# So, what should I be hoarding? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [August 21, 2020, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683 "2020-08-21T17:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/21 "2020-08-22T03:15:11Z")
Thanks, thorny. And thanks for the reminder about the veggies that keep well. I did buy some winter squash back in the first go round, because I know how long it will keep. But I’d forgotten about some of those – esp. the Brussels sprouts, which we love.\* I’ll have to see if we can find some at the Farmers market in the fall. \*I think I first learned this from you a while back on the other board. So now you’ve taught it to me twice. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/22 "2020-08-22T03:19:09Z")
Fresh vegetables are great. But I really don’t think quality canned corn or beans are dramatically worse. And canned tomatoes are often much better. Like the microwave, a bit of an undeserved reputation. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/23 "2020-08-22T03:44:14Z")
I could not disagree more. Tastes and local produce vary. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/24 "2020-08-22T08:43:00Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, winter squash Hmm, in the usual course of events I often discard these because they’ve gone bad. Maybe my kitchen is too warm for good root storage, and I should try the laundry room. Also, my daughter saw a mouse the other day, so I guess I need to set out traps. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/25 "2020-08-22T08:47:54Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Whole wheat (or other whole grain) can get nasty. The other downside to flour is that, although producers try to avoid insects flour stored long-term can turn up with weevils or other critters, like pantry moth larva. Which, by the way, are harmless if you do ingest them and can be sifted out of flour Yes, the whole wheat flour (and the less-often-used pastry flour) are in the fridge. The bread flour is just in plastic bins. And I’ve sifted out moths before, but they do degrade the quality. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/26 "2020-08-22T08:58:50Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Hey! Some of us like a bowl of Cheerios for a light dinner! 😉 I rather like Cheerios for a light dinner. Also for breakfast. And they keep nicely until you open the box. Milk is a little more problematic. I should look for more shelf-stable milk. Too bad they only sell it in tiny containers meant for a child’s lunch around here. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/27 "2020-08-22T10:40:34Z")
I forgot about sprouting seeds! and a kit if you want one, though you can probably manage without. Fresh greens available on a few days’ notice, grown right in your own kitchen, even if you don’t have good light available and have almost no space. Spicy or not depending on what seed you use. Make sure you use seed meant for sprouting; seed meant for planting, even if untreated, may not be clean enough. With a little more space and some light available, and more time to grow, lettuce and spinach and so on in windowboxes. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/28 "2020-08-22T13:40:12Z")
Honestly, this advice strikes me as not useful. I mean, for people who wear readers and usually have a pair stashed anywhere and everywhere, buying a couple more pairs isn’t neccessarily stupid. But I’ve been wearing glasses full time for nearsightedness for about 30 years, and I’ve actually broken a pair twice and never lost them. My old glasses were still functional when I replaced them ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/29 "2020-08-22T14:22:39Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > What other kinds of natural disasters is your area prone to? You might want to think about how to stock up on things that would fit into that plan. We get blizzards and thunderstorms that sometimes take out the power. But we’ve had those forever, and I am adequately prepared for that. I’ve considered getting a generator, but I don’t think that will work for me. And honestly, most of the time when the power goes out, it’s cold enough outside to use “the big fridge” as a back up if we need to. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/30 "2020-08-22T15:31:02Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Last time I checked deep freezers were fairly cheap (~$350 for a 10 cu ft) and they keep stuff frozen for a couple of days if they are full and you don’t open them too much. Are these back in stock? I had heard they were still in short supply earlier this summer. OP may want to access the canning supplies that still may be available in the stores and put up some seasonal veggies and meats. I miss the canned beef my MiL used to make. Open, heat, and pour over pasta, veggies, or spuds. As far as rotating, most of my pantry has the “best by” date written in large numbers with a sharpie and almost all of my freezer items have the date they were put in. As far as hoarding, make sure you have a 30 day supply of needed prescription meds available beyond the bottle you just opened. As to what may be shorted, realize this is an election year. Imagine a worst case from the incumbent’s PoV (gas lines for one.) Then realize they’ll do everything possible to not let that happen. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/31 "2020-08-22T17:19:59Z")
> [@Eureka](#): > > Honestly, this advice strikes me as not useful. I mean, for people who wear readers and usually have a pair stashed anywhere and everywhere, buying a couple more pairs isn’t neccessarily stupid. > > But I’ve been wearing glasses full time for nearsightedness for about 30 years, and I’ve actually broken a pair twice and never lost them. My old glasses were still functional when I replaced them I agree, for these circumstances especially. It sounds like end of the world prepping advice. Don’t be [Burgess Meredith](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Enough_at_Last). But for coronavirus, you could order readers from Amazon if your glasses break. In my area, I’ve been preparing, as the city has asked everyone to do, for a Cascadia zone earthquake, which could be magnitude 9.0 or greater. We’ve been told to expect that we could need supplies for 2 weeks, including water, in that scenario. There is advice to keep spare glasses with those supplies, and it makes sense because it would not be easy to get a pair during the immediate aftermath. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/32 "2020-08-22T17:30:53Z")
Sure, but the thread is about second-wave COVID-19 supply chain disruptions and how to prepare for those, not general disaster preparedness. Water isn’t going to be much of a worry under any sort of COVID-19 related circumstances, unless they turn into some other more conventional sort of disaster. And there’s a near-zero chance of COVID-19 contamination of the water supply. That’s all I was trying to say. ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683/33 "2020-08-22T18:33:40Z")
Back when shortages were first happening but we weren’t yet on shutdown, people in the Facebook group for my community were exchanging data on which stores had fresh milk available. When I went to the grocery, they had milk in stock but I also bought a quart of shelf-stable almond milk just in case. Mr. Middon likes cereal for breakfast and I thought it could come in handy. As it turned out, he liked it. Then he did some research on which nondairy milk was best (both for him and the environment). He decided on oat milk, which I get for a relatively reasonable amount from Trader Joe’s. It’s rare that I get moo milk now – he’s completely switched to oat milk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-be-hoarding/918683.md?page=1)