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Quarantine Question: In Short Supply

We haven't been in a store since the second week in March so we haven't seen the shortages first hand except for the earliest days of it all. My husband is very high risk with his lung situation so we have been staying home and away from everything. Family and friends have been picking things up for us. It's very hard to get toilet paper, facial tissues, napkins and any kind of disinfectant wipes. Medicines are hit and miss, too. I just keep looking online and order things when I find them. Our neighbor still goes out shopping as needed and he and his wife are always good to look for the things we need and pick them up if they see them. They found TP on their last trip to Costco. Went early enough to go in during the elderly people hour. We felt like they had found a treasure for us!! LOL We have enough to get by for a while, but I like to keep it that way by picking up what we can as we go along so we don't run out! We also live an hour from the nearest Walmart and an hour and a half from everything else. So when we get a chance to go shopping we bring home enough to last a month. That's just the way we all do here. It's too far away to go every week.
 
I've been very lucky. So far, the only things I've not been able to obtain are: disinfecting wipes (haven't seen these on the shelves for weeks...); liquid soap (so I've switched to plain, white bar soap, which is still readily available); and, until recently, hand sanitizer.

Re: hand sanitizer: I rent a storage unit with a local company that also has its own line of moving/packing materials and closet organization products. A few weeks ago, they emailed their customers to let us know that they had "secured a local source" for the production of their own line of hand sanitizer, and were taking orders, with a very generous 6-per-household limit on the product. I ordered 2, and a nice man delivered my two 1-litre bottles of hand sanitizer last week. I'm not saying they were offering bargain-basement prices, but it's really nice to have this on hand.
 
It's getting better here but I think it's just timing it right makes a huge difference -shops are still selling more than Xmas volumes on a daily basis from reports.
I was giddy to get a kilo bag of rice last week & DH got a pack of loo paper on Easter weekend & I swear the kids & I were happier about that than anything made of chocolate!

It is a bit funny with the limited selection sometimes - in a 'if u don't laugh, you'd cry kind of way'. Like DD came with me to Aldi the other week & DH needed his basic bar soap that's he's used for years& years, that there has been no need to ever 'hoard', it's never on special & everyone else (on the planet, I've told him before, uses shower gel.)
So there's no normal soap. There were 2 rather expensive options: Goats (milk) soap or Dove' beauty bars' & if she hadn't been with me, I'd probably still be standing there debating cost/benefit in my head. DD said 'easy, i tell him we'd rather him be beautiful than smell like a goat' & then she ended up laughing so hard with her brother at home unpacking everything, she couldnt even tell DH the story.
-disclaimer: I did explain to her it was (probably) not goat scented.
 
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Well the laugh or cry situation for us was my dh went to pick up the list he ordered from our Giant via Peapod two weeks out and some how he screwed up and didn't click the final Order button. And at 09:30 he said the store was crowded - hello?? so he didn't try for anything. We really didn't NEED anything but he goes thru half and half and butter pretty fast.

I've yet to see the rubbing alcohol I use for my soapstone islands since ...January? $Tree was our usual source and I almost always got 6 containers at a time. I have a bleach spray which I only used once as it really did bleach the stone and a Lysol spray which has a terrible smell (to me) and also must have some bleach. Both require a rinse with clear water so the stone isn't ruined. Other than that, I can usually get all I need with a bi-weekly trip to Trader Joe's at 08:00 for the Senior hours. Even better is if it's a downpour...as the line is super short. Wegmans also came through with everything the last time I did a pick up.
 
rice
flour
yeast
eggs
did I say flour and yeast?
disinfectant wipes
TP
did I mention flour and yeast?
GF cereals that are NOT GM brand.
butter
DOG FOOD!
 
Our DD went to get milk today (we drink a lot of it) and it was in short supply. :( Sounds like we're going to have to get ahold of our personal shopper at Publix again. It's always something.

BTW: I made DIY hand sanitizer if anybody is interested.
 
Cherylndesigns said:
Our DD went to get milk today (we drink a lot of it) and it was in short supply. :( Sounds like we're going to have to get ahold of our personal shopper at Publix again. It's always something.

BTW: I made DIY hand sanitizer if anybody is interested.
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I am how did you make it?
 
no cleansers or detergent, hand soap, or paper products of any kind, no beef, chicken, pork- a limited amount of vegetarian meat. only 1 gallon of whole milk when I went this week, eggs are finally back, but no butter. Limited bread, but thankfully we like wheat & expensive bread so that's still there. No seafood, canned tuna or chicken, limited canned soups, no canned beans or dried. No citrus fruit, but a few things of berries. Basically if you want little debbie snacks or tomatoes, you're good.
 
breeoxd said:
no cleansers or detergent, hand soap, or paper products of any kind, no beef, chicken, pork- a limited amount of vegetarian meat. only 1 gallon of whole milk when I went this week, eggs are finally back, but no butter. Limited bread, but thankfully we like wheat & expensive bread so that's still there. No seafood, canned tuna or chicken, limited canned soups, no canned beans or dried. No citrus fruit, but a few things of berries. Basically if you want little debbie snacks or tomatoes, you're good.
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Yikes! What part of the country are you in?
 
In Sarasota, FL.
Yeast.
Liquid hand soap, you know the kind to refill the pump containers in bathrooms.
Hand sanitizer. But I did get some when the local distillery that makes rum offered 1 free bottle with each purchase of a bottle of rum. So we bought 2.
Disinfecting wipes.
Jigsaw puzzles.
 
IntenseMagic said:
The only things I've encountered around here that are in really short supply are disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, and paper products (toilet paper, paper towels). I just made my own disinfectant wipes. I can't say that I've really struggled to find anything. When I actually see a pack of toilet paper I pick one up and haven't run out, yet.
I am, however, super shocked at the price of eggs. They have been double and even close to triple what they usually are. We use A LOT of eggs and it's kind of driving me crazy lol.
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Sounds like where we are. I've pretty much been able to find everything except disinfectant wipes.

Early on some things were out but a couple of days later it was back. I went tonight and they were low on bread items, cleaning items, ice cream, and eggs (limiting ice cream and eggs to one per purchase)...but everything else was good. And the egg prices!!! They actually had a sign up explaining why they were so much more.
 
We are so lucky here in New Zealand - for MANY reasons.

That's not to say it's easy. I put off going to the supermarket and we've been picking up bread and milk from the corner stores but I do need to venture out again tomorrow. You aren't allowed to take anyone with you and have to pack your own bags. The only shortages I've noticed are some cleaning things: floor cleaner, antibacterial wipes, hand sanitiser etc.

The Asian supermarket across the road I noticed had lots of bare spots on the shelves though. I expect that's a problem with manufacture and export in the countries they buy from.
 
Cherylndesigns said:
1/2 C of rubbing alcohol
1/2 C of Aloe
Essential Oils (Whatever you have on hand) We had eucalyptus oil.

I used a funnel and put all of the above ingredients in an empty pump soap dispenser and shook it and it was ready to go.
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Do you use the aloe vera plant or the gel that they sell? To me if you say Aloe it means you buy the leaf and you peal it and scrape off the aloe.
 
Dalis said:
Do you use the aloe vera plant or the gel that they sell? To me if you say Aloe it means you buy the leaf and you peal it and scrape off the aloe.
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We keep the aloe gel in the fridge for sunburns, so I had some. It's pure aloe, but you could buy aloe stalks in the grocery. Warning - they're a huge slimy mess! Back in the day, I always grew at least one aloe plant in my house for burns. it's the best!

The bottle that I made is almost gone - DD and GS use it all the time. She even put some in smaller containers and took them upstairs. it totally works!
 
Cherylndesigns said:
We keep the aloe gel in the fridge for sunburns, so I had some. It's pure aloe, but you could buy aloe stalks in the grocery. Warning - they're a huge slimy mess! Back in the day, I always grew at least one aloe plant in my house for burns. it's the best!

The bottle that I made is almost gone - DD and GS use it all the time. She even put some in smaller containers and took them upstairs. it totally works!
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I know I hate aloe vera stalks... yuck! Around here the aloe vera gel has so much alcohol and crap I don't buy much. I do always have a little package on the fridge for burns too.
 
Dalis said:
I know I hate aloe vera stalks... yuck! Around here the aloe vera gel has so much alcohol and crap I don't buy much. I do always have a little package on the fridge for burns too.
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I did a little research on DIY sanitizer and the 2 main ingredients seem to be over and over alcohol and aloe gel. The essential oil is just for smell and not necessary. In fact, I'm reading to put twice as much alcohol as gel in. I went half and half. Our aloe gel is put aloe - very thick and gooey - we have it in this area for sunburns. Probably whatever you have or can get would work. All of the articles I've read say that the aloe gel interacts with the alcohol - thickens it up. I'm still going half and half when I make more. There will probably be a shortage of alcohol and ale gel now. :groan
 
We did well on the shopping and got everything we needed. I had to substitute organic white wheat flour for the wheat flour I needed so when I make my Irish brown bread, it will be light brown as I still have a little of the normal.. LOL it won't look the same kinda pale but should still taste good! I even found that our Super Walmart had a large hand sanitizer (quite a few on the shelf) so I got one and I got a pack of TP and paper towels. No disposeable gloves as I use them normally for cleaning the house, but otherwise everything on the list was obtained. Some things we did a substitute on a brand but I was happy we were able to get stuff. Now we won't go out for another 2-3 weeks unless we need something fresh. I even got a shelf liquid milk to have on hand in case we can't get it.

I am heeding the warning re the Hurricane season in June as that is supposed to be a doozy this year too and so we are thinking for all scenarios. Still here in Virginia we are still in the "Stay at Home" orders until June 10 so here we go.

When we go to the grocery we take sandwhich bags and use that on the cart in lieu of gloves.

Anyway, stay safe all.
 
cfile said:
I am heeding the warning re the Hurricane season in June as that is supposed to be a doozy this year too and so we are thinking for all scenarios. Still here in Virginia we are still in the "Stay at Home" orders until June 10 so here we go.
Anyway, stay safe all.
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Christa, @cfile We were discussing this yesterday! The news here touched on their considerations but didn't elaborate. We would not have to evacuate where we are for hurricane- distance from beach and rivers, etc. for one, and brick house two. But I was concerned for the public. With the closures, how would they deal with this? A bad storm would interrupt supply lines of all kinds. What reports/advisories have you heard?
 
AJK said:
Christa, @cfile We were discussing this yesterday! The news here touched on their considerations but didn't elaborate. We would not have to evacuate where we are for hurricane- distance from beach and rivers, etc. for one, and brick house two. But I was concerned for the public. With the closures, how would they deal with this? A bad storm would interrupt supply lines of all kinds. What reports/advisories have you heard?
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Not too much more.. where are you? In SC? My cousin has a sailing Charter down in Georgetown and my brother has a house in MI and nephew is in Navy stationed in Charleston so we watch the coast like a hawk.. we are in va beach so it comes up the coast
 
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