Home Front: COVID-19 bug-in cache

With the current COVID-19 pandemic scare going on, I thought it prudent to supplement my food stored in case we needed to enact the self-quarantine the Australian government is recommending in the case of exposure.  I suspected something like this might occur so as soon as i heard of an outbreak in China. Mostly due to the risk to supply chains.  Given the reported nature of the virus, in both infection rates and morbidity and mortality, I'm not overly concerned about the disease itself, but rather the disruption to supply lines.

This is the kind of prepping anyone can do and its as simple as picking up a few extra items each time you go shopping. Long lasting staples.  I chose things I like to eat, and things I will take camping.  I didn't pre-stockpile toilet paper which was the panic-buy item of choice  reported and experienced, but some judicial and crafty shopping saw us stocked without issue. Something to note for next time.

That said, here is a quick look at my very quickly and inexpensively put together bug-in food cache. Nothing too exciting, nor anything that will go to waste. this is all stuff  I will eat over time and replenish and build on as time goes on.

Red Feather Butter cans: Providing energy rich fats and good taste, for frying, baking, spreading on bread.

Spam cans 340g A traditional prepping staple. Long lasting, tasty and versatile, has its own opening  system and a Weird Al song and Monty Python skit. 3 year best-by date.  I prefer it sliced or diced and fried but its palatable enough eaten from the can with a spoon if you're in a bind.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bully_beef, this mechanically reclaimed potted meat and rendered lard in a can. Bully Beef. Not a very exciting food, nor especially sophisticated but it is meat, long lasting, ready to eat and can be added to many other foods. 'Pocalypse Stew as well as the traditional 'shit on a shingle". (served on toast like pate) It kind of looks like pet food. 

Noodles: Ramen. packs Two-minute pre-fried noodles in a packet.  Comes with its own seasoning sachets. Best eaten as noodles in soup  (ready in just  2 minutes give or take) or eat dry sprinkling the seasoning on top as you munch. They also make excellent fire starters being dry and greasy. I prefer the "mi goreng" flavor which it includes a chili/sauce/oil sachet for added flavor variety and use in other dishes as needed as well as fortifying the meal.

Baked Beans  555g cans: Beans Beans ,good for the heart. Best served hot, "Fine like this" if you shun compromise and wear an ink blot mask. 

Stew cans, Braised steak and onion;  425g cans. A meal in a can, simple and tasty. good texture and serves two per can.

Soup cans, Chunky bacon and potato x3 505g cans. Another meal in a can, though not quite as satisfying as the stew cans. Better when combined with other foods.

Ration biscuits: PRC food bricks

MRE's: from a variety of sources.  Pre-packaged military style meals ready to eat. not fancy but very carefully put together and long lasting.

Water jugs: Every time I go camping I buy one of these 10L-20L bricks and take them to ensure I have clean water for drinking, cooking and even wash-ups. Afterwards I keep the jugs and with some simple cleaning and refilling with tap-water they're good to go for long term water storage.

Powdered Egg mix: 150g, equivalent to a dozen fresh eggs when reconstituted with water. can be used to make scrambled egg or omelette or as a binding agent in baking. 

Sauces/Soup Mix:  I keep the excess sauce packets from fasts food meals and also the soup sachets from ramen packets to act as soup stock and seasoning for other meals, especially the otherwise bland Spam, beans and corned beef. What otherwise might have been throw away I've kept and stored to supplement my meal stores. 

Mac and Cheese kits: x4 boxes 380g "serves 3. contains pasta packet and canned cheese for use as a sauce. Requires only water to cook. The canned cheese can be eaten separately or combined with other supplies. 

Pasta sauce, Jars of tomato paste with flavorsome herbs, good for making stews, pasta and adding flavor and nutrition to any meal.

Can Pie; Steak and Kidney. Pie including pastry in a tin. Designed to be cooked in the tin (Lid off) it is possible to bake the pie in coals, with some coals on top, by partially opening the tin.

In addition to these specific canned good stores i've stockpiled, I have routinely built up supplies, preserved foods like jams and jerky. Dry-goods like rice, beans, flour and sugar i've kept well stocked and stored in DPJ's  along with fruit preserves and even some pickled eggs.

Home Front: Influenza vaccination

It is the onset of the Flu Season here, and a fringe benefit of working in Medical Science IT is that I am eligible for free vaccination, as I have been for the last 15 years. I have gotten my flu-vaccination, as well as every other vaccination that had been offered to me, since birth, and considering some of the places I've lived, I'm rather grateful that I have done so.

I actually fell ill with the Swine Flu in 2009, despite vaccination, (more on this later). The key for me is to be as best prepared for a possible widespread, possibly devastating pandemic .

There has been a lot of controversy about vaccination, and perhaps this might go some way to indicate some of the technical advantages and aspects of this vaccination (and others).
My FluVax was the GlaxoSmithKline 0.5mL dose of FLUARIX containing 15ug of each of the three types of influenza virus fragments. •A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)-like virus, •A/Texas/50/2012(H3N2)-like virus, •B/Massachusetts/02/2012-like virus. The H3N2 is a virus antigenically like the cell-propagated prototype virus A/Victoria/361/2011.

Each year the vaccines are designed to meet the predicted strains of interest,  and they work by causing the body to produce its own antibodies against those types of influenza virus, but not against other strains or other flu-like infections.



Protection from these three strains is reported to occur within 2 to 3 weeks of vaccination, and is expected to last for 6-12 months. This protection has been found to be 65-100% effective.

This kind of vaccination is generally injected into the upper arm muscle and is produced in chicken eggs, which the virus has been concentrated and purified by clarification, adsorption and centrifugation.

The purified whole virus is then treated with the detergent sodium deoxycholate and again centrifuged, and the resulting antigen suspension is inactivated with formaldehyde.

As with all medication, there are potential side-effects, and the vaccination process can even illicit illness symptoms, as the body fights off an apparent (but inactive) infection. However, given the debilitating severity of influenza, even with low case fatality rate strains, I think that part of my preparation regime is to be as well vaccinated as I can be and it's well worth those risks. What you can't see CAN kill you ....