Snow? Hurricane? Fire? Equals Empty Grocery Store Shelves!

Wow it has been really crazy around here lately. I work at a university and I thought after school was out and the kids went home for the holidays things would settle down, well that hasn’t happen, if anything it has been even crazier than before. It has taken me three days to write this one post I truly hope it makes sense to you.

Our government suggests that everyone have at least two weeks worth of food on hand at all times. I can understand why, most grocery stores only have a two day (if we are lucky) supply food but that goes extremely fast in the event of an emergency. I don’t know if you live in a weather volatile area or not but we live a few hours from the coast and when they say hurricane here the shelves are empty before night fall. So my words of advice for you are…NEVER EVER WAIT TO HAVE AN EMERGENCY TO BUY SUPPLIES.

Your emergency meals do not have to be fancy meals but they need to be meals that are easily prepared with limited water and power supply. A camp stove would be a good thing to invest in along with several cans of propane. Our house is total electric and we have well water so if we loose power we would be totally helpless if we didn’t have an emergency plan. Oh and remember the can opener.

Make a list of easy meals that do not require refrigeration or a lot of water to prepare. Then start buying things slowly. Even if you have two days worth of emergency food on hand you are better prepared than most people. If disaster strikes it takes 3-5 days for help to get to you depending on how devastated the surrounding area is, so you will need to be prepared to be own your own for at least 72 hours that is 9 meals. If you have to leave your home during this time you will need to be prepared to take these 9 meals with you so don’t forget the plastic forks and spoons.

I have a medium size rolling bag that I use for our emergency food supply. I have everything I need in there so all I have to do is grab it and go. It sets on two cases of water. Our meals are things like beef stew, the lunch packs of tuna that comes with the packs of relish, mayonnaise and crackers. There are beef jerky, pop top cans of fruit, beanie weenies, granola bars, juice boxes, and pop tarts. I also the shelf stable milk and little boxes of cereal. I have bags of trail mix, dried fruit, nuts, and chips in a can. I also have individual packs of drink mix to add to the water for a variety. I also have sweets packed like, cookies, mints, and gum. I packed each member of my family’s favorite candy bar. I also have a can opener, plastic spoons, forks and knives, napkins, wet wipes, and paper plates in this bag. Think about living in a dorm at college and you can picture my emergency food bag. During an emergency I try to make life for my family as smooth as possible. It is the little things that make a stressful situation seem a little less stressful.

I rotate the food twice a year once in the spring and once in the fall. I usually do it the weekends that the time changes; the same time that I change the batteries in my smoke detectors and clocks. This is also the time of the year that I check my pantry for food that is not being rotated fast enough and I donate it to the food bank.

When the boys were little and we lived seven hours away from family I always kept bags packed with clothes just in case we got a call in the middle of the night and had to leave. They were kept in the hall closet with our emergency food. One time we had to evacuate and I was so glad that those bags were ready. We got a knock on the door at 2:00 am and there had been a wreck a couple of blocks away and a chemical truck was involved. It was leaking chemicals and we had to leave our home. We quickly grabbed the boys, our bags and emergency food. It was nice because we were gone in less than 30 minutes. Not only that but when they woke up they were able to get dressed for school, eat breakfast and still go to school. Of course they didn’t think it was so cool but I did.

I will have to admit now that they are older and on their own I am not that organized. Oh I still have my emergency food bag but it will take me a little longer than 30 minutes to get out of my house if we had to evacuate.

Think about it why would you have to leave your home…weather? fire? chemical spill? What is another reason you would have to leave, just how fast could you get out of your home and to safety? Once you arrived would you have to fight the crowds to get food for your family or could you stake claim to the corner and set about keeping your children entertained?