We are living in unprecedented times and during unprecedented times may call for unprecedented measures. Who would have thought that hand sanitizer would cost $9.99 or more for a bottle. I didn't.

The World Health Organization has provided some guidelines on how to make your own hand sanitizer. The recipe is pretty easy however the recipe make a liter of hand sanitizer. If you are making this just for yourself that might be a tad bit too much to keep on hand.

The other challenge may be in finding one key ingredient, isopropyl alcohol. It literally is not available on any store shelves. Even if you do find it, the proof needs to be at least 70 % or above. The alternate to isopropyl alcohol would be ethanol alcohol which you can find at your local liquor store. It needs to be at least 75 proof. A brand such as Everclear would be sufficient. Do not use vodka. It does not have the right proof percentage.

Hand sanitizer is consider to be a drug and is regulated by the FDA. The reason being it's considered an anti-bacterial. Do not make this for resale. All drugs manufactured in the USA have to be approved by the FDA.

The key ingredients are alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and glycerin. Distilled water is used to finish off the remainder of the litre bottle.

So what do these ingredients do? The alcohol is the active ingredient. The hydrogen peroxide helps to eliminate any spores. It is not an active ingredient for hand sanitation. The glycerin is a humectant which is water soluble. It helps the sanitizer from being so drying. It is strongly recommended not to add any other ingredients as it may reduce the efficacy of the sanitizer.

Recipe for about 8 ounces of liquid hand sanitizer.

ethanol alcohol at least 75% - 200 ml
hydrogen peroxide 3% - 10 ml
glycerol 98% - 3 ml
distilled water - 27 ml

Mix the ingredients together and pour into a spray bottle. We know using hand sanitizer is no match for soap. But in moments when you may not have access to wash your hands with soap hand sanitizer is good second choice.

You can review the full instructions outlined by the World Health Organization here.