When the virus was announced in China, being a military background kind of person who has been through crisis a number of times in my past, I went to the store and bought some cornmeal.  Forget the rest of it.

I can live without anything but cornbread and beans.

The "toilet-paper-hysteria-people" didn't grow up with outhouses out back of the house.  In the 40's  there was always a Montgomery Ward catalog and a basket of corncobs in the outhouse.  I understand that is not feasible with flush toilets, but back then toilet paper was a luxury.  You know how to improvise if you were brought up during World War Two.  Toilet paper was the least of our worries.

If all else fails, there is newspaper.  And all the paper you throw in the trash.  Save a tree.  Improvise if need be.  Good grief, the only thing you don't want to run out of is cornmeal and beans.

As for Scott towels, they hadn't been invented yet--either that, or nobody I knew could afford such a luxury.  We had rags.  Every worn out piece of clothing was used.  Torn into squares.  And you washed them.  We used the rags over and over until they were threads.

I still can't throw away a good 100% cotton piece of anything.  Shirts, Levis, sheets, etc.  Cotton was king. The very thought of using a paper towel when I can use a rag seems like a waste.  I spilled something wet and sticky on the utility room floor last Saturday and used a dustpan and brush to get most of it up before I used a paper towel. And felt guilty because I didn't use a rag.

That may be penny wise and pound foolish, but I can't waste stuff.  That's the reason people from my generation save the plastic bags from the grocery store. They are such a luxury.  My generation knows how to cope.