we have a decent amount of dry goods (rice, beans, pasta, quinoa, etc.), and I am in the process of refilling the jars so everything is fairly full and stocked. These are items we’ll use no matter what:
In the event of needing any of this emergency food supply after a storm where power and other resources are affected, we do have a camping stove, a gas grill, and a wood-burning fireplace (and an outdoor fire pit) that we could use for alternate cooking methods.
Non-Food Items
I stocked up on a few extras for this particular (possible) medical emergency:
- Conventional wipes and sanitizers
While handwashing is always best, when you’re out and about that’s not always possible. We normally go with the all-natural stuff in this department, but I have been told that the hardcore stuff is all that’s proven to kill the virus that causes COVID-19 right now. And especially when I thought my daughter and I might be traveling, I wanted to be prepared. I still use and love natural sanitizers for all other occasions (i.e. normal life) and am honestly ready to return the conventional stuff unused to the store when all of this is over, LOL! - Regular household items (toilet paper, soap, etc.)
I figured if I came down with a fever I would clearly not be out shopping and spreading my germs, so again, I just thought this was a good time to do a normal restock of household items. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a refill of all the items we normally use! - Thermometer/Meds
Again, all of this has simply encouraged me to take stock and in the process, I realized we only had one good thermometer (that’s probably 10+ years old, what if it breaks or dies?). And our one bottle of Ibuprofen expired in 2015, LOL. I guess we don’t take meds that often, and I felt bad offering one to a friend who was recently over and needed one. I figure now is as good a time as any to replace and restock those items! - Jugs of water
We will also buy some jugs of water because the Department of Homeland security said it’s a good idea (although, I am honestly not sure why). We can always save it for the next possible ice storm if we don’t use it!
So, that just about sums up what I’ve done to prepare in the event of some kind of emergency (medical or weather-related). I certainly hope we don’t get stuck at home for any length of time, for any reason, and need all these things, but it does feel good knowing we are prepared just in case!
What are you doing to prepare (if anything!)?
Chicken & Veggie Teriyaki Skillet
Can you tell me where I can get the glass storage containers you have? And what size? Thank you!
Hi Krissy, the jars are from The Container Store. You can find the exact ones in this post: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/pantry-redo-organization/
– Nicole
I don’t think you are overreacting. I live in the Scottish highlands and I always have a store of items with longer shelf lives. We still suffer with power cuts up here and it’s a one road in and one road out place, so if the road is closed for whatever reason we are cut off. It is only sensible to take precautions. We have to be responsible not only for our selves but the elderly
Dear God
please help me and anyone else continue to have faith and hope be brave and find strength to continue to trudge onward at this point right now with all the anxiety and tension building up from all the hype that the news is reporting with this virus witch I might add was made in a place or land none for making everything you can think of gf for a fraction of the cost of what should cost and thus charging a fraction of the normal cost of anything by far making that country the leading producer of the majority of everything on the consumers market these days. Regardless of if the quality of the product is satisfactory Im sure its safe to say that China is by far the u.s. biggest distributor in the consumers market. However it is also known that there quality is crap by far if its made in China the average normal consumer can guarantee any products made by China are mass produced, W/cheapest materials using worst cheapest, even illegal methods to manufacture the quantity at such dirt cheap prices sacrifices overall quality in end is guaranteed. However I guess when it comes to illnesses or doomsday viruses we can trust that those are different that they no how to make those work well and much better then there products so we all should just count on the end apparently cause this show stopper virus they created will surely be the one that might end humanity as we know it yet listed in the same family as the common cold witch has affected the U.S. but not ever to have us running around like this and other pandemics that failed to reach the U.S. shores and bring U.S. citizens to there knees as originally projected and hyped up to with the other 2 that’s in that same disease family as the corona and the cold. TO warrant such a reaction as this is just unbelievable and shocking to me in Colorado where the struggle is very real for families everywhere who work but almost no money for food after paying so much more for rent sense the cost of just renting or owning a home has gone up to almost twice as much.
I think you’re being responsible. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Sports seasons are being cancelled at the moment. I also do think it depends on where you live, too. Some states are bit more sheltered than others.
Rather than panicking and getting afraid be cautious about the condition… Prevention is always better than cure… Do what the health department adviced us to do in this present situation…
I don’t think buying 8 cans of soup is going overboard. The problem is when people empty the shelves at every store in an entire area because they are stockpiling. Where we live in CO masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, and some cleaners are completely out of stock in all area stores. Toilet paper is close to being out of stock, with people waiting in long lines to buy it as soon as it is in stock. This means that most people in our area are unable to buy even what they normally use on a weekly basis. My family just ran out of hand sanitizer and it took several days of searching in stores and online before a friend finally shared a small online shop with me that still had some in stock. I ordered four 1 ounce bottles, enough for each person in my family to put one in their bag (not counting my 2 year old). If I had bought all that the shop had in stock then what about the next family that needs some? I do think it is prudent to be prepared, but if you are stuck at home in quarantine for a few weeks you can order things like toilet paper and have it delivered to your house. You could also ask a friend to set some on your front porch or drive by and throw it in your front yard if they think the porch is contaminated. Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there panicking and therefore making it harder for everyone else to get the supplies they need to stay healthy. Only buy what your family needs for a couple weeks and there should be plenty to go around.
I read your post from last week and I don’t think it was the 8 cans of soup that gave people the impressions they remarked on. I believe it was more the wording of the post. I think first of all calling it a pandemic may have been premature. While true we don’t know where this is going, America has not quantified this as a pandemic. As a health care professional I find it very frustrating about all of the hype and yet Influenza has claimed so many more lives and made so many people sick yet people just don’t respect how deadly it is. Also the comment about believing ‘way more people’ have the virus had an ‘alarmist’ sound to it. I do see you gave an Update on that comment.
Nevertheless it is never a bad idea to be prepared for emergencies and it is always good to educate oneself. Thank you.
My son has severe asthma so we decided to stock up just in case. People think I’m crazy but if it hits our community I don’t want to risk exposing my son. We already skip a lot of things during flu season to protect him. His medicine is made his China so your advice to check the CDC list of meds shortage was smart! We finally found a pharmacy that had some for the next few weeks.
100 years ago having supplies to care for your family for two weeks would not be odd. It would be normal. We are too dependent on shopping any time that is needed. The virus should be a wake up call for America.
Keep up the great job!