Coronavirus or Covid-19 is a kind of danger from which the whole world is fighting with full determination and courage. According to health experts, the vaccine or medicine of this deadly virus will take a long time to be discovered. So, the only way to avoid Covid-19 is social distancing. Following the advice of health experts and scientists, our prime minister Shri Narendra Modi announced total lockdown of 40 days up to 3rd May and another lockdown of 14 days up to 17 May with some relaxation in the green zone and orange zone and no relaxation in the red zone.
We are aware of the fact that in order to follow the 100% lockdown we must stay safely at home and should come out of the house only when there is a health emergency or any other emergency. In a lockdown, we have to manage everything with minimum resources and facilities.
Here are some tips to manage the household with minimum resources during the lockdown.
1. Eat Dal and Rice or Dal and Chapati
The first tip is that we should eat a simple combination of Dal (Arhar, moong, etc) and Rice or Dal (Arhar, moong, etc) and Chapatti instead of what we eat during normal days in our home. One should understand that it is a war-like situation and we don’t know when this unconventional war will end and the food resources are not unlimited in India. So, it is advisable to eat simple veg food which is also good for health as well as good for our India.
Now a normal person after seeing this tip will argue that if he/she is economically stable to buy and eat food which he/she wants to eat then why he/she should eat simple dal and rice or dal or chapati. But this is not a correct behaviour not only for the nation but also for him/her. Just think about the critical condition of the labourers who earn on a daily basis and now they are unemployed. So it is advised to eat simple food during the lockdown period.
2. Use a self-made mask or towel
We are aware of the fact that the population of India is very large in number. So, it is not feasible to use professional masks (N95 masks, three layered masks, surgical masks) in order to get protection from Covid-19 or Coronavirus. Another problem in using the professional mask is that with the increasing demand of the professional masks during Covid-19 or Coronavirus pandemic, the rates of the professional mask are increasing rapidly. It is not possible for a middle-class family and a poor family to buy such these masks for their protection. It is advisable to wear Gamcha, a kind of towel or self-made mask in order to tackle this danger of Coronavirus or Covid-19.
3. Control your expenditure
We are Indians and some of us have a bad habit of spending money without care. This tip is important as we know this lockdown up to 17th May will have some serious outcomes and unemployment is one of the serious results we will have to face after the phase of Covid-19 or Coronavirus. One should spend his savings with utmost care in this period.
4. Use milk powder instead of milk for tea and coffee
It is a great idea at least until lockdown gets over and the condition becomes normal. It will not only save our money but also will fulfil our basic requirement of having tea or coffee. We can save a lot of money in this lockdown but the need is good vision and great will power. Suppose we purchase 1 litre of milk per day and the rating per litre of milk is around INR 60. For one month it will cost you around INR 1800. After reducing the cost of milk the amount of money saved by us can be used for other essential work during the lockdown period.
5. Use electricity wisely
Before lockdown, it was a piece of common advice to save electricity but due to some reasons, we were unable to do so. In a lockdown, we can save electricity by staying together in one common room but it is advised to maintain proper social or physical separation. It is advised to use the only single fan, air conditioner, television or any other electrical appliances. This step will not only limit the usage of electrical appliances like fan, air conditioner, television and many more but also will lead to a reduction in electricity bill. This tip is only for the kind of family in which a single person has no travel history to any foreign country and the age of each family members is below 40. Otherwise, this tip can have dangerous results, especially for old age people.
6. Reduce the usage of oil in cooking food
It is advised to stop using too much oil in preparing oily food items like Samosa, Kachori, Poori and many others. Yes, these oily food items should be avoided during the lockdown, because oil is necessary for preparing a basic meal and due to lockdown it’s limited use will save oil in the kitchen and can be used last longer. Moreover, oily food items are responsible for the increment of bad cholesterol of our heart and avoiding these stuff will have positive results for a healthy heart and ultimately will affect our healthy body.
7. Food Recycling
Food Recycling is the term used for the process of eating extra food items which includes Chapattis, Dal, Rice, Curry, etc. which were prepared a day ago or that day itself. We can fry leftover rice along with some vegetables to make fried rice. It is a great idea to cook extra chappatis along with ghee to make paranthas. Extra Dal can be used to make Dal sandwiches and there are thousands of method available on the internet for food recycling. This practice is must during the lockdown and it is advised to not waste or throw extra food prepared. We should understand that this situation is not normal and in this difficult time, every penny step taken to manage household will help us until we come out of this situation.
8. Easy Kitchen Cleaning
Firstly, we should take care of cleaning the kitchen as our health is directly proportional to what we eat, how we eat and how we cook and where we cook. Secondly, we should cook food in a low flame so that utensils are not burned and we can clean these utensils easily with less kitchen soap or detergent. There is a format of 1 ratio 5 or 1 ratio 4 of kitchen soap or detergent and water in order to clean kitchen dishes and utensils. This procedure not only saves time but also limit the wastage of kitchen soap or detergent.
9. Easy breakfast
We can have breakfast which we can prepare instantly. It includes vegetable salad, sprouts, fruit salad, pour, noodles, Sattu, sandwich and many more. This kind of breakfast needs less time to be prepared and lessens the burden on the family member who cooks food for us.
10. Grow vegetables in your garden
This tip seems to be time taking but it can save your money spent on buying vegetables at least for some days. We can simply grow those vegetables in our garden which takes less time to grow. Recently, an actress grew some vegetables in her home which is an example for us to follow this tip.
