Emergency Supply Prep

[Caraway]

This feels like something that would have already been discussed here, but Google is giving me nothing.

For those of you who feel like you are well prepared for an emergency, what are your supplies like?  How did you decide on them?  Do you rotate?  Do you also have a deep freezer and a generator?

Our most likely emergency is earthquake - so let's assume temperate weather, no power, multiple days.

[Caraway]

2 minutes ago, OKBud said:

When we've had emergencies, we couldn't have too much propane for the stove and space heaters. 

I now keep mostly just what we eat already in excess, and in canned form. I mean, in regular life we never eat canned greened beans, but eat a lot fresh and frozen, so I have canned green beans. That kind of thing. 

I found that we really wanted filling hot meals when we had an emergency a few years ago (no power for three weeks). But of course they had to be fast. So to that ends I do keep stocked up on some things like canned corn beef hash now, though we wouldn't eat that usually. That sort of thing. And treats, like canned pineapple or applesauce. 

One thing we didn''t have at the time and I immediately got, was a *thin* pot that could hold a large amount of water. We wanted to wash our faces and bits with warm water. And heating a thing of water in a cast iron pot on a propane stove is preposterously wasteful for fuel.

You need lanterns, not just candles and flashlights, to actually go through your day to day life.

I can't rec the wonderbag more highly. 

I'd add wire cutters, heavy work gloves and boots, face masks and goggles for earthquakes. 

water water water water water

And printed and laminated directions to a friends house (or wherever) out of state, just in case. We almost had to evacuate last year and I know my phone doesn't work in the boonies on the way to our HOR.

You have to find out what might be available in your community before you need it. Like, we had emergency shelters on time but we couldn't figure out where they were. Local governments aren't known for being straightforward. 

Similarly, you have to think about who in your community might need you beforehand. When a hurricane blew through where they live, my dad's family made a point to check on the old ladies in their neighborhood. That was convicting for me. 

 

The thin pot suggestion is a good one and an excuse to replace an undesirable stock pot!  I think part of my concern is that we do not eat any canned foods, except for the occasional diced tomatoes that get mixed into something, so we don't even really have a pantry.  Your suggestion are very helpful.

I have never heard of the wonderbag before.  Thanks!!!

[MEmama]

I tend to keep extras of non perishable (canned, boxed, and also frozen) foods we normally eat, so they do get rotated regularly.

We do have a generator, and a gas stove so we can cook pretty normally when the power is out. In a pinch we could use the bbq or a camp stove in warm weather. We do have a very small extra freezer, and in winter we can use insulated boxes on the porch to keep things frozen or cold even without ice.

I could be better about keeping jugs of water (I store them in the basement and use them up on road trips), I should probably stock back up. We are on town water though so it’s unlikely we’d lose it for long. 

I feel like we are pretty prepared for at least a few weeks of being off grid. A couple years ago we were without power for 10 days; the only thing I added to my supplies was a battery operated shower contraption. Total lifesaver! Lol

Heat insecurity is my biggest worry given our climate, but we can use the generator to run the pellet stove, which keeps the house warm enough no matter how cold.. I do have a kerosene heater (never been used) in the basement in case we might need to worry about frozen pipes down there.

[MEmama]

We use our headlamps more than any other source for task lighting. Much more effective for reading or cooking in the dark than lanterns or candles (those are good for ambient light though). 

[Caraway]

This is super helpful. I’m taking notes...

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, Caraway said:

Our most likely emergency is earthquake - so let's assume temperate weather, no power, multiple days.

From FEMA https://www.ready.gov/kit  PDF link for How to Prepare for an Earthquake https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1408632135401-3d0521fa59d0dd4016e82f08fe7f3732/PrepareAthon_EARTHQUAKES_HTG_FINAL_508.pdf

“Basic Disaster Supplies Kit

To assemble your kit, store items in airtight plastic bags and put your entire disaster supplies kit in one or two easy-to-carry containers such as plastic bins or a duffel bag.

A basic emergency supply kit could include the following recommended items:

• Water - one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
• Food - at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
• Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert
• Flashlight
• First aid kit
• Extra batteries
• Whistle to signal for help
• Dust mask to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
• Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
• Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
• Manual can opener for food
• Local maps
• Cell phone with chargers and a backup battery
• Download the Recommended Supplies List (PDF)

Additional Emergency Supplies

Consider adding the following items to your emergency supply kit based on your individual needs:

• Prescription medications
• Non-prescription medications such as pain relievers, anti-diarrhea medication, antacids or laxatives
• Glasses and contact lense solution
• Infant formula, bottles, diapers, wipes, diaper rash cream
• Pet food and extra water for your pet
• Cash or traveler's checks
• Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records saved electronically or in a waterproof, portable container
• Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person
• Complete change of clothing appropriate for your climate and sturdy shoes
• Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper to disinfect water
• Fire extinguisher
• Matches in a waterproof container
• Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items
• Mess kits, paper cups, plates, paper towels and plastic utensils
• Paper and pencil
• Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children

Maintaining Your Kit

After assembling your kit remember to maintain it so it’s ready when needed:

• Keep canned food in a cool, dry place
• Store boxed food in tightly closed plastic or metal containers
• Replace expired items as needed
• Re-think your needs every year and update your kit as your family’s needs change.

Kit Storage Locations

Since you do not know where you will be when an emergency occurs, prepare supplies for home, work and vehicles.

• Home: Keep this kit in a designated place and have it ready in case you have to leave your home quickly. Make sure all family members know where the kit is kept.
• Work: Be prepared to shelter at work for at least 24 hours. Your work kit should include food, water and other necessities like medicines, as well as comfortable walking shoes, stored in a “grab and go” case.
• Vehicle: In case you are stranded, keep a kit of emergency supplies in your car.

Last Updated: 01/23/2020”

[Melissa in Australia]

I am living in a emergency right now.  (Declared disaster zone with ongoing bushfires coming closer all the time)

for us food is not needed in the plan, it is what to pack for a fast getaway, what you want to save and what you can let go.

we have evacuated 4 times in the last 4 weeks. Every time I have taken absolutely ridiculous stuff.  One time I had packed my old gardening clothes, the next time I took all the saucepans..... why I took saucepans I have no idea. When you are reacting to an emergency you think you are calm, but you are not. 

we have Now shifted valuables etc. into a town to keep them safe.
 

It is very stressful. Very stressful indeed. I am now very jittery. I have always thought of myself as a calm, organised,  down to earth person... not at the moment...... each time I am getting worse...I guess because the fire is so much closer.... now I am a shaking, anxious and  scared person.

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Melissa in Australia

[Arcadia]

6 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

 it is what to pack for a fast getaway, what you want to save and what you can let go.

I’m in an earthquake zone though relatively low risk. Below is what the state govt recommends for in the car emergency supply. 

https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/Blog/2019/How-to-Make-an-Earthquake-Emergency-Kit

“Emergency Supplies for Your Car

We Californians spend a lot of time in our cars: commuting, running errands, enjoying the outdoors. In addition to your home earthquake critical supplies, you will need to prepare a car earthquake emergency kit. The purpose of the kit is to provide basics in case a major earthquake strikes while you are on the road, or you directed by a civil authority to leave your home quickly.

 Supplies recommended for your car include: 

• Keep your tank ½ full
• Water supply for 3 days
• Nonperishable food supply for 3 days
• Extra clothing and shoes
• Small first-aid kit
• Solar blanket or sleeping bag
• Flashlights and batteries
• Toilet tissue and trash bags
• Swiss Army knife
• Fire extinguisher ”

[Melissa in Australia]

27 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

I’m in an earthquake zone though relatively low risk. Below is what the state govt recommends for in the car emergency supply. 

https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/Blog/2019/How-to-Make-an-Earthquake-Emergency-Kit

“Emergency Supplies for Your Car

We Californians spend a lot of time in our cars: commuting, running errands, enjoying the outdoors. In addition to your home earthquake critical supplies, you will need to prepare a car earthquake emergency kit. The purpose of the kit is to provide basics in case a major earthquake strikes while you are on the road, or you directed by a civil authority to leave your home quickly.

 Supplies recommended for your car include: 

• Keep your tank ½ full
• Water supply for 3 days
• Nonperishable food supply for 3 days
• Extra clothing and shoes
• Small first-aid kit
• Solar blanket or sleeping bag
• Flashlights and batteries
• Toilet tissue and trash bags
• Swiss Army knife
• Fire extinguisher ”

Here we are told to take

medication

2 days of clothes

all important papers including birth certificates,  insurance papers etc

mobile phone and charger

pets

carry a wool blanket in car in case you get caught to help protect from radiant heat

[Melissa in Australia]

Forgot to add, if you have time, you are to block gutters and fill with water, remove everything away from the outside of the house and hose house and verandah down. 
 

because we have had time we have also pulled down fences, opened inspection panels on top of water tanks  for hopefully fire trucks, cleared more than 100 tea tree , melaleuca and other shrubs, mowed flower gardens, raked,  raked and raked. DH has also put gravel along the bottom of exterior  shed doors and put. Rock wool around the sides of shed doors to stop embers getting in, plowed a circle in our cow paddock and put tractors and machinery within the plowed area.

[Carrie12345]

I have a pretty serious rotating pantry, but I have been moving away from certain canned goods and getting some actual freeze dried emergency stuff instead. It’s a lot more expensive, but I don’t have to think about it for 10-25 years. I don’t get the things that are supposed to be meals because most of my kids would prefer to starve to death, so it’s primarily basic ingredients for making meals.

Earthquake isn’t on my list of likely emergencies, so I can’t really speak to that. I’m more of an ice storm and wildfire planner.

[J-rap]

11 hours ago, OKBud said:

When we've had emergencies, we couldn't have too much propane for the stove and space heaters. 

I now keep mostly just what we eat already in excess, and in canned form. I mean, in regular life we never eat canned greened beans, but eat a lot fresh and frozen, so I have canned green beans. That kind of thing. 

I found that we really wanted filling hot meals when we had an emergency a few years ago (no power for three weeks). But of course they had to be fast. So to that ends I do keep stocked up on some things like canned corn beef hash now, though we wouldn't eat that usually. That sort of thing. And treats, like canned pineapple or applesauce. 

One thing we didn''t have at the time and I immediately got, was a *thin* pot that could hold a large amount of water. We wanted to wash our faces and bits with warm water. And heating a thing of water in a cast iron pot on a propane stove is preposterously wasteful for fuel.

You need lanterns, not just candles and flashlights, to actually go through your day to day life.

I can't rec the wonderbag more highly. 

I'd add wire cutters, heavy work gloves and boots, face masks and goggles for earthquakes. 

water water water water water

And printed and laminated directions to a friends house (or wherever) out of state, just in case. We almost had to evacuate last year and I know my phone doesn't work in the boonies on the way to our HOR.

You have to find out what might be available in your community before you need it. Like, we had emergency shelters on time but we couldn't figure out where they were. Local governments aren't known for being straightforward. 

Similarly, you have to think about who in your community might need you beforehand. When a hurricane blew through where they live, my dad's family made a point to check on the old ladies in their neighborhood. That was convicting for me. 

Wow - that wonderbag!  I assume you could also bring the pot to boiling over a campfire? 

[J-rap]

5 minutes ago, OKBud said:

 

Oh yeah any way at all- heat+insulation+time! It's really cool. For a time, the kids were eating kamut porridge every morning and we used the slow cooking bag to make a pot every few days, just in our house during regular every day life. It's well worth the space allotment (it's not small) to take car camping to have a hot dinner we don't have to cook while everyone is tired and the light is fading.

But I mean, the concept is just a well-insulated container that holds a very hot pot. It can be done at home with strawbales, or a lined hole in the ground. And you can stuff a cooler with wool blankets and use that. I'll just keep using the bag lol but I thought I'd mention it in case some people are handier and more ambitious than me 🙂 

It looks fascinating.  Would you be able to keep things in it longer than the required cooking time and the food would remain safe to eat?  My ds is a cook and he loves to experiment with different, unique types of cooking.  I'm thinking he'd enjoy putting something in the wonderbag before he left for work, and then it'd be done by the time he came home...  But it also might be sitting in the bag for 10 hours.  (I know that what he'd rather do is dig a hole in the ground, but this might be the next best thing.  :)) 

[Ausmumof3]

I’m currently unprepared but planning to restock

we do have a generator and tank water.  Dh is in charge of that.  He makes sure there’s fuel.  
 

battery operated radio and spare batteries for information if your phone goes flat or network goes down.  
 

tinned food you wouldn’t eat normally because it’s gross.  You may not be on a good situation to cook or have time to wash up.  Also packet food.

if you smoke (sadly) a good supply of cigarettes and if not coffee.  During an emergency is not a good time for going cold turkey.  

bottled water.  Even though we have tank water all that was used for fire fighting and even if it hadn’t been once they spray retardant on your roof you don’t want to do it.  

rehydration stuff/electrolytes.  Easy for gastro etc to kick in if power and general sanitary stuff is compromised.  

adequate supply of medications.

enough food for pets

these are specific for fire fighting: gutter bungs, wool blankets, masks, towels, long sleeve protective clothing for anyone who will stay, chafe/antifungal cream (I’m told by those in the know!) 

in a go bag: insurance paperwork, house titles, birth certificates and id paperwork.  Copy of Pets microchip numbers just in case.  Back up hard drive if you have one.

[J-rap]

10 minutes ago, OKBud said:

 

I won't comment on food safety lol.  [Most??] other people have higher standards than me! I wouldn't think twice about something that's been slow cooking for ten hours, no matter what it was and even if it'd cooled. Those things retain heat pretty well though.

There's a free recipe booklet. I've never made any of it but it's there 🙂 

Those recipes look delicious!  Do you have the small bag for your family, or the large bag?

[prairiewindmomma]

When we lived in hurricane country, our emergency preparedness looked very different than here and now in earthquake country because the underlying presumptions are very different.

In hurricane country, we stocked up on propane tanks and battery operated fans and kept the gas tank full in case we needed to evacuate.  Here, I'm operating under different assumptions.

My earthquake assumptions:

1. Evacuation is not going to be likely because all of the bridges to "get out" are projected to fail.

2. Water and gas lines are likely to be damaged under current county projections. The last thing I want to be doing in the early hours post-earthquake is lighting a match.  (I do, however, want to have my wrench and some fire extinguishers on hand.)

3. Because logistics and supply chains are going to be completely disrupted for long periods of time (see my points about bridges going out), I need to make it more than 3 days in terms of supplies. 🙂 My state recommends a minimum of two weeks of supplies.

We are currently WOEFULLY underprepared for a major earthquake.  Start with the basics: flashlights, batteries, water, first aid, food.  We don't normally eat canned food either, but our plan is to just donate to a food bank yearly whatever we don't use.  

Things on my shopping list:

1. Water safe hose to attach to our water heater. (We did just get it bolted to the wall properly.)

2. Kits to bolt gas oven and refrigerator to the wall. (Do you know where to get these?)

3. Just add water food and canned food

4. puncture proof boots, tarps, and cutless gloves

5. car kits

After Hurricane Harvey, several of our friends had deep puncture wounds from nails going into the bottoms of tennis shoes.  Not helpful advice for earthquake country, but tossing that out there for hurricane/tornado preparers. 

[prairiewindmomma]

PS--my current state of preparedness is pretty meager. If an earthquake were to happen today, we'd be living off of a jug of water, half a box of granola bars, and my valentine's day candy. I used to have it together, but haven't gotten my life in order since our move two years ago. So, don't feel bad if you are just starting off.  I am too, again, because these things are dynamic and constantly have to be updated.

[Arcadia]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

 

2. Kits to bolt gas oven and refrigerator to the wall. (Do you know where to get these?)

Home Depot followed by Lowe’s 

[Angie in VA]

19 hours ago, MEmama said:

I tend to keep extras of non perishable (canned, boxed, and also frozen) foods we normally eat, so they do get rotated regularly.

We do have a generator, and a gas stove so we can cook pretty normally when the power is out. In a pinch we could use the bbq or a camp stove in warm weather. We do have a very small extra freezer, and in winter we can use insulated boxes on the porch to keep things frozen or cold even without ice.

I could be better about keeping jugs of water (I store them in the basement and use them up on road trips), I should probably stock back up. We are on town water though so it’s unlikely we’d lose it for long. 

I feel like we are pretty prepared for at least a few weeks of being off grid. A couple years ago we were without power for 10 days; the only thing I added to my supplies was a battery operated shower contraption. Total lifesaver! Lol

Heat insecurity is my biggest worry given our climate, but we can use the generator to run the pellet stove, which keeps the house warm enough no matter how cold.. I do have a kerosene heater (never been used) in the basement in case we might need to worry about frozen pipes down there.

 

Link, please? I didn't know such a thing existed!