SHOPPING FOR THE (POSSIBLE) PANDEMIC

SO WHAT DO YOU THROW IN THE TROLLEY?

The US Government has all but had Bush do a national address and declare : "Here's your Bird Flu survival shopping list. Now go to it!"

There's a lot of talk in the American media about stockpiling food and water, enough for two weeks is the usual recommendation, but what exactly are the best items to stack under the stairs, just in case?

Forget the frozen pizzas and anything you might need to heat up in a microwave or oven. The push is for canned food, bottled water and meals you can prepare on a camp stove (if you remember to stockpile a camp stove, or gas up the barbecue cylinders, that is).

Ready To Eat meals, as used by the Military, can be useful, but they're not cheap, or readily available (yet)

A US newspaper went shopping with a dietician, here's the short list :

* Dried Fruit (good source of calories, vitamins)
* Canned tuna, salmon (protein)
* Canned chicken or meat (more protein)
* Jars of pasta sauce
* Big bag of dried pasta
* Big cans, or bags, of peanuts
* Biscuits, crackers
* Oatmeal or porridge
* Apple juice, sports drinks in large containers
* Tang!
* Water, couple of gallons a day per person

Go here for the full story.

For a family of four, enough food and water for two weeks, came out to more than $US270. That's a big ask for tens of millions of Americans who are barely scrapping by. But interestingly, if 50 million Americans went out and did that kind of stockpiling in the space of a month, a sudden burst of extra shopping, the American economy would boom.

Department of Homeland Security 'Be Prepared' sites also recommend this kind of stockpiling in case of pandemics, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and government-related disasters (as in, when there's a natural disaster, don't rely on the government to get help to you any time soon).