When we start preparing, we naturally begin looking to our pantries and freezers. We we try to make sure we have bread and milk. Meat and pasta. And that makes sense when you are preparing for an event that may knock things out for a few days or a week. And as you progress in stocking up, you will find you have food set aside for a month or more. You are ready to feed your family. You’ve met your critical needs and ensured you can continue to do so. Now you can start to look beyond the basics to items not immediately on your radar.
The 3 S’s, a totally made up story of scarcity.
Let’s say something happens that causes a lockdown, and you cannot get to the store for the foreseeable future. Remember, this is just a fictional thought experiment. Any similarity to recent events is totally a coincidence.
Within the first week of this thought experiment, you start seeing news that toilet paper is flying off the shelves. Nervously, you check your stock. 2 rolls left and who knows how long before they will get stock back in. You race to the local box store just in time to score a 4 pack of 1 ply. And for the price you paid, you may have been better off just taking cash out of the ATM home with you.
Another week goes by in this made up crisis and you are taking a shower. That little sliver of soap is not going to cut it. So you do the dance and get over to the cabinet under the sink without falling on your arse. You reach in and find there is not another bar of soap left. You scuttle back and make do with the last of the body wash that smells like petunias and finish your shower.
A few days go by and you realize you really need to shave or your significant other is not going to want to have anything to do with you. You grab your razor, get the water running hot, press down on the can of shave cream and are rewarded with a despondent “pft” and a whiff of ozone. Grumbling for the second time during this asinine crisis, you try to grab some soap (how about that cute, useless seashell on the toilet) and create a weak lather to nick, I mean shave, your face with.
Yup, you need to start thinking about the ol Sh*t, Shower, and Shave. OK, you need to think about more than those, but I think we can agree it’s more fun to put it all under this heading.
To begin with, let’s make a quick list of those things you use on a regular basis but may not get replaced all that often.
- Toilet paper
- Soap
- Shampoo & conditioner
- Shave cream
- Razor blades
- Toothpaste
- Floss
- Deodorant
- Feminine products
- Laundry detergent
- Dish detergent/Dishwasher detergent
- Cleaners
- Paper Towels
- Garbage bags
- Tinfoil
- Plastic wrap
- Parchment paper
- Storage bags
- and the list goes on…
The above list is in no particular order, but it should be relatively easy to prioritize which items will be more sorely missed if you don’t have them on hand. Start with TP, soap and cleaners. Those true sanitation items are going to be most important.
Don’t however, shrug off deodorant and shave supplies thinking that you will just go full mountain man or woman. That is understandable in a week long crisis. It won’t matter in the near term, normalcy will return, going native for a week will be fun. Until it isn’t a week. Never underestimate the restorative effect of a good shower and shave. How you feel physically can have a large impact on how you feel mentally.
So am I suggesting you run out and buy pallets of toilet paper and floss? No. Do you need to have a shelf dedicated to laundry detergent? No, unless you found a deal.
Start simply. If you think it’s nice, buy it twice. The easiest way to start covering your bases is to have at least one back up of all the items like the above that you use. One in the pantry or kitchen, and one in the basement. When you open the one from the basement, put it on your shopping list. If you see that item on your list regularly, buy thrice. If it is still showing up regularly, well, you get the point. Additionally, if you keep track of these items in your inventory, you will know what to do if you run into a sale.
Chances are, with many of the above items, having one as a backup will easily mean you have a month’s supply on hand. Once you have all the bases covered, build to two months, just like you did with food.
There are a few reasons to look at stocking up on these items. First, since they don’t really expire or go bad, stocking up now means you are avoiding higher prices in the future. Second, you will give yourself some breathing room if there are shortages of an item when you run out. Chances are it won’t be out forever, but it may be a couple weeks. In that case, you are covered. You can just keep checking each time you go out shopping. Or maybe you can take the time to shop for a lower price, instead of needing it at that moment and having to pay a stupid price. Third, you avoid the panics. When something happens and there is a run on something like toilet paper, you can sit back and avoid the kerfuffle. Avoiding the stupid is always the better option.
The last reason, to me, is perhaps minor in the short term but more impactful over time. If you keep having to worry about and struggle to find many of these smaller convenience items, or especially the more important sanitation items, it will wear on you mentally. It creates this constant low grade feeling of being in crisis mode. Always wondering if you will be able to find that which you need. With a little forethought, you can avoid small aggravations. Knowing that, regardless of how crazy inflation or supply lines get, you can still wrap the leftovers in tinfoil to keep them fresh for the next day or run the dishwasher like normal after dinner reduces minor stressors that can build over time.
So plan for the 3 S’s, then plan beyond them. Don’t end up the unshaven mountain man bellowing in rage over toilet paper and deodorant. Your spouse will thank you.
Prepared To Cook 