As my friends and family know, I’m a pretty laid back guy. I am also generally optimistic, believing that things will always work out even in the face of difficult odds.
However, I also think that it makes sense to be prepared. Just like you, I don’t know if the COVID-19 coronavirus will affect many people in the United States or whichever country you live in. But I also know that we will be happy to be prepared if it does impact the area that we live in.
Preparations
Being prepared means different things for different people. For some, it means buying thousands of dollars worth of food, water, and survival gear and preparing for any possible emergency, from nuclear war to a power outage.
For me, being prepared is much different.
I know that the coronavirus has the potential to affect my country, state, and local neighborhood. I also know that my family will most likely be fine, even if we end up getting the coronavirus. According to recent statistics about COVID-19, young, healthy people such as my kids, my wife, and I have less than a 0.4% mortality rate from the virus.
Therefore, even if hundreds of thousands of people become infected by the coronavirus in the United States, I don’t feel like my family will need to be quarantined for months at a time.
However, avoiding large crowds (like those in stores) for a few weeks, might be an easy way to avoid getting the virus. Therefore, I think that it makes sense to prepare for a short quarantine, just in case.
A one-month quarantine
Even something as short as a two-week or one-month quarantine can help to prevent us from getting the coronavirus. This will allow us to avoid stores and crowds for a few weeks; both of which have the potential to get us sick.
Food we will use
As I’ve been looking around on Amazon, I’ve seen things like a ten-pound can of lasagna, a 30-day food supply bucket for $279, and 60-day survival tablets. I know that each of these items probably have a place in the serious prepper’s food pantry, but these items are not what I’m looking to purchase.
Instead, if my family and I end up being quarantined for a few weeks, we probably want to have simple, non-perishable foods that we will actually eat.
Look at what we already have
To figure out the types of food that we like to eat, I went to our cupboards and pantry and looked at foods that we already have. Then I focused on easily storable food that will last for 12 or 18 months.
Here are a few of the foods that make sense for my family to stock up on. Obviously, your family’s list will be a bit different than mine based on what your family typically eats.
- Beans (black, pinto, refried, etc.)
- Peanut butter
- Oatmeal
- Spaghetti
- Spaghetti sauce
- Rice
- Honey
- Peanuts
- Macaroni and cheese
Other things that we will stock up on are things that provide a bit of comfort. Coffee, chocolate, drink mixes, canned fruit and vegetables, sugar, and spices are all things that have a long shelf life and would be easy to stock up on.
Think in terms of calories
As I was thinking about stocking up on food, I found it difficult to figure out exactly how much food we would need for a month. One week of food is easy to figure out, but one month was a lot more difficult.
However, we know that the typical person needs 2,000 or 2,500 calories per day. Multiplying 2,500 by 30 days means that each person needs approximately 75,000 calories per moth.
For my family of 5, this means that we need approximately 375,000 calories for one month of food.
The expense
Typically, enough food for a month can easily cost $800 or so for my family. We try to save money by cooking at home and buying things that are on sale, but we find that food can be expensive. Therefore, if I plan to stock up in addition to buying the necessary food for the week, my food costs could get quite high.
However, the good thing about many foods with a long shelf life is that they are quite inexpensive to purchase.
Let’s take a look at how expensive it would be to get to 375,000 calories:
- Peanut butter: 4,560 calories costs $3.19: This is a total cost of $262 for 82 containers.
- Oatmeal: 4,500 calories costs $2.99: This is a total cost of $248 for 83 containers.
- Rice: 16,000 calories costs $4.99: This is a total cost of $115 for 23 containers.
- Peanuts: 2,560 calories costs $2.99: This is a total cost of $437 for 146 containers.
Obviously, we shouldn’t buy 146 containers filled with peanuts, even though this would provide 375,000 calories. But it does make sense to buy some stuff now that you will actually use over the coming year. Would my family use 10 jars of peanut butter over the next year? If so, then maybe we should buy 10 of them now instead of buying them throughout the year.
How to stock up
I wouldn’t suggest to walk through your local supermarket pushing two carts filled with a month worth of staple foods. However, it may make sense to spend $50 or $100 extra on your next few shopping trips and stock up on a few extra things.
As you stock up on some staples, you may also want to make sure that you have some other basic things in the house. Make sure that you have things like pet food, toilet paper, toothpaste, feminine care products, medicine, and basic cleaning supplies.
Having these items can be the difference between having to go to the store and being well prepared.
Fortunately, a simple walk through your home or apartment is enough to help you identify some of the things that you may be lacking.
We definitely shouldn’t get scared, but it makes sense to be prepared for the coronavirus. Just by taking some simple precautions, we can prepare for the coronavirus without breaking the bank.
What are you doing to prepare? Let us know in the comments below.
And thanks for reading!
~Nathan
For more coronavirus related content, just check out the following links from some of my favorite bloggers.
- Coronavirus Emergency by A Dime Saved
- Working from Home Tips by Keeping Up With the Bulls
- The Coronavirus is a Bigger Deal Than I Thought by Eat Sleep Breathe FI
- What Now? Prepare. And Help. #kindnessfightscovid by Chief Mom Officer
- How To Prepare For Short Term Emergencies by Problems and Projects
- How to Make the Most of Your Unexpected Downtime by Kathleen Celmins
- Coronavirus Cleaning Tips: Disinfect Your Home by Pantry Escapades
- How to Prepare Financially for the Coronavirus by Michelle is Money Hungry
- How to Pandemic-Proof Your Business by Erika F Consulting
- PrepperFI in the Face of COVID-19 by Tread Lightly Retire Early
- PrepperFI vs. The Pandemic by That Frugal Pharmacist
- Rebalancing the Pandemic by Dr. PayItBack
Or take a look at my next article on exponential growth and the coronavirus.
Let’s keep living a great life . . . with the help of money. So what’s next?
- You can travel for free by using rewards credit cards.
- You can get motivated and get out of debt.
- You can check out the next post or the previous post and continue to learn.
But no matter what you decide to do, let’s leave the ordinary behind and take action today!
4 Comments
Marvin Schmitz
Storing your stockpile properly is as important as acquiring it. A whole month of food takes up a lot of space. Make sure it’s dry, conditioned, safe from rodents and kept out of the sunlight.
Life Before Budget
Good point. Cool, dark, and dry are the three words that best describe how to store food long term.
Steve
I like this post and find it helpful. I don’t want to have to think about prepping for the uncertainties we have to face, but I do remember when the lights went out. That only lasted for three days.
I found myself denying the possibilities of what was in fact really happening. I’ll stock up.
Life Before Budget
Like I said, I am typically pretty optimistic . . . even in the face of this new virus. However, it is not going to cost anything (in the long term) to stock up a little bit on the foods that we are going to eat anyways.
So in my mind, there is no downside to stocking up a little bit now.