Emergency Preparedness - Week Two (part I)

By now everyone should have picked and cleared out their Emergency Preparedness Station location and grabbed a backpack (with tag) for each person.  Or at least started to!  If you didn't get everything done from last weeks objectives list that is totally fine!  We're all taking baby steps and moving at our own pace.  And if you're just joining us you can catch up and read last weeks post HERE.

Week Two - Food and Water

OBJECTIVES:
- Store at least 3 gallons of water per person
- Purchase household liquid bleach and medicine dropper
- Collect food to last around 2 weeks
- Buy a can opener

FEMAs website sums it up, "You may need to survive on your own after an emergency.  This means having your own food, water and other supplies in sufficient quantity to last for at least 72 hours.  Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster but they cannot reach everyone immediately.  You could get help in hours or it might take days."

My list of food and water supplies comes from FEMAs website as well as some other emergency preparedness research that I've done.

WATER
FEMAs site recommends storing 1 gallon of water per person per day to last at least 3 days.  So that is at least 3 gallons of water per person for drinking and sanitation.  For my roommate and I that means 6 gallons.

Having this water supply is super important!  You cannot survive without it.  You should also be prepared incase the city drinking water becomes contaminated or you don't have access to clean drinking water.  And while boiling water is a great way to disinfect it, this isn't always an option.  You may need to chemically treat it with household chlorine bleach and a medicine dropper.  "You can use household liquid bleach to kill microorganisms.  Use only regular household liquid bleach that contains 5.25 to 6.0 percent sodium hypochlorite.  Do not use scented bleaches, color safe bleaches or bleaches with added cleaners...Add 16 drops (1/8 teaspoon) of bleach per gallon of water, stir and let stand for 30 minutes.  The water should have a slight bleach odor.  If it doesn't, then repeat the dosage and let stand another 15 minutes.  If it still does not smell of chlorine, discard it and find another source of water."

So we took our 6 gallons of water and put them in place in our Emergency Preparedness Station!

FOOD
In an emergency you may not be able to run to the store and pick up your food supply.  FEMA suggests having enough to last two weeks just incase.  But keep in mind how much space you have.  You may not have the room for that much,  So just adjust your supplies to fit your needs and storage capabilities.  Dray/canned foods that don't require refrigeration, water, special prep, or cooking are best.  Also, keep family needs in mind.  Special diets, allergies, babies, and the elderly should be taken into account.  Be sure to keep a can opener too!  You want to be able to get into your food :)

FEMA has a fantastic PDF covering this information in detail.  If you'd like to have a copy you can download it HERE.  It has tips from storage to how to best use your supplies.

My roommate and I have started our food/water supply and plan to keep adding to it with each grocery trip rather than purchase it al at once.  Here's what we bought to start with:

We picked items with a long shelf life and basically no prep time.  But speaking of shelf life, make sure you are keeping track of expiration dates for all of your food.  Keep a running list of all the items in you have and when they expire.  I'll even provide you with a free PDF download!  

Download yours HERE!  My roommate and I are going to post it to the inside of one of the cabinet doors.

We put all the items in the cabinet...

And here it is so far...

Since this post was an information overload, I will be doing Part II tomorrow for packing some of these items into each backpack.  

How's your progress going?  Share, share, share!