Preparedness

A week or so ago, I was at my Aunt Heather's house watching the BYU game, and she had a big orange duffle bag out on the floor. I asked her about it, and she said she was updating her 72-hour emergency kit. I don't know what it was about that exchange, but I have launched into full-scale preparation mode. It's been a fun project to do with Cal while Reed is "away" (working 80-hour weeks), and I may or may not have reached the "too involved" point. Haha! I thought I'd list some of the ways I've become more prepared lately, and some of the resources I've come across as I've tried to learn more about this subject.

1. 72-Hour-Kit -- I've put this off for a while, because it always seems like there is SO much stuff to pack up. I mean, pretty soon the kit starts sounding like an entire U-haul truck, filled to the brim. But as I went over recommendations from the church, and began collecting items, I figured out that it wasn't such a huge imposition. Technically, I used a website that isn't officially affiliated with the church. Click here for the checklist that I used.

And voila! Everything on the list, with room to spare. With one exception: water. It recommends a staggering 3 gallons per person, but even with a disaster-induced adrenaline rush, I doubt I'll be able to haul 9 gallons of water as I'm fleeing with my nearly two-year old son. (I picture a meteor storm in my hypothetical apocalyptic scenarios, just fyi.)

So instead, I have six, 12-oz water bottles tucked in the orange duffle bag, and extra water stored in my home.

Included inside the orange duffle is our emergency binder, which I have learned is an important part of any emergency kit. It took a little bit of time, but I collected all of our important documents: medical records, insurance info, house and car key (yes I had to go make copies specifically for the kit), copies of prescriptions, passports, cash, checks, etc. It actually felt very refreshing to have it all organized in one safe place.

I went to ReadyAmerica and filled out emergency plan forms to include in the binder. It was a pain to collect all of our doctors' numbers and info, but it made me realize that I didn't have a lot of that information ready at my fingertips in case of emergency -- now I do.

2. Food Storage -- I guess I'm a real grown-up now. For those of you who don't know my dad, he is actually a food storage JUNKIE. When it comes to food storage, I've always sort of felt like I'd just run to my dad and he'd provide for my little family, too. But I need to grow up now. I've got Cal. I can't run to my dad, even though he has a sweet generator-powered emergency stove top, and we'd eat like kings during a nuclear holocaust.

I've found a lot of good information about how to start and maintain a food storage system, utilizing the resources that the church has for us. I found this blog post to be helpful regarding the LDS Cannery, which I plan to use. You can even download the order form and fill it out ahead of time, which is nice, because it lists the prices. This is a goal for this year. I plan to increase our supply each month, if possible, AND learn to cook the foods kept in our food storage. (What the heck do you do with a bag of dry beans?) :)

3. Gardening -- All of the preparedness sites (LDS and otherwise) have stressed the importance of knowing how to start a garden, including how to germinate seeds and properly take care of and harvest plants. I've always discounted this, because I live in an apartment. But I have a nice, sunny balcony now -- I can easily start a container garden, and why not practice gardening skills (something I've never really done before). Worse case scenario, I waste $10 and don't grow anything. Best case, I grow red peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers and have free gazpacho all summer long, AND prove to myself that I could start and maintain a garden if the need arose in my life.

4. Education -- As hokey as it sounds, I'm trying to learn skills (things that are probably second nature to other people), such as how to purify unclean water, how to sprout seeds, how to turn off the gas or put out a fire, first aid skills, etc. I want to know that, should an emergency arise, I would have the [cultivated] common sense and knowledge to handle the situation properly. So over the last two weeks or so, I've been going to eHow and google, looking up random things like "how to manually open a garage door during a power outage" or "how to safely collect rainwater." Haha, Rachel, I bet you know ALL of these things!

So wish me luck in my continued preparations. I highly recommend a similar project to each of you. I never hurts to be prepared for emergencies, and we have a lot of support and resources from the church and from our communities. Plus, I may get free gazpacho out of it! :)