If you want to prepare for a potential quarantine or lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic, here's a good guide on how to prepare and what you should pick up at the grocery store.
Basically, you want to treat each trip to the grocery store as if it would need to last you two to four weeks. Because if you get put into a two-week quarantine, it will be too late to stock up. But that doesn't mean you need to go overboard...
1. Take inventory of what you already have. Chances are you might already have enough food stashed in your fridge and pantry to get you through a couple weeks.
But if your cupboards are looking slim, some good basics are rice, pasta, oats, beans, and canned vegetables. They're versatile AND they have a long shelf life.
2. Plan meals with common ingredients. Take your ingredients with a long shelf life like rice, pasta, or beans, and then mix in whatever fresh meat and vegetables you have available.
So, for example, if you cook a whole chicken and serve it with rice one night, you can use the carcass to make chicken broth and a soup the next day.
3. Use your freezer. The biggest issue you'll run into when stocking up is keeping fruits and vegetables fresh. Apples, oranges, and pears are fruits that can last a while . . . and for veggies, go for onions, potatoes, squash, and carrots.
For everything else, there's the frozen food aisle. Things like frozen broccoli, spinach, and berries are good to have on-hand. And most meats can be easily defrosted too.
4. Skip the junk food. Especially if you have kids in the house. Stuff that's easy to grab, like chips, cookies, and granola bars will be the first thing you snack on if you get stuck at home for two weeks. And even though it's convenient, there's not much nutritional value.
(Image Cred: Getty Images, Content Cred: Huffington Post)