Darwin's calling at church presently is Emergency Preparedness coordinator. Between Hurricane Ike, the craaaazy stock market, and the Relief Society calling a sister in our ward to do some emergency preparedness stuff and she and Darwin getting on the same page, Emergency Preparedness has been a hot topic around the house.
So I thought it would be nice to give Darwin a little forum for his thoughts on the first things people should get in their quest to be prepared in the event of catastrophe. I think it always seems so overwhelming to think of everything one would have to do to be fully prepared to weather ANY crisis (physical/environmental/financial, etc.) But sometimes just working towards a small goal here and there can help us attain preparedness as well.
So, I asked Darwin what his reccomendations would be for getting things stored for an emergency. What would he do first? Below is a line-upon-line list. Just focusing on one step at a time towards being more prepared in an emergency. It is not meant to be something where you look at it and freak out. (I think one of the biggest hinderances to emergency preperation is the feeling of being overwhelmed and then just stopping in preparing.)
1) Darwin says #1 is a first aid kit. Even just a basic one. Also, in this first step, he reccomends a flashlight.
2) A 72-hour kit. There are countless links to these all over the internet. Some are VERY in-depth. Like this one. But really, even just starting out with food and water that will last for 72 hours, as well as some clothing and a sleeping bag is a good thing. Don't forget any medications you may need.
3) Bottled water/water barrels. Ideally, this water should last for 2 weeks. A gallon of water per day per person is reccomended. Here are guidelines for storing water that is suitable for drinking.
4) Darwin really really likes the 3 month food buckets at Costco. They are relatively cheap (about $70 for a bucket that would feed an adult). They last 20 years. They are just-add-water. They were also fairly palatable. (Darwin claims the powdered milk tasted better than nearly all powdered milk he'd tasted.) Obviously this is not the ONLY way to go. It is just an easy way to do it, and have it checked off your list for 20 years. ;) The point is really getting at least 3 months of food. You could also look in your cupboards and figure out how long all your cans and mixes and such would last.
5) Then gradually work towards a longer-term supply of food, as your storage space and finances permit. (Notes from Darwin: Most people will find it easier to store and use and rotate through rice than wheat. And for beans, using a pressure cooker will speed prep time.)
Here is the list we used when compiling our basic year's supply of food. (Most of these can last at least 30 years in storage.) We've added to it as we've gone, but having the basics is a good baseline from which to start.
Grains (wheat, rice, etc.) 400 lbs (per person)
Legumes (beans, peas, etc.) 60 lbs.
Powdered milk 16 lbs.
Cooking oil 10 qts.
Sugar or honey 60 lbs.
Salt 8 lbs.
Water (2 weeks supply) 14 gallons
* We got this list from The Essentials of Home Production and Storage, 1978.
For those who HAVE all of those, then you can start getting fancy with being prepared for an emergency. For those who aren't quite that far, just working on one at a time, is a good way to go. Don't focus on what you don't have, but just on what you can do.
What are your food storage/emergency preparedness tips?
7 comments:
This might sound like a dumb question, but how do you fill the water barrels? We just bought two and we can't figure out how to fill them.
Well, first you'll want to put the barrel where you want it while it is empty, because it will be too heavy afterwards.
Next use your culinary water hose (since we have both culinary and gray water) and fill it. (Through the little cap in the top.)
The church website has 2 methods for keeping the water clean. You might want to reference providentliving.org. You should not need much chlorine. You can use bleach or spa chlorine. The spa chlorine is more pure.
But hey, I'll send Darwin over.
Talk about fast service. Since we're kind in our PJ's here, we asked if Darwin could come over tomorrow. Plus, we need to get the barrels in place. I'll check out that church site too. I needed your blog tonight. I spent the evening with my wonderful family who are full of doomsday predictions. Fun huh?
we have a flashlight! at least that's something.. I like your approach of do a little a time and don't get overwhelmed. I need to remember that.
We just had an awesome neighborhood activity! We knew we were having an activity...but no specifics. At 6:21pm on Tuesday an earthquake hit knocking rocks into the back of the house and Steen suffered a concussion. We had a possible gas leak too and we couldn't get the gas shut off. There were even people in our neighborhood that died! So...I guess that wasn't the awesome part.
Anyway, we each received packets a week before explaining what to do in an emergency and giving us colored cards to put up on our doors saying if we were OK (green), needed help but not immediate (yellow), needed help right away (red), or someone died (black). Each home received a paper telling what the mock damages were and our little block captains and radio people had to check on us. We then met at the park for cookies and we spent the rest of the night with no power, water or electricity. We had the flashlights out. The kids brushed their teeth using bottled waters. It was a great little activity and it gave us a chance to talk to our kids about what would happen in a real emergency. (Steen recovered really well from the concussion.) I think if we really did have a loss of power or water they would be less scared because they had so much fun with this drill. It was a hit and our neighborhood is planning on doing it again next year.
I like Alison's idea - you are talking with Darwin, right? It would put perspective and reality to emergency preparedness. Great tips, Rachel!!
Mom's added comments: Setting consistent goals of a little at a time is really important--It makes you feel that you are accomplishing something without being overwhelmed.
Having drills with the kids is really important--even fire & earthquake drills as a family.Even then, when you are in the middle of an earthquake it is hard to think straight.
Water Barrels: Be sure to have wooden blocks under the barrels. The barrels and even cans should not be directly on the floor. Also, it makes it a lot easier to get the water out if you have a pump. They are small & inexpensive.
NON food items: Don't forget to put in some simple activities, books, etc in your kits. Children get bored very easily--even adults need something to do. Paper and pencil goes a long way.
CD'S If you really want to save your pictures, make a CD copy of them so that you can have it in your kit.
Also, when I was in California, our stake highly recommended having a weeks supply rather than just a 72 hour kit. This came after Katrina and it took at least that long before many people got help.
Thanks for the great update. It's good to see more people working on this. It would be really nice if every ward had a mock disaster like Alisons.
Mom:)
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