If the supermarkets are closed for a Covid shutdown, or any other looming crisis, what would you do, beside starve?
The way things have been going, it’s very possible that may happen for any duration, spanning days to months.
Since the Obama days, FEMA has warned us to have a stockpile of essentials stored.
You don’t have to buy expensive, dehydrated products, just learn to stock up at the market on non-perishable items instead of blowing that money on eating out, fast food and other forms of entertainment.
I’ve got 40 pounds of dried beans and rice stored, along with a few cases of chicken and beef broth and other canned items to make rice and beans for quite a while, with enough to share with others. I also have a lot of dried pasta to make pasta and beans, in a crisis.
And I also have a good supply of high protein items like canned chicken, salmon and tuna packs, corned beef, roast beef, whatever I can break up and stir into rice and beans to enrich it and make it a bit different, from time to time.
Don’t forget alcohol, even if you don’t drink. You can use it for many other purposes, including trade with neighbors. Some people can get pretty desperate for booze and might be willing to trade essentials for it – like a lot of firewood.
I also have extra bottles of propane for my outdoor grill, in case the utilities fail or otherwise get shut off, along with a lot of my own cut firewood to heat the house.
A bag of charcoal briquettes and starter fluid might not be a bad idea either. And of course, an extra supply of your regular prescribed medications, cold remedies and first aid materials.
The last place you want to find yourself is desperately needing things that cannot be easily obtained – and suffering for a lack of planning.
Store up to three months of provisions like you’re provisioning a polar expedition.
And don’t forget about your pets.
Plan ahead.