Emergency preparedness is something a lot of people think about after an emergency occurs. A lot of us are busy living life and trying to get through every day. If you haven’t been spurred into thinking of preparing for emergencies or trained by family or friends, then it may just not occur to you…until now.
Life has been upside down for a few years now. People who never would have thought of doing things differently are all of sudden taking that precious time needed to make some changes in their life; changing a few habits, changing ways of thinking.
We could talk about who started what and why and how, but instead, lets get down to the dirt of it for “the regular folks” like us.
Prices continue to rise:
- Eating out
- Eating at home
- Fuel for vehicles
- Natural gas
- Heating oil
- Basically….everything.
If you can think of something that has gone down in price, please let me know.
Right now everything is climbing faster than I ever thought it was. I saw a meme saying that gas prices are higher than the movie I Am Legend predicted they would be in the apocalypse.
So, motivation should be there. You’re reading this because you understand the seriousness of the situation.
A lot of homesteaders will tell you that they do not prepare for emergencies, they live independently. I’ll discuss more about that below, but you need to be encouraged that there are many things that you can do immediately with little training that can make a huge difference. There are, after all, different types of preparedness.
Acute Emergency Preparedness
This type of preparedness involves being prepared for an acute emergency.
- You lose electricity (a big deal in cold climates during the winter)
- Someone in your close circle is in the hospital
- A house fire
- Neighborhood evacuation due to gas leak or fire
These types of emergencies usually require what we call a “Bug Out Bag”. When my kids were little I would keep a bag full of necessities and comforts in the closet by the door. I would also keep changes of clothing and snacks in the car. I’d change out the clothes as seasons changed or they got bigger. This came in handy SO many times!! I cannot stress how great it was that I got in that habit. You can learn more about bug out bags and kids here.
I don’t keep a bag like that now. My kids are older teens and know what to do in an emergency.
But we do keep certain supplies in our vehicles. Some go in and out with the seasons, but some supplies are always in the cars:
- First Aid Kit (always – restock as needed)
- Car Kit (always – jumper cables, etc)
- Blanket (winter)
- Lotion, sunscreen, lip balm (always)
- Gas Masks (My husband always keeps one in the back of his car. The rest of us keep ours in out emergency closet in the garage).
- I used to keep snacks and clothing for the kids when they were little
I also suggest having cash on hand. When countries go in turmoil, one of the things I hear over and over is that bank cards were not working. Cash on hand for buying gas, food, and other supplies is an important emergency supply.
This is preparedness and it will vary depending on the size of your family, ages of those in your family, and your habits and needs. If you make an acute emergency plan for your house and car, think of worst case scenario needs as well as comforts that you’d really like to have if you have to leave the home or sleep in the car.
Urban/Subrurban Emergency Supply Collecting
This is another type of emergency preparedness. Many people do not have the space to grow all of their food year round (Though you’d be surprised as what you can do. More on that below), but want to prepare.
I tell people to ask themselves what they would want on hand within their home if they didn’t want to (or couldn’t) leave their home for 3 weeks.
This isn’t the crazy hoarding of nonsensical items that happened in 2020. This is strategically buying things THAT YOU USE REGULARLY!
Get A FULL food supply list here: Emergency Food Supply
Many people want to stock up on ramen noodles and dried beans. Never mind that they’ve never eaten those things in their lives! Always buy what you eat and use on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis!
Some of you are old enough to remember the Y2K craze. My husband and I knew very little about how to prepare for an emergency. We said to each other, “I have no idea if anything is going to happen so lets get a few extra things.” The problem was that we were extremely poor and ignorant. We bought cheap junk that we didn’t even use or eat. We ended up sharing with some friends and family who still make fun of us occasionally for our food choices.
I’ll go MUCH more into detail on this in Part 2, but for now, look through your cupboards and under your sinks and write down what you use the most and what you could buy more of. If you’re a family that flies through floss and you know you’d go crazy without it, buy extra next time you’re at the store. Again, think, “If I didn’t want to or couldn’t go to the store for three weeks, what would I want to have in the house already?”
Me, January 2020: The meat is getting low in the freezer, I’m going to call the Farm and order another cow.
Me, February 2020 finally getting around to it, makes call and says I want to pick it up in March.
March rolls around and I get a call from my meat supplier saying that they are flooded with people wanting meat and they can’t give me my order, but they could give me a small amount. I was not happy, but the owner called me back and said he really wanted to give me what I ordered since mine was a standard order before everyone started freaking out and buying from him because the stores were empty. I actually suggested that he just deliver to me (he lives near by and is awesome and drops off my supply for me) every few weeks until he’s given me my full order. That way he can also calm down the other people who are calling him in a frenzy. It worked out great. But this is an example of what can happen. It just so happened to hit when my supplies were low. Otherwise, I would have been sitting at home oblivious to the meat shortage, because I had an extra supply of what we use on a regular basis.
As prices continue to rise, I hope a number of you already made extra purchases so that you aren’t paying the higher prices until you run low and have to slowly.
So for stockpile preparing, don’t forget:
- Food
- Bathroom Items
- Car needs
- Cash (You never know when you’ll need it during the emergency to buy some of those items listed above)
This is my topic for Part 2. I provide an extensive, detailed checklist and guide for buying food supplies.
Self Sufficiency
This should be the ultimate goal. It is definitely more difficult depending on knowledge base and land availability, but even those living in urban settings can take steps to more self sufficiency.
Those who choose to homestead today and didn’t grow up doing so, are usually those who want to learn lost skills.
I chose to start my journey in this direction because of the toxicity of ingredients in…everything we buy. 10 years ago you didn’t have organic options in stores, and what you could find was extremely expensive. There are more options now, but knowing how to make your own supplies and food gets puts everything into your own hands.
I know I can make my own bathroom supplies.
I know how to grow food (from fruit trees to herb and vegetable gardens) and have some animals that can help provide for us, and other connections who can fill in the gaps.
We are blessed with natural springs for a great water supply.
Learn more about an Emergency Water Purification and Storage here.
These are things we never had 10 years ago, and some of which I gave up and being able to have. I was content with that though and worked on what I could do. And was empowered! You totally can me too. You can get started! Or expand in this area, wherever you are right now.
There are a zillion topics under this category or preparedness. I will be touching on some (water supply, heat supply, etc).
My blog will continue to focus on soap making and the small things that we can do every day to learn new skills, but it’s good to touch on the big things as well.
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