I don’t think you’re crazy either, OP. I think the world changed, and concluded that I should change with it. Seemed rational enough to me; either that or we’re the same kind of crazy
In the Before Times I had a very modest emergency stash- 10 gallons of water and some spare dehydrated camping food. These days, I have been consciously adding to the stash all along. I never did get a case of TP anxiety, but being on quarantine and then seeing things get weird convinced me. So now I have several boxes full of mostly assorted canned food, probably several months worth if it came down to it. I also have perhaps 20 lbs of assorted beans in drawers or the freezer. A little extra TP, and a few spare cases of canned seltzer water. There’s at least a dozen cans of Spam, which I’ll eat fried on rare occasions but is really meant as the pork for lockdown pork and beans.
Having been on quarantine myself, I got in the habit of just living off of the stash (Staag chili seems especially good). I’ve tried to continue to live like a miser to hoard cash- never know if the job will go kablooey, plus I think the market will bomb at some point and I’d like to be prepared. Now that things are opening up I splurge on the occasional ribeye to keep me out of the restaurants, but I have stuck fairly closely to my live-off-the-stockpile plan.
I’m concerned about a second wave like some others mention. It looks to me like people aren’t all taking things seriously, so how can it not reassert itself? Only next time, millions will already be unemployed and maybe broke. Social unrest is already underway, but who knows, maybe society can find it in its heart to treat minorities with dignity and things will cool off.
We had an ample supply of Costco TP and paper towels pre-COVID-19 as well. A month ago, when I was at Costco and there was ample TP and paper towels on the shelves, I bought one package of each.
Both are still sitting unopened in the garage today. I guess we’re ready for the Third Wave …
We are just shopping differently. Since we are not going into work, I don’t just pop by the grocery store (we live mountain/rural). So when I do go shop, it’s usually a bigger trip. And I may buy two of something instead of one. It’s starting to add up in our cupboards is all.
Is hoarding still a thing? After the initial panic, I thought it had all calmed down. The only consistent item I see in short supply is flour – and that’s because (a) we’ve all decided to start baking for the hell of it and (b) the mills aren’t set up with enough packaging. They got the flour, just nothing to put it in.
I was finally able to order a case of TP from Marcal, my favorite brand (I was OK in the meantime) and it arrived a couple days ago in a plain brown box that had no indication as to the contents.
In the past, it was in a box with the logo all over it.
Prepping covers a whole spectrum of collecting or stockpiling behaviors.
I can sympathize with the folks building a bunker. When Mr VOW and I retired, we waved goodbye to the madness of SCal and headed to our thirty-six acres in the middle of nowhere in AZ. No bunkers there, yet. Instead, we have a boring house, a utility shed to hold the solar stuff, and Mr VOW’s observatory for his 14" reflector telescope.
I stock up quite a bit there, because it’s thirty miles to the nearest town, over sixty miles to WallyWorld, and over a hundred miles to Sam’s Club.
I wish I did have a bunker. I’ve always wanted a root cellar!
~VOW
I’m with you; things are pretty much back to status quo ante around here, in terms of shopping. It seems to me that some product supply chains are still running a little bit behind, but that just means that it takes a little longer for the shelves to get restocked - you might have to come back in a day or two. There’s basically nothing that you can’t get in my neck of the woods, and it’s been that way for quite some time.
Flour was about the last product where the shelves were constantly bare, but as you note, that was at least partly due to packaging problems. For the last few weeks, though, there has been plenty of all-purpose flour in stock around here. Bread flour has been in shorter supply, probably because the manufacturers have been focusing on the all-purpose stuff.
I’ve discovered I am no longer complacent about TP unless I have over 40 rolls. Since I now have that I don’t feel anxious and compelled to buy it when I see it.
I always have bought 2 or 3 bottles of shampoo at a time, but I’m focussing on cat food (Sheba only for her Royal Little Pickiness) and kitty litter now. Because I don’t want to get caught short. Again.
I do wonder if there won’t be some lasting psychological effects of all this. I’m picturing the world decades from now, when the Zoomers are grandparents or great-grandparents:
“Daddy, why does Grandma Madison always keep so much toilet paper and canned food in her LivingPod? Every storage compartment is full of stuff like that! Doesn’t she know about nutrient synthesizers and the three seashells?”
“I heard that! You young whippersnappers, you just don’t get it–you don’t know how good you’ve got it! Everything could just break down and stop working! Everything! And then where would you be?”
(Of course this is assuming that the world decades from now won’t just be a post-apocalyptic hellscape, so it’s actually a pretty optimistic picture of The Future.)
Vinegar MAY kill some bacteria and viruses but it is nowhere near as efficient as other methods. It is ineffective against E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria, rhinoviruses, and influenza. It has NOT been shown to be effective against Covid-19.
Secondly, even for the stronger 12% “cleaning” vinegar the contact time is 30 minutes, which mean it has to remain wet on a surface for it to be effective.
Vinegar is not necessarily a “safe” cleaner. As an acid, vinegar is corrosive on many surfaces especially metals such as aluminum, copper, etc… It can be toxic, especially if inhaled into the lungs. It also can be very reactive when in contact or mixed with other compounds especially bleach which can be extremely hazardous.
Some people like to mix baking soda and vinegar but unfortunately this only neutralizes each chemical and you lose all the beneficial aspects of the two ingredients.
Don’t get me wrong, vinegar is great from many household applications when used properly…but as far as a disinfectant, it’s really a last resort compared to the other sanitization options available which are known to be 99.9% effective.
Roger that. The usual garage stash was 2 12-packs of megarolls. Now it’s 4. Litter was 1 complete change out of all 3 boxes. Now it’s 2+ changes. Rum was a handle of Bacardi plus some good stuff. Now it’s 4 handles of Bacardi and just float the good stuff.
Every time I order for my weekly Kroger pick-up, I add some cans of soup, tuna, fruits and veggies. I’m storing these in my spare room. I plan to get additional cat food and cat litter later this summer and probably stock up on the toilet paper, too. I’d just like to have a good stash in case things really go sideways in the fall. I’ve started to believe we won’t see Clorox wipes again in stores for a long, long time. Any being produced are going to hospitals and businesses. And that’s fine. But if they should appear, I’d get as many as I could. That is something that never occurred to me to stockpile.
You may insert whatever terminology you like, the other respondents seem to understand well enough. All I mean is that suddenly, the things I usually buy at the grocery were gone, and I was left not being able to find the things I need. But feel free to use your wording.
I don’t use hydrogen peroxide as an antibacterial, nor do I use vinegar that way. I just clean with it. With no expectation that it’s killing germs really. I have sensitive skin, and use it mainly to remove all (or as much as I can) traces of laundry detergent so I don’t get an itchy rash. And I have extremely hard water, so I clean water spots with it. I also mop with it after I use a cleaner on the floors to remove residual chemicals.
