Category Archives: Emergency Preparedness

Mail During Quarantine: How to Get Stamps

Quick links:

Buying stamps online
Curbside stamp pickup
Printing postage at home
Other online sources

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

–Herodotus, as carved in stone at the New York Post Office.

The postcard shown above, first issued in 1959, and current for at least two decades thereafter, was a Safety Notification Card (Post Office Department form 810), for use after a civil defense emergency such as a nuclear war. After such an event, the Post Office would be tasked with putting friends and relatives back in touch with one another. On the front of the card, you would write the name and address of those who might be worried about you. On the back, you would sign your name and give the address where you could be reached.

I have no doubt that after Americans emerged from their fallout shelters, the Post Office would use Herculean efforts to deliver these cards, and most of them would go through. The Post Office is one of the things that makes us a country, and thus one of the things over which such a war would have been fought. It’s unthinkable that they would bother with fighting a nuclear war and then decide not to deliver the mail. Under the Constitution, the Congress has the power and duty to establish a Post Office, and a nuclear war doesn’t change that. Neither does a pandemic virus. With very few exceptions, the mails right now continue to flow without interruption during the lockdown. And most of the exceptions come from things outside the control of the U.S. Postal Service. For example, mail service is currently suspended to over a hundred countries, due either to lack of transportation or a shutdown of postal service in the destination country. But the U.S. Postal Service is doing whatever needs to be done to make sure the mail goes through. Even though most international mail has been by air for the past few decades, suspension of flights has prompted the U.S. Postal Service to send mail to Europe by container ship.

In my experience, domestic mail is going through with little delay. I have a forwarding order to have all of my office mail to go to my home, and even forwarded items are arriving, at most, a day or two later than I would have expected them. The postal workers and letter carriers are working hard, and in many cases risking their lives to make sure the mail goes through. Would they have risked their lives delivering post cards across a nuclear battlefield? I have little doubt that they would have. (Say, that might make a good book.)

Much of my work involves getting and sending things in the mail. And with the national emergency, the mail also serves as one of the ways that vital supplies arrive at our house. Yes, some of our food comes by mail.

One practical issue, however, is buying postage. In the pre-COVID time, I had to go to the post office frequently, and when the line was short, I picked up a few weeks’ supply of stamps. Sometimes, I would mail items at the counter, but I would usually just weigh them myself and affix the exact amount of postage required. (If you don’t have a scale, they’re not expensive.) Little has changed in that regard, since I can just leave outgoing mail for the carrier. But getting stamps has become more difficult.

Buying stamps online

At first, I ordered stamps online at the USPS website. Orders are fulfilled at a central location in Kansas City. At first, it worked well, and stamps and stamped envelopes arrived about a week after I ordered them. All denominations are available, and they’re sold at face value with only a small shipping charge. But the most recent order took 2-1/2 weeks. They’re obviously swamped in Kansas City, I was almost out of stamps, and had to come up with another way of getting them. Update: The last few orders have gone smoothly, and the stamps arrive within about 10 days.

Curbside stamp pickup

I did find three sources locally that have curbside pickup. Office Depot has stamps, at face value. You can buy a book of 20 Forever stamps for $11. Unfortunately, the closest one was out of stock, and other stores looked like they had low stocks. Update: Since I originally wrote this, Office Depot is doing an excellent job of keeping stamps in stock. You can usually order online and pick them up curbside the same day. Walgreens also sells stamps at face value. You can order online and pick them up, usually in about an hour, either curbside or at the drive-up window. It looks like CVS has curbside pickup of stamps in some states, although I don’t know if they are being sold at face value.

Printing postage at home

Another great option is OrangeMailer.co which allows you to buy postage online and print it with your printer. I was leery about using them, since I imagined my printer jamming and having to pay again. Fortunately, that is not the case. You can print as many times as necessary until you get it right. Of course, if you use more than one of those prints for postage, you’ll be spending some time in Leavenworth.

To buy postage, you enter the name and address of the recipient, and when you’re done, the website directs you to turn on your printer and print a label with the address, your return address, and the postage meter. For letters, you can print right on the envelope. It took me a couple of tries with my printer settings to get it exactly right. The first few times, it cut off my return address. When I told my printer that it was printing a number 10 envelope, it cut off the return address. But when I lied and told the printer that it was a 4 by 8 sheet of paper, it worked perfectly. Similarly, for small envelopes, I have to tell the printer that it’s a 4 by 6 piece of paper.

I have also mailed one small package, and that works well. You enter the dimensions and weight of the parcel, and it prints a label with the right amount of postage. Of course, we don’t have any labels in the house, but you don’t need any. I used a plain sheet of paper and affixed it to the package with Scotch tape. One advantage for packages is that if a package is over 13 ounces, you can’t use stamps. But printing the postage online is equivalent to taking it to the counter at the Post Office.

The philatelist in me likes using real stamps. And it’s faster to just scribble the address and slap on a stamp. But given the current emergency, OrangeMailer.co is an extremely convenient option. Unlike their largest competitor, there is no monthly charge. You just have to deposit a minimum of $10, enough for 18 First Class letters. You pay the customary postage of 55 cents per letter. They make their 5 cent profit due to the fact that your metered letter is actually going for only 50 cents. That seems reasonable to me.

Other online sources

If you do need actual stamps, two other options appear to be faster than ordering directly from the USPS. You’ll pay more than face value, but not a great deal more. If you combine the purchase with another order, you can get free shipping. You can buy postage stamps on Amazon for only a little over face value. If you do a search for “postage stamps,” click the button for “free shipping by Amazon,” and you’ll see the ones that can be added to another order. As long as the total order is at least $25, there will be no shipping charge.

Walmart also sells stamps online, only slightly above face value, with free two-day shipping with a $35 order.

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Sourdough Cooking

With the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans are learning for the first time that the food supply chain can be tenuous. Fortunately, many of them are also learning that by keeping a few basic ingredients on hand, it’s possible to eat well. But one must take the time to turn those ingredients into food. There’s a bit of a learning curve. I’m by no means a master chef, so if I can do it, it means that just about anyone can do it.

One item that has been in short supply is yeast, or some other leavening agent such as baking powder or baking soda. No matter how much flour you have, if you don’t have a leavening agent, it’s very difficult to bake anything. We have plenty of baking soda and baking powder, although it won’t last forever. Before the pandemic hit, we had only a little bit of yeast on hand, and it’s been more or less impossible to buy it. Fortunately, however, you only need a little bit. And with minimal effort, the yeast will indeed last forever. Several weeks ago, I used one package of store-bought yeast and used it to make sourdough starter.

The sourdough “purist” will cringe when I say that I used commercial yeast to make sourdough. I admit, this is cheating, and it’s not “real” sourdough. But it doesn’t have to be “real” sourdough. I’m simply growing my own supply of yeast which can be used in perpetuity. The descendants of the yeast organisms that I started about two months ago are still going strong, and I now have an infinite supply. If you aren’t as lucky as me to have a package of commercial yeast, or if you’re a purist and don’t want to cheat, my friend at Successfully Living Simpler shows how to capture a wild yeast culture courtesy of a potato.

Several weeks ago, I started my sourdough starter by mixing one package of yeast, one cup of water, and one cup of flour. Stir these together in a glass or plastic bowl, and then let it sit out on the counter for a day or two. Bubbles will form as the yeast eat the flour and produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. Periodically, you skim off the alcohol and discard it. If you’re making beer or wine, you would use that, but I’m not that advanced. You stir it occasionally. After a couple of days, you can store it in the refrigerator.

To use the sourdough starter, you take a cup of the mixture for use in recipes. You replace it by adding another cup of water and another cup of flour. You stir the starter and leave it out again for a few hours, after which you can refrigerate it again.

I’m not sure how important this is, but I’ve been told not to use a metal bowl or metal utensils. I keep the starter in a glass bowl, and use a wooden spoon to stir it. I’ve also been told not to use chlorinated tap water. I don’t know how important that advice is, but we have some bottled water, so I use that. If I didn’t have bottled water, I would leave some tap water out overnight for the chlorine to evaporate. If it’s rainy season, you could use rain water. If you have a well, you could use well water.

I’ve used this starter now to make several recipes of pancakes, bread, and today, cookies.

Sourdough Pancake Recipe

Sourdough pancakes are easy. You just take a cup of the starter and add a cup of water and a cup of flour. If you have an egg, add that as well. Stir, and cook on the griddle as you would any other pancake. You do need to replenish your starter every few days by removing some and adding new flour and water. Making a batch of pancakes is the fastest way to keep your starter going.

We started our coronavirus quarantine with a bread machine, but that died on us after the first loaf. It had sat for many years, and I guess the disuse is what did it in. It doesn’t matter, though, since making bread the conventional way, I’ve discovered, is quite easy. As I mentioned above, I’m not a master chef. And so far, every loaf has come out looking a little bit different. But they’ve all been good, if I do say so myself. And bread is easy to make, it turns out.

Sourdough Bread Recipe

Start with one cup of the sourdough starter. To this, add about 1-1/4 cup warm water. Add 3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 tablespoon salt, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Mix these ingredients, and then start adding flour. You’ll use a total of about 6 cups of flour. Start with about 2 cups, and add about 1/2 cup at a time. At some point, the mixture will stop being a liquid and become, well, a dough. At that point, you remove it from the bowl and work on a flat surface.

At this point, you kneed the dough with your hands. I flatten it, sprinkle some flour onto the top, and then fold it together until that flour dissolves. Keep going until it seems to have about the right consistency. You’ll learn this with experience. If the mixture is too sticky, it needs a little more flour. If it’s too dry, then it needs a little more water. You played with Play-Doh as a kid, right? When you have the mixture just right, it will have about the same consistency.

This whole kneeding process takes about 10 minutes. When you’re finished, you’ll have a big ball of Play-Doh, er, I mean Real-Doh. Place it in a large greased bowl and cover it with a cloth or paper napkin or towel. Put this in a relatively warm spot in your kitchen. At this point, you take a rest, and your yeast will get to work. Let the dough rise for about two hours.

After two hours, you remove the ball from the bowl and place it again on a flat surface. Before doing so, lightly dust that surface with flour. Now, you “punch down” the dough. Just take your fist and flatten the dough the best you can. Push it into a somewhat rectangular shape and cut the sheet of dough in half. A spatula works well to make the cut. Each one of these halves will soon go into a loaf pan that has first been greased.

Turn each of these halves into the shape of a small loaf. I found that taking the rectangle and folding it into thirds works the best, as if you were folding a sheet of paper to put into an envelope. Tightly press down so that most of the air inside the folds is pressed out. Then, put the loaf inside the loaf pan.

At this point, you take another break while your friendly yeast do the work for you. Cover the pans with a cloth or paper napkin, and let them rise again for about 90 minutes. Then, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and put the pans in to bake for about 30-35 minutes. When done, remove from the pans and allow the loaves to cool. From very basic ingredients that cost only pennies, you now have two delicious loaves of bread, as pictured at the top of the page.

Today, I decided to make some cookies using sourdough. Normally, cookie recipes call for baking powder and/or baking soda as the leavening agent. We are fortunate to have both ingredients in the house, but some might not be as lucky. My quest today was to see if I could bake cookies using instead the sourdough starter. It turns out this is possible, and they tasted very good, if I do say so myself. They are shown at the bottom of the page.

Experimental Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies

Start with one cup of sourdough starter. Add 1 cup of peanut butter, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, 1-1/2 cup sugar, and 2 eggs. (I realize that in a food emergency, those fresh eggs might not be available. You could substitute powdered eggs, but they generally aren’t available now. In other recipes, I’ve substituted applesauce or canned pumpkin for the eggs, and I’m guessing that would work in this recipe as well.) If available, add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir this together, and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. When mixed, start adding flour. You’ll need about 2 cups total. Start by adding one cup, and then add a little bit at a time. The mixture will get thick, but you should be able to stir it with a spoon.

When mixed, place balls about one inch in diameter on a cookie sheet. Flatten these balls with a fork, and bake at 350 degrees for about 14 minutes. The recipe will yield about 30 cookies.

As with the bread, the cookies were quite good, if I do say so myself. In fact, I might have stumbled upon a secret recipe. As I sampled these, it occurred to me that the taste and texture seemed very familiar. It finally dawned on me that they were identical to Grandma’s Peanut Butter Cookies, the type that is ubiquitous in office vending machines. That product lists somewhat different ingredients. In particular, it lists baking soda, but no yeast. But as far as I can tell, they are identical.

Substitutions should be possible with this recipe. I used vegetable oil because it was the cheapest alternative, and we have a lot of it. But butter or margarine would work as well or better. The original recipe I found called for brown sugar, but I used white sugar because we had more of it. Of course, if you have baking powder, you could use it instead of the sourdough starter.

The key thing about all of these recipes is that they use extremely simple ingredients, and ingredients that can be stored more or less forever. A fifty pound bag of flour will keep your family well fed for weeks, as long as you have a few other ingredients.

I hope I’m wrong, but I’m afraid there will be food shortages this summer. If you keep some basic ingredients on hand, you can perhaps avoid a life-threatening emergency for yourself, your family, and even your friends and neighbors.

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COVID-19: How You Can Help

As I write this from the safety of my home, millions of workers are literally risking their lives to serve their country. The obvious ones include healthcare workers, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and National Guard members. But just as important are the bus drivers, postal workers, delivery drivers, truckers, grocery store workers, warehouse workers, factory workers, and countless others who are making sure that the public has access to the goods and services needed to sustain life. They are risking infection to serve us, and they deserve our respect and our thanks.

Others, like my wife, a medical interpreter, are able to provide needed services from the safety of their own homes.

And then, there are a lot of people like me, who don’t have any vital services to perform. Many are wondering what they can do to help, and there are a number of opportunities.

My wife and daughter have been busy making surgical masks such as the ones shown above. They are made according to instructions posted online by one of our local hospital systems (see below). One of our neighbors supplied some of the materials, picked up the finished masks outside our door, and delivered them to the hospital, where they are being picked up curbside at a designated location. These masks will be used in less critical situations by staff and patients in order to conserve the N-95 masks that are in dangerously short supply.

I know at least two friends with 3D printers who are making other needed products, such as

Face shields being 3D printed. Courtesy Don Seiford.

face guards. American factories can’t meet the demand for these lifesaving supplies. But the millions of Americans who own equipment such as sewing machines and 3D printers can help meet the need until American industry ramps up its production.

Virtually all health care facilities are in need of supplies. Many will have their own particular requirements, so it’s probably best to contact them first (checking their website first is probably best, so that staff doesn’t have to spend valuable time answering the phone).

Check neighborhood social media sites, such as neighborhood pages on Facebook or NextDoor. Chances are, some of your neighbors are already working on needed items. Coordinate with them to share materials. In addition to hospitals and clinics, items are needed by dentists, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home health care agencies, and probably many others. Some of these institutions are non-profit, and some are for profit. But it doesn’t matter. They need supplies, and they can’t get them. They are counting on you. If you honestly can’t find anyone who needs them, then send me an e-mail, I’ll give you my mailing address. You can make the masks shown below, send them to me by U.S. Mail, and I’ll make sure they get to a hospital in my area. But chances are, the need is just as acute in your area.

Do not have direct contact with people outside your own household. Do not go to a store to buy supplies. Use the materials that you have at home, or that can be safely delivered by neighbors leaving outside the door. The idea is to be of service, and you will be of no help if you get infected or infect someone else. Be part of the solution, and not part of the problem.

Here are some opportunities for you to serve:

1. Making Surgical Masks

If you have a sewing machine and know how to use it, your skills are desperately needed. My wife and daughter are making the style shown above, which are destined for Blue Cross Blue Shield and Allina. More information and complete patterns and instructions can be found at this link: https://blog.bluecrossmn.com/covid19masks/

North Memorial Hospital in Minneapolis has a different pattern, which you can find at this link: https://northmemorial.com/covid-19-donations/ North Memorial also has a mailing address shown on this site. So in the unlikely event that you can’t find someone locally to take the masks, you can mail them. Do not go inside the post office to mail anything. You can buy postage online and leave the item for your letter carrier.

Update: The following website allows you to search by zip code for facilities in your area that need masks and other supplies. In the unlikely event that you don’t find anyone locally, it also lists facilities that you can mail them to:

https://www.donategoodstuff.org/covid-19-crisis-how-you-can-help.html

The Facebook group mentioned below also contains patterns for an isolation gown. I don’t know of particular hospitals that are requesting these, but there’s apparently a need.

2. Help Sewers and/or Donate Materials

Even if you don’t know how to use a sewing machine, others in your neighborhood probably do, and they are probably working. They also need unskilled help from people like me to cut the fabric to the correct size. Also, if your household, like many, has a stash of old sewing supplies, it’s very likely that your neighbors need these items to make masks. A critical shortage in our neighborhood was the elastic. If you have some in that box of old sewing and crafting supplies, your neighbors probably need it. The other need is new 100% cotton fabric.

3. 3D Printing

I know that persons with 3D printers and similar equipment are using them to make face shields and other needed medical supplies.

If you are able to help, a Facebook group named “Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies” has formed and is coordinating these efforts. I’m aware of the face shield plans at this link:
https://3dverkstan.se/protective-visor/

Prusa Research has the following information regarding face shields at its Facebook page:

4. Lending Your RV

If you’re an RV’er, it will probably be a while before you’re able to go camping. Consider lending it to a medical professional who needs to be isolated from their family. This is being coordinated at this Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rvs4mds/

Cutting Your Hair During Quarantine

The State of Minnesota is now under a “stay at home” order, and many other areas now have similar restrictions. Non-essential businesses, especially ones which require close personal contact, are closed. And even if they were open, I wouldn’t want to see a barber right now. The close contact would make it likely that they would infect me, even if asymptomatic, or that I would infect them.

Unfortunately, for about a month before the lockdown, I kept thinking to myself that I really needed to get a haircut. I’m a procrastinator, and I never got around to it until it was too late.

Fortunately, I had at home one of the handy gadgets shown above, the Conair hair trimmer. I don’t do as good a job as a professional, but I can keep my hair from getting out of control. I suppose if I were desperate, I could just get out a pair of scissors and give myself a bowl cut. But the trimmer shown above does a much more subtle job. It comes with instructions, but you basically just comb it through the part of your hair that you want to trim. I’ve found that it works best to do it gradually, by cutting my hair a little bit each day. Fortunately, they’re readily available, and you can add one to your next Amazon order for just a few dollars.

Update: If the model shown above is out of stock, the one shown below appears to be very similar. It doesn’t look like it’s made quite as well as mine, but should do the job. A number of the reviews say that it isn’t sharp enough, but it also looks like it takes standard safety razor blades (the old-fashioned kind), also shown below. Fortunately, those blades are dirt cheap, and I would recommend ordering some of them as well. In fact, you’ll have plenty of extra razor blades, so you might want to try using one to make a foxhole radio.

Cub Foods Grocery Pickup Review

During the pandemic, my family is minimizing as much as possible direct contact with others. We’re staying home, going out only when necessary, and staying away from other people when we do go out. To purchase groceries and other items, we’re ordering online. Earlier this week, I reviewed our experiences with Walmart pickup.

Today, we picked up an order from a local supermarket chain, Cub Foods. We had to chose a pickup slot about five days out. We placed a small order initially, and kept adding to it during the week. For our Walmart order, we had to make any final changes about 12 hours before the pickup time. With Cub, we were able to make changes up until the last minute.

When our order was being shopped, we received a text alerting us. We were able to log in to the app (or to the website, which I used) and chat directly with the person doing the shopping. When a product was out of stock, we were given a suggestion for a replacement product which we could either accept or decline. In a couple of cases, she texted us and asked for our choice.

A few items (rice, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper) were completely out of stock, and we were informed. We were informed when she was finished, and at the store, we alerted them that we were there using the app. The employee loaded the groceries into our car, with no personal contact needed. Unlike at Walmart, we didn’t need to sign in, and it was possible to stay back several feet.

One big advantage of Cub was that the whole pickup took place without any close contact with the employee. We opened the door, and he loaded the groceries. At Walmart, there was the additional step of having to sign for the order on a small tablet computer, meaning that there was some chance of contamination. Update: As of March 25, Walmart is no longer requiring you to sign for the order. At Cub, you identify your car on the app (including the license number), so there is no need to sign personally. The employee simply comes out to the right car and delivers your groceries.

Walmart had two advantages over Cub. First of all, it was possible to get a slot slightly sooner. It appears that slots open up at midnight (local time, I’m guessing) and you can make reservations for the next day. It appears that with Cub, you need to make the reservation about five days out. Also, with Walmart, it appears that you can purchase any item in the store. So if you need items such as hardware, electronics, or even clothing, Walmart would be the best option. Since Cub is a grocery store, you’re limited to mostly groceries. (However, like any major supermarket, Cub always has a small selection of non-grocery items.) Also, Walmart has somewhat lower prices overall.

Despite those advantages of Walmart, we preferred Cub. Being able to communicate with the shopper with respect to substitutions was a very nice touch. If you think of an item at the last minute, you can add it in.

At Walmart, most of the substitutions were very reasonable, and we did have the opportunity to reject them. But there was no mechanism to ask for a different replacement. With Cub, that was possible. At Walmart, you reject any substitutions when you’re picking up your order, with no opportunity to get a different replacement.

To chat with the shopper while your order is being filled, you of course have to be available online at the right time. When life gets back to normal, perhaps that will be difficult. For the time being, though, that’s not a problem.

Of course, unlike at Walmart, nobody crashed into our car when we were picking up items at Cub. But that’s hardly the store’s fault. We’ll probably use Walmart again if we’re in more of a hurry or need non-grocery items. Their service was very good. But for most of our grocery needs during this crisis, we’ll probably rely on Cub.

Some links on this page are affiliate links, meaning that this site gets a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on the link. The links to Cub, however, are not affiliate links, and we are not compensated if you use them..

School Distance Learning: 1930s

Due to the cornavirus pandemic, schools around the country and around the world are grappling with the issue of how to provide instruction to students by distance learning. It isn’t a new phenomenon, however, as shown by this article from the October 15, 1937, issue of Broadcasting magazinei

During a Chicago polio epidemic, schools were closed, and the city’s radio stations banded together to broadcast classes for students at home. The program was so successful that it was to continue even after school was back in session. Broadcasts would not duplicate material from school, but would supplement it, with a cultural value directed at both adults and children. The city’s stations would each donate 15 minutes per day of airtime to the programs.

Other schools facing quarantine were looking to Chicago’s successful venture as inspiration for their own. The Chicago schools had been contacted by educators and broadcasters in the U.S. and Canada for pointers.

The photo above is another example from 1938. This one isn’t because of an epidemic, but because of a fiscal emergency in Dayton, Ohio, as recounted in an earlier post.

Walmart Grocery Pickup Review

During the pandemic, my family wants to keep to an absolute minimum our direct interaction with others. If they’re infected, I don’t want to catch it. And just as important, if I’m infected, I don’t want to spread it to them. To minimize the amount of shopping we need to do, I’ve decided to alternate between online orders at local stores, and Amazon orders. I think we have enough supplies for the duration, but it’s nice to maintain our normal diet, including things such as fresh milk and bread.

Today, I picked up our first Walmart order, which was more or less a normal weekly grocery order, including milk bread, soft drinks, and canned goods. We happened to need some superglue, so we added it to the order, showing that you can order anything in the store.

I placed the original order online on Friday afternoon, and picked it up today (Monday). This was the earliest slot available, so the process does require some planning. As of today, no slots were available, and the website asked me to check later. So perhaps this is our one and only order. At the very least, the process does require some planning. However, once you reserve the slot and place the order, you are able to add and remove items from the order, up to about 12 hours before the pickup time.

Update: The Walmart site seems to have changed since I posted this. You can now make reservations only for “today” and “tomorrow.” The best bet seems to be to check the site right after midnight. For example, if you check at midnight Monday night/Tuesday morning, you’ll be able to reserve a slot for Wednesday.

Today, I received an e-mail telling me that my order was ready. The e-mail instructed me to check in on their app to let them know I was on the way, so I installed the app on my tablet. It turns out, however, that this is unnecessary. You can simply proceed to the store, park in the designated area, and then call from your car to the number posted there.

A couple of minutes after calling, the Walmart associate came out with our order and loaded it into the car. It was a well organized process. Our bags were in tubs labeled with my name. I noticed that some were marked “cold,” and some “ambient.” I apologized for not helping her load it, but I explained that I didn’t want to risk contaminating her. I did have to sign on a small tablet computer. Update: As of March 25, you no longer need to sign for the order. I was able to stand back 6+ feet the entire time. I got out my hand sanitizer, and sanitized my hands immediately after doing so.

When placing the order, I was able to select whether I would be willing to accept a substitution for items. Some items were out of stock, and I received a substitute item. In most cases, the substitute was a slightly different brand, size, or flavor. For example, they were out of the two-pound package of white cheddar cheese, so I received two one-pound packages of sharp cheddar, for one cent less than my original order.

The only case where the substitute wasn’t useful was our order of a spray can of Lysol (which we were ordering for a neighbor). In the case, they gave us Febreeze, which really wasn’t useful. However, the choices were e-mailed to us, and we had the option of removing the item. I told the associate that if it was difficult, not to bother, but she quickly found the item, scanned it in, and we were credited for the amount.

We ordered a package of toilet paper and were hopeful that we would get it, but it was out of stock and no substitution was available. We also ordered a container of Ensure for an elderly friend, but it was also unavailable.

Overall, the process worked very well. If it remains available during the current national emergency, we’ll definitely make use of it again.

The only glitch was, upon leaving, another customer backed into my car. Despite what sounded like a loud crunching sound, it left only a small dent in the rear door. I’m sure if I took it to a body shop and let them know the other driver’s insurance would pick up the tab, they would gladly replace the door for hundreds of dollars. On the other hand, it’s a twelve year old car, and I doubt if I’ll pursue the matter.

In the car, I had a pencil and sheet of paper, so I tore it in half, wrote my information on one half, and then had the other driver do the same. When she was finished, I had her keep the pencil. She was apologetic, and in better times, I would have shaken hands before we left. In the time of pandemic, we just went our ways.

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Using Bleach for Sanitizing

Due to the coronavirus, some items are unavailable in stores. If there are sick people in your house, it might become important to clean and sanitize more than usual. One convenient method is a product such as Clorox Wipes or Lysol Wipes. However, availability is currently very limited.

One excellent alternative for sanitizing is normal household bleach. The CDC offers guidance on their website. All of the stores I’ve been to in the last few days have had bleach, although there were gaps in the shelf. You probably already have a gallon of bleach on hand for normal laundry needs. If you don’t (or the bottle is getting low), I would recommend adding this to your shopping list.

The first caution is never to mix bleach with ammonia or other cleaners, as deadly fumes can result.

To sanitize surfaces, the CDC recommends one cup of bleach for 5 gallons of water. For smaller jobs, the recipe can be scaled down. For example, for a gallon of water, you would add 1/5 cup bleach. For a quart, you would use 1/20 cup, which is 2-1/2 teaspoons.

The agency recommends cleaning the surface with soap and water, rinsing, and then sanitizing with the bleach solution. Allow the surface to air dry. Try not to breathe in fumes, and keep windows and doors open.

While it’s unlikely that it will be necessary due to the coronavirus, for other emergencies, it’s good to remember that bleach can also be used to disinfect drinking water. The EPA provides instructions on their website. Generally, very small amounts of bleach are used, approximately 8 drops per gallon. The Clorox website also has instructions for sanitizing drinking water with bleach.

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Bathtub Liner for Emergency Water Storage

We’ve previously featured products designed to store drinking water in your bathtub. These are an excellent choice if something like a hurricane is approaching your area and you believe that normal utilities might be cut off. These products are a large plastic bag that goes into the tub to keep the water sanitary.

The disadvantage is that these are relatively expensive, and can only be used one time. There’s really no way to empty them completely, so when the disaster is over, there’s really nothing to do other than drain the bag and throw it away.

I’ve recently learned of a product that would work almost as well, at a fraction of the cost. These are bathtub liners that are apparently targeted toward people who are squeamish about taking baths in unfamiliar bathtubs. You place the plastic liner in the tub, fill it with water, and take your bath with the assurance that your body isn’t touching someone else’s germs.

Very few of our readers are squeamish, but there’s no reason why this product can’t also be used to store drinking water. It serves the same purpose as the products designed for that purpose, at a fraction of the cost. The disadvantages are minor.

The first disadvantage is that this liner is not sealed at the top. It’s designed to be placed at the bottom of an open tub. However, it appears to be large enough that it can be draped over the top. It could probably be closed with clothespins or binder clips. (The picture shown above isn’t particularly good, since it shows the liner in a non-standard tub. But the liner measures 90 by 47 inches, so should fit any standard tub.)

The other disadvantage is that it doesn’t come with a pump. However, there’s really no need for a pump, since you can simply bail out the water with a pan or even a cup. If you really want a pump, you can purchase one separately for just a few dollars.

The products designed for water storage look like they would work well, but there’s really no way to test them. These liners are inexpensive enough that you could try one out and then throw it away when you’re satisfied that it works. Depending on the brand, the package contains either ten or twelve liners, so that even after testing, you should be all set for another several disasters, at a very reasonable cost, which is shown here:

If a hurricane is bearing down on you and there’s no time to order products online, I also have instructions for using normal plastic sheeting or plastic garbage bags to store water in your bathtub.

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As the coronavirus continues to spread, we will occasionally be posting hints to help your family prepare. We recommend that you continue to follow official advice, such as that provided by the CDC. Click here to keep yourself informed.

Click here to read our previous posts on the subject of emergency preparedness.

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