# Self-Quarantine Etiquette **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236 "2020-03-10T23:54:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/21 "2020-03-11T23:03:29Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I’m frankly amazed - are there bunches of people who go shopping multiple times a week as a matter of course, or do you just eat out a lot? We almost never eat out but we generally shop every day. I never know what I want for dinner in advance so we go after we pick the kids up and see what’s cheap and sounds good. I just got a turkey breast today for $1.5/pound. We keep staples like beans, rice, and tomato sauce to supplement what we buy. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/22 "2020-03-11T23:34:23Z")
> [@Kovitlac](#): > > I’m a little confused about why delivery services are the instant go-to for people when they’re ill or otherwise unable to leave. Do none of you keep dry pasta around? Frozen pizzas? Canned soups? If I just stopped leaving the house as of today, I’d have enough food to hold out for a considerable period of time. And this isn’t because I’ve been preparing for anything special, because I certainly haven’t. True, after a week and a half or so I wouldn’t be having the most exciting meals, but I’d still get by just fine. And as a bonus, I wouldn’t be endangering anyone else’s health! Goodie! I buy in bulk-- Amazon subscribe & save for some of it. So I actually have a backstock of things like yeast, flour and salt. We can have bread for a month. I also have several jars of PB, canned soup, beans, spices, pasta & frozen blanched tomatoes. Also, some soy fake meats. I’ve got a few of the boxes of cereal my son likes, and powdered milk. Not a lot of that, but I bought some when they were predicting a blizzard last December. I have dried & frozen fruit, because it’s leftover from making fillings for hamantashen. Also, lots of frozen vegetables, because, reasons. Also have lots of soap, shampoo, cat litter, cat and dog food, because I just got a Chewy delivery. I’m really not a hoarder, I just buy in bulk to save money, and I happen to be at the beginning of a buying cycle because of the holiday. But if we were quarantined, we’d be eating just fine for weeks. I like to cook. And to bake. I don’t even need written recipes to make most things, because I’ve been making bread, muffins, souffles, casseroles, stews, and anything you want to name, since I was about 12. I’m even pretty good at making nice stews and casseroles from vegetables that are past their prime. If I were in quarantine, I’d order things like fresh fruit and dairy products once a week or so, as long as there was delivery, and I’ll bet we could easily make it a month without even being completely depleted. If, say, the section of my apartment building where we all share a common hall and laundry facilities were quarantined together, I’d even share. > [@Spiderman](#): > > I’m not leaving a container of hand sanitizer, gloves, or masks outside for the delivery person if I can get any from the store; they are in short supply. That was kinda tongue-in-cheek, Dude. > [@](#): > > Prime costs $120/year; there’s a reason their grocery store is called Whole Paycheck. It was called “whole paycheck” way before Amazon bought it, and they have two delivery services-- actually, three, but two same-day, with different stuff, and different prices. And $120/year is a whopping $10/month. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/23 "2020-03-11T23:43:32Z")
I don’t cook, so I’ve stocked up on 10 frozen pizzas, 15 cans of Chunky soup, 3 cases of water and 3 cases of Pepsi. Without food delivery, I’ll be screwed. Will do more shopping tonight, since we just announced our “work from home until further notice” today. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/24 "2020-03-12T05:24:00Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I’m frankly amazed - are there bunches of people who go shopping multiple times a week as a matter of course, or do you just eat out a lot? > > I’ll admit if my family was unexpectedly quarantined on a Sunday night (Monday is generally shopping day) then we’d be eating pretty weird shit over the next week (pasta spirals with lentils? Cashew nut toasted sandwiches?). But we’d still be eating every day, and I’m pretty sure we could eke it out two weeks before the last baked bean hit the plate We have one small freezer for five people, there is no way to stuck up much frozen food. I pretty much buy dinner to cook every day. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/25 "2020-03-12T05:32:54Z")
The consensus from health care experts is… > **[Business Greetings](https://xkcd.com/2277/)** > > We have email and social media now, so we probably don't need to keep exchanging business cards by pressing them gently against each others' faces with an open palm and smearing them around. That you should refrain from licking their eyeballs at this point in the Pandemic. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/26 "2020-03-12T05:51:52Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > We have one small freezer for five people, there is no way to stuck up much frozen food. I pretty much buy dinner to cook every day. Well … that’s what we have too! But the vast majority of our food lives in the cupboard, not the freezer ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/27 "2020-03-12T11:56:07Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I’m frankly amazed - are there bunches of people who go shopping multiple times a week as a matter of course, or do you just eat out a lot? We have loads of food in the freezers and tons of canned goods. I do like to buy perishables on an as needed basis. I’d rather stop at the grocery store after work to buy fresh collards I’m cooking that evening, rather than buying them for some vague, future meal and then watching them age in my refrigerator as things-to-do pop up. Same thing with meat, fish, poultry, etc. I just hate seeing food wasted. We eat at home on Tuedays, Wednesdays, and Sundays. Mondays my gf takes food to her aunts and I eat at the bar. Thursday, Friday, Saturday are eat-out days. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/28 "2020-03-12T12:02:26Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Right now I could probably eat normally for 36 hours. After that I could scrape by eating odds and ends for a few days. I couldn’t survive a week. Discussing this last night, my gf said we could easily eat for a month on what is in our freezers and pantries. I told her she was off by at least two months. She rethought the matter but couldn’t imagine us having three months of food. I reminded her about the hay burners in the barn, if things were truly desperate. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/29 "2020-03-12T12:36:27Z")
I think this might be the beginning of the robot delivery revolution. ---
**Author:** ![Kovitlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kovitlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kovitlac)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/30 "2020-03-12T15:42:39Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Right now I could probably eat normally for 36 hours. After that I could scrape by eating odds and ends for a few days. I couldn’t survive a week. Maybe it’s just my tendency to stock up on dried pasta/rice bags when I see them 2 for a dollar, lol. They always sound good at the time, then I never eat them. It feels good to have them sitting around just in case, though. If I got to make one more grocery trip and that was it for, say, a month, I’d stock up on canned soups/chili, rice, bottled water (I hate the tap) pasta, tomato sauce, frozen beef, pizzas and bread. Stuff that can either stay out or will keep in the freezer. Butter would be fine in the fridge for a month or more. I only cook with milk a bit, and would be fine if I had to go without it awhile. The last thing I’d be doing is ordering from food delivery services and paying that insane upcharge. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/31 "2020-03-12T19:26:48Z")
Before we moved to smaller quarters, we probably could have lived for 6 months from what we had in the basement including a large chest freezer. Now we are probably down to 3 months. We get veggies delivered once a week from a local roof-top greenhouse outlet. They will also bring us milk and eggs. We bought some extra flour the other day, both white and whole wheat so bread will not be an issue. I guess we have toilet paper and such for a couple months. We do need our meds every month (the province in its wisdom does not allow you to get more than a 30 day supply), but the pharmacy does deliver, although I have never used that service. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/32 "2020-03-13T01:42:12Z")
> [@Kovitlac](#): > > I’m a little confused about why delivery services are the instant go-to for people when they’re ill or otherwise unable to leave. Do none of you keep dry pasta around? Frozen pizzas? Canned soups? If I just stopped leaving the house as of today, I’d have enough food to hold out for a considerable period of time. And this isn’t because I’ve been preparing for anything special, because I certainly haven’t. True, after a week and a half or so I wouldn’t be having the most exciting meals, but I’d still get by just fine. And as a bonus, I wouldn’t be endangering anyone else’s health! Goodie! plus, if you are trapped at home you would have unlimited time to prepare food. Most of the people I know who use delivery services do so because they are pressed for time with so much work, errands, running kids places, etc. If I didn’t have to go anywhere at all I would love just sitting at home making food all day. Though, I realize that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Still I can’t imagine anything that great I would need from takeout. FWIW, I don’t have quite that stock of food surplus. So perhaps I would use one of the grocery delivery services once. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/33 "2020-03-13T02:09:17Z")
> [@Kovitlac](#): > > I’m a little confused about why delivery services are the instant go-to for people when they’re ill or otherwise unable to leave. Much of the time, if I’m ill enough to be home from work, I’m not really in the mood to cook. > [@enipla](#): > > Fine. I get it. One thing I and some of us won’t get, is help. > > I’ve been trying to get my employer to set up a work from home policy for years. I am in IS/IT. A few guys in my department work from home when needed. And a blind eye is turned to it. I’m fine with that. WE DO need DBA’s and Analysts at any time. > > This winter has been rough on me. I had my hip replaced. Perfect opportunity to work from home at least a bit. Nope. Then my mom fell and broke her hip. Another good opportunity as I have to take a day off a week to care for her (she lives 100 miles away, I have spent one weekend at home since January 1st.) I’m wound pretty dam tight. > > Perhaps the Pandemic will allow more of us to work from home. Does your employer require you to live in a place so remote that there are no amenities of any kind, even mail delivery? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/34 "2020-03-13T11:25:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Does your employer require you to live in a place so remote that there are no amenities of any kind, even mail delivery? Maybe enipla is like me and my gf. Our life comes first. We are not wealthy, so we have to work. But we live in the boonies and work around that. I’m self employed, she spend 2 1/2 hours a day commuting. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/35 "2020-03-13T11:53:09Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Discussing this last night, my gf said we could easily eat for a month on what is in our freezers and pantries. I told her she was off by at least two months. She rethought the matter but couldn’t imagine us having three months of food. I reminded her about the hay burners in the barn, if things were truly desperate. Household pets can be a great comfort in times of trouble. Or starvation. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/36 "2020-03-13T12:37:42Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > Household pets can be a great comfort in times of trouble. Or starvation. Our decision to have Chihuahuas as pets isn’t looking very promising now. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/37 "2020-03-15T03:59:27Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I’m frankly amazed - are there bunches of people who go shopping multiple times a week as a matter of course, or do you just eat out a lot? In the early 2000’s, I basically went grocery shopping every day. I lived in downtown Memphis across the street from easy Way (a local food chain), and it was easiest just to shop for what I needed for a given dinner that day. The only thing I kept in supply was breakfast food. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2020, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236/38 "2020-03-15T10:13:53Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Delivery? Of food? Hahahahahahh. I don’t even get mail. Same here. “Delivered food” would be a deer netted while strolling past the porch. Shipping services sometimes can’t find us. Pizza, deli sandwich, and market are 1 mile / 5 minutes away, post office is 3 miles / 10 minutes, and cell service is laughable. If we stuck a Quarantine sign on the fence, nobody would turn off the dirt road to bother us. > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > In the early 2000’s, I basically went grocery shopping every day. I lived in downtown Memphis across the street from easy Way (a local food chain), and it was easiest just to shop for what I needed for a given dinner that day. We food-shopped daily when staying in Mexico and Central America, even when our quarters included a fridge. That’s the tradition. OP. For a Q-etiquette way to shop if you’ve a vehicle, find stores with shopping / order pickers who haul your selection to your parking spot. If needed, I’d switch prescriptions to the local Walgreens with a drive-up pharmacy window. I have no idea if we’d ever qualify for quarantine. I hope not to find out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-quarantine-etiquette/849236.md?page=1)