It may be that the coronavirus will not hit my area too hard, and maybe I won’t be affected at all. But other areas aren’t so lucky. Last night I was realizing how fortunate it is to have a house all to myself if I needed to isolate myself. (On the other hand, if you get sick and you’re alone, you’re really alone.)

But because he’s in another country, my friend Mike has had to think about the current epidemic a lot more, and he urged me to make a list of home supplies, and get them. So I did, and now he even wants me to look into other disaster-related things, like getting myself a generator. We looked online, and I was surprised that there are ones that are relatively low-priced.

I have to remind him about trash bags. If, in his area, trash collection were ever delayed, oh boy would that be bad. They have some utility problems all the time — like the gas company doesn’t come check reported leaks for weeks or months. So people turn it off or on themselves.

Anyway, I like having all these extra pantry items, like big bottles of dishwashing liquid and cans of soup, dried soup mixes, cans of garbanzos, and certain fruits. I have a ton of vinegar (which I use in water for washing lettuce and spinach). And now I’m set for summer storms, too: lots of batteries, candles, and even a few sterno cans. And 3 big water containers that can hold a total of 21 gallons.

In the stores near me, the only things I saw that they were out of were sanitizer and rubbing alcohol. No problem. I don’t like sanitizer anyway.

I’m not panicking in the least — I just like putting together prevention supplies. All these items I can use, after all.

Here is the whole list:

Bleach
Alcohol
Hydrogen Peroxide
Vinegar
Fruit & vegetable wash — esp. if water were shut off in a storm.
Bath Tissue
Kleenex
Paper Towels (Normally I don’t use these, but in case of illness it could be necessary.)
Batteries — esp. AA
Flashlights
Trash Bags, large and small
Lysol Spray
Mouthwash — could use as rinse instead of water, after toothbrushing, while sick
Toothpaste
New Toothbrushes
Floss
Vitamins/supplements
Canned corn, beans, spinach, tuna, soups, tomatoes, frozen orange juice. Beets, sauerkraut, other vegs.
Ibuprofen — get a month’s supply
Benadryl
Eye ointment (I need this each night)
Eye drops
Candles
Lighters, matches
Dried soup mixes
Honey
Cough syrup with expectorant / cough drops
Canned fruit
Canned stew
Sterno cans?
Boxes of nylon or latex gloves
Several pairs of big rubber cleaning gloves
Clorox disposable wipes
Liquid hand soap
Bottles or cans of soda, fruit juice, carbonated water
Extra container of salt
Maybe: Tums, pepto bismol, kaopectate, alka seltzer

Other Items:
Gas can
Generator — will look into
Lamp oil
Humidifiers — have 2 that work well
Big & small water jugs, some that can fit in freezer/refrigerator

Soon I might get moving on other items, like a battery to charge my phone, a solar radio since mine died, and other things.