Two Things You Can Do Right Now To be Better Prepared

Of the myriad of things we can do to be better prepared the two easiest to do right now would be to stock up on food and water.  These would be the most difficult to acquire during a disaster.  Think about  what is first to go whenever  there is a prediction of an impending disaster?  In fact after the Tsunami hit Japan stores where emptied within hours as panic buying ensued.  Even in areas which seemed unaffected the stores where being emptied.  A similar situation was seen in Haiti after the massive earthquake devastated Port O Prince in 2010.  In my home state Florida we see how quickly the shelves can become bare every time a hurricane threatens.  After hurricane Andrew devastated my home town Miami we quickly realized acquiring food can be quite difficult after a disaster and with a boil water order in place we also realized the value of having stored water.  When you consider that with today’s  highly efficient transportation systems most stores business models demand they don’t stock more than a few days worth of food to minimize spoilage and increase profits.  What this means is that anything which disrupts transportation could potentially cut off our food supply.  This could be anything from a disaster, terrorist attack, the grid going down, or even a strike.  Would you be ready to be self sufficient for a few days while things get worked out?  FEMA suggests having three days worth of food.  From what I saw after hurricane Andrew and the power outages after near misses from Hurricanes Wilma and Katrina I would say two weeks is a good minimum.  Some preppers will work their supplies up to a years worth rationalizing that even if nothing where to happen you would still be saving money by buying food at today’s prices since it will only become more expensive as time goes on.  Even in the event of an unexpected job loss having a supply of food can be a huge help since funds normally used for food could be saved or better used.

Water is more important than food when it comes to general survival.  According to the rule of threes, a person can only go about three days without water in moderate climates with moderate activity levels yet can go for about three weeks without food under the same conditions.  Water is also the easiest to store.  Methods can range from various types of store bought pre filled containers to filling your own.  Just about any food grade container will do as long as its integrity is intact and is clean.  For those with larger disposable incomes, buying pre filled containers may be the fastest option.  For the rest of us bottling your own may be the better option.  It is after all less expensive leaving available funds for other important supplies.  Containers can range from fifty gallon drums to the little eight ounce water bottles you can refill from your own used ones or acquire by raiding your neighbors recycling bin.  For those with a lot of space and the right tools fifty gallon drums are a great way to store lots of water .  At approximately eight pounds a gallon for many this may not be the best option.  After all a four hundred pound container would be difficult haul around.  A better option for many may be the five gallon water bottles commonly used for drinking water machines.  My preferred method is using  two liter soda bottles.  The softer plastic milk gallons are unacceptable for long term water storage as they easily start to leak in a short time. The soda bottles are already food grade and because of their size are real easy to store.

This may very well be the best option for apartment dwellers.  I can easily keep twenty such bottles under my bed and another twenty in my bedroom closet.  Adding another one of those bottles to both cars and another ten in our balcony closet we easily have twenty six gallons of water. 

The current recommendation is one gallon per day per person for both drinking and cleaning.  Our stored water easily gives us nine days of water for our little three person family.  Of course this is not counting whatever may be in the refrigerator at the time.  A word of caution for those who bottle your own water make sure you adequately clean the bottles and disinfect your water.  The method I use is to simply clean out the bottle with soap and water followed by a bleach solution consisting of one table spoon of plain non scented Clorox bleach.  You then rinse several times and fill up the bottle from your tap.  This procedure is very important since any container previously containing food products may have residue which would create an environment where bacteria and other microorganisms can easily grow.  If your water comes from a well or any other source which may have been compromised then you must filter and disinfect the water before storing.

Food storage requires a bit more planning.  You’ll want to store items you already eat.  You’ll also want to eat what you buy in order to rotate your items insuring your stored foods are the freshest they can be.  You have a great deal of options ranging from freeze dried, dehydrated, canned, bottled and even boxed foods.  Each will have their pros and cons.  Effectively organizing these based on your particular needs is the best strategy.  If you like pasta then perhaps storing dry pasta and bottled pasta sauce may be a better option than getting canned pasta unless space is an issue in which case cans would be a better option.  A simple way to accumulate a good supply of food is by “copy canning.”  The term was coined by the late Ron Hood and it refers to doubling up on commonly used foods in order to accumulate a surplus over time.  A simple example would be if you eat a can of tuna a week, simply buy two cans instead of one.  Not a terrible expenditure and at the end of four weeks you have four more weeks worth of tuna.  Over months you can accumulate an impressive amount of food.  Taking advantage of specials, coupons and two for one deals is another way of adding to our food stores.  In addition to canned, boxed and bagged foods purchasing foods that are naturally stored dry such as rice and beans are a great way to further increase our supply.

There you have it folks, two things you can store right now that will dramatically improve your level of preparedness. Of course this article only scratches the surface of this subject matter but hopefully it stimulated your interest and will lead to further exploration. In future articles we’ll look further into this subject as well as exploring methods for emergency cooking, water procurement, field expedient water purification and disinfection, wild edibles and much, much, more.