What should you buy for a 14-day supply of quarantine staples? [column] - LancasterOnline

Posted: 15 Mar 2020 12:00 AM PDT

The word "prepping" might conjure up mental images of an underground bunker with Cold War-era metal shelving filled floor to ceiling with MREs (Meals, Ready-to-Eat), a shelf of various firearms and ammunition and enough water and toilet paper to survive the fallout from a nuclear happening for at least 20 years.

But it doesn't have to look like that. For us right now, prepping can just look like being prepared for social distancing, quarantine or self-isolation, as in the case of a pandemic event such as we're experiencing now.

As a Community Emergency Response Team volunteer and someone who's been on the uncomfortable end of being unprepared for tropical storms when I lived in Florida, preparing has long been important to me. How will I care for my family if we need to stay in our house for an extended period of time?

For COVID-19, we should be stocking up on supplies to have on hand for the recommended two weeks. What will you want to have in your house if you're sheltering in place?

A guiding thought for you during this process should be preparation over panic.

I have been keeping an eye on COVID-19 since before it had its name. We've been slowly adding to our supplies since mid-January and haven't experienced any of the empty shelves that are now starting to be seen in Lancaster County. Many of our bulk items we picked up at Costco, but my other top shop for inexpensive supplies was Lidl in York County.

Here's how prepping for our family looked.

You're going to want toilet paper, but there's no need for everyone to get two months' worth of it; remember our goal is to get enough to keep us happy for two weeks. Hand sanitizer will be of use now when you're out and about and around people who may potentially have COVID-19; once you're isolated in your house, it's not likely you'll be going through 20 bottles of it.

As coronavirus spreads, Lancaster County stores have a hard time keeping hand sanitizer on their shelves

I bake a fair amount of bread, so we opted for a bulk amount of flour. If you're not envisioning anyone perfecting homemade bagels and English muffins while in quarantine, you might not need a 50-pound bag of flour.

We chose a bulk amount of white rice, and I stocked our shelves with a variety of dried beans. Our family eats a lot of stir-fries, refried beans, Indian-style curries and rice as a side for one reluctant eater, so these were important ingredients to have on hand.

If you do purchase a large amount of flour or rice, put the whole bag in your freezer to kill any insect eggs that are inside; we kept ours in the freezer for one week.

Root vegetables last a long time and are an option for your emergency supply stock.

Don't forget to grab comfort foods. This could be a psychologically difficult time, especially for those who are the youngest and used to a set routine. For us, comfort foods looked like Nutter Butter and packaged chocolate chip cookies, Kool-Aid and Country Time Lemonade, a bag of sour gummies and bags of tortilla chips.

Consider canned goods like fruit, beans, vegetables and soup; instant ramen and other dried noodles are also shelf-stable, as well as boxes of cereal. Stock up on some meats and fish (unless you're a vegetarian) and store them in the freezer to thaw for meals.

If you've created a well-stocked pantry, the main thing you may find yourself running out of after two weeks is milk, eggs and butter. I always keep powdered milk, but you might prefer grabbing a few cartons of a milk substitute like soy or almond; there are various egg substitutes available, but I've never used any of them. Eggs are an item we'll wait to purchase until it feels we're at a point we want to practice social distancing, and we'll get a few dozen; the Department of Agriculture advises it's safe to eat eggs three to five weeks after purchase. There are plenty of cooking fats you can use in place of butter that don't need to be refrigerated: ghee, coconut oil and olive oil are just a few.

While the basic items prepped by many of us might look the same, there will be differences. For normal daily cooking, we often use organic and locally sourced foodstuffs. Our emergency supply went with the most cost-effective and financially-friendly items to make our dollars stretch further.

You still have time to stock up on items your family will need and want. Focus on shelf-stable items you actually enjoy eating; don't get canned kidney beans if that can will take up shelf space until 2025 because no one likes them.

A few final items to consider having an extra supply of are hand soap, laundry detergent, dish soap, pet food and cat litter, feminine products and any extra items for babies such as diapers, wipes and formula. Have access to medical records in electronic or paper-copy form; if anyone in your family becomes ill, it will assist medical professionals in making sound judgement with treatment. Have plenty of prescription and nonprescription medications on hand.

Today is always the best day to prepare for a possible emergency situation.

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