Its coming up to back to school time and you know what that means. People are going to be sharing their coughs, colds and flus. Even if you don’t have kids, chances are one of your friends does, or the person behind you in line at the grocery store. The coming of fall just brings out all the fun illnesses that we get to deal with every year.

In our house, we like to be prepared for that sort of thing so we have what we call “sick boxes”. A sick box is just a kit of the typical things that you need while you are sick, all in one place, ready for the next time someone is sick without having to run to the drug store while feeling (and looking) miserable.

A typical sick box might include:

chicken soup

tissues

cough candies

cough syrup

anti-nauseant

anti-diarrheal

soda crackers

ginger ale

tea

honey

acetaminophen or ibuprofen

vitamin c/Echinacea or other herbal supplements

And whatever else helps you feel better without having to go get it.

A great advantage to doing up a couple sick boxes is that you can get all the supplies while they are on sale or with coupons and don’t have to pay full price or run out at 3 am when your kids are suddenly sick.