Emergency Preparedness

For awhile there, this was the site at the end of my counter. And it kept building and BUILDING....like it had a life of its own! Why, you ask? Did I have such nonsense piling up? Well, our ward (like many wards...or ALL wards, really) focus' a lot on Emergency Preparedness. I've never been in a ward where the Bishop goes to so many lengths to make sure ALL the members are prepared. We have consistent meetings on 72 hour kits and food storage, they split our ward into family groups who meet once a quarter. It really is fantastic, and I've been doing my best to get our stuff ready....thus the mess on my counter. I FINALLY put together a 72 hour kit for each of our family members. I guess what finally did it...sinced I've put it off for years now...is this 'suggestion' list and a step-by-step Starter Kit. I'm not very creative when it comes to storing food. But this list had stuff my kids, husband and I would actually eat! Supposedly each kit cost under $5, too.

And all 3 days fit inside a milk jug! You take a cleaned out milk jug (I just rinsed mine with water and soap)....cut down and out from the top to make a little hatch.

I separated out everything that needed actual servings.

Then combined each day into its own baggie...so there's no confusion on what to eat each day. ;) My thoughts on doing that were that, well...if we are eating out of a 72 hour kit, then something really bad is going on...why would we want to spend time thinking about "what do we eat?" AND we don't want to eat too much in that first 24 hour period, right? Stress will give you a good case of the munchies... All 3 days fit into the milk jug...

Then you tape it up best as possible and label it for each family member (just in case mom's contains chocolate Ü).

Another thing we were able to buy from some fantastic people in our ward, is backpacks on discount. They fit the kit and 3 two-liters of water (I took these pictures awhile ago...I'm still working on our water supply). The 3 bottles of water will be enough to make the food in the kit and also to use for cleaning, etc. Obviously, the more water you have stored, the better. I also need to add one of those portable stoves (gotta have warm beenie weenies). This is a very basic 72 hour kit. There are so many things I want to add to it, such as toiletries, flashlights, a first aid kit. One day, when the budget allows, I'd love to get one of those kits in a bucket that even comes with a toilet seat! Talk about living in luxury!! I'm just glad I learned how to dig a latrine at Girl's Camp (which is why it makes me sad that the YW these days get so spoiled at Girl's Camp).

There are so many resources our there for 72-hour kits. Whether you make it yourself or buy it...there's lot of options out there. I'm so glad I finally put something together...my dad is a kit-guru, and I've been taught well by him, so I should have done it a long time ago!