On May 28, exactly two weeks ago, I said that we would probably be ending our quarantine diary because so much of the country was reopening. That may have been premature.
Yes, we made a road trip, we had company, and we increased the number of stores we visit, but it does not look like the coronavirus is cooperating. In fact, cases are growing in states all around us. So while we are not going back on a lock down, we are planning to minimize our outside excursions and go into what I’m goign to call, “Quarantine lite.”
We were ahead of the curve when it came to self-quarantining, and I think we may be playing it a bit extra safe this time around, too. Still, better safe than sorry.
That didn’t stop me from getting the first haircut I’ve had in more than three months. I’m happy my hair is back under control, and my wife is thrilled that my mountain-man beard was neatly trimmed. I miss having something to grab onto at the bottom of my chin, but that’s a reflex I’ll outgrow in a few days.
A Sam’s Club Update
I stopped by CVS to pick up a prescription and ran into Sam’s Club to do some shopping. When I went to Sam’s eight weeks ago, there were large empty racks. Today, there were far fewer empty spots, but there were still plenty of missing or out of stock items. The difference is that now Sam’s Club is hiding or at least obscuring the absence of these products.
For example, on our April 16 visit, Sam’s Club had an entire cooler that had been dedicated to bacon but there was very little bacon available. This time, there was NO bacon, and the rack previously allocated to bacon was filled with other products. If you had never shopped there for bacon, you would not know that it was missing.
Same for toilet paper and disinfectant wipes – the empty spots and the “limit 1” signs were gone. So were the products. It was like they had never sold them and weren’t planning to in the near future.
I don’t blame Sam’s Club for wanting to display products it could sell rather than leaving gaping hols in their floor plan, but it was a little disconcerting. Will they ever carry that bacon again? Will toilet paper come back into stock?
In the meat section, there was plenty of ground beef and even ground chicken, but not as many steaks and other cuts of beef as usual. There were pork chops aplenty, but I didn’t see any of the pre-packaged pork loins and there was no ham (although that might be a seasonal item). There were many packages of chicken – more than I recall seeing on my last trip.
Surprisingly, there was less cheese in the refrigerated case than normal. They still had plenty of the fancy cheeses, but the bulk cheese was definitely running out. I bought two packs, but I was tempted to buy a third just in case they don’t have it again.
Restocking
We’re in that difficult position of not wanting to stock up too much because we hope to be moving soon. Rather than move food, I’d rather just buy it once we get there. As a result, the only “prep” I bought was a six-pack of canned chicken. We’ve eaten enough canned chicken over the past few months that I consider this a staple or our prepper pantry. In the meantime, I’m maintaining a list of things we’ll want to buy for our prepper pantry and our long term storage in August, assuming all goes well with the purchase and we can make the move as planned.
I definitely think people who depleted their preps should be re-stocking, especially food and medical supplies. It looks highly likely that there will be a second wave of coronavirus. Whether or not your state shuts down, we may still see problems with food production, meat plant closures, and supply chain problems.
It would also not surprise me if some protest and civil unrest continues until, and possibly beyond, the election. This country is in the middle of a disruptive period where there is political and financial instability. As preppers, the best thing we can do is prepare ourselves, our families, and our circle of friends or community, to survive whatever comes next. Every time there have been disruptions in the past, the country has bounced back. We just need to prep so that we can be as safe and comfortable as possible during the disruption.
Step up your prepping, save any money you can, and buy ammo when you can find it.
To see prior editions of our diary, check out this page where they are listed in chronological order.
