You know how a happy dog acts when he senses it’s time to go on a car ride? He jumps around and when you open the hatchback or door he dashes inside and give you a dog smile. That’s what quarantine has done to my wife. She is so excited about going on a drive that she went on a drive today, just to keep her battery charged, she told me (never mind that we have a trickle charger I can hook up any time she’s worried). Then four minutes later, she texts me that she’s going to go to the post office and pick up the mail while she is out.
I’m more like our cat. The cat starts hanging out in the kitchen around 5 p.m. hoping its dinner time. Every time a piece of plastic packaging crinkles, she runs over, hoping for a treat. When we go into the laundry room to start portioning out her canned food into the bowl, she dogs our heels and supervises. Then she runs to her meal station, looking behind her to make sure we’re on our way.
That’s me, food motivated and always ready for a nap. In fact, with only two naps this week, I’m probably experiencing a quarantine low. I’ll have to redouble my efforts next week.
I can only conclude that during quarantine, we have become our pets: Well cared for; lazier than we would be in the wild; a little above our ideal body weight; and ready for some excitement.
Prepare for a Meat Shortage
I like to believe that one thing preppers do is to pay attention to signs and portents and act on these little things before the coming threat materializes and is so severe that everyone reacts, becauase then it’s too late. Right now, I’m seeing all sorts of signs pointing to meat shortages and possibly food shortages, and I think anyone who fails to act upon this sign of things to come will one day wish they had.
Here’s some examples:
- U.S. Reels Towards Meat Shortages and the World may be Next.
- This site is updated reguarly with reports on COVID-19 in meat packing plants and plant closures.
- U.S. Stock Futures Shudder With Looming Food Shortage Crisis
- Socialists are already recommending rationing, putting the government in charge of how much you can buy: Government needs plans for rationing food and basic essentials during pandemics, other crisis.
Why did toilet paper sell out? Not because people’s butts suddenly became dirtier, but because everyone ran to the store and bought them up. At some point, everyone is going to run to the store and buy up all the meat. Why not beat the rush and pick up some extra meat?
I’m not saying be “that guy” who fills the shopping cart to overflowing with nothing but meat and causes resentment. You don’t want to be the reason the store restricts meat purchases, but you can stock up moderately without being an ass about it.
10 days ago, I went to Sam’s club and reported that I bought “more sausage, ground beef, a chicken, and a 4-pound roast.” We’ve had sausage once, ground beef once, and part of the chicken is still in the refrigerator waiting to be eaten as leftovers. We still have two pounds ground beef, 30 of the 40 sausages, and the full roast in our freezer.
Assuming you can afford to do so, go to your local grocer, butcher, or closest club store and buy a little extra meat. Then do it again next week. You don’t have to buy high-dollar steaks and skinless boneless chicken breasts, if money is an issue, you can get hot dogs and chicken legs and thighs.
Save your Canned Meat
We’re on Day 43 of our quarantine, and we haven’t had to eat a tin of Spam or a can of chili yet, although my wife has made chili from scratch. I believe we’ve eaten a can of turkey, a couple cans of chicken, a can of Vienna sausages and maybe a can of corned beef hash, but I’m keeping most of our canned meats for when things get worse. Because in a true disaster, your canned food will last through a power failure that may spoil your frozen food.
Save any freeze dried meals like Chili Mac or Rice and Chicken, as well.
We’re using this emergency to test our preps, to sample our stored foods, to look at “what if” questions, and to enhance our preps so we are better prepared for the next emergency. We’re taking advantage of re-supply options when they present themselves and are not assuming that this will all be over soon. Even if things reopen by Memorial Day, that doesn’t mean the economy and the supply chain will be roaring back.
Having enough food to eat should be a concern for everyone, but particularly for preppers.
Other entries in our Quarantine Diary are available in chronological order.
