Why Do We Store Food and How Do We Start?
President Spencer W. Kimball gave us this counsel regarding home storage:
“We reaffirm the previous counsel the Church has always given, to acquire and maintain a year’s supply—a year’s supply of the basic commodities for us. …
“We encourage families to have on hand this year’s supply; and we say it over and over and over and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where He says, ‘Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?’ [Luke 6:46]” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1976, 171; or Ensign, May 1976, 125).
Elder Ezra Taft Benson said:
“The Lord has warned us of famines, but the righteous will have listened to prophets and stored at least a year’s supply of survival food. …
“The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah. …
“I know that this welfare program is inspired of God. I have witnessed with my own eyes the ravages of hunger and destitution as, under the direction of the president of the Church, I spent a year in war-torn Europe at the close of World War II, without my family, distributing food, clothing, and bedding to our needy members. I have looked into the sunken eyes of Saints, in almost the last stages of starvation. I have seen faithful mothers carrying their children, three and four years of age, who were unable to walk because of malnutrition. … I have seen grown men weep as they ran their hands through the wheat and beans sent to them from … [the Saints in] America” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1973, 90–91, 93; or Ensign, Jan. 1974, 69, 81–82).
From “All Is Safely Gathered In-Food Storage”:
“Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly commanded us to "prepare every needful thing" (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they care for others.
We encourage Church members worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and some money in savings.
We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve.
We realize that some of you may not have financial resources or space for such storage. Some of you may be prohibited by law from storing large amounts of food. We encourage you to store as much as circumstances allow.
May the Lord bless you in your home storage efforts.
The First Presidency” (Written 2007)
OK. We have had years and years of counsel on food storage and there is often a wondering of why we need to do it. I hope the above quotes help to show—it’s because we are commanded. That should be enough, but in my reading I found this paragraph from the Young Women’s Teaching Manual:
The counsel to have a year’s supply of food, clothing, and other necessary items is wise counsel for several reasons. A disaster such as a flood, an earthquake, or a snowstorm could hit a city or an entire region, cutting off roads and making it impossible for food and other items to be transported to the markets. Political unrest or strikes by truckers, shippers, or rail workers could interfere with the transport of foods. Other types of disasters, such as famine resulting from drought, hurricanes, floods, and even wars, have occurred in many countries and could occur again. When such disasters affect the entire community, food and other supplies often cannot be obtained, even if money is available. A family can also experience an emergency in the form of illness or unemployment that results in a lack of income, making it necessary to rely on home storage.
A lot of my reading pointed to modern examples of simply surviving a cut in pay or lay off. When the H1N1 virus came out I wondered if we would see pandemic protocols come into place where people are required (by law) to stay home for several weeks to avoid spread of illness.
All of these concerns should be enough reason to begin a food storage program.
My RS President I spoke of in my last blog gave some fun challenges. We always worried when she would call because who knew what we would be reporting on. Most often people were given a week’s challenge and this was it: We had to immediately stop going to the store and live off of what was in our homes. If we had to buy anything, we had to report it. The reports that came in were sometimes sobering, as people realized they had very little to make it through a week. Some were funny as families tried to make TP go as long as they could. It was all in a good spirit and we never judged and just tried to help each other recognize where the shortages were. Interestingly, the shortages were in the most basic places and easily fixed with the inspired plan the church has put in place for our benefit—“All Is Safely Gathered In” See: http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=fe813ba9c4fa1110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=e1fa5f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD
If you want to try…Go ahead and take one week (say when you read this blog) and begin your challenge week and see where your shortages are. Don’t go to the store unless it is necessary and then write down every item you had to go for in that time frame. This will help you see where the deficiencies are occurring and then you can make some plans to remedy the problem. The solutions are often simple. Most people ran out of milk and bread and other commodities such a TP and baby supplies. If any of the above mentioned scenarios were to hit, you would not want to be out of TP nor baby supplies and you will want to be able to utilize your peanut butter in the cupboard, so let’s have bread making ingredients on hand and some powdered milk.
How Do We Start?
Food storage becomes a daunting process when we take it on all at once. It’s not meant to be an all at once program. If you read the pamphlet, “All Is Safely Gathered In”, you find that the program is broken down into bite sized pieces (no pun intended, but if you laughed, then good, this is a happy program and something that should bring you peace of mind and some happiness as you work on it). The first step is an easy one:
Three Month Supply-
“Build a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet. One way to do this is to purchase a few extra items each week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase your supply until it is sufficient for three months. These items should be rotated regularly to avoid spoilage.”
It’s been my experience that September is case lot time at our local and close by Utah stores. Check weekly ads to find out or call to find out the store’s next case lot sale date. Why case lots? This is the beauty of the 3 month plan: If you are normally paying $.80 a can for corn, then when it comes down to $.50 or less in the case goods, you can use your normal food budget and get more!
The first question is what do you eat? Our 80+ year old Grandma told us emphatically one time that she wanted her food supply full of Chef Boyardee Spaghetti and Meatballs! She meant it! Between that and her beloved Tropicana Twisters and Fiddle Faddle popcorn, she felt she could survive. I had a light bulb moment when she discussed her pantry ideas with all of us. She wanted what she loved to eat. I remembered the confession of one woman during her weekly challenge that they had survived the week with enough food, but they cheated and went out for a drive in burger because they couldn’t “take it anymore”.
Notice the counsel from the prophets—“…that is part of your normal daily diet…” So, when you do planning, don’t forget the things you eat for snack and delight too. Store in appropriate proportions those things that round out the 3 month supply as well. I knew a family that thought they would die without mini candy bars, so they took a 5 gallon bucket and bought up Halloween mini candy bars and stored this until Easter, when they stocked up again. I thought it was pretty funny!
So, what should a 3 month supply look like? Let me share what mine looked like in 2007:
Dry storage:
12 spaghetti sauces
**Italian seasoning
12 boxes spaghetti noodles
3 parmesan cheese bottles
24 cans of green beans (1 case of 24)
24 cans of tuna
3 jars of sweet pickle relish
3 jars of fat free miracle whip
24 cans of applesauce (1 case of 24)
24 cans of premium baked beans
12 bags of real bacon bits
**dehydrated onion
24 cans of spinach
12 boxes raspberry gelatin
24 boxes macaroni and cheese
12 boxes of macaroni noodles
12 large cans of diced tomatoes
12 cans of tomato paste
**basil
**salt
**pepper
48 cans of white chicken
24 cans of cream of chicken soup
**curry powder
3 large bags of rice
12 small bags of cranberries
12 small bags of slivered almonds
24 cans of black beans
12 cans of tomato sauce
36 cans of corn
6 taco seasoning packets
12 small bags of Fritos corn chips
24 canned hams
12 boxes of stuffing mix
12 large cans of yams
36 cans of chili
12 boxes lime gelatin
12 cans of pears
2 boxes pancake mix
2 bottles of syrup
24 cans fruit cocktail
24 boxes Spanish rice mix
12 cans of kidney beans
12 cans of sliced olives
**dehydrated peppers
3 large jars of peanut butter
3 large jars of jelly
12 large family sized cans of tomato soup
24 cans of cream of mushroom soup
4 boxes of Bisquick mix
12 cans peas and carrots
24 cans of mushrooms
**dehydrated onion
**parsley
24 boxes of Rice a Roni
**dehydrated eggs
12 boxes of crackers
3 boxes of brownie mix
3 boxes of yellow cake mix
24 jars of peaches
24 boxes of chocolate instant pudding
24 boxes of vanilla instant pudding
24 boxes corn bread mix
6 bottles of honey
12 boxes cream of wheat cereal
12 big boxes of whole rolled oats
**sugar
This is based off of saved menu plans from that time. We had each week:
Monday:
Hot cereal, milk and fresh fruit
Tuna salad sandwiches and carrot sticks
Spaghetti with meat sauce and green beans
Tuesday:
Oatmeal, milk and fresh fruit
Baked beans with spinach and berry fruited Jello
Fish filets, macaroni and cheese and frozen peas
Wednesday:
Hot cereal, milk and fresh fruit
Tomato noodle soup with grated cheese and stuffed celery sticks
Curry chicken over rice with toppings (cranberries, nuts, green onions, etc.)
Thursday:
Oatmeal, milk, fresh fruit
Taco Laco over corn chips with cheese, sour cream, cut tomatoes, lettuce, salsa
Sliced fried ham with stuffing, yams and frozen Brussels sprouts
Friday:
Hot cereal, milk and fresh fruit
Chili with fresh green onions (tops from the curry night) and cheese, lime Jello and pears
Pancakes, eggs, sausage and frozen berries and yogurt
Saturday:
Oatmeal, milk and fresh fruit
Spanish rice skillet topped with sour cream and cheddar cheese with corn bread
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with leftover carrots and celery from other meals (date night)
Sunday:
Hot cereal, milk and fresh fruit
Chicken and biscuit casserole
Ham and egg fried rice with frozen Asian veggies stirred in
Sunday dessert (pick one of the 3: layered chocolate/vanilla parfaits, peach cobbler or brownies)
That was 2007’s menu and it’s a fairly decent one. It was one where I tried to come up with recipes where the main components were dry storage (meaning without refrigeration/freezing/fresh).
To this menu I would have had in the fridge, frozen or fresh (I have put the dry storage alternative there to consider if power outage was an issue):
Fresh milk (weekly bought) (put some dehydrated in the storage to compensate)
Sandwich bread (weekly bought) (put some ingredients in to make bread homemade)
Frozen hamburger (monthly--bought and cooked and frozen in 1 pound amounts) (bottle it instead or use dry TVP)
Garlic bread (weekly bought) (make from scratch dry ingredients)
Fresh fruit (compensate by storing extra canned fruits)
Frozen berries (compensate by storing some canned)
Frozen fish filets (consider more tuna)
Frozen mixed vegetables (can look for canned or bottled alternatives or freeze dried)
Carrot sticks (consider putting dehydrated and reconstituted in the tuna salad mix)
Celery sticks (consider putting dehydrated in the tomato noodle soup)
Green onions (consider using dehydrated white onions)
Frozen Brussels sprouts (consider using freeze dried broccoli instead)
Sausage patties (consider just omitting and going with dehydrated eggs or using sausage TVP)
Frozen Asian veggie mix (consider making a freeze dried alternative)
Butter (consider butter powder)
Sour cream (consider sour cream powder)
Cheddar cheese (consider cheese powder, parmesan, or canned cheese—yes they have this)
There is more, but you get the idea….
Have meals where most of the items can come from a dry storage. Get 12 week’s worth. If you say you don’t have room, read the blog on this site on storing in small spaces. I like to get a little more than 12 weeks in my rotational supply because it makes it so I have a month’s buffer to find sales. I like to store 16 weeks personally.
It’s perfectly fine and recommended to have the fresh, frozen and refrigerated augmentations to your meals. I am just trying to suggest alternatives that might be part of the long term storage that you could use if power were an issue. This was a basic “family of 4-6” menu plan based off of our 2007 menu. I share this 3 year old plan as it shows our starting point. It worked and while the meals repeated weekly, we did not skip out on dinners out for a date or making special fresh meals when we wanted. We just kept to the plan most of the time and if we wanted to, we put in something fresh and different for dinner. The whole plan is to have the food in storage and a plan should you need it. How much peace would it bring to know you have 3 months of food and a menu plan in place? Also, you can see that by having a plan, I could easily put together shopping lists and also go to case lot sales and buy exactly what I needed on a budget.
These ideas are meant to spur your own!!! (smile) They are representations of real life plans that we have used.
We have been commanded to store food. This is where we start—The Three Month Supply. It should be based on what you need for 3 months to make each of your meals. Make sure when you eat something up to replace it so you always have 12 weeks on hand.
Start making your menu plans, counting up cans, bottles, mixes, etc. and when the fall case lots arrive, go out and see what you can do! Remember to check dates and rotate. That’s the easy part—just shop, store, eat and repeat!
DJW
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Saint George Cannery:
The Saint George Cannery:
I called the cannery expecting to make a several month's out appointment, as is normally the case. I was met with surprise, as there were open appointments all through July and August. They said they are super slow right now with appointments and other than Saturday, they are pretty open. This is a big surprise to have the cannery so slow. The missionary told me she thought that there were several conditions adding to the decline of use of the facility: summer vacations, financial concerns, and complacency.
I saw the price sheet for the cannery, which can be found here: http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/122384_Jan2010WE_HomeStoragePriceSheet_US_71140_000_pdf.pdf
Financial concerns should not stop food storage efforts. These prices, especially on wheat and rice are the best I have seen in years. Cooking with whole foods is very inexpensive and so consider beginning to learn to use these items in your everyday cooking and then build a storage. Also, if the process of dry pack canning is new to you--you are not alone. A lot of people have never dry packed. That is why they have service missionaries there to help you learn. Our first time was a learning experience. However, it goes very quickly. We had a 2 hour block and did over 120 cans of food or 20 cases. We didn't have enough room to take them all home in one trip so they held on to them (had us mark our names on them) until we could make the return trip in a couple hours or so (I recommend sharing efforts with someone that has a truck!) I would recommend you schedule your appointments with 4 adult or youth members. One stamps labels and prepares cans for canning. One fills the cans. One seals the cans. One boxes the cans. It's a really great family or youth activity. When you can see how your "assembly line" efforts work quickly and efficiently, you really enjoy it, especially if you are helping others with their food storage needs.
For those not interested in packing your own cans, they are selling pre-packed cans by the case of: wheat, rice, quick oats and pinto beans. The cost is very reasonable ($29.30 for pinto beans, $13.25 for oats, $20.20 rice, $17.50 hard red wheat, and the starter kit (great idea for families--by the church standards one of these per person per month) $20.25 (has two wheat, two rice, one oat and one pinto bean). These need no appointment and can be picked up and paid for at any time the storehouse is open. Call for hours.
The prices are good through July and they do expect a price change sheet soon and do not know where prices will be. They may stay the same or change a bit. It is always inexpensive and really, in my opinion, a blessing to us to be able to can foods at such reasonable prices. You can make appointments by calling: 1-435-673-3491. The cannery is located at: 516 North 1400 East, Saint George. Best way to get there is to take the St. George Blvd. Exit (exit 8) and turn left onto St. George Blvd. Go a short block over the overpass to 1000 East and turn right onto 1000 East and then right onto Highland Drive. This takes you in a 1/3 mile to 1400 East. Turn left onto 1400 East. It is one block further on 1400 East, turn right. The dry pack cannery is on the right side of the building and is a side door entrance.
Please don't let a golden opportunity to begin pass you by.
DJW
I called the cannery expecting to make a several month's out appointment, as is normally the case. I was met with surprise, as there were open appointments all through July and August. They said they are super slow right now with appointments and other than Saturday, they are pretty open. This is a big surprise to have the cannery so slow. The missionary told me she thought that there were several conditions adding to the decline of use of the facility: summer vacations, financial concerns, and complacency.
I saw the price sheet for the cannery, which can be found here: http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/122384_Jan2010WE_HomeStoragePriceSheet_US_71140_000_pdf.pdf
Financial concerns should not stop food storage efforts. These prices, especially on wheat and rice are the best I have seen in years. Cooking with whole foods is very inexpensive and so consider beginning to learn to use these items in your everyday cooking and then build a storage. Also, if the process of dry pack canning is new to you--you are not alone. A lot of people have never dry packed. That is why they have service missionaries there to help you learn. Our first time was a learning experience. However, it goes very quickly. We had a 2 hour block and did over 120 cans of food or 20 cases. We didn't have enough room to take them all home in one trip so they held on to them (had us mark our names on them) until we could make the return trip in a couple hours or so (I recommend sharing efforts with someone that has a truck!) I would recommend you schedule your appointments with 4 adult or youth members. One stamps labels and prepares cans for canning. One fills the cans. One seals the cans. One boxes the cans. It's a really great family or youth activity. When you can see how your "assembly line" efforts work quickly and efficiently, you really enjoy it, especially if you are helping others with their food storage needs.
For those not interested in packing your own cans, they are selling pre-packed cans by the case of: wheat, rice, quick oats and pinto beans. The cost is very reasonable ($29.30 for pinto beans, $13.25 for oats, $20.20 rice, $17.50 hard red wheat, and the starter kit (great idea for families--by the church standards one of these per person per month) $20.25 (has two wheat, two rice, one oat and one pinto bean). These need no appointment and can be picked up and paid for at any time the storehouse is open. Call for hours.
The prices are good through July and they do expect a price change sheet soon and do not know where prices will be. They may stay the same or change a bit. It is always inexpensive and really, in my opinion, a blessing to us to be able to can foods at such reasonable prices. You can make appointments by calling: 1-435-673-3491. The cannery is located at: 516 North 1400 East, Saint George. Best way to get there is to take the St. George Blvd. Exit (exit 8) and turn left onto St. George Blvd. Go a short block over the overpass to 1000 East and turn right onto 1000 East and then right onto Highland Drive. This takes you in a 1/3 mile to 1400 East. Turn left onto 1400 East. It is one block further on 1400 East, turn right. The dry pack cannery is on the right side of the building and is a side door entrance.
Please don't let a golden opportunity to begin pass you by.
DJW
Monday, May 10, 2010
Survival Kits
Yes, we are on our final week of our emergency preparedness makeover. I hope that you all take an opportunity to assess where you are with preparedness and see what you can do with a week's time in making your situation better and set some solid goals for the future. In the 4 week plan we have just worked on, we have covered the following things:
1. 72 Hour Comfort Kits
2. 72 Hour Food and Water Kits
3. Document Preservation and ER Copies (found in the finance section of this blog)
Now, we will hit the last section:
4. Survival Kits
I wanted to do our family's emergency preparedness this way because it makes it easier for me to manage it in our lifestyle. I think it is hard to take on this whole preparedness idea in one fail swoop! I prefer to focus on one area at a time and keep it simple and so-able. In 6 month's time, I will go through these 4 ER preparedness weeks of focus and reassess and re-buy what is needed. In the other 10 months of the year, I can have greater peace and comfort knowing we are trying...
Are my kits and preparation perfect? No! They are not. This gives me something to work on for the fall. I assume over time, I will find better products, have more budget to buy the things I might like to have, but in the meantime, something is better than nothing and so we do with what we have and then we make goals to better it in 6 months.
I found the survival kit to be the most daunting of all the tasks. I suppose it is the thought of outdoor survival that causes me great concern. We have some health issues and seeing us managing such a task as survival in the "wilderness" is, well...intimidating.
I assume there are many in our ward that feel similarly. However, I thought about the risks of not preparing and how we think sometimes tongue in cheek (I have actually heard people say this), "Well, if it's my time to go...." Well, what if it isn't??? (laughs) You know, if I had an older widow in my neighborhood, I couldn't possibly feel good about just leaving her to "whatever" because it was "her time". No, I would want to help her and so, to my senior friends who maybe see no point in preparing, I would ask you, "Do you want to make yourself easier to save?" (smiles) When that kindly young elder in the ward comes to check on you in an emergency, will you have your food, water, clothes, blankets on the ready for him to help you make it to safety? When your children call and ask you, "Mom, we heard about...(insert a difficulty)...are you going to be OK until we can come for you?" Well, will you be? Never think preparedness is simply a choice of saving one person. It isn't. It's about whole lot more than that!
When I look at survival kits, invariably there seem to be common components to each kit. I could see that a person with a camper might have the advantage of already having shelter, cooking, sanitation and toileting facilities. So, when I begin this, I am simply going to have you look to the following needs and see if you have what you might need in each of these areas of survival that would be most helpful. Don't visualize yourselves backpacking a tent into the hills! Please, most people just give up here and don't go any further. What you need to do is have a supply of survival goods that would be helpful to yourself if you needed to evacuate or help someone else evacuate or have someone help you evacuate. Have faith that if you prepare, you shall not fear. Visualize yourself instead with a shelf of goods that are well cataloged and ready if you need them. That's an easier situation to imagine.
I read in an old preparedness book from one of our first married home wards to think of yourselves in the 3 following situations and then think how you would function and prepare for each:
1. Your house has suffered some damage and your utilities are disrupted, but you can occupy the home.
2. Your house in badly damaged, but you can "camp out" in your back yard or a nearby open space.
3. Your house and neighborhood are completely evacuated and you must relocate for a period of 2-3 weeks.
1. Shelter
Do you have alternative shelter? Do you have a tent, camper, canopy, etc. that could serve as a temporary shelter? Is it somewhere easy to locate or lost in the debris of the garage (that is where most of our stuff resides)? What about ground covers, ropes, and stakes?
2. Extra Bedding
Do you have sleeping bags, air mattresses or extra bedding that would be helpful to have if you had to evacuate or help someone else to do so?
3. Sanitation
Do you have an alternative options for toileting, washing, bathing, cleaning, etc? Could you put together a collection of garbage bags, water, bleach, etc. I have seen many products out there for the bathroom option. Some as simple as a store bought cheap toilet seat set on top of a 5 gallon bucket with a supply of trash bags, biodegradable toilet paper and disinfectant. Just think it though and figure out what might be needed if you were to have a need for these things. Washing can be done in two small bins with laundry soap and wrung in old towels. I have seen some non-electric washing machine set-ups that look nice, but are pricy--maybe something for the future. Your big laundry cleaning bin can suffice double for bathing too. This is all about looking for the things you need to take care of the basics should you not have power, water, sewer, etc. Do you have enough water to clean things? Do you have enough basic cleaners to last a year? Do you have bins, pails, buckets or other useful containers in which to clean dishes, clothing, people, or to use as a make shift toilet?
4. First Aid
There are many kits that come preassembled and are reasonably priced out there. If you want the simplicity, buy one of those. We are latex allergic, so we have to make our own. Next week's addition to this blog will be our home made "health bin" and I will describe what we keep in it.
5. Cooking
Do you have alternative cooking sources? I love the idea of the solar ovens that need no power nor fuel beyond the great big sun we have here. I also love the rocket stoves that you can make with #10 and soup cans: (google: Rocket Stoves). Maybe you are lucky and are a grill expert and have your alternative cook source already heated up in the backyard. Again, do you have an option for cooking, that is the question? Do you have a mess kit for each person that could travel well and do you have a supply of paper plates in case of short term needs? Do you have adequate matches and fuel sources (I would never suggest a large supply of flammables anywhere--think sun source or gather source-- such as twigs, paper, etc. gathered and used to keep a fire going in a fire pit or rocket stove--also think where you might gather these items). Do you have extra can openers (my big fear is to have all of these #10 cans and have only one poor quality can opener!)? Make sure to have easy to prepare food too. Make sure to have "service utensils" so you can serve and prepare food--it's hard to turn pancakes on a camp stove with a mess fork! Also, a supply of aluminum foil is handy for many purposes. I remember many fishing trips as a youngster eating foil wrapped fish and foil veggie packs done over an open fire. In saying this, maybe you better have some salt and pepper in your kit too. I remember feeling something was missing from those meals.
6. Lighting and Heat Sources
How would you keep yourselves warm if needed (or cool for that matter)? There are "safe" 120 hour candles that double as heat source for cooking as well as lighting out there. They are considered "safe" because you can use them in a closed room without ventilation. Remember that many portable fuel burning heaters give off emissions which can be poisonous when used indoors. Please consult an expert on such heat sources. Never use a heat source product inside a shelter without knowing if it is safe or not. Be smart about this. Lighting can come in light sticks, flares (outdoors only), flashlights and batteries, lanterns, etc. Again, lighting carries the same risk as heat sources--if they are fuel sourced, they might be unsafe indoors and around any unstable utility gas source" (for example gas lines can leak during emergencies such as earthquakes and no heat source should be introduced without turning off gas and assessing the situation). Staying warm can be done with adequate bedding, sleeping bags rated for cold weather, and safe indoor sources of heat. I am reluctant to recommend products, as each person's needs are different and also people have a lot of things already that will work. My husband shares that in his 100 miler trips as a youth they used black garbage sacks to keep rain off of them and to gather any daylight heat. He said when it rained, they put one up over their legs and one cut on the end over their heads and tried to stay dry this way. I guess a good amount of heavy duty garbage sacks would be helpful. Also, can you build a fire? Do you know how to start a fire in a safe place and keep yourself warm? Skills in emergencies are as important as gear. Staying cool is a little harder here, but obviously closed shades on windows or being near tree shade and water helps. Dabbing water on the skin has a cooling effect as well.
7. Backpacks
Yikes, I said it! Yes, having a way to carry basics away in an evacuation is a must. Duffle bags work well and so do small suitcases. Again, think of the three scenarios and realize one of them might require that you take the basics to survive and leave your area. You need to be able to have the gear together. If you are unable to carry such things, just put them together and ask a friend or neighbor to check on you in the event of an emergency. In one of our communities we lived in, we had a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) who were responsible and capable neighbors who could check on so many homes in an emergency. A good idea is to form a neighborhood group and list concerns and talents that might need to be known in an emergency. Anyway, you do need easy to carry containers to take with you any emergency gear that you might need to have.
8. Water
This is a huge component of emergency preparedness, as it is one of the most vital. Remember you must have your 72 hours of water per person (a gallon a day). Then think about water for your home and cleaning needs. There are oodles of products in which to store water. Some can be bought commercially for the purpose of storing water and have pumps and spigots. Other people simply clean and refill 2 liter bottles, hard plastic liquid laundry soap containers, or any other approved plastic containers. The church website has more about water storage in their provident living section.
9. Useful Tools
Rope, knife, can opener (a couple if you are worried like me), scissors, buckets, hatchet, folding camp shovel, small crescent wrench to turn off utilities, battery or solar powered radio, duct tape, hammer or mallet, binoculars, fishing poles/gear, communication gear (cell phones, walkie talkies, ham radio) and any other thing you can think of that would be helpful.
Honestly, there are pages and pages of idea and items for emergency preparedness. The idea in this writing is to gather what you have together. I think most of us have these things we need already, but it's all over the garage or we have it in a storage unit or we need to maybe buy something here or there. Our family's goal is to get out in our garage and pull all of these items together in one spot. We even have (this is embarrassing) the water storage bins and we have never filled them!!! Talk about not trimming our lamps! Don't give up if you live in a small space. Co-op! Talk with a group of neighbors and agree to share items and assess who has what.
I will try to write about each subsection here in detail. I realize that people like ideas and specifics and lists and such. It's just a big subject and so you start with the big picture. Start by thinking about and looking through what you might have in each of these areas. I want you to do this first because it's needless to spend money on fancy kits when you have the "kit" unassembled in all of your belongings already.
We bought a tent this week. We didn't have one. We used to tent as a young family and then medical issues made that impractical. We have decided that small "practice runs" may be useful from time to time. We bought a small, easy to set up and carry tent. That was our spend this go round.
I think the most important thing is to have all of your items gathered in one area if possible, catalog the items so that you know what you have and then make a goal to obtain carefully, as the budget allows, the things you are missing. Get out in the garage or storage unit before it gets too hot--this is a good excuse to take care of two useful exercises: DI gathering and emergency preparedness. Make it a challenge to gather as much as you can without buying a thing! And please...just do the best you can. Don't get overwhelmed and never start. Just gather items, write them down and then come back in 6 months and enhance what you have already done. Again, our mantra, "Something is better than nothing!"
djw
1. 72 Hour Comfort Kits
2. 72 Hour Food and Water Kits
3. Document Preservation and ER Copies (found in the finance section of this blog)
Now, we will hit the last section:
4. Survival Kits
I wanted to do our family's emergency preparedness this way because it makes it easier for me to manage it in our lifestyle. I think it is hard to take on this whole preparedness idea in one fail swoop! I prefer to focus on one area at a time and keep it simple and so-able. In 6 month's time, I will go through these 4 ER preparedness weeks of focus and reassess and re-buy what is needed. In the other 10 months of the year, I can have greater peace and comfort knowing we are trying...
Are my kits and preparation perfect? No! They are not. This gives me something to work on for the fall. I assume over time, I will find better products, have more budget to buy the things I might like to have, but in the meantime, something is better than nothing and so we do with what we have and then we make goals to better it in 6 months.
I found the survival kit to be the most daunting of all the tasks. I suppose it is the thought of outdoor survival that causes me great concern. We have some health issues and seeing us managing such a task as survival in the "wilderness" is, well...intimidating.
I assume there are many in our ward that feel similarly. However, I thought about the risks of not preparing and how we think sometimes tongue in cheek (I have actually heard people say this), "Well, if it's my time to go...." Well, what if it isn't??? (laughs) You know, if I had an older widow in my neighborhood, I couldn't possibly feel good about just leaving her to "whatever" because it was "her time". No, I would want to help her and so, to my senior friends who maybe see no point in preparing, I would ask you, "Do you want to make yourself easier to save?" (smiles) When that kindly young elder in the ward comes to check on you in an emergency, will you have your food, water, clothes, blankets on the ready for him to help you make it to safety? When your children call and ask you, "Mom, we heard about...(insert a difficulty)...are you going to be OK until we can come for you?" Well, will you be? Never think preparedness is simply a choice of saving one person. It isn't. It's about whole lot more than that!
When I look at survival kits, invariably there seem to be common components to each kit. I could see that a person with a camper might have the advantage of already having shelter, cooking, sanitation and toileting facilities. So, when I begin this, I am simply going to have you look to the following needs and see if you have what you might need in each of these areas of survival that would be most helpful. Don't visualize yourselves backpacking a tent into the hills! Please, most people just give up here and don't go any further. What you need to do is have a supply of survival goods that would be helpful to yourself if you needed to evacuate or help someone else evacuate or have someone help you evacuate. Have faith that if you prepare, you shall not fear. Visualize yourself instead with a shelf of goods that are well cataloged and ready if you need them. That's an easier situation to imagine.
I read in an old preparedness book from one of our first married home wards to think of yourselves in the 3 following situations and then think how you would function and prepare for each:
1. Your house has suffered some damage and your utilities are disrupted, but you can occupy the home.
2. Your house in badly damaged, but you can "camp out" in your back yard or a nearby open space.
3. Your house and neighborhood are completely evacuated and you must relocate for a period of 2-3 weeks.
1. Shelter
Do you have alternative shelter? Do you have a tent, camper, canopy, etc. that could serve as a temporary shelter? Is it somewhere easy to locate or lost in the debris of the garage (that is where most of our stuff resides)? What about ground covers, ropes, and stakes?
2. Extra Bedding
Do you have sleeping bags, air mattresses or extra bedding that would be helpful to have if you had to evacuate or help someone else to do so?
3. Sanitation
Do you have an alternative options for toileting, washing, bathing, cleaning, etc? Could you put together a collection of garbage bags, water, bleach, etc. I have seen many products out there for the bathroom option. Some as simple as a store bought cheap toilet seat set on top of a 5 gallon bucket with a supply of trash bags, biodegradable toilet paper and disinfectant. Just think it though and figure out what might be needed if you were to have a need for these things. Washing can be done in two small bins with laundry soap and wrung in old towels. I have seen some non-electric washing machine set-ups that look nice, but are pricy--maybe something for the future. Your big laundry cleaning bin can suffice double for bathing too. This is all about looking for the things you need to take care of the basics should you not have power, water, sewer, etc. Do you have enough water to clean things? Do you have enough basic cleaners to last a year? Do you have bins, pails, buckets or other useful containers in which to clean dishes, clothing, people, or to use as a make shift toilet?
4. First Aid
There are many kits that come preassembled and are reasonably priced out there. If you want the simplicity, buy one of those. We are latex allergic, so we have to make our own. Next week's addition to this blog will be our home made "health bin" and I will describe what we keep in it.
5. Cooking
Do you have alternative cooking sources? I love the idea of the solar ovens that need no power nor fuel beyond the great big sun we have here. I also love the rocket stoves that you can make with #10 and soup cans: (google: Rocket Stoves). Maybe you are lucky and are a grill expert and have your alternative cook source already heated up in the backyard. Again, do you have an option for cooking, that is the question? Do you have a mess kit for each person that could travel well and do you have a supply of paper plates in case of short term needs? Do you have adequate matches and fuel sources (I would never suggest a large supply of flammables anywhere--think sun source or gather source-- such as twigs, paper, etc. gathered and used to keep a fire going in a fire pit or rocket stove--also think where you might gather these items). Do you have extra can openers (my big fear is to have all of these #10 cans and have only one poor quality can opener!)? Make sure to have easy to prepare food too. Make sure to have "service utensils" so you can serve and prepare food--it's hard to turn pancakes on a camp stove with a mess fork! Also, a supply of aluminum foil is handy for many purposes. I remember many fishing trips as a youngster eating foil wrapped fish and foil veggie packs done over an open fire. In saying this, maybe you better have some salt and pepper in your kit too. I remember feeling something was missing from those meals.
6. Lighting and Heat Sources
How would you keep yourselves warm if needed (or cool for that matter)? There are "safe" 120 hour candles that double as heat source for cooking as well as lighting out there. They are considered "safe" because you can use them in a closed room without ventilation. Remember that many portable fuel burning heaters give off emissions which can be poisonous when used indoors. Please consult an expert on such heat sources. Never use a heat source product inside a shelter without knowing if it is safe or not. Be smart about this. Lighting can come in light sticks, flares (outdoors only), flashlights and batteries, lanterns, etc. Again, lighting carries the same risk as heat sources--if they are fuel sourced, they might be unsafe indoors and around any unstable utility gas source" (for example gas lines can leak during emergencies such as earthquakes and no heat source should be introduced without turning off gas and assessing the situation). Staying warm can be done with adequate bedding, sleeping bags rated for cold weather, and safe indoor sources of heat. I am reluctant to recommend products, as each person's needs are different and also people have a lot of things already that will work. My husband shares that in his 100 miler trips as a youth they used black garbage sacks to keep rain off of them and to gather any daylight heat. He said when it rained, they put one up over their legs and one cut on the end over their heads and tried to stay dry this way. I guess a good amount of heavy duty garbage sacks would be helpful. Also, can you build a fire? Do you know how to start a fire in a safe place and keep yourself warm? Skills in emergencies are as important as gear. Staying cool is a little harder here, but obviously closed shades on windows or being near tree shade and water helps. Dabbing water on the skin has a cooling effect as well.
7. Backpacks
Yikes, I said it! Yes, having a way to carry basics away in an evacuation is a must. Duffle bags work well and so do small suitcases. Again, think of the three scenarios and realize one of them might require that you take the basics to survive and leave your area. You need to be able to have the gear together. If you are unable to carry such things, just put them together and ask a friend or neighbor to check on you in the event of an emergency. In one of our communities we lived in, we had a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) who were responsible and capable neighbors who could check on so many homes in an emergency. A good idea is to form a neighborhood group and list concerns and talents that might need to be known in an emergency. Anyway, you do need easy to carry containers to take with you any emergency gear that you might need to have.
8. Water
This is a huge component of emergency preparedness, as it is one of the most vital. Remember you must have your 72 hours of water per person (a gallon a day). Then think about water for your home and cleaning needs. There are oodles of products in which to store water. Some can be bought commercially for the purpose of storing water and have pumps and spigots. Other people simply clean and refill 2 liter bottles, hard plastic liquid laundry soap containers, or any other approved plastic containers. The church website has more about water storage in their provident living section.
9. Useful Tools
Rope, knife, can opener (a couple if you are worried like me), scissors, buckets, hatchet, folding camp shovel, small crescent wrench to turn off utilities, battery or solar powered radio, duct tape, hammer or mallet, binoculars, fishing poles/gear, communication gear (cell phones, walkie talkies, ham radio) and any other thing you can think of that would be helpful.
Honestly, there are pages and pages of idea and items for emergency preparedness. The idea in this writing is to gather what you have together. I think most of us have these things we need already, but it's all over the garage or we have it in a storage unit or we need to maybe buy something here or there. Our family's goal is to get out in our garage and pull all of these items together in one spot. We even have (this is embarrassing) the water storage bins and we have never filled them!!! Talk about not trimming our lamps! Don't give up if you live in a small space. Co-op! Talk with a group of neighbors and agree to share items and assess who has what.
I will try to write about each subsection here in detail. I realize that people like ideas and specifics and lists and such. It's just a big subject and so you start with the big picture. Start by thinking about and looking through what you might have in each of these areas. I want you to do this first because it's needless to spend money on fancy kits when you have the "kit" unassembled in all of your belongings already.
We bought a tent this week. We didn't have one. We used to tent as a young family and then medical issues made that impractical. We have decided that small "practice runs" may be useful from time to time. We bought a small, easy to set up and carry tent. That was our spend this go round.
I think the most important thing is to have all of your items gathered in one area if possible, catalog the items so that you know what you have and then make a goal to obtain carefully, as the budget allows, the things you are missing. Get out in the garage or storage unit before it gets too hot--this is a good excuse to take care of two useful exercises: DI gathering and emergency preparedness. Make it a challenge to gather as much as you can without buying a thing! And please...just do the best you can. Don't get overwhelmed and never start. Just gather items, write them down and then come back in 6 months and enhance what you have already done. Again, our mantra, "Something is better than nothing!"
djw
Thursday, April 15, 2010
72 hr Food kit
I promised we would chronicle our family's experience in 72 hour preparedness. This week's challenge was to put together a 3 day transportable food/water supply. I want to say at the get-go that we are not doing our 72 hour food right now as a "pack it up into the mountains on our backs". I mentioned before that I am going for likely scenarios and assume I will have a car to transport myself and family. When we get to our ER pack with all the survival gear, I will look into MREs and other easy to haul items. Again, my goal is to have something and that something is better than nothing and I can improve my preparedness every 6 months when I rotate if I find better products.
We started our week by sharing a really cute message found at: http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=08855930f289b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=024644f8f206c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD or look at lds.org in the search area for "Emergency" written by Lynn Tilton in March 1977. It's amazing how something good never grows old! This story is delightful and makes a really funny family home evening and the list provided in the body of the article makes for a good spark to the ideas that you might need to prepare your own family.
After discussing the story and how we all need to be personally prepared we began a very simple week of finding the right foods for our family. We decided that we should consider this an extended "trunk picnic", the kind we use when we travel or when we eat on Sundays out of town. We buy shelf stable foods that people like and that is what we did for this supply. Ours is near done and it took us a trip to a couple of stores and that was it. A "trunk picnic" looks like this (for us) as an example: small boxes of cereal, canned milk, nuts, canned fruit (mini ones with pop lids), tuna packs with crackers, individual packs of cookies, jerky, sandwich spread, crackers, little boxes of raisins, granola bars, Vienna sausages, protein bars, tomato juice in the small cans, candies like tootsie rolls, etc. While I realize this is not gourmet eating 101, it is a very do-able and eat-able survival pack. We are shooting for 1800 calories per day. We are going to gather what we need and then determine if it will fit in our extra $10 suitcase we have or if we need to put it in one of our travel duffle bags or box. This supply needs to be kept inside I think. I don't like the thought of 120* garages and food supplies. As we store our ER supplies, we have determined that we will have an ER clipboard hung in our laundry room. On it will be evacuation plans based on time. If we have less than 1 minute, we just get ourselves and others out. If we have 5 minutes, we will put a list of must haves in order and where they are. If we have 30 minutes, we will have another comprehensive list. That way people know what to get, where it is and don't have to think. On our clipboard will be some emergency procedures including how to turn off the water supply to the home, basic CPR, etc. I know from experience that in crisis your brain can go on freeze and it is really good to have a list to simply check off and not have to think so much.
Our 72 supply will probably need a paper sized box to hold it for the 6 of us. Again, I assume I have a car and trunk. I have flats of water for us as well. On the car issue, we feel it is really important to always have a full tank of gas in each vehicle. We look at it as quality marriage time as we will ride together and talk while we do this job. I have read that a full tank of gas helps the engine pumps work better and so it is a good double duty habit to form.
We will put our paper box of shelf stable foods that don't need any cooking in our front closet with the water. If we need to leave, we grab it and go. We will be OK for 3 days. If I have more time and room, I will also grab an ARK (sealed white pail full of food bought at any ER retailer--normally 60 basic meals--really basic like re-hydrated noodle soups). Since these have a 22 year shelf life, I leave them in our long term storage. I would assess any ER situation and see if I felt the 3 day supply were adequate and determine if more is indicated. The great thing about our food box is that in 6 months, we can have our trunk picnic and it's already paid for! We will re-buy the items and we will take a weekend get away and enjoy nature and munch on our food, thus testing to see if it would suffice.
My gut feeling here is to not make this harder than it needs to be. Buy what you can reasonably rotate back out into your food supply and again, if we have to "take to the hills" or something, I will consider other food rations to place in a survival pack. This pack I am making is for the most likely: power outages, drive trips for medical, short term evacuations, etc. Keep saying it, "Something is better than nothing!" Start a box and put what you love in there! Happy picnicking in 6 months or thankful preparedness in the meantime!
PS-Don't forget "mini-supplies". We realized that two of our family members are on the road working or commuting to school and they need things in case they have a problem. We have recommended our working individual have food, water and basics in case of ER in the car and our student to have water, food and basics where they spend most of the day at school (the student happens to work on campus and the supplies can go there at the work place). Also, a couple of protein bars in the backpacks at school for all kids would be a good idea. Again, keep it simple, but make sure to do something!
DJW
We started our week by sharing a really cute message found at: http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=08855930f289b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=024644f8f206c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD or look at lds.org in the search area for "Emergency" written by Lynn Tilton in March 1977. It's amazing how something good never grows old! This story is delightful and makes a really funny family home evening and the list provided in the body of the article makes for a good spark to the ideas that you might need to prepare your own family.
After discussing the story and how we all need to be personally prepared we began a very simple week of finding the right foods for our family. We decided that we should consider this an extended "trunk picnic", the kind we use when we travel or when we eat on Sundays out of town. We buy shelf stable foods that people like and that is what we did for this supply. Ours is near done and it took us a trip to a couple of stores and that was it. A "trunk picnic" looks like this (for us) as an example: small boxes of cereal, canned milk, nuts, canned fruit (mini ones with pop lids), tuna packs with crackers, individual packs of cookies, jerky, sandwich spread, crackers, little boxes of raisins, granola bars, Vienna sausages, protein bars, tomato juice in the small cans, candies like tootsie rolls, etc. While I realize this is not gourmet eating 101, it is a very do-able and eat-able survival pack. We are shooting for 1800 calories per day. We are going to gather what we need and then determine if it will fit in our extra $10 suitcase we have or if we need to put it in one of our travel duffle bags or box. This supply needs to be kept inside I think. I don't like the thought of 120* garages and food supplies. As we store our ER supplies, we have determined that we will have an ER clipboard hung in our laundry room. On it will be evacuation plans based on time. If we have less than 1 minute, we just get ourselves and others out. If we have 5 minutes, we will put a list of must haves in order and where they are. If we have 30 minutes, we will have another comprehensive list. That way people know what to get, where it is and don't have to think. On our clipboard will be some emergency procedures including how to turn off the water supply to the home, basic CPR, etc. I know from experience that in crisis your brain can go on freeze and it is really good to have a list to simply check off and not have to think so much.
Our 72 supply will probably need a paper sized box to hold it for the 6 of us. Again, I assume I have a car and trunk. I have flats of water for us as well. On the car issue, we feel it is really important to always have a full tank of gas in each vehicle. We look at it as quality marriage time as we will ride together and talk while we do this job. I have read that a full tank of gas helps the engine pumps work better and so it is a good double duty habit to form.
We will put our paper box of shelf stable foods that don't need any cooking in our front closet with the water. If we need to leave, we grab it and go. We will be OK for 3 days. If I have more time and room, I will also grab an ARK (sealed white pail full of food bought at any ER retailer--normally 60 basic meals--really basic like re-hydrated noodle soups). Since these have a 22 year shelf life, I leave them in our long term storage. I would assess any ER situation and see if I felt the 3 day supply were adequate and determine if more is indicated. The great thing about our food box is that in 6 months, we can have our trunk picnic and it's already paid for! We will re-buy the items and we will take a weekend get away and enjoy nature and munch on our food, thus testing to see if it would suffice.
My gut feeling here is to not make this harder than it needs to be. Buy what you can reasonably rotate back out into your food supply and again, if we have to "take to the hills" or something, I will consider other food rations to place in a survival pack. This pack I am making is for the most likely: power outages, drive trips for medical, short term evacuations, etc. Keep saying it, "Something is better than nothing!" Start a box and put what you love in there! Happy picnicking in 6 months or thankful preparedness in the meantime!
PS-Don't forget "mini-supplies". We realized that two of our family members are on the road working or commuting to school and they need things in case they have a problem. We have recommended our working individual have food, water and basics in case of ER in the car and our student to have water, food and basics where they spend most of the day at school (the student happens to work on campus and the supplies can go there at the work place). Also, a couple of protein bars in the backpacks at school for all kids would be a good idea. Again, keep it simple, but make sure to do something!
DJW
72 hr kits
March 29, 2010 10:55 PM
I thought maybe a little list for starters would be helpful for the ER preparedness. I should have added this with the article to get people started. We have been working on our ER preparedness as part of the Duty to God program requirements for our son. We pulled out 6, very dusty, small suitcases that had been put away and not looked at for years that held our meager preparedness items. We had to giggle when the clothes were in the children's sizing and half of our guys are now adults!
While our previous efforts took my thoughts back to a time when we were a little more committed, I was ashamed the kits had been set aside for so long. After dumping them out and cleaning them and giving Jian some "new kids clothes" from the packs, we realized we needed to start over, as products had gone bad. The task seemed hard, but we determined we would get it done in 1 week's time.
One thing I had done years ago, was include a list in each kit of its contents. That list helped us to get started on re-packing the bags with "now" items. We are done with our project and the kits are now 95-98% complete (one thing we promised to do during this project was to keep the mantra, "Something is better than nothing!") and we will try to get the other 2-5% done at our next review of the bags in 6 months when the kits will come out, clothes will be washed, items will be checked for quality and also expiration (we marked everything with a Sharpe pen as "2010". When 2011 comes, we will take all perishable toiletries out and use them in our normal supply), and we will catch that other 2-5% that needs to be done.
We found we didn't have money to do everything right now, so again, we will save those thoughts for September when we re-look at our supplies and have an "ER Picnic" to eat up the foods set aside in our food pack. We just kept saying, "It doesn't have to be perfect--something is better than nothing". We used what we had already, which were the $10 little suitcases bought at a local retailer. I could see this working with the big plastic storage bins. Just fill a bin and put it in the garage and grab it and put it in the trunk if you need it.
We also looked at the likely scenarios we have encountered where the kits would have come in handy and packed to those needs. We have been evacuated from a local brush fire and had to quickly leave the area for treatment and shelter. We have had to run to the hospital for problems overnight. I think the idea of wilderness survival in our ER pack is a bit daunting. We decided to start with the simple: What if we needed to go quickly for 3 days to help facilitate a medical problem? (Our most likely scenario) Then we decided we would do a larger duffle with the "wilderness items" (Shovels, stoves, mess kits, shelter, etc.) later.
We split up the ER preparedness into phases we will do every March and September (so we can watch general conference prepared and without guilt at our unpreparedness-smile):
1. Personal Kits--clothes, toiletries, comfort items, medication, etc.
2. Survival Kit--large kit with our big first aid kit, stoves, fuel, shelter items, etc.
3. Food Kit--Food and water for 3 days
4. Important Documents Folder--copies of all important document, extra set of keys to everything and photo discs.
This week we have done our personal ER kits and this is our list of items. Your list will have to be hand tailored to suit and should be that way. These kits are for your comfort for 3 days should you have to leave home.
Ours had the following per person:
2 changes of underwear
2 pairs of socks
2 short sleeved shirts
1 pair of jeans
1 long sleeved shirt or sweatshirt
1 small flashlight with new batteries--packed 2 extra batteries as well
Solar blanket (bought cheaply locally at a retailer)
Money ($20 bills for each child's kit--more for parents--enough to seek lodging, gas, etc)
Sunglasses (since we use our nice ones daily, we put in those ugly cheap ones from the eye doctor--maybe we can upgrade, but hey, they fold up small!)
Map-(We felt only one pack needed this and we have a goal to have each car with one)
Medicine holder--(We bought 4 day pill packs and put our medications inside. We wrote down the medication, dosages, how often dispensed on a post-it and wrapped it around the medicine case with tape to secure so we know what we are taking)
Games and Books (each person put a puzzle book, card or dice game and one spiritual book in their case--between us we had: 1 Book of Mormon, 1 Bible, 1 For Strength of Youth, 1 Conference edition of the Ensign, 1 Friend, 1 Scout book, yahtzee, plain deck of cards, uno, crosswords puzzles, Sudoku, word finds, etc. )
Small Scissors or Knife
Paper and Pen (We put in two working pens with lids! and a sharpened pencil per person and a small stack of post its)
Personal first aid kit (I made my own since we can't use latex--I just put together a tiny 2x2" bundle: 4 alcohol preps, 4 bandages, 2 pieces of gauze and wrapped them with 12" of coban stretch tape)
Small sewing kit (this is in my kit since I didn't have another one and probably don't need one for each person)
Knit hat or ball cap
Knit gloves or mittens (got these real cheap at our local retailer for $.50 for 2 pair last week)
Small dental floss (just went to the dentist and used the small samples they give out)
Toothbrush and paste (same as above)
Small shampoos (I used ones collected from hotel stays)
Tissue pack (the small ones come in sets of 6-10 and can be split up easily)
Mirror (I used my old make up ones until we upgraded to new ones--boys didn't like "Cover Girl" on their mirrors)
Handiwipes
Deodorant--small ones are in the travel section of most stores for $1 (rotate new ones back in after 1 year since they do go crystalline after time)
Toilet paper (We squished a full roll flat per person and it fit nicely)
Hand Soap (I used collected ones from hotel stays)
ID tags (These are tags that have vital information on them--name, next of kin, medications, medical issues, important phone numbers, places to meet, etc. that we will immediately put on in an emergency to help us remember things we might not in an actual emergency--make them large recipe card sized, laminate and punch a hole and thread strong yarn though to wear)
Alcohol based hand cleaner
Matches with 2 cotton balls for fire start
Chewing gum for nerves
Hard candy for stress (not part of the food kit--just there for stress)
Small rope (I found 12 foot ones that serve as hanging lines for clothes in a pinch)
Bandana (good to protect from cold, sunburn, and to keep track of people. Buy a bright pattern for the family so you can see your own kind!)
Full sized garbage sacks
Feminine products as needed
Baby supplies as needed
Ponchos
Whistles (for alerting for help--we found ones with compasses, thermometers, etc. It was this season's upgrade!)
Insect repellant (go for the wipes as I worry about compressed air products in our hot garages)
Extra keys to the house and cars
Q-Tips
Lip balm
Brushes or combs (hair clips or scrunchies if needed for long hair)
Razor
Sunscreen
Washcloth and hand towel
Hand wash laundry soap (Can buy in the travel section of the stores--this will be so helpful if you need to launder clothes in a sink)
Clothes pins (you only need a couple)
Packing list--(super important--helps you know what you have in an emergency at a glance and it helps in the reassessment periods to know what you need to buy, replace or pack in the kits)
Remember this is for 3 days. While the list is long, we got most things into small, quart sized bags with several items (I like putting liquid items in the baggies so in case they leak...). We had most things on our initial gathering in the house with the kids' help. I kept a notebook by to write down what we were missing. We had a small budget to get the basics replaced and we had to let some items go as goals for next time (money in our packs, for example). I will write the hoped for items on the September calendar and then I will know how much to set aside for the September "re-look" and "re-pack". This is a great activity as you clean out closets and such for spring and fall and this helps hand tailor the kits for the seasons. When we were done, we put white garbage sacks to protect the bags from dust and to help us easily identify them in the garage. My living room was a mess for a few days, but today, it feels really good to have it done. I will share some ideas from our "food kit week" in a few days.
DW
I thought maybe a little list for starters would be helpful for the ER preparedness. I should have added this with the article to get people started. We have been working on our ER preparedness as part of the Duty to God program requirements for our son. We pulled out 6, very dusty, small suitcases that had been put away and not looked at for years that held our meager preparedness items. We had to giggle when the clothes were in the children's sizing and half of our guys are now adults!
While our previous efforts took my thoughts back to a time when we were a little more committed, I was ashamed the kits had been set aside for so long. After dumping them out and cleaning them and giving Jian some "new kids clothes" from the packs, we realized we needed to start over, as products had gone bad. The task seemed hard, but we determined we would get it done in 1 week's time.
One thing I had done years ago, was include a list in each kit of its contents. That list helped us to get started on re-packing the bags with "now" items. We are done with our project and the kits are now 95-98% complete (one thing we promised to do during this project was to keep the mantra, "Something is better than nothing!") and we will try to get the other 2-5% done at our next review of the bags in 6 months when the kits will come out, clothes will be washed, items will be checked for quality and also expiration (we marked everything with a Sharpe pen as "2010". When 2011 comes, we will take all perishable toiletries out and use them in our normal supply), and we will catch that other 2-5% that needs to be done.
We found we didn't have money to do everything right now, so again, we will save those thoughts for September when we re-look at our supplies and have an "ER Picnic" to eat up the foods set aside in our food pack. We just kept saying, "It doesn't have to be perfect--something is better than nothing". We used what we had already, which were the $10 little suitcases bought at a local retailer. I could see this working with the big plastic storage bins. Just fill a bin and put it in the garage and grab it and put it in the trunk if you need it.
We also looked at the likely scenarios we have encountered where the kits would have come in handy and packed to those needs. We have been evacuated from a local brush fire and had to quickly leave the area for treatment and shelter. We have had to run to the hospital for problems overnight. I think the idea of wilderness survival in our ER pack is a bit daunting. We decided to start with the simple: What if we needed to go quickly for 3 days to help facilitate a medical problem? (Our most likely scenario) Then we decided we would do a larger duffle with the "wilderness items" (Shovels, stoves, mess kits, shelter, etc.) later.
We split up the ER preparedness into phases we will do every March and September (so we can watch general conference prepared and without guilt at our unpreparedness-smile):
1. Personal Kits--clothes, toiletries, comfort items, medication, etc.
2. Survival Kit--large kit with our big first aid kit, stoves, fuel, shelter items, etc.
3. Food Kit--Food and water for 3 days
4. Important Documents Folder--copies of all important document, extra set of keys to everything and photo discs.
This week we have done our personal ER kits and this is our list of items. Your list will have to be hand tailored to suit and should be that way. These kits are for your comfort for 3 days should you have to leave home.
Ours had the following per person:
2 changes of underwear
2 pairs of socks
2 short sleeved shirts
1 pair of jeans
1 long sleeved shirt or sweatshirt
1 small flashlight with new batteries--packed 2 extra batteries as well
Solar blanket (bought cheaply locally at a retailer)
Money ($20 bills for each child's kit--more for parents--enough to seek lodging, gas, etc)
Sunglasses (since we use our nice ones daily, we put in those ugly cheap ones from the eye doctor--maybe we can upgrade, but hey, they fold up small!)
Map-(We felt only one pack needed this and we have a goal to have each car with one)
Medicine holder--(We bought 4 day pill packs and put our medications inside. We wrote down the medication, dosages, how often dispensed on a post-it and wrapped it around the medicine case with tape to secure so we know what we are taking)
Games and Books (each person put a puzzle book, card or dice game and one spiritual book in their case--between us we had: 1 Book of Mormon, 1 Bible, 1 For Strength of Youth, 1 Conference edition of the Ensign, 1 Friend, 1 Scout book, yahtzee, plain deck of cards, uno, crosswords puzzles, Sudoku, word finds, etc. )
Small Scissors or Knife
Paper and Pen (We put in two working pens with lids! and a sharpened pencil per person and a small stack of post its)
Personal first aid kit (I made my own since we can't use latex--I just put together a tiny 2x2" bundle: 4 alcohol preps, 4 bandages, 2 pieces of gauze and wrapped them with 12" of coban stretch tape)
Small sewing kit (this is in my kit since I didn't have another one and probably don't need one for each person)
Knit hat or ball cap
Knit gloves or mittens (got these real cheap at our local retailer for $.50 for 2 pair last week)
Small dental floss (just went to the dentist and used the small samples they give out)
Toothbrush and paste (same as above)
Small shampoos (I used ones collected from hotel stays)
Tissue pack (the small ones come in sets of 6-10 and can be split up easily)
Mirror (I used my old make up ones until we upgraded to new ones--boys didn't like "Cover Girl" on their mirrors)
Handiwipes
Deodorant--small ones are in the travel section of most stores for $1 (rotate new ones back in after 1 year since they do go crystalline after time)
Toilet paper (We squished a full roll flat per person and it fit nicely)
Hand Soap (I used collected ones from hotel stays)
ID tags (These are tags that have vital information on them--name, next of kin, medications, medical issues, important phone numbers, places to meet, etc. that we will immediately put on in an emergency to help us remember things we might not in an actual emergency--make them large recipe card sized, laminate and punch a hole and thread strong yarn though to wear)
Alcohol based hand cleaner
Matches with 2 cotton balls for fire start
Chewing gum for nerves
Hard candy for stress (not part of the food kit--just there for stress)
Small rope (I found 12 foot ones that serve as hanging lines for clothes in a pinch)
Bandana (good to protect from cold, sunburn, and to keep track of people. Buy a bright pattern for the family so you can see your own kind!)
Full sized garbage sacks
Feminine products as needed
Baby supplies as needed
Ponchos
Whistles (for alerting for help--we found ones with compasses, thermometers, etc. It was this season's upgrade!)
Insect repellant (go for the wipes as I worry about compressed air products in our hot garages)
Extra keys to the house and cars
Q-Tips
Lip balm
Brushes or combs (hair clips or scrunchies if needed for long hair)
Razor
Sunscreen
Washcloth and hand towel
Hand wash laundry soap (Can buy in the travel section of the stores--this will be so helpful if you need to launder clothes in a sink)
Clothes pins (you only need a couple)
Packing list--(super important--helps you know what you have in an emergency at a glance and it helps in the reassessment periods to know what you need to buy, replace or pack in the kits)
Remember this is for 3 days. While the list is long, we got most things into small, quart sized bags with several items (I like putting liquid items in the baggies so in case they leak...). We had most things on our initial gathering in the house with the kids' help. I kept a notebook by to write down what we were missing. We had a small budget to get the basics replaced and we had to let some items go as goals for next time (money in our packs, for example). I will write the hoped for items on the September calendar and then I will know how much to set aside for the September "re-look" and "re-pack". This is a great activity as you clean out closets and such for spring and fall and this helps hand tailor the kits for the seasons. When we were done, we put white garbage sacks to protect the bags from dust and to help us easily identify them in the garage. My living room was a mess for a few days, but today, it feels really good to have it done. I will share some ideas from our "food kit week" in a few days.
DW
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