Will Campers and Travellers be the Best Equipped to Survive the Coronavirus (COVID-19)?

As I read the newspaper this morning and strolled through the isles at the local supermarket this morning, I had a little smirk on my face as I thought about what I was seeing.

It seems that some stores are running out of pasta and rice and social pages seem happy to publicise this. In fact, my local newspaper advocated that people buy a little extra rice and pasta from time-to-time to better position themselves if food becomes scarce with any more-serious outbreak of the COVID-19.

Walking through the shops would seem to show that this message is getting out there with vacant spaces on the shelves otherwise set aside for pasta and rice. I fully appreciate that pasta and rice can be staple food items, but there’s a few extra ingredients required to make it a meal – in my books anyway.

As I understand it, both rice and pasta are largely carbohydrate with a bit of protein. As diabetics would appreciate, the body transforms carbohydrates into sugar in the blood – which is a reason to keep their servings to a minimum.

In addition to a food scare, there’s now a push for people to consider not shaking hands or, dare I say, even kissing.

This all made me think how we campers and travellers may approach this with a different mindset.

Camping is getting away from the crowds

You see, its not unusual for us to go all tribal and stick within our small groups – or even go solo – when travelling (other than when visiting the big smoke). We don’t jump on crowded trains, we don’t hold on to escalator rails, we don’t get stuck with people with coughs and splutters in elevators

What we do is walk in the bush, sit on the beach, go for a swim, sit around the fire, drive in the car or even sit under a tree with a good book – or vanilla slice. Add to all this the fact that alcohol can destroy a wide range of germs and we’re sort of set.

What do you eat when camping?

Even our thinking when stocking the Camp Kitchen isn’t to buy lots of rice and pasta. When I go around the shelves looking for camp food I tend to look for a range of foods – foods that don’t need refrigeration, don’t need too much preparation, will last a while and perhaps even be able to be taken out on the next trip if unused

So, I tend to look to tuna in cans or pouches, baked beans in all their glorious forms and sauces, corn chips, salsa, long life milk and custard, cans of soup, tinned veggies, canned fruit, rum, bourbon, whiskey and ingredients to make vanilla slices – oh, and did I say baked beans.

Not all campers think alike

I’m afraid that this, what may be considered by some as flippant, attitude caught me totally unprepared when I expressed to my wife that I had a somewhat survivalist approach to all this if the proverbial ‘sand’ hit the fan. You see, I mentioned to the Honourable Minister for Finance and War that I would simply head west (perhaps to Cunnamulla and the Gidgee Bean Cafe #gidgeedays) and keep my head down in such a situation. But, I had forgotten that this logic would be lost on her as she has now gone back to work in the big smoke – with all the elevators, escalators and board (bored) room meetings.

All ready for quarantine or the next camping trip

On the other hand, by being prepared with such a camping style larder at home in these times of impending crisis, I am now in a position where, if the worse doesn’t eventuate, I have a veritable array of good camping food on hand to grab as I walk out the door on my next foray into the wild.

Keep well and keep safe – and let the others chow down on pasta and rice.