Lye and fat and salt makes soap and glycerin. Should lye run out you can make it from hardwood ashes. Should salt run out you can make it by evaporating sea water. Mix glycerin with alcohol to make hand sanitizer.
Have you tried getting hold of isopropyl alcohol (or similar) recently? Impossible :(
A pot-still seems like a doable weekend project.
Soap and detergents are denser and therefore easier and cheaper to transport. So then thanks for the supporting point I guess.