The View from Quarantine: Supply Lists

I was self-quarantined from 29th Feb to 13th March 2020. Friends started asking me what they needed to have with them if they got stuck inside too. These are the notes I sent out.

Supply lists

Friends just asked me what they need to have with them if they get stuck inside. After chatting with them online, I went back to last week’s Facebook (h/t Rakesh Bharania) and these two articles looked good:

• https://littlehouseonthefairyhill.com/…/how-to-manage-a-gr…/
• https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/…/preparing-for-coron…/
• (please don’t forget people who don’t have the resources to do this too — either through orgs like Glide, https://www.glide.org/donate/ or dropping off in donation bins at your local supermarket)

Below are some more personal notes from the conversation I had before I found the more official links. Warning: contains opinions; may contain snark.

• Consumables. Assume that deliveries will get interrupted, and we’ll be down to essentials for a while, so get things like laundry detergent, dishwasher tablets, shampoo (and tampons and petfood!), And toilet paper, but for the love of god not *that* much of it. Go check the levels on things that you consume like that.
• Tools. Assume that you’ll be fixing small things yourself because having people in your house becomes problematic. Do you have a small toolkit for little jobs (I have an Ikea Fixa kit — you can get them at either Ikea or on Amazon)
• Items for cooking and leisure. If the internet goes out (unlikely but if everyone’s online at once, might be slow), maybe have some backups? Head to your nearest goodwill and grab a decent cookbook; get a craft project or two; make sure you have friends’ phone numbers in your phone. If you’re planning to do big food, make sure you have the things to do it with too. Like if you’re going to make a 10-cup pan of soup, you’re going to need a big pan to do that in, and probably some containers to put it in afterwards. Again, Goodwill, Value Village or their equivalents usually have good stocks of kitchen equipment too.
• Exercise kit: you can’t get outside, so running etc is out. The 7-minute apps are good, as are the bodyweight ones so install those? Physically, I have my traveling bands and a yoga mat with me too, although I’ve also gone a little over the top and ordered a rowing machine (which is currently 100 yards away outside the wrong house, but sigh).
• Medicine: if you need meds, get stocked up now. If they’re prescription, definitely: many of the supply chains start in China and India, and both those countries are holding back for their own countries now. Also things like ibuprofen are going to be in demand, so grab those now too.
• Vitamins. If you don’t have a yard, you’re probably going to be stuck inside. Vitamin D tablets could be a wise move (and might also help with Covid19, but that’s a separate thing)
• Food. You’re going to get really obsessed about food. Look at recipes, and make sure you have the basic herbs, spices, tin of coconut oil or whatever to do some good ones. A friend pointed me at https://www.epicurious.com/…/all-pantry-meal-plan-for-coron…

This is the food I have in the house at the moment (remembering this is day 11 of 14; I’m also allergic to gluten etc):

• Freezer: chicken, meat and fish. A bunch of soups I’ve made ready for if I’m sick (it’s a good thing to buy one of those big collections of little plastic containers -lots of supermarkets are selling them as weekly meal portion sets now- for this). Riced cauliflower and veg (broccoli, sprouts and stirfry mix). Fruit (berries). I had some sliced gluten-free bread in there too, but ate it.
• Fridge: fresh meat and lots of eggs, a huge bag of spinach, lots of cheese, lots of sausages (because if you look at the datestamps on sausages, they’re usually good for months), cream, butter, mayo, olives, tomato paste, squeezy lemon, sourcream, yogurt. Onions and yams because they keep a long time.
• Countertop: Apples (keep a long time).
• Emergency cupboard: chilli (bean free), soups, tinned salmon, tinned tuna, summer sausages, dried sausages, keto protein bars. Big box of little boxes of longlife milk for when I run out of milk/cream. Gluten-free pasta; pasta sauce. Steakhouse beans.
• Store cupboard: cocoa powder (because I ate all the snacks. Buy snacks btw: you don’t want to be miserable), nut butter, oats, chicken broth, various flours (almond, coconut), almonds (for snacking), coffee (instant and ground). Bouillon paste. Baking powder. Herbs. Spices, honey. Tea. So much tea. Corn chowder mix (makes an enormous amount of good soup).
• Oil cupboard: olive oil, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar.

That’s just what’s around here, give or take. You don’t need all of it; can add some, can use less, but hopefully will give some ideas beyond Mac ’n Cheese, tinned chili and toilet paper.