Every time I walk into my basement I feel a little guilty. I live in Utah, pretty much the preparedness capital of America and I am unprepared.
I think part of that is that I don’t know what I’m preparing for and the second thing holding me back is that I tend to overwhelm myself. If three days of food is good a month would be better. No, wait! I better get a year! So I overwhelm myself with the sheer volume of stuff I think I need to keep my family safe.
Then I worry about us being in different places, then what? If the food is at home and I’m stranded and work and Hailey is at a friend’s house, what then? How is it helping us? Is it really necessary? Needless to say, I think these things to death and never do anything about it.
I read on FEMA’s website the minimum things you should have in case of emergency, I think I’ll start there and try not to think about what happens after three days.
First you need a radio, either battery powered or hand cranked. Doesn’t that sound kind of fun? Sitting around candles with the kids, winding up the radio, it would be like living in the “olden days”, of course when a disaster strikes there’s nothing fun about it.
Make sure you have a flashlight and extra batteries. Even if you are not afraid of the dark normally I think there would be something about that kind of dark that would be especially frightening.
A first aid kit and a whistle for help. Hopefully you won’t need either but make sure you have them anyway.
A solar cell phone charger. I don’t have a land line so cell phones are all we have, without electricity we won’t be able to contact anyone. I priced these charges and they are no more expensive than the wall chargers.
Water is even more important than food, you can live longer without food than water. Make sure you have one gallon per day for each family member. You should have at least a three day supply.
Food for three days. I always get carried away and start thinking about balanced meals and making sure everyone has fruits and vegetables but the reality is, this is an emergency, if you all eat cold Spaghetti-O’s out of a can for three days, you will still survive. Don’t worry about traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner, just make sure you have enough food for the day, no matter what it is. A manual can opener will come in handy as well.
Lastly, face masks, plastic sheeting and duct tape. You may need to filter the air or you may just need to cover some windows after a storm blows them in.
Those are the basics, now you can get carried away with your food storage, but I’m pretty sure, no matter how bad the disaster, someone will find you in less than a year.