(Happy Throwback Thursday! Now that the no- or low-spend February is underway, I have decided to run a throwback frugality post every Thursday this month. This post originally ran on Oct. 4, 2021. Its topic is timely due to COVID-19, flu-rona, and the usual sniffles being passed around at this time of year.)
What makes a medicine cabinet frugal? I’ll explain some tactics a little later. Right off, though, I would like to gently nag you to do an inventory of your own. Here’s why.
You might get sick. If it’s COVID, then it could be possible to fight this at home. (You might have to if you’re living in a place where they’re rationing healthcare. They’re doing it right now in Alaska.) And if it’s not COVID, then you’ll feel a little more comfortable – or at least a little less horrible – if you have certain OTC items on hand.
You might get stuck. Again, no one can say whether another lockdown will happen. If it does, or if case numbers were scary enough in your area to make you want to stay home, then you’re at the mercy of delivery services. Sure, you could look at their ads and find out whether generic Theraflu is cheaper at CVS than at Kroger. But will you do that? Also, being unable to watch for deals and pick them off, one or two at a time, means you’ll likely pay full retail. Bonus: Not being in-store means not seeing “manager’s special” or “clearance” tags.
You might be strapped. Suppose two members of your household get whatever bug is going around. You’ll be so busy putting cold cloths on foreheads and emptying puke pails that you won’t exactly have time/inclination to rush off to Rite Aid. (Stay home anyway, ya Typhoid Mary!)
What will you need, and how should you acquire it? Let’s get started.
Start with that medicine cabinet inventory. Is your overnight cold medicine dated 2015? It might still work, but then again it might not. Put a replacement on the list. Open those boxes of cough-and-cold tablets, because you might very well have only a couple of tabs left. A bottle of ibuprofen or acetaminophen* will come in handy if your illness leaves you aching all over.
Throat lozenges? Vicks Vapo-Rub? Those tissues with lotion in them? Some packets of Liquid I.V. – which my desert-dwelling daughter swears by – in case you’re feverish and dehydrated? [As an Amazon affiliate I may receive a small fee for items purchased through links.]
Whatever makes you feel most comfortable when you’re sick is what you should be buying. Just not at retail.
Frugal medicine cabinet tactics
Buying on sale. Obviously the best way to go about things, especially if you can find a coupon.
Buying generic. Some people think the brand names are always best. Seriously, give the store brands a try. DF and I bought two bottles of what we call “Kroger-tussin” on Senior Tuesday; not only did the product happen to be on sale, we got an extra 10 percent off because we’re superannuated.
Buying with coupons and/or rebate offers. If you don’t like generic products, then rewards apps like Fetch, Shopkick, Ibotta and Coupons.com can reduce the cost of the name-brand nostrums. You might even be able to triple- or quadruple-team the purchase: earning points on Fetch and Shopkick, and getting cash back from Ibotta and Coupons.com. (For a quick rundown on how these programs work, see “Rewards programs FTW!”)
Watching for store offers. Check the weekly ads for deals such as “buy one cough syrup, get one free” or “free $10 gift card with $40 worth of cold and flu medications.” Starting to see those deals right now, due to the approach of the famous cold-and-flu** season.
Paying with free gift cards. If you’ve got points through programs like Swagbucks, Shopkick, Inbox Dollars or MyPoints, this could be a good time to cash in for some scrip. I haven’t been able to find gift cards for Walgreens through any of my programs, but I could get them for retailers like Target, CVS and Walmart. Even a $5 or $10 head start is a help in stocking the medicine cabinet.
Not buying at all. From time to time my local Buy Nothing Facebook group features OTC meds and things that make sick people feel better (e.g., heating pads, cozy throws, cans of soup).
Also good to have
Don’t forget the kitchen cabinet, either. A few things you should stock up on:
Soup. Sometimes that’s all you can get down, or keep down. Go for the familiar red-and-white Campbell’s chicken noodle or a fancier brand. Whatever tastes good. (Even if you can’t taste much with some illnesses.)
Powerade, Gatorade or whatever-ade. Replace those electrolytes! Personally, I think the only time these things taste good is when I’ve been sick.
Applesauce. It’s good when coming back from an upset stomach and, chilled, is soothing to a sore throat.
Other canned fruits. An old mom-trick to calm an upset stomach is to sip a spoonful of the liquid from canned peaches, pears or fruit cocktail. Apparently it’s the pectin in the liquid that does the deed. The sweetness is comforting, too.
Plain crackers. Amazing how good a saltine tastes after you’ve been throwing up for a couple of days. That’s not the time for cracked black pepper flatbread. The plainer, the better. A slice of dry toast is also pretty good, if you have a loaf of bread in the freezer.
Canned, bottled or frozen juice. Also ambrosial once your stomach is settled; if it’s a cold you’re fighting, you might not be able to taste that pineapple juice but your dried-out body will appreciate the liquid. Some folks opt for those power/smart waters. Whatever gets you to drink is what you should buy.
The bottom line
Again, a careful stock-up will save you money over having to buy this stuff all at once when someone gets sick. If you’ve just left the doctor’s office and have a miserable kid/partner/roommate in the car, that person will want to go home, not wait while you go from supermarket to drugstore to big-box retailer. Having to buy it all in the same place means you’ll almost certainly pay more.
Even if you didn’t need to go to the doc, you might not want to leave the house (if it’s you) or leave a sick person alone in the house (if it’s someone else). Bonus: Not having to rush out and shop means you’re less likely to spread that ailment to others.
Make your list, look for the best deals, use discounts/gift cards/rebates when you can, and then hope that you don’t actually need any of this stuff. Given masks, hand sanitizer and social distancing, you might escape whatever cooties are going around. But I wouldn’t count on it.
Readers: What’s in your medicine cabinet?
*Some cold/flu meds have acetaminophen in them. Be careful about taking additional acetaminophen as a painkiller while using those meds.
**Please get a flu shot. Please.
Excellent post. Thank you. As a nurse, one thing I tell my friends is not to forget to keep a bottle of aspirin on hand. We don’t necessarily use it anymore for our pain. If you or a member of your family has heart attack symptoms, you may be instructed to chew or swallow an aspirin while awaiting EMS. It can be lifesaving!
Thank YOU, for commenting. Always good to hear advice from the professionals.
I’m allergic to some things in certain cough medicines so I have to be careful. I search out medicines way before I know I’ll get my yearly cold so I know it’s safe and I don’t have to worry about it making me sicker.
Exactly! Be prepared, lest you be unable to find the specific medication you need.
Great post but I almost got sick reading those food choices. I recently had surgery and was limited to soup, crackers, sports drinks and apple sauce for weeks and I can’t bear to eat or drink any of those right now! Even though I used to like them, yuck for now. Stay far away from me applesauce!
It’s funny how when I’ve been sick for days, a slice of dry toast or a few sips of chicken broth seems like the best food on the planet. I wonder why I don’t eat this stuff ALL THE TIME. But when I’m back to health, those things are just…meh.
Hope you’re recovered, and eating delicious things you want to eat.
I don’t want any parts of jello, or broth, whether sick or well, and especially not after colonoscopy prep.
I really wish people, especially medical people, would stop pretending that those items are food.
Aleve, low dose aspirin, diarrhea/constipation meds, anti-itch creams, triple antibiotic topical cream, Robitussin, band-aids/dressings, burn ointment, and that’s about it.
Really, the best things to do are get out in the fresh air and sunshine, drink lots of water, and eat right. Take D3 and C with zinc. I avoid places where I have to sit in crowds, not because I don’t like people, but I dislike the coughing and sneezing. I shop at off hours and wash my hands immediately upon returning home.
Thanks for a great reminder! I already have acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen and antacids. DH and I both have to be careful with cold and flu OTCs due to A-fib so we avoid them and don’t stock up. But I’m glad you mentioned checking out my medicine cabinet. I just did and noticed I have no Sambucol, the best cold preventer I have found. It has zinc, elderberry and other natural components. I have not been able to find a store brand that works as well when taken at the first sign of a cold nor have homemade elderberry syrups done much of anything. I look for coupons for it and I’m hoping some will pop up now that the cold season is upon us. Also, I need to stock up on soups and ginger ale. Hope you don’t need any of your “stock ups” but you know how these viruses act. One of the things I learned through this horrible pandemic is how easily they can spread. I really appreciated this reminder. Great article. Good health to you.
Don’t know if it was mentioned, but a variety of teas and broth in the carton are good to have around. Thanks for the reminder article. I think it is especially important now.
Great post, Donna! May I add something to your list? Toilet paper – the more time you spend at home, the more you need.
Nothing worse than running out of toilet paper when your stomach is in revolt.
Very good point.
You and Jenny are right about that.
I’ve had very good luck with homemade elderberry syrup. However, I make a beefed up version. Each to their own.
Local CVS every couple months or so has sale flyers in the stores that include a coupon for 20% off CVS brand stuff, which is a good time to stock up on stuff like ibuprofen, acetaminophen, cough drops, antihistamine, bandages, etc.
If you’re a member of their program (we are because of our health insurance) there’s also 20% off CVS brand stuff, and the coupon is on top of that, so 40% off total.
My daughter is a member of their program, and uses it strategically. Myself, I live in one of the three (?) states in the country that doesn’t have a CVS. Sigh.
There’s one brand/flavor of canned soup that my husband wants when he’s sick, so I always have a can or two of that on hand, along with ginger ale, lemon-lime Gatorade and saltine crackers. I cling to cups of hot tea, particularly Constant Comment and lemon-ginger.
Our medicine chest is two plastic baskets in the laundry room cabinets. One is marked “coughs/sinus” and the other “pain/tummy.” They are well stocked with whatever OTC meds one would need to deal with those situations. I do swear by Wal-tussin pearls, those little encapsulated droplets of concentrated cough medicine sold under the Walgreens brand. For people who find cough syrup too nasty-tasting, they are a godsend.
I never heard of those pearls before. Will have to look for them once we’ve finished the Kroger-tussin. And yeah, cough syrup is pretty awful.
Constant Comment is good all the time. Even if you are just smelling it!
I keep a bunch of it here. I make sure I have a bit more of a Mucinex type product…the highest dose. I have an elderly mother with congestive heart failure. Cheap insurance to keep the lungs clear.
If you don’t have a ton of cash to shell out for stuff you might not use and need to pitch when its a little too far out of date…..the dollar store has just about everything. And its enough to get you through a night or a weekend until you can get somewhere else if needed. (Pepto and Imodium come to mind lol)
I agree and Dollar Tree is my preferred stock up on many items. Cheap and in the long run, the exact same ingredients. Smaller amount, but if you start working on it, just buy one at a time. It adds up quickly.
“the familiar red-and-white Campbell’s chicken noodle or a fancier brand” — Girl, get you some Progresso canned chicken soup! You will never go back to the red and white, for chicken type of soups.
Canned soup is good to have on hand in general, not just as preparation for possible illness.
In the aftermath of a disaster, e.g., hurricane, tsunami, flood, etc., canned soup can be consumed directly, without needing any electricity, gas, or even a fire, and will provide hydration as well as nutrition.
Last year was the first year as an adult that I had a medicine cabinet full of all things needed if I got sick/had an upset stomach/had a bad headache/couldn’t sleep. Sure at times I had some of those things on hand but not all at one time. Thanks for reminding me I need to check dates and replace as needed.
I need to check again this week for saltine crackers. Stores in this area have been out for 2 weeks, but there is a stomach bug going around so maybe that accounts for it.
Saltines have been out for a long time where we live. Strangely, those buttery crackers like Ritz or Club have been in stock.
Donna, you mentioned in your post about in-store shopping to find clearance deals, and planning ahead so you can shop in advance at stores offering the best price to have products on hand should illness hit. Those are all great suggestions, and ones I followed myself when I was able to get around. I am now a mostly-homebound senior. I rely mostly on grocery delivery, with an occasional small pickup order. I would love to hear your thoughts (maybe a blog post idea?) on how to maximize my dollars based on my scenario. I’m sure there are other readers in the same situation.
That’s a great idea. I started writing down some immediate, off-the-top-of-my-head ideas that I know for sure, plus some that wil require further research.
Looking forward to hearing them!
Thanks for the timely reminder. My son is being married at the end of this month and while I’m hoping to stay healthy, I haven’t been to an event with this many people (150) since before Covid began. I am still well stocked as DH and I have not been sick thanks in part to being triple vaxxed and wearing a mask. The numbers are way down in our area and our state of Massachusetts has a high rate of vaccination so we are remaining hopeful.
Congratulations on your son’s marriage! I hope you have a great (and safe) time.
This is almost like a medical emergency fund: put it in place and it will be there when you need it. I start in August, slowing gathering supplies for cold and flu season. I make sure I can cover illnesses from top to tail: head colds, sinuses, ears, throats, bellies and basic aches and pains. A cheap humidifier and heating pad are also a must. Buy whatever suits your comfort level/ budget and also make sure prescription meds are filled. You don’t need to prep for a zombie apocalypse but having a week to ten day supply on hand can be a godsend.
Indeed. This isn’t stuff you want to have to go out looking for when you or someone in your family is already sick.
My niece had a baby. I found generic Pedialyte on clearance and bought a bottle. It is something you don’t know you need it until you really need it and then you are too tired to go out. Hopefully she won’t have to use it but odds are she will before it expires.
What a kind gesture.
Apparently it’s being marketed to adults as well. So if one of the grownups gets sick, you’re all set.