My Coronavirus Shopping List
Advice on staying inside from someone who stays inside, like, a lot.
Hi there! I’m a disabled person with an absolutely trash immune system. A simple cold can knock me out for a month, and I’ve lost entire seasons of my life to the flu. In other words, I’m pretty knowledgeable about how to survive two weeks at home — even and especially if you feel like crap. Here are my suggestions for some extra items to prepare for a two-week home quarantine, on top of your regular weekly shopping list:
Ibuprofen, cough drops, and other flu-related products
A lot of the media articles focus on prevention methods: handwashing, counter sanitizing, mask wearing. Prevention is certainly important, but what happens if you, you know, actually get sick? The main symptoms of coronavirus are fever, cough, breathing issues, and muscle pain.
Hand sanitizer won’t do anything to bring down a fever. You need ibuprofen or acetaminophen for that (paracetamol if you’re British). I picked up some DayQuil/NyQuil combination packs as well as some soothing honey cough drops. It’s good practice to pick up these around October every year — before the flu season hits. That way, you can find relief immediately in a kitchen cabinet instead of staggering to the store and infecting people along the way.
Water filters
I live in an area that frequently gets boil-water advisories. I can’t count on my tap water to be safe for drinking. And with some shoppers hoarding cases of water, there simply aren’t enough bottles to go around. You’ll need a different, long-term solution.
Personally, I bought two LifeStraw Home pitchers from their Kickstarter about a year ago. If you want to get a pitcher today, look for a Brita or PUR filter at Target, Walmart, Home Depot, or Bed, Bath, & Beyond. You can also find water filtration supplies at camping and outdoor stores like REI, Dick’s, Bass Pro, Home Depot (again), and army surplus stores. Amazon also has tons of these products and price-gouging hasn’t hit these items (yet).
With two weeks of potential quarantine, you’ll have lots of time to learn how to use water purification tablets! Wow! But seriously, if you live in a water-compromised area, you do have options beyond cases of bottled water.
(Oh, and ignore those Facebook hawkers who want you to buy a $4,000 magical water cleaning system with ions and fairy dust. Those companies have been hit by lawsuits for illegal business practices, and there’s no evidence their machines actually work.)
Pet supplies
Quarantine means quarantine for everyone in your house, including your pets. You don’t get pass on breaking protocol because Fluffy got hungry. Check your supplies to make sure your pet can last a month with typical supplies like food, treats, and medication. That might mean buying an extra bag of treats and some extra cans of food. There’s no need to hoard 250lbs of dog food (unless you run a sanctuary for Great Danes, in which case that’s probably less than your regular monthly allotment).
Shower products
When you’re feeling sick, there’s nothing like a good shower to make you feel better, cleaner, and even a little happier. Showering gets more complicated if you’ve run out of shampoo or your favorite body wash products. Now, shampoo won’t kill coronavirus. But it might kill your soul a little if you’re two days into quarantine and realize that you’ve only got hot water and your own hands.
Menstrual products
I am the kind of person who always runs out of pads halfway through my period. Please don’t be me. Pick up an extra package of your preferred menstrual product. And since we’re planning ahead anyway, it’s a great time to consider switching to a cup, reusable pads, or period panties.
Oatmeal (and dried or fresh fruit)
In an emergency, most people run to buy canned soup. Don’t buy soup. First of all, you will get sick of eating soup and second, the salt content in the soup is extremely high. It’s bad for your body and salt’s dehydrating effects can undo all your hard work getting clean water.
Oatmeal is like soup: a warm, soothing meal that won’t aggravate a throat sore from coughing. Like soup, oatmeal will last in your cabinet for years (as long as you don’t get the oats wet). Like soup, you can find high-fiber, low-sugar, organic, and gluten-free options.
And, like soup, oatmeal is an extremely low-effort meal that you can make in your microwave. Add some fresh fruit on top, while you have it. In the second week, you’ll probably need dried fruits (or frozen fruit).
Kefir
When I’m feeling sick, the last thing I want to do is figure out how to combine the ingredients in my pantry into a meal, then spend 45 minutes in the kitchen to make a dinner for one. My go-to replacement is kefir, a nutritionally dense drink similar to yogurt. It’s got a stronger tang than yogurt and tends to have less sugar and more probiotics.
Like yogurt, its shelf life is on the shorter side. A bottle should keep for a week after you open it. But I don’t buy kefir for the longevity of the drink: I buy it for those “Oh god I feel like I’m dying and I know I need to eat but I can barely stand up” days. Find it in the yogurt section of your supermarket.
Orange juice (or other citrus juice)
Vitamin C is good for you! Look for orange juice that says “100% juice” and has at least some pulp. Personally, I like pineapple orange juice mixes. Many “juice” brands try to trick consumers with weaselly phrases like “100% flavor” or “100% natural taste.” But only products that are actually juice (and not extra water, sugar, or additives) can be sold as 100% juice. You can always add a bit of water to thin out a thick juice, but there’s no way to make watered-down drinks more potent.
Your favorite candy, ice cream, or treat
Please note that I am not advising you to live off chocolate chip cookies for two weeks. But if you can’t leave the house, you can drive yourself crazy craving something you can’t have. So buy a pint of ice cream, or some cookie dough, or Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. And ration it wisely.
Extra pillowcases
This one is a pure luxury, but hear me out. When you’re sick, you’re probably not thrilled about the prospect of doing laundry. And if you use a laundromat, you might not be able to get out there, whether that’s due to quarantine or illness.
What you can do is pick up some extra pillowcases from Walmart, Target, or any home goods store. If you already have extra pillowcases, make sure they’re washed and ready. This way, if you do become ill, you don’t have to put your clean face back onto the pillowcase where you were sneezing, coughing, and drooling all night. In a pinch, you can even wash them in a sink. Having a clean pillow every night is a huge psychological boost, and it might even help prevent reinfection, which is a possible risk with coronavirus.
What are your favorite ways to feel better when you’re home sick?
