Fall and winter are nearly upon us. Have you been preparing this summer like I have? We’ll have to deal not only with Covid-19 but with the seasonal flu. Ty and I were talking and thought perhaps a list of items I have been stocking up might help someone prepare because, really, where do you start? It snuck up and bit us all in the butt earlier this year (the great TP shortage???), so let’s not let that happen to us going into fall and winter. I’m not even remotely suggesting that we turn into hoarders, but it will be good to have these items on hand as they were hard to find this year.
I would recommend checking Amazon for a lot of the bulk items. You can sign up for a “Subscribe and Save” subscription and get the items not just cheaper, but you’ll have them in your queue. If you decide you don’t need an item this month, skip it, and it will still stay in your subscription queue. I’ve used the heck out of this.
- Toilet Paper. We learned this earlier this year. Again, Amazon sub and save for this. My stores here are only just now finally get some back in stock. The shelves still look as bare as they did in March.
- Lysol/Clorox wipes. Ok, these have been nearly impossible to find. However, being the good Amazon stalker that I am (haha), I’ve been able to secure a nice amount to get through winter. They offer sub and save for these as well, so even if you don’t need them, sign up for the sub and save and act accordingly.
- Lysol multipurpose cleaner (anti-bac, good against bacteria and viruses is what you want).
- Rubbing alcohol. It was so hard to find this year, and it’s a very cheap item. Grab a couple to have on hand.
- Peroxide. Same as rubbing alcohol above, was hard to find.
- Lysol spray. In a perfect world, right? Yes, it’s nearly impossible to get, but sign up for in-stock alerts on Amazon, Walmart, etc.
- First aid items – Neosporin, bandaids, Tylenol, thermometer, etc.
- Hand soap. Get. It. Now.
- A good lotion for your hands. All this hand washing (OCD anyone?) is causing us to have dry skin in summer. I promise you it will be worse in the colder weather.
- Vitamin C. Where I live, we had a hard time getting this. Make sure to pick some up.
- Vitamin D3. This helps prevent against respiratory illnesses. With winter coming, we won’t be outside in the sun as we are now. Please be sure to supplement so you lessen your chances on getting sick and improve your chances on not getting AS sick. I am by no means a medical doctor, but I did work in the medical field. My recommendation would be 5000 IU daily. If you don’t get outside much, then I would recommend 5000 IU twice daily. That being said – I don’t know your levels. I absolutely don’t want you taking too much Vitamin D3. Have them checked if you can and supplement accordingly. Make sure you get some for Mom and Dad as well.
- Disposable latex gloves. I don’t know about you, but when I’m out I just don’t want to touch anything with bare hands. As well, I don’t like touching things that are delivered to me with bare hands. I use gloves every time. Try your local hardware store for the best prices. I’ve been able to grab them for $7 a box of 100.
- Hand sanitizer. No brainer here of course. However, please stick with name-brand sanitizers. The FDA recall list grows daily. You can find a link to that here https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-updates-hand-sanitizers-consumers-should-not-use . I’ve been lucky finding Germ-X at Target, and it’s still at the same amazing price it was before Covid. Gotta love those Germ-X people (they actually manufacture this not even 10 minutes from where I live!).
- Paper towels. More time at home means more cleaning, which means we are running through paper towels faster. Like the toilet paper above, paper towels were and still kind of are hard to find here. Grab some.
- Cases of water. Another hard-to-get item earlier this year. Beat the crowd and start stocking up appropriately now – notice I said appropriately and not hoard. 🙂
- Shelf-stable foods. This was one of the hardest things to find earlier this year. I’ve gotten a couple cases of pizza sauce to make pizza bagels (are you low-carb, check out the bagels I buy here https://www.thinslimfoods.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=33 (these bagels are delicious and will net you ZERO carbs!), spaghetti mix, boxes of pasta, cans and cans of tomato sauce, etc. You will want something to hold you in case there is a situation where we can’t get to the store, deliveries are slowed down or unavailable for days (this happened!). If you have a deep freeze, stock up on your preferred meat. We had a meat shortage as well. I’ve been stocking up on frozen chicken breasts (love them with buffalo sauce in the Instapot and some ranch on the side…YUM!).
- Make sure you’re taking decent vitamins daily.
- Tissues! Another hard item to find, even still. Grab some if you can.
Do you have some cleaning products on hand already and are wondering if they will work against Covid-19? Check them out here https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/list-n-disinfectants-use-against-sars-cov-2-covid-19
These are the main things I’ve stocked up on, and I feel comfortable going into the colder season now. I hope this list helps! Stay well everyone!! ♥
