Emergency Preparedness, Food Storage and Monthly Assignments (Week of November 8th)

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

Concerns . . . 

I have grave concerns most of us in our Stake, Ward, Church, world and families are not prepared with extra food, water and emergency supplies. We continually procrastinate and say it will not happen to me or where I live. If you say this, you are foolish like 5 of the 10 Virgins. Natural disasters, civil unrest, health issues, loss of employment can happen in an instant! We always need to be prepared!
 
Those of you reading this blog I feel are striving and possibly prepared. Emergency preparedness does not happen overnight. It takes time.

Some say my local or federal government will take care of me and my family. Do you really believe that? It is our responsibility, not our local or federal government, but ours. From past experience and news stories it can take days, even weeks, for your local and federal government to arrive with help. Roads may be blocked where they cannot get in for days, weeks, months with supplies.

We need to be prepared ourselves, to take care of ourselves and rely only on us. Emergency preparedness brings peace of mind.

Warn your family, extended families, your Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching families, your friends, your neighbors and your co-workers. Each family member should have a 72 Hour Individual Emergency Preparedness Backpack and each family should have a 72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Family Bag and extra food and water on hand. I have attached the link below for the lists of the items you should have in your backpacks and bag. Print them out, email them and share them with others. The more others are prepared the less likely they will come to you for help and you  they will be able to help others.

72 Hour Individual Emergency Preparedness Backpack
72 Hour Emergency Preparedness Family Bag

New November Monthly Assignments 

Food Storage: Vegetables

It is important to have vegetables in your food storage to give us the vitamins and mineral our bodies need. You can store them commercially canned, home canned, frozen and dehydrated/freeze dried (long term storage, 20+ years). I would store vegetables in a variety of ways.

First start by keeping track of how many varieties of vegetable you and your family eats in a 2-week to one month period. Keep a list on the refrigerator. Each time you cook vegetables or use them in soups, stews and casseroles add the amount and type to the list. Then you can multiply by the number of months you have set your food storage goal.

 Commercially canned: Come in a variety of types. Only store the vegetables your family will eat. Try to purchase them on sale.They usually store for 2-3 years. You can still use them after their expiration date as long as they are not dented, the lid is not bulging or they are leaking. The nutritional value will diminish over time. Keep in a cool, dry, dark place.


Home canned: If you have a vegetable garden or purchase vegetables while in season you can home can them. It is not hard to do but does take time. Most vegetables are canned in a canning pressure
cooker. High acidic vegetables like tomatoes are done in a water bath canning. They will store for 2-3 years. If the lid pushes down when pushed on they are no longer good for consumption. Keep in a cool, dry, dark place.

 

Frozen: Frozen vegetables will keep in your freezer for about one year. You can also freeze the vegetables from your vegetable garden or fresh from your grocery store by blanching them first, draining off the water and placing in a plastic freezer zip lock bag. Mark the date on the bag.




Dehydrated/Freeze Dried: For long term storage consider purchase dehydrated/freeze dried vegetables. The can come in a variety of sizes, #10 cans, 2.5 cans (emergencyessentials.com has them), and pails (sometimes in individual Mylar bags. They can last for 20+ years depending on the temperature you store them. Store them in a cool, dry, dark place. 



Companies I like to purchase my dehydrated/freeze-dried vegetables from are store.lds.org (limited), emergencyessentials.com and WalMart online Augason Farms. Other companies are Honeyville, Thrive/Shelf Reliance, and foodforhealthinternational.com. There are many other companies out there too. To make sure you are getting the best price, divide the price by the number of servings per can.

Emergency Preparedness: 
       Family Records, Documents and Photos

Each family should have a "Family Emergency Preparedness Notebook". This notebook should contain your family's important documents. Each family member's documents (a separate folder within the notebook for each family member) should include their birthday certificate, adoption certificate, baptismal certificate, Social Security card, copy of their Medical insurance card, immunization records, any special needs or prescription drugs they take,  doctors information (name, phone number, address), emergency fingerprinting and ID cards (you can purchase these online, mostly for children but good to have for everyone in the family), life insurance policies (insurance agents name and phone number), passport and VISA and any other important documents. 

There should also be a folder for important documents like originals or copies of your Homeowners, car and other insurances, marriage and divorce certificates, Power of Attorney, Advance Directive for each family member, Will and Trust, guardianship for children, an up to date of each family member's photo, out of state contact information. Anything that you will need to take with you if you have to evacuate immediately. 

It is a good idea to keep all heirloom jewelry, artifacts and other items together in a fire proof, water proof safe. Keep all family photos albums and photos together for quick assess if you need to evacuate. 

Keep all computer information on a hard drive or flash drive, easy to grab and take with you if you need to evacuate immediately. 

Click here to see how to set up the "Family Emergency Preparedness Notebook under "Postings" on the right of this blog.  

Set a goal this month to gather all important family documents, heirlooms and photos, organize them and put them in a safe fire proof, water proof container. Make sure all family members know where it is in case you need to evacuate. 

Emergency Preparedness Ideas 

Southern California USA El Nino Updates . . .

  

I want to add some things to my list from last week's blog posting regarding things we need to do to prepare for the upcoming 2015 Southern California USA El Nino. As I learn knew things I will share them on the week's blog posting. 

 

1) Everyone should have tools readily available: Shovels, ax, chainsaw, saw, hammers with large nails, crowbar, heavy rope and other tools you think you might need to remove mudslides and make repairs from the damages caused by the heavy rain, winds, flooding and mudslides.

 

2) Sand Bags: If you live in a flood area or mudslide area have on hand now sand bags filled with sand. Contact your local fire department to see if they have them and start filing them up and stacking them for future use. If you know the rain is coming, and possible mudslides, put them in place to protect your home, garage and property.

 

3) Generators: During the 1982-1983 El Nino we, along with many others, lost our electricity once for a week and a few other times for a couple days at a time. If you have a gas or solar generator make sure you check them over now and do any maintenance that needs done before the storms hit. Store gas for your gas generator in approved gas containers away from your house. If you wait until the storm is upon you you may not be able to get the gas due to pumps down or non-availability. If you have a solar generator make sure it is working properly and the batteries do not need replacing. WARNING: DO NOT USE YOUR GAS GENERATOR IN THE HOUSE OR OUTSIDE YOUR HOUSE WINDOWS. IT WILL CAUSE DEATH! Keep them a safe distance from the house and use heavy extension cords to reach inside the house. The great thing about solar generators, they can be used in the house and are silent while running. If there are clouds and no sun you can plug the solar generator into any house AC plug to keep the solar generator charged.

4) Heavy tarps and heavy plastic: If you have trees around you they could be uprooted or heavy branch could break and come crashing down on your house or break windows. Have heavy tarps (with a hammer and nails to secure it) ready to cover up damaged roofs and heavy plastic and duck tape to cover up broken windows. 

Please share: If you have experienced an El Nino in past years please share what you have learned and how to be prepared for the coming storms. Please leave your comments below in the comment box or email me. Thank you.

Comments and Questions: Please share your comments below. We all learn from each other knowledge and experiences. If you have a question please post it below in the comment box and I will answer if on next week's blog posting. Or, you can email me at theark.carsonward@gmail.com. Thank you for sharing.