Stock up Suggestions

Don't be a panican, but be Boy Scout prepared

It is pretty evident by now that supply chain disruptions are not a “maybe”, they are a certainty. I wanted to put together a post of some things that you may wish to consider stocking up on now, while things are still available. I am not suggesting hoarding or running out to get a lifetime supply of toilet paper. I hope some lessons were learned from the covidiocy panic buying.

1. The first one is Prescription Medications. Most pharmacy benefit plans will only permit you to buy a 90 day supply, max. If at all possible, you should try and have a 6 month supply (180 day) supply of your prescription medications. Most common generics can be sourced from online mail order pharmacies from outside of the country. For those who don’t want to buy their medications from India or China - I have bad news. In most cases, the majority of your medications are only manufactured in one of those two countries. President Trump has made it a priority to reshore pharmaceutical manufacturing as a national security issue, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Within the US, Mark Cuban’s CostPlusDrugs.com is one source, out of country, online pharmacies like alldaychemist.com (India), or northwestpharmacy.com (Canada) are other options. Prescription medications will still require a Rx to be faxed or scanned & emailed to the online pharmacy, with the contact information for the prescribing physician for verification if needed.

When my husband was overseas, we had great difficulty ensuring he had the medications he needed, which were not in the formulary at his duty station. Attempts to mail him his prescription renewals either by me or directly from the pharmacy were returned by the USPS as “banned” items. Insurance would not cover more than 90 days - he was deployed for a year at a time - and American pharmacies would not let us pay cash for extra supply because we had insurance. Our work around was to fax his Rx to the overseas pharmacy, then take the hard copy to our local pharmacy. We would buy a 6 month supply paying cash from the overseas pharmacy, and 3 months from the local pharmacy. He was allowed to hand carry the 9 mths supply with him he needed to have enough for 12 months during his rotation in his carry on luggage.

For example, at an online Canadian pharmacy, 3 brand name inhalers (Flovent) for asthmatics is $118 Canadian. A six month supply (180 pills) of generic Eliquis, a prescription blood thinner, is $390. A six month supply of generic Losartan, a blood pressure medication would be $160

*Note: I had to update these prices, which have more than doubled since I wrote this post as a draft.

I also searched trumprx.gov, which opened up after I initially wrote this draft, and could not find Losartan, Eliquis or Flovent in their formulary.

If you require injectable medications like insulin or Vit B12, I would highly recommend you stock up on syringes and supplies in addition to the prescription medications. A three month supply in addition to your normal 90 day supply needs would be ideal.

Several Asian suppliers of medical supplies including syringes, tubing, IV bags etc that require petroleum product inputs have already declared force majeure and cancelled all outstanding contracts.

Update: Teva Pharmaceuticals in Israel was just bombed and taken off line. They manufacture a wide range of generics.

2. The second is Non-Prescription Supplements and OTC. Examples of this would be things you would want to have on hand in your home apothecary, such as:

Rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, ear wax removal kits, bandages, silver nitrate creams, clove oil for dental pain etc.

For children, I would recommend having on hand children’s tylenol and benadryl if you don’t already. During the last supply chain shock, children’s Augmentin (Amoxicillin & Clavulin in combination, a broad spectrum antibiotic), Tylenol, Benadryl and cough preparations were the first to have empty shelves, and it wasn’t due to hoarding. Many pharmacies were out of stock of Augmentin, the most commonly prescribed antibiotic for children, and were unable to source any, anywhere. It is sold in dry powdered form, is shelf stable, and can be reconstituted with distilled water when needed.

I would also print out and have on hand the recipe and supplies to make homemade oral rehydration salts. You can buy potassium chloride in bulk online, it is much cheaper than buying the “Morton’s salt alternative” and is great to have on hand to make your own electrolyte drinks in summer.

World Health Organization ORS Recipe
3/8 tsp salt (sodium chloride)
¼ tsp Morton Salt Substitute® (potassium chloride)
½ tsp baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
2 tbsp + 2 tsp sugar
Add clean drinking water to make 1 liter

You can flavor if you wish, this is the standard stock recipe.

3. Canned Proteins - tuna, salmon, chicken etc

This should be self-explanatory. In addition to canned proteins, I am also home pressure canning beef, chicken and turkey in broth for long term storage.

4. Coffee, Tea and Chocolate

I have my favorite go-to coffee grounds, but also some freeze dried coffee. Insert here any item that is your “comfort” item that you would miss if it wasn’t readily available.

5. Hygiene supplies

In addition to feminine products, razors, etc this is a great time to stock up on basic, low cost ingredients like Borax powder, Washing Soda (not to be confused with baking soda, washing soda comes in a large, yellow cardboard box), liquid castile soap or bars of fels naptha or zote, household “cleaning strength” vinegar and “Everclear” grain alcohol to make a wide range of cleaning and personal hygiene supplies. There are ample recipes online. I have posted several in the past as well.

Garbage bags are one item people often overlook when thinking about things to stock up on and are multi-purpose.

6. Filters

Filters for basic household appliances: furnace, air cleaners, fridge, etc. Do not assume “they will always be there”. Washable, reusable filters when an option are more expensive initially but have the benefit of literally being reusable.

Instead of relying on bottled water, consider buying a filter system like Brita or Pur, and having extra filters on hand.

7. Car supplies

Same concept. Air filters, oil filters, oil, etc. I have enough supply for three oil changes for my vehicle on a shelf in my garage. Friends that have diesel vehicles have stocked up on DEF.

8. Pet supplies

Large bags of dried food, wet food, litter for cat boxes, any prescription medications your pet needs.

Lastly - storage of all of the above. When I have lived in tight quarters - like our apartment in Manhattan when we lived in NYC - we used large plastic totes with lids to store emergency/prep items under the beds - often forgotten and underutilized space - and built additional shelving up high in closets above the standard shelf.

This list is not intended to be exhaustive but rather to incentivize you to look around and think about the items you rely upon that you assume will always be available. Everyone’s situation is different, I hope this sparks your awareness and motivates you to prepare as well as you can to cushion against supply chain shock tremors. Those who are prepared don’t panic. Don’t be a panican.