A Real Account: Riding Out COVID With a Freeze Dryer

By Donna Hoaks, who lives on an 11-acre homestead in Texas.

In the spring of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic set in, panic-buying emptied shelves of toilet paper, sanitizer, and masks within days. Food shortages followed close behind, as shoppers cleared out grocery stores far faster than they could be restocked.

What We Already Had on Hand

My family and two neighboring families took stock of what we had between us — two freeze dryers and years of consistent preparedness habits. Between our households, we had plenty of freeze-dried meat, casseroles, soups, vegetables, fruit, and dairy already put away. Beyond food, we also had masks, medications, holistic health supplies, and fermented foods we'd made for immune support, along with homemade thieves vinegar for disinfecting surfaces.

We'd bought our freeze dryers for reasons that had nothing to do with a pandemic — frugal retirement planning, disaster preparedness after Hurricane Florence, and just wanting easier meals on hand. None of us saw COVID coming specifically. But because we already had real food security built in, we were also able to help neighbors who were caught without enough on hand.

The Real Lesson

The value of being prepared was never about predicting exactly what kind of emergency would come — it was about not having to scramble for food while also dealing with everything else an emergency throws at you. When the food question was already handled, we had the bandwidth to actually deal with the rest of it.

More Real Accounts of Preparedness in Practice

A firsthand account of Winter Storm Uri is another real story from the same homestead, and emergency food storage: where to start is a good next step if you're building your own plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did grocery store shelves empty out so quickly during the early COVID-19 pandemic?
Widespread panic-buying led to a surge in demand that outpaced how quickly stores could restock essentials like food, sanitizer, and paper goods.

Does having a freeze dryer help you prepare for unpredictable emergencies?
Building a stocked, varied food supply ahead of time means you're not caught off guard by a specific kind of emergency — the same preparation that helps during a pandemic can also help during a storm, power outage, or other disruption.

What's the real value of emergency food preparedness?
It's less about guessing the exact emergency that's coming and more about freeing up your time and attention for everything else an emergency requires, instead of scrambling for food on top of it.