Some Emergency Preparedness Ideas

We had a FHE a few months ago about Emergency Preparedness and brainstormed about things for our family that would be helpful in the event of an emergency. Here is a list of some of the items that we came up with:


1. Water Storage - We have two 50 gallon drums in our back yard for water storage but needed Bungs (those are those plastic things that block the holes in the Drums). We also needed a 'food safe' hose for pumping the water out of the drums. Water purification came up too. We have a hot tub and a pond in our yard, all good water sources, but they would have to be put through a purification process before we could use them. We purchased some coffee filters to help and you can boil water for 5 minutes to remove most impurities (but it tastes funny). So we decided we would like a filter system and wanted it to be small enough for hiking too fulfilling two goals in one :)

2. Food Storage - during an emergency your electricity will probably be out so you need to be prepared to deal with frozen food issues. If you have a generator you can probably maintain the freezer for some time but likely as not you don't have a generator. So you need a killer ice chest and ice. If you fill empty milk jugs with water and fill the empty spaces in your freezer with them then you will have ice for at least 24 hours in your ice chest. Hopefully this will help stretch out the life of your food.

3. Clean up - you need to have paper plates in event of an emergency. You are not going to want to waste your water doing dishes. Paper everything, plates, napkins, paper towels, and silverware (plastic ware). Also remember personal supplies like TP, diapers and female hygiene products.

4. Personal Hygiene - if you have access to you home then you may have the possibility of having access to your bathroom but this is a big if. You need to have a commode of some kind that you can use outside. Emergency Preparedness websites have a wide and fairly inexpensive selection of them. Showering or Bathing may not be a possibility either - keep deodorant on hand and you might consider a scarf for your hair since you won't have the means to wash it. Oh, and hand sanitizer to save on water.

5. Food Choices - try to select items of food for your family that doesn't require water to make or comes with it's own water that you can use for other things (like veggies in cans). If it uses water make sure that you eat the water too (like oatmeal, Top Ramen or pancake mix). Food that needs water to actually cook it (like spaghetti) probably won't be a good idea (but it is a wonderful idea for your year's supply since you will probably have access to water at home).

6. The Little things - remember the little things, matches or lighters, propane lanterns (don't forget the socks), extra propane tanks for cooking, a propane oven (or put a thermometer on your gas BBQ for baking), Pet food, any medications you are currently on that are essential for your survival, and the list goes on and on.

Have yourself a FHE and brainstorm with your family or by yourself about what to do in case of an emergency. You can even look online for ideas. Come up with your 'list'. And do it. Enjoy!