# What consumer products will you miss after TEOTWAWKI? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 13, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488 "2002-04-13T22:28:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/1 "2002-04-13T22:28:23Z")
Say we have a Global Thermonuclear War and you’re one of the unlucky survivors. Or some Y2K-to-the-nth-degree problem with global computer networks that results in the collapse of civilization. Or the Rapture happens and you’re Left Behind[sup]TM[/sup] as the world goes to hell. Pick any scenario you like. What consumer household products can’t you live without? What things are required for you just to get through the day, which you couldn’t make yourself or grow in the backyard? Here’s my list:[ul][li]Paxil, without which I am a raving maniac[/li][li]Toilet paper - don’t imagine corncobs will be much fun[/li][li]Coal Tar medication for psoriasis, without which I will turn into the Elephant Man[/li][li]COFFEE[/li][li]Purina Cat Chow - imagine how tedious preparing catfood will be. Those boys eat way more than I do, and I hardly cook for myself.[/li][li]Sudafed, Claritin, Allegra - I like breathing[/li][li]Dental Floss[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2002, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/2 "2002-04-13T22:36:23Z")
Mountain Dew. It’s my lifeblood. ---
**Author:** ![Osbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@Osbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osbie)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2002, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/3 "2002-04-13T22:38:54Z")
I wear contacts and glasses. I can live without contacts, but if something were to happen to my glasses and I couldn’t get new ones - I think I’d go mad. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/4 "2002-04-14T01:17:12Z")
> [@](#): > > …if something were to happen to my glasses and I couldn’t get new ones - I think I’d go mad. That’s probably my favourite episode. COFFEE. CHOCOLATE. LAPSANG SOUCHONG. In that order. Hmmm. There seem’s to be a pattern there. Yup, I’m addicted. I’d probably end up doing something rash like trying to hike/swim to Columbia. I need my beans. Maxwell House doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/5 "2002-04-14T06:05:06Z")
On the contrary! I feel fine. ---
**Author:** ![Osbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@Osbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osbie)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/6 "2002-04-14T06:06:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > \*\* > > That’s probably my favourite episode.\*\* I haven’t seen that episode, but I know exactly what you’re talking about. I only saw the new series. ---
**Author:** ![Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nenya_Elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/7 "2002-04-14T06:45:23Z")
> [@](#): > > I wear contacts and glasses. I can live without contacts, but if something were to happen to my glasses and I couldn’t get new ones - I think I’d go mad. Same here! Also: toilet paper, as has been said; facial cleanser and soap and toothpaste; disinfectant cleaning products. Lack of fast food, aka actually having to cook, would be a pain also, as well as having to do laundry by hand. I like your abbreviation for The End of The World As We Know It. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/8 "2002-04-14T06:53:07Z")
[ul] [li]Preserved prunes - just thinking about them makes my mouth water.[/li][li]BeneFit Bathina - I love the way this moisturiser feels and smells on my skin.[/li][li]Claratyne - I get killer hayfever in the Spring.[/li][li]Jellybellies[/li][li]Salt and vinegar chips[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/9 "2002-04-14T14:29:34Z")
White Castle hamburgers. Pizza. Potato chips. M&Ms. (Do air conditioning, hot showers and the Internet count?) ---
**Author:** ![tevya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tevya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tevya)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/10 "2002-04-14T14:39:18Z")
Caffeine (preferably in the form of tea but I’ll take it however I can get it) Corrective Lenses (contacts or glasses) Milled grains (I have no idea how to make a sheaf of wheat into some form of wheat I could cook with although I suppose I’d learn right quick) ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/11 "2002-04-14T15:11:12Z")
beer. it’s the end of the world and i’ve got to cope with it while _sober_??? ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/12 "2002-04-14T16:56:23Z")
TAMPONS. I mean, come ON. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/13 "2002-04-14T23:29:23Z")
REM CDs. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/14 "2002-04-14T23:31:54Z")
Toilet paper and beer definitely! Can’t imagine life without em.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2002, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/15 "2002-04-14T23:49:06Z")
I concur with the corrective lenses. I’d have been naturally selected out of the population LONG ago without those miracles. By the time I was seven years old I’d would have been passing through the digestive systems of lower animals. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/16 "2002-04-15T01:05:30Z")
I’m quite impressed, I managed to decipher your acronym by myself. At first I thought it was the name of an Ewok but I perservered and got it. I got my eyes fixed with lasers so thankfully no need to worry about that. P.S. That episode was on SciFi like last week. Fast Food, mmmm, deadlyicious. I would go freaking nuts on nuts and berries with the occasional fish and foul and other assorted foods consumed as nature intended. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/17 "2002-04-15T03:16:41Z")
Definitely OK Soda and Zotz, my two favourite things. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-consumer-products-will-you-miss-after-teotwawki/103488/18 "2002-04-15T11:45:23Z")
TP. Coke (although I have cut back on soft drinks pretty hard lately). Shampoo. Glasses. My computer. Frozen meals and pre-mixed condiments for those nights when I’m just too damned tired to cook. Tinned cat food (I am _not_ going fishing for the cat). DVD player. God, I’m pathetic.