Weekly Assignment, Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness (Week of January 27th)

Hi Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Are you ready?

"Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." (Matthew 24:44)

""And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." (Matthew 24: 6-7)

For the past three plus years I have shared, in this blog, with you all the information I know, and new things I learn along the way, to help you become better prepared. You can have all the information possible, but if you do not act upon it, it means nothing!

The scriptures above warn us, as have our prophets, church leaders, government and local leaders and other scriptures, to be ready. There are countless websites giving us information on how to prepare. As we see the recent extreme weather conditions from droughts to freezing, stronger hurricanes and tornadoes, and more earthquakes, we can see how the world is changing. We have watched nature pour out its furry with Hurricane Katrina, the Joplin tornado, Hurricane Sandy and drought in the Midwest. We have watched on TV, heard on the radio and read in the newspapers and magazines how these natural disaster have effected hundreds of thousands of people just here in the United States. Then there are those throughout the world who have also been effected in some way, which also effects us. I strongly feel things are only going to get worse. There may be food and water shortage, more and stronger natural disasters and other situations that may cause us to need our food storage and emergency supplies. I have said this before, I would rather have food storage and emergency supplies and not need  them, than need them and not have them.

What does it take for us to always be ready? How long will it take us to set up a 72 Hour Individual Emergency Backpack Kit for each family member? How long will it take us to buy a few extra cans and packages of food when we go grocery shopping? How long will it take us to inventory what we have and what we need? How long will it take us to prepared?

It only takes adding one item a week for our 72 Hour Individual Emergency Food Kits. It only takes adding a few extra cans to our weekly grocery shopping and putting them away for an emergency. It only takes adding one emergency supply a month, like flashlights with extra batteries or purchasing a tent for shelter.

In Isaiah 28: 10 "... line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little." We can apply this to emergency preparedness, adding one thing at time until you have completed your goal.

Are you ready? Why not? What is stopping you from starting? When you are prepared you have no need to fear.

72 Hour Individual Emergency Food Kit Questions:

A few of you have asked me about the food in the Food Kit, what if you are diabetic or have allergies to some of the foods? If you are diabetic, consulate with your doctor, and then substitute as necessary. If you have allergies to any of the foods, like peanut butter cracker, then substitute with other foods, like cheese crackers.

These foods are high in calories and fiber because it is all you will probably be eating if you have to evacuate or are far from home when a disaster hits. Here is the menu (which is the same for each 3 days)...

Breakfast: Instant Oatmeal, Raisins, Hot Chocolate
Lunch: Peanut Butter or Cheese Crackers, Fruit Cup, Trail Mix
Dinner: Instant Soup (Chicken Noodle, etc.), Granola Bar, Fruit Drink
Snacks: Fruit Snacks, Gum, Hardy Candy
Water throughout the day
Note: Some of these items you can purchase as sugar free, but you may need the sugar to keep your glucose level  up. Check with your doctor. Whole Foods, Sprouts and Trader Joe's is a good source for these types of foods and drinks. They will probably be more expensive.

Weekly Assignment...72 Hour Individual Emergency Food Kit:

1) This week add the following: 3 packages of instant oatmeal per family Food Kit.  Now you should have the follow: 3 granola bars, 3 juice/fruit box drinks, 3 small boxes of raisins, 3 packages of instant hot chocolate and 3 packages of instant oatmeal for each family member. Place all these items in a large zip lock bag with the family members name written on the bag.

Emergency Preparedness:

What do we need to do? So far the past few weeks I have talked about electricity, lighting, emergency medical supplies and shelter. This week I will discuss cooking.

When there is no electricity many of our electric stoves and gas stoves with igniters will not work. Of course, you can start a gas stove with an electric igniter with a match, but be careful of gas leaks, it could cause an explosion. What if you cannot stay in your house, how would you cook? You will need a way to cook. Check out the blog posting on the right side under "Postings", under "Cooking, Heating and Lighting". There are many ideas of ways to cook and emergency cooking supplies you might want to consider and should have on hand when an emergency hits. It may be better to have more than one way to cook.

Comments: All your comments, ideas, suggestions and experiences are welcome! We all learn from each other.