72-hour kits! Add water and some sort of water purifier. As far as purifiers go, you could get some water tablets or something similar, so that you can purify water from natural sources. Amazon has some here ,(http://www.amazon.com/Potable-Aqua-Water-Treatment-Tablets/dp/B001949TKS?ie=UTF8&tag=safgatin-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969) but you can probably also find them in local stores. Shop around for something that will work for your family.
Now, as far as having water in your kits... you should have one gallon, per person, per day. That's three gallons per person, which is a lot when you think about lugging it around (especially if you have a large family). I recently came across a neat website called 72hours.org, which gives some great information about all things to do with 72-hour kits, including advice about water.
(http://72hours.org/water.html) Clicking on that link will take you to a ton of great information about what kind of water to store, how to do it, etc.
How's your three month supply coming along? Remember, the goal is to have three months of supplies so that you should not have to visit a store for anything during those three months. Start by making a food storage plan (http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-toplan-your-three-month-supply.html) and go from there!
Now, as far as having water in your kits... you should have one gallon, per person, per day. That's three gallons per person, which is a lot when you think about lugging it around (especially if you have a large family). I recently came across a neat website called 72hours.org, which gives some great information about all things to do with 72-hour kits, including advice about water.
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How's your three month supply coming along? Remember, the goal is to have three months of supplies so that you should not have to visit a store for anything during those three months. Start by making a food storage plan (http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-toplan-your-three-month-supply.html) and go from there!
Part 7 of the 10 Principles of Preparedness:
http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/ten-principles-of-preparedness-part-7/
Posted: 05 May 2011 08:05 PM PDT
A couple of years ago, a storm blew over our home in Georgia, ripping down trees and power lines. Large branches fell from the trees in our yard, and some landed on our electrical wires, completely ripping them from where they were connected to our home.
In short, the power went out, and it was nighttime. Perfect, I thought, this will be a great opportunity to try out some of our emergency preparedness stuff!
We had recently gotten one of those nifty crank flashlight/radio/cell phone charger thingies, and I was excited to try it out for the first time. When we had received it, I carefully placed it (still in the box) into our 72-hour kits, keeping it brand-spanking-new so that it would be in mint condition in an emergency.
Umm... bad move! Once I finally found it (after digging around in the pitch black for a while), it took a really long time to get it open because it was in one of those packages that takes knives and scissors and jackhammers to get open (you know what I'm talking about, right?). So, I finally got it open (a few curse words later), and I expected that I would just have to crank it and it would just work right away, right?
Wrong. It kinda had to be put together. And there were lengthy directions about how to use it, what not to do, etc. And guess what.... I couldn't read those directions because it was too dark and I had completely run out of patiences. I gave up.
Moral of this lengthy story? When you get new things for your 72-hour kits, or for anything relating to food storage/emergency preparedness, open it up and try it out before the emergency occurs! Emergencies are stressful; don't add the stress of having to learn a new concept/skill on top of that.
So, what kinds of things should you try out in advance? Everything!
-Open up flashlights, make sure they work. Put them in easy-to-grab places, so you won't have to dig around for them in the dark.
-Try out any cooking methods you have (camp stoves, etc)
-Try out your water purifying method of choice, or at least read up about it so you know what to do when/if the time comes
-Take the plastic wrap off your first aid kit. Familiarize yourself with the items inside. Figure out if anything more is needed.
-This idea also extends to food storage. Do you store a lot of wheat, but never cook with wheat? Start practicing now! You don't necessarily have to cook with wheat all the time now, but you should know how to do it if you are storing it.
Basically, just open things up, read over any directions, and make sure things work! Also, take off any extraneous packaging that takes up extra space that you might need (like in your 72-hour kits, which are often tight on space).
Any of these things could be fun family activities to do together. Designate an emergency preparedness night, and practice using all your gear. Eat some food storage food to round out the activity.
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