Emergency Preparedness, Food Storage and Monthly Assignments (Week of May 24th)

Hi Torrance Stake Family, Carson Ward Family, Family and Friends,

Could you survive a large disaster?

Have you prepared for a major storm, tornado, hurricane, flood, tsunami, typhoon, fire or earthquake that could hit your area? Would you be able to take care of yourself and your loved ones? If someone had serious major injuries would you know how to treat them? If a major infection set in would you know how to handle it? Do you know basic first-aid skills? Would you have the needed medical supplies on hand? Would you have good drinking water to drink? Would you have a way to filter out all the bacteria and contamination from the water? Would you have food to eat? Would you have a way to cook, have light, heat and a way to handle sanitation if you could not use your conventional ways? Would you have shelter if you could not stay in your home, or know how to build a shelter? Do you have your 72 Hour Individual Emergency Bags ready? Do you have a family evacuation plan? Are all your important papers and documents in a safe place together, easy to access if you have evacuate immediately? If you lost your income, became injured where you could not work, could you survive and provide for yourself and your family?

These are all things we need to seriously think about and make a plan so we are better prepared. The future can be a scary thing unless we are prepared for future events in our lives. Things can happen in an instant. Being ready for crisis times, and being spiritually prepared, can bring peace to our minds and make tough times a little easier.

So, are you ready for what may come your way? I just heard on a news report that 51% of the population in the United States has experienced a natural disaster and only 12% are prepared. Wow! That is really low. I also read awhile back that only 6% of the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are prepared. What? After many many years having been counseled and warned from our church leaders to be prepared with food storage, water and emergency supplies and an emergency savings account.

FABWODI! Years ago there was a contest at my husbands work and he won. He created the word FABWODI, "Find A Better Way Of Doing It". If what ever you are doing to be prepared or better prepared is not working, set new goals, find a better way of doing it and use this blog to help you. This emergency preparedness blog is here to help you and your loved ones become better prepared for those crisis times in our lives. Sit down as a family, with an extend family member, or a friend and make an emergency preparedness plan and set goals to accomplish it. It will not happen over night, it takes time.You will be well on your way and you will have peace of mind once you have done this and not fear the future. "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." (Doctrine and Covenants 38:30)

May Monthly Assignments

Last week!

Food Storage: Grains

What are grains?  They consist of wheat (both red and white hard winter), flours, oats, barley, quinoa, popcorn, etc. You can store them in #10 cans and 6 gallon buckets for long term storage (20+ years) and packages for short term storage (1+ years). You need 300 pounds of grains (store a variety) per person in your family for a year. Determine how much you need to store for your family and your your goal of 1-Month, 3-Months, 6-Months or a year. As all foot storage, store your grains in a cool, dry, dark place. You can purchase grains from your local grocery store, from long term food storage companies like the LDS Dry Pack Cannery, emergencyessentials.com, honeyville.com, foodinsurance.com, thrive.com, foodforhealthinternational.com, etc.

Emergency Preparedness: 
      Emergency Cooking, Lighting and Heating 

You should have in your emergency supplies at least . . .


One, or more, way to cook if you cannot use your conventional stove/oven. You should also have enough fuel for the type of cooking equipment you have to last for about 3+ months. Examples: Coleman Stove with propane, Butane Stove with Butane fuel, Gar BBQ with propane, Charcoal BBQ with charcoal, outside Fire Pit with wood and matches, etc.



One, or more, way to have lighting if the power is out. They can be battery operated or solar. It may be a good idea to have booth. You should have a working flashing in each room of the house with batteries and emergency lanterns. Examples: Coleman lantern, Battery or solar lanterns, Flashlights (battery and/or solar), candles (unscented) with matches, etc. A gas (DO NOT use inside the house) or solar generator would be great to have to since you can run electrically appliances and electronics from them.


One, or more, ways to provide heat for colder weather if you cannot use your conventional home gas or electric heater. I love the idea in the picture shown. It really does provide heat. Click here to see how to build it. Examples: Fireplace and heat candles. You can line a room with mattress to keep the heat inside the room. You should also have warm clothes and blankets. DO NOT use a charcoal BBQ inside the house, it will KILL you.

For more information and great ideas on Emergency Cooking, Lighting and Heating check out the posting on the right of this blog under "Postings", "Cooking, Heating and Lighting in an Emergency".


Clever Emergency Preparedness Ideas . . .

Emergency Stretcher made from two old broom handles and duct tape---Click here to learn how to make this.Such a simple cool idea. Everyone should have duct tape in their 72 Hour Individual Emergency Backpacks (or Bug-Out-Bags). If in the wilderness you could use two long sturdy branches for the side pieces. Keep a picture of this in your Backpack.

Baking bread on a BBQ grill--It is best to put a brick or paver stone under the pan and to use a metal bread pan, it holds the heat better. You can also use a covered Dutch oven on the grill to bake your bread. Any bread recipe will work. Click here for instructions. 

Emergency toilet made with a milk create--Take an old milk create, cut a hole in the bottom just a little smaller than the size of the toilet seat. Purchase a 5-6 gallon plastic bucket and a toilet seat from Home Depot, Lowe's or any home improvement store. Place the bucket underneath the milk create, put the toilet seat on top. You should also purchase heavy plastic black trash bags, cat liter and septic tank enzymes from WalMart or other stores that carry them to break down the waste. Instructions: Line the bucket with the heavy plastic black trash bag, pour in about 2-3 inches of cat liter, place the mild create over the bucket and place the toilet seat in place. Each time someone uses the emergency toilet sprinkle in some of the septic tank enzymes to break down the waste. Do not let the trash bag get to heavy, it may tear. Replace as needed. If in a disaster situation, bury the trash bag as deep as possible to eliminate contamination. 

Next week I will post some more clever emergency preparedness ideas. 


Emergency Preparedness Ideas

Water--

How important do you think water is to your survival and health? Click here to see a power point on the importance water..

Remember, besides drinking and bathing water, if you are storing dehydrated/freeze-dried foods you will need extra water to rehydrate them. 

The rule is 1 gallon person per in your house hold per day for just drinking and cooking, this does include sponge bath bathing or re-hydrating dehydrated/freeze-dried foods.

See the blog posting "Water Storage" on the right under "Postings" for ideas on water storage and filtration.

Food Storage--

How emergency food storage can see you through unemployment---Click here.

So many times we think of food storage in regards to a natural disaster, but it can also bless our lives when unemployment happens, a long illness that keeps us from working or an unexpected large emergency bill or situation. Our food storage has blessed our lives many times when times were tough and my husband could not work for 3 months due to being hurt on the job. Disability checks do not pay all the bills and put food on the table.

Comments: We love hearing from you and your comments. We all learn from each others experiences and knowledge. Please share your comments and questions below. You can also email me any questions or comments at theark.carsonward@gmail.com. I will research your questions and post the answers on next week's blog posting. Thank you for your comments and questions.