Emergency Preparedness, Food Storage and Monthly Assignments (July 2018)

Why do I need food storage 

and emergency supplies? 

Why not???

 

With all the natural disasters, man made disasters, civil unrest, wars and other things going on around us it would be a good idea to be prepared. When the storm is upon you it is too late! Prepare now so you will not fear. Why live in fear when you do not need to? Why not prepare now when you can? It is not hard! Take baby steps. You do not have to do it all at once. We have been working on our food storage and emergency supplies for 47 years. It is a life time of work that you are continually updating and adding too. As our lives change our needs change. 

I felt inspired by the Holy Ghost about 9 years ago that we needed to be better prepared and to warn my family, friends, neighbors and the world they needed to better prepared. So, with the help of my daughter I created this emergency preparedness blog to help you, to make it easier to prepare and not feel so overwhelming. I promise you if you will use this blog and the monthly assignments you will be prepared faster than you can realize. It works! Why not try it? Why live in fear? Do not procrastinate and think it cannot happen to you. It may at some point. It may be the lost of income, health or a disaster. Why live in fear of not being prepared for what may come your way? Just try it! In safety there is peace!

July Monthly Assignments 

3-Month Food Storage 

 

       Now are you doing on your 3-Month Food Storage? 

Since January of this year we have been working towards a 3-Month Food Storage supply. Each families is be unique in that not one family eats the same things. You will tailor your food storage according to what your family will eat. Do not purchase items just because they are sale, your family will not eat foods they do not like, and you have just wasted valuable money that could be put towards foods they will eat.

A 3-Month Food Storage supply consists of commercially canned and packaged food and home canning foods. You can also include frozen foods.

• January we worked on keeping track of what your family eats in a month. Go back to January 2018 posting to see the details and a printable chart to keep track. Now that you have figured out what your family eats in a month you can set up an inventory notebook.

• February I showed you how to set up your Food Storage and Emergency Supply Inventory Notebook. Go back to the February 2018 positing to see how to do this.

• March through June we continued to add commercially canned and packaged foods, frozen foods, and home canned foods to your 3-Month Food Storage. Watch sales, allowing to purchase more. Keep track in your inventory notebook. Rotate as needed.

This month, July, continue to add to your 3-Month Food Storage. 

Big box stores vs regular grocery stores: Recently I purchased a case of Kirkland brand, 12 cans of green beans (14.5 oz each) at Costco for $5.99. That works out to 50 cents a can, a great price. At the regular grocery store like Safeway, Ralph's or Albertsons in Southern California, USA they run, on sale, about $.70-$1.00. And of course, at the discounts stores they are $1 each, but watch the expiration dates. So clearly in this case the big box store is less expensive, but it depends on the item. Do the math and watch your local grocery stores for the best price. Watch for case lot sales too.

  

Emergency Preparedness Supplies

Shelter-In-Place 

What would you do if you were told immediately to 

"shelter-in-place"? 

What does that mean? 

Are you prepared for it?

"Shelter-In-Place" means to take immediate shelter where you are, at home, work, school or in between. It may be used in instances of violent weather, civil unrest or accidental or intentional releases of hazardous materials that may affect he outside environment. When the warning is issued do not hesitate! Take immediate shelter! 

Each family should have a 'Shelter-In-Place" plan in affect. Practice it often, especially if you have children in your home and the elderly.  

Here are ideas and rules to follow:

  

What supplies will you need to keep on hand if this happens:

  

1) Extra large heavy black plastic (like the 55 gallon trash bags or a roll of plastic). You need the heavy black plastic to block out light from those outside so they do not think you are home to possible protect  your family. You will also need to seal the door, do not forget the bottom.
2) Duck tape to tape the plastic to all the windows in the room you are shelter in.
3) If it is cold and for some reason you have no heat or advised to not use your gas you can line the room with your bed mattresses. It is amazing how this will keep the room warm.
4) You should have a "shelter-in-place" kit that can easily be accessed quickly. It should contain bottled water, medications, snacks, food (granola bars, peanut butter, Ritz crackers, trail mix, etc.) just in case you need to stay there for awhile. It should also contain some card and board games to entertain the family, scriptures and favorite reading books.
5) Flashlight with extra batteries, and maybe an LED lantern, in case you loose electricity.
6) A radio to get updated news. If you are in a room with the TV then you can watch the news.
7) Do not forget your pets and their needs. Have small kit put together for them. 

What to do:

 

1) Plan ahead of time which room you will shelter-in-place in, one with the least amount of windows and doors. The master bedroom with an adjacent bathroom would be idea.
2) Gather the family together quickly. 
3) Cover all window and doors with the heavy black plastic and seal with the duck tape.
4) Listen to the radio or TV for further instructions. If you do not have a phone in the room you are sheltering in, take your cell phone with you and the charger.
5) Pull out your "Shelter-in-Place" kit and keep everyone calm and ingaged in activities, especially the children, to keep their minds off what is happening.
6) Bring your pets in from outside. 
7) Listen for the all clear sound or announcements on the radio or TV.
8) DO NOT leave the room until you know it is safe.

At work:

1) Check to make sure your company and/or employer has a "Shelter-In-Plan" in place. IF not, suggest they put one into place.

2) Follow the company or employee guidelines.  

3) Have your own "Shelter-In-Place" kit which you keep under your desk, with your 72 Hour Individual Emergency Preparedness Backpack, or near by.  

4) Know here in the building you can "shelter-in-place" safely and leave a note on your desk where you went. 

4) Do not leave until the warning has been lifted and you know for sure it is alright to leave. 

Gun Shootings:

1) With more gun shootings at schools, places of employment and malls and other businesses we each need to be award of our surroundings. Next to see if your schools and places of employment have "Shelter-In-Place" plans. 

2) Know your surroundings when you enter malls or s places of businesses. 

3) Know where you can take shelter if a gun shooting happens.  

4() We safe and be wise.  

Resources:

Click here for more information on "Shelter-In-Place". 

The CDC, Center for Disease Control and Prevention has some other great advise. Click here to read more about this subject to help you plan. Everyone should have this plan in place in their home, at work, at their children's schools and elsewhere. If you have family members in a nursing home or assisted living facility make sure they have a plan in place for this type of event.

There are other websites and local governments that may have more information on this subject. 

August Posting:

I will be taking a vacation in August. Continue to add to your 3-Month Food Storage and Emergency Supplies. Continue to use this blog to help you become better prepared. Next posting September 2018. 

Emergency Preparedness, Food Storage and Monthly Assignments

And I Thought We Were prepared!

A few weeks ago as we entered our neighborhood, one night after attending a church activity, we noticed all the lights were out. Soon we discovered after a chain of events, we were not as prepared as we thought we were. Let me share our experience and what we learned. 

•  First, I grabbed the small flashlight I keep in my purse for emergencies so we could see as we entered our house. Unfortunately,  the flashlight was dead. So we stumbled and felt our way to the kitchen to retrieve the flashlight there. 
• Since we did not know how long the electricity would be out my husband got the emergency garage key, electric garage door, to open the garage so he could get our solar emergency generator out to connect an extension cord into the house so we could attach a lamp for lighting. 
• While he did that I got a small battery operated lantern out of the closet so we could have some light. In this process I discovered I needed to get the step ladder to reach the lantern, then get batteries and struggled a little holding the flashlight so I could put the batteries in. 
• In the mean time, my husband discovered the solar generator was not charged. Just a few weeks before that I realized we had not checked the 3 large batteries inside the solar generator in awhile, they need replaced about every 2 years, and I had procrastinated in having him check, now they are dead. 
• Then my husband said he would get the small gas generator and use it. In trying to get to it we discovered it was not easily accessible, especially when you can not see very well. So he decided to get the large gas generator, but it needed gas. 
• Then we discovered the gas containers were also empty, we had just a few weeks ago rotated the gas to our car and meant to refill them, but once again with our busy life we had procrastinated. 
• Just as my husband decided he could hook up the car battery by a devise he has, the lights came back on. 
• Wow!!!

We discovered very quickly how we thought we were prepared, we were not! This was serious! What if there had been a serious disaster or emergency that lasted days? We would have been in trouble! I say many times to people when they ask me how you know if you are really prepared, "Sometimes you do not really know until a disaster or emergency situation is upon you". Boy, was I right!

So to remedy our escalate of problems that night we have replaced the batteries in my purse flashlight, moved the small battery operated lantern easier to access with batteries taped to it, replace the solar generator batteries, filled the gas cans and made the small gas generator more easily accessible. 

What lessons did we learn from this experience? As I always say and did not follow my own rules, "Continually check on your emergency supplies, update, repair and replace as needed, make them easy to access and do not procrastinate when the emergency supplies need replaced and repaired".

June Monthly Assignments
 

3-Month Food Storage 

 

3-Month Food Storage  . . .   

This year we are working towards a 3-Month Food Storage supply. Each families will be unique in that not one family eats the same things. You will tailor your food storage according to what your family will eat. Do not purchase items just because they are sale, your family will not eat foods they do not like, and you have just wasted valuable money that could be put towards foods they will eat.

A 3-Month Food Storage supply consists of commercially canned and packaged food and home canning foods. You can also include frozen foods.

In January we worked on keeping track of what your family eats in a month. Go back to January 2018 posting to see the details and a printable chart to keep track. Now that you have figured out what your family eats in a month you can set up an inventory notebook.

In February I showed you how to set up your Food Storage and Emergency Supply Inventory Notebook. Go back to the February 2018 positing to see how to do this.

In March through May we continued to add commercially canned and packaged foods, frozen foods, and home canned foods to your 3-Month Food Storage. Watch sales, allowing to purchase more. Keep track in your inventory notebook. Rotate as needed.

This month, May, continue to add to your 3-Month Food Storage. 

Big box stores vs regular grocery stores: Recently I purchased a case of Kirkland brand, 12 cans of green beans (14.5 oz each) at Costco for $5.99. That works out to 50 cents a can, a great price. At the regular grocery store like Safeway, Ralph's or Albertsons in Southern California, USA they run, on sale, about $.70-$1.00. And of course, at the discounts stores they are $1 each, but watch the expiration dates. So clearly in this case the big box store is less expensive, but it depends on the item. Do the math and watch your local grocery stores for the best price. Watch for case lot sales too.

  

Emergency Preparedness Supplies

Water 

The most important Emergency Preparedness item to store! 

It is a known fact you can live without food for several days, but you cannot live without water for more than 2-3 days! 

Each family should have 1 gallon of drinking water per day per person stored for your house hold. The United States Government and our local community Emergency Preparedness units advise us we should have enough drink water on hand for two weeks. I strongly feel two weeks is not enough, look what happened after Katrina and other disasters. I think we should have drinking water stored for at least a month, or more if possible.

The best way to store drinking water is in 15-55 gallon water barrels. See the link below regarding information. Another way is in the store commercially bottled plastic bottles. Be careful with these. If you buy them by the case do not store them directly on concrete, the water will absorb the chemicals from the plastic. Raise above the concrete on 2x4 wood beams or pallets. No matter what types of containers you store your water in, it all needs rotated. Check out the link below for how long to store the water. Click here to learn and read more information about water storage.

FABWODI 

Years ago my husband entered a work competition for a new slogan. He won! He came up with FABWODI, "Find a better way of doing it!"  Many people do not understand why they cannot seem to build up their food storage, emergency supplies, get out of debt, save money, etc.. There is a saying, "If you keep doing what you are doing, you will always get what you have gotten." So if you are struggling with acquiring food storage and emergency supplies, change what you are doing. This blog will help you do that. If you follow each month's assignments, before you know it, you will have your 3-months, year food storage, water storage and emergency supplies. I am trying to make it as easy as I know how. 

Many people ask me how I lost so much weight, 66 pounds so far, and ask my daughter how they got out of so much debt, they are debt free now. We both tell them it takes patience, persistence, consistency, dedication, determination, sacrifice and hard work. There is no easy or magic trick! Emergency preparedness is the same!