Weekly Assignment and Food Storage Ideas (Week of June 17th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Happy Father's Day to all those men who are Dad's and have an influence in a child's life!

Quote:

"Dear God, make me the kind of man my son (daughter) needs me to be." Lloyd D. Newell (Host/Narrator of "The Spoken Word")

FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing weekly question:

Why is it important to have a 72 Hour Individual Emergency Preparedness Kit for each family member?

Email me the answer at theark.carsonward@gmail.com to have your name entered into the Carson Ward FREE Monthly Giveaway Drawing. Each weekly question you email me the answer gives you more chance to win this month's drawing.

What would you do?

A couple of weeks ago there was fire in Castiac, California by the 5 Freeway, causing the 5 Freeway to be shut down for 6-7 hours. Traffic came to a halt! A few months ago all the electricity from South Orange County down into parts of Mexico went out for several hours, causing havoc to all those in the area and those trying to get home from work. Why do I mention this on the Carson Ward Emergency Preparedness Blog?

When we think of emergency preparedness we usually think of a major disaster like an earthquake, tsunami, hurricane or some other type of disaster. But even something like the 5 Freeway shutdown and the Orange County electric outage, we will need our emergency supplies.

Imagine being on the 5 Freeway for 6-7 hours without any water, food or communication. If my husband and I had been there at that time, we would have been alright because we keep our 72 Hour Individual Emergency Preparedness Backpacks, extra water, our Family Bag, and even a small tent and blanket in the trunk of our car. You  never know when you might need them! We would have had water and food to eat, shelter if needed and a way to communicate by our cell phone. Sanitation might have been a issue, but we do keep a large tarp, rope and hygiene items in our Family Bag. What a blessings those items would have been in this situation!

How important is our 72 Hour Individual Emergency Preparedness Backpack and Family Bag to you and your family! Would you have been able to handle the 6-7 hour freeway shutdown? What about no electricity for many, many hours? Street lights and stop lights out, causing crazy traffic issues, no way to get gas (the pumps and cash registers run on computers and electricity), no electricity at home, elevators at your office building not working (maybe even stuck in one for hours with no lights), what would you have done? Do you have emergency lighting for your home (flashlights, lanterns, candles, generator), what about at work (flashlights)? What would you do???

Let us all strive to be better prepared for what may come our way. May we each take time to assess our emergency supplies and make a goal to purchase the items we will need to survive.

June Goals: Shelter and Adding Pastas and Tomatoes to our Food Storage:

Emergency Preparedness Ideas:Weekly Assignment--Shelter:

1) This week get out all your sleeping bags and inspect them for damages and cleanliness. Wash and repair as needed and properly store with all your emergency Shelter equipment.


2) If you do not have a sleeping bag for each family member, watch for sales (great time of year for them, and at the end of the summer) and set a goal to purchase a sleeping bag for each family member. I have seen them on sale at Big 5 for $17 and up. You can also make your own bedrolls by putting blankets together. The Boy Scout manual will show you how to do this.

Weekly Assignment--Adding Pastas and Tomatoes to your Food Storage:

1) This week add more pastas and different types of tomatoes (commercially canned, dehydrated/freeze dries, canned in Mason jars, freezing) to your Food Storage.

2) Inventory the current ones and rotate to your regular pantry and replace as needed in your Food Storage.

Emergency Preparedness Ideas:

What if you did not have electricity and water to do your laundry, what would you do?

Think back to your grandmother's or great grandmother's days, how did she do the laundry? She may have washed her clothes by hand and hung them out to dry. Here are some things you might want to consider for your emergency preparedness supplies:

1) Large metal (better, last longer) or plastic tub to wash the clothes in. You can purchase these at True Value and some Home Improvement stores.
2) Clothes line rope and a way to secure them. You can either put up nails to secure the line or tie to a tree. You can purchase this at most home improvement stores and places like Walmart, Target, etc..
3) Clothes pins to hang the clothes with. You can purchase them at Walmart, Target, etc..
4) A wash/scrub board. You can purchase these at True Value and some Home Improvement stores, possibly Walmart.
5) A "Mobile Washer". You can purchase these on EmergencyEssentials.com for $14.95. It lets you agitate the clothes by hand like a washing machine. I have one, they are great!
6) Laundry soap, bleach, fabric softener (optional). Keep enough on hand for at least 3-6 months.
7) And of course, stored water if your water is not running. If you are using your stored water, use sparingly, you will need it to drink, cook and to rehydrate your dehydrated food. Water stored in rain water barrels are great for this.

Remember: You comments, ideas and experiences are very welcome!