Power in Preparedness!
This month I am going to take a quote from Emergency Essentials . . .
"Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. Likewise, so should your emergency preparations. You see, the more options you have available, the more power you have over disasters and emergencies. There is power that comes with preparedness, . . .
"Think about it. What do you do everyday? If you're like most people, these activities include: (I have added a few others.)
- Eating/food
- Drinking water
- Cooking
- Turning on lights
- Bathing
- Washing your hair
- Sanitation
- Sleeping safely and warm
- Heating
- Medical emergencies
- Using your cell phone
- And so much more!
- Evacuations
- Sheltering in place
"You can't always choose the outcome of life's unexpected events, but you can choose how you'll fare during the aftermath. Power up today for the events of tomorrow."
(Emergency Essentials Catalog, May 2017 issue)
May Monthly Assignments
Emergency Preparedness . . .
72 Hour Individual Emergency Preparedness
Backpack . . . The Hygiene Kit
Updates . . .
Backpacks: Several people have
asked me where I got my backpack from. I found that the ones from
emergencyessentials.com are really good. They have 3 different size,
small, medium and large. I purchased the medium size one. It is great
and has enough room for your 3 kits (food kit, hygiene kit and stressor
kit), extra clothing and other needed items I will list after we
complete the 3 kits. There backpacks are now black. Click here to see them.
Food kits: When you purchase the
food items make sure they have a least a year before they expire. Be
careful in purchasing any of the food items from a discount store like
the 99 Cent Store or Dollar General. Many times the expiration dates are
in just a few days, weeks or months. If you store your backpack in your
car the food needs to be rotated every 6 months due to the heat. In
your home or at work in your office, every year.
The Hygiene Kit . . .
The past 3 months we have been working on the Food Kit. If
you have not started or missed any of the assignments go back to
January 2017 and follow through to March. Now we will start the Hygiene
Kits. You will need to adjust some of the items according to age and
needs. This is just a suggestion.
Why a Hygiene Kit? When you are
in an emergency or disaster situation it is good to have things that
will help you feel better, like being able to wash your hair, hand
lotion for your dry hands and skin, etc.
Each month I will give you a weekly assignment until we have finished the hygiene kit, just like the food kit. You
can purchase most of these items at a discount store like the 99 Cent
Store or Dollar General or on the discount shelves in stores like Target
and pharmacies like CVS, etc.
Instructions: You will need one
item for each house hold member's hygiene kit. Remember to adjust
according to ages. Place all these items in a large zip lock bag, write
Hygiene Kit and their name on the bag. Place in their 72 Hour Individual
Emergency Preparedness Backpack. Each time you purchase an item for the
hygiene kit add it to the zip lock plastic bag.
For May add the following . . .
1. Small bar of soap or bottle of liquid soup: Place in a small zip lock baggie with a small wash cloth.
2. Small bottle of hand lotion
3. Small bottle of hand sanitizer
4. Heavy work gloves: You will need these to protect your hands while working or moving objects. I found these at the 99 Cent store.
Note: You can purchase all these items at a discount store like The 99 Cent Store, the Dollar Tree, Dollar General, etc.
Food Storage . . .
Some basic rules of food storage :
- Only purchase what your family will eat
- Try to purchase items while on sale, that way you can purchase more
- Start with a 3-Month supply of commercially canned and packaged foods first, only what you will eat.
- After you have your 3-Month supply start purchasing long term food storage.
- When purchasing long term food storage (freeze-dried or dehydrated #10 cans or buckets) do not purchase them in a group of items (a 6 month or year supply). You will find you probably do not eat some of the items in the group offers. Check out what is in them before purchasing them. Sometimes they are called Basic Year Supply or Deluxe Year Supply.
- Purchase only single long term items. Usually you can purchase 6 #10 cans of the same product for less money or as a group (12 #10 cans). Go in with a friend or two to purchase the group offer. It will save you money. Emergency Essentials offers these.
- Watch the expiration dates on the long term food storage. Most are 20-25 years if stored properly. Some are 10 years depending on the type of food. Ask so you know. Write the expiration year on the cans and buckets.
- Watch the expiration dates on commercially canned and packaged items too. They are usually good for 2-3 years. You can eat them after the expiration date only if the can is not bubbled or dented, but the nutritional value goes down after the expiration date.
- Store all food, whether commercially canned or packaged or long term storage in a cool, dry, dark place, below 70 degrees if possible. The better the storage conditions the longer it will last. Never store in your garage or attic, it is too hot.
- Do not purchase long term sugar. Purchase in your normal grocery store package. Sugar last indefinitely. It will harden but you can break it up. I keep 2 5# bags in an extra large zip lock bag to keep water or moisture from it.
- Only store honey in bottles, not cans. They can rust and damage the honey. Turn the honey upside down every 6 months. If it crystallizes you can heat it up to liquefy it again. Place the bottle in a pot with boil water until liquefies. Costco has a great price on 5 pounds of honey in plastic bottles.
- Rotation, Rotation, Rotation! The secret to any successful food storage plan. Continually rotate your commercially canned, packaged, frozen and long term food storage as needed. Replace the item as soon as it used.
- Keep a log of what you have, where it is kept and when it will expire. Review the log every 2-3 months. Use and/or replace as needed.
- Be creative in finding places throughout your house to store your food storage.
7 Ways to Upgrade Your Tent . . .
1
1
Build a fire that feeds itself for 14 hours . . .
Comments and Questions: Please share your comments and questions below. We love hearing form you. Thanks for sharing.
