Brielle's Avalon

We’ve come a long way in the past few years. The pandemic’s not over but we’ve learned a lot and changed in many ways. One of the issues early on in the pandemic that occasionally pops up is shortages. This sometimes goes with hoarding. Yes, it’s human nature to get as much as we can so we don’t have to go without later, but this also ends up biting us in the behind later as what we bought goes bad or out of date and the feast or famine cycles we create from this mess up supply lines and business planning for production, stocking and shipping. Seriously, how much of anything (cleaning supplies, paper goods, canned food…) can you really use in a reasonable amount of time?

Also, this will in no way get you out of poverty but stocking up on the odd this and that when you can will make things easier in the long run…as we learned during the great TP shortage at the beginning of the recent great plague. If you don’t count yourself among us working poor or impoverished it’ll still make life easier (as even wealthy people found during the shortages in the recent plague).

I feel most secure when I have a full pantry, fridge and coat closet (where I store extra paper goods, A/C filters and such). Some people have a closet for spare stuff or store it in their guest room closet and others have a spot in the garage. Wherever you can squirrel away stuff where it won’t get in the way, won’t get damaged and is easy to access when needed…that works. When we lived in Florida we sometimes stored stuff behind the living room couch. it was out of sight but convenient. Living in Florida also gave us more experience in mindful, useful storing up for hurricanes. We’d start around New Years, slowly buying extras of certain things as they came on sale (cans, packages, whatever) and when the hurricane warnings came along we could quickly inventory our pantry and cupboards and shop accordingly without panicking. The first year taught us to only buy stuff we’d enjoy eating and not to stock up on perishables that would spoil when the power went out. No, we didn’t have a hurricane but we did have stuff we didn’t want to eat (so it got donated to food pantries) or had to use up before it went bad. After hurricane season we’d eat down the extras, saving money for the holidays.

So, what to do? How to get by without dragging the system down with ourselves? Maybe a reasonable solution can be found in the (possibly vulgar) phrase connected with royalty of an heir and a spare. Get one for now and one for later, just in case. This creates a reasonable backup for yourself while leaving some for others, too. No need to be greedy.

While you’re using the first one the other one is insurance against a shortage when the 1st one is used up. As you get short of the first you can start watching the shelves for a new spare. This way you usually only need to buy one at a time, can budget appropriately and worry less about shortages while being community minded and leaving some for others.

My family historically stocks up as a matter of course so I went through the pandemic shortages with a minimum of stress and lack. I did have to watch for things more carefully but since I already had spare *insert things here* it was one less thing to worry about in trying times. No matter what item you’re shopping for you generally have an idea of how fast you go through it, so if you’re just starting this don’t go overboard. You’ll know soon enough how much is too much and how soon is too late.

Make sure you store things properly. Cleaning things should be stored safely from little ones while at the same time little ones should be educated on how things are used and how things can hurt them so they don’t get into them and become sick or injured. Similarly with food you’ve stocked up on, make sure it’s kept at the proper temperature in appropriate containers and free of pests. Anything grain based will benefit from a bay leaf laying on top of it to keep weevils and such out. Yes, it’s an old wives tale but I’m an old wife who’s done this for *mumble* ages and when I don’t weevils happen.

I even tied a few up in a handkerchief to throw in the chicken scratch bin so no weevils there, either. Don’t forget about your fur, feathered and finned family.

A compliment to stocking up is gardening. You can use whatever happens to be ready from your garden. Run out of onions? grab one from the garden!

Having salad? Lettuce and other greens are surprisingly decorative. Some varieties are red, purple or speckled and some are frilly or just interestingly shaped and I’ve even grown Tom Thumb lettuce in the flower bed as a kind of green pearl necklace effect since it grows small heads that can be used as individual salads. Yes, those are nasturtium leaves behind the lettuce.

and carrots make a great border for flower gardens! Sure, the borage is trying to upstage the carrots this year but at least if I need cucumber flavour I can nip off a leaf and use that in a salad.

You can have peas and runner beans climb decorative structures (or even have them dress up plain supports) and enjoy the pretty blossoms (these are mauve but they come in many colours from white to red) and then use the beans and peas in the kitchen. So stocking up provide you with aesthetic appeal as well as a sense of security. Have fun stocking up!