What Are You Waiting For To Be Prepared

What are you waiting for to be prepared? Maybe you are prepared with water, food, cooking devices, and fuel. Maybe you are prepared with 72-hour kits. Here’s the deal, whatever you have done to be prepared for the unexpected you need to pat yourself on the back. I’m now getting requests to speak at preparedness groups for the month of September. You may or may not realize that September is designated as National Preparedness Month. I think people are starting to realize that it doesn’t have to be a major disaster for you to consider being better prepared. Being prepared is having the tools you need when you need them. Those tools could be water, food, skills, a garden, or at least knowing how to garden. Please get prepared with the necessities your family needs today, not tomorrow.

If we have a major disruption in our communities our grocery stores will become empty very quickly. Trust me, I have seen empty store shelves. Now I drive to local stores to take pictures of the empty shelves after a minor disruption here so I can share that information with my readers in hopes they get the vision of why being prepared is important. I don’t need anything, I just want to be aware of what the stores will look like when we have floods, damaged roads that are closed from too much rain, fires, or other disruptive events.

What are you waiting for:

If you can take one night a month, or one night every quarter at the very minimum, and make a plan with your family for evacuations, I would love it. You don’t have to make it a scary experience, just explain where you can meet, what to do, and where to go if you are separated. Can you imagine your child walking home from school and an earthquake starts rumbling? If you have a plan they will know what to do and where to go. Will they be scared, probably, but not as scared if you had never talked about a plan after the disaster hits your community. If the family is home, hurray, but that isn’t always the case, and you may still need to evacuate the whole family. This past week over 200,000 people we forced to evacuate an area downriver from an overfilled dam that was showing damage from recent storms. That was in California, north of Sacramento. Those people couldn’t return home for at least two days. I’m sure most of those people never thought they’d have to leave the safety of their own homes. I wonder how many had their 72-hour kits with them as they drove out of the driveway?

Take Charge and Prepare a Plan

Sometimes people have to hear it over and over again to prepare for the unexpected. Maybe they read about the floods in other areas of the country and it hits them they better get their act together to be prepared to evacuate. Or at least have some water stored and food with a can opener. I can eat food out of a can if I have a can opener. My suggestion is to get at least two can openers. If one breaks you have a spare. I have to laugh, I was teaching a food storage class and one lady said I don’t own a can opener. I was shocked, who doesn’t own a can opener? I asked her how she was going to open the #10 can of food items she has stored. She mainly buys fresh meat and vegetables for her meals. I bet she has a can opener now. Life is good if we have a can opener and a plan. KitchenAid Can Opener, Red

Here are a few items that would help you get through a short-term disaster:

1. Water, we can’t survive without water and I will not be standing in lines to get a case of water at the city or county buildings after our water lines are broken or our local water supplies become contaminated. Please store some water.
2. Food, I don’t care if it’s a few extra cans of beans, green beans or diced tomatoes in a can. Chili in cans would work, pancake mix, etc.
3. Cooking devices, this is one of my favorites: Camp Chef Butane 1 Burner Stove with Camping Case and fuel: 12 Butane Fuel GasOne Canisters for Portable Camping Stoves
4. Storing a few extra paper plates, cups, and plastic silverware would be awesome so we don’t have to use our water to wash dishes.
5. Learn to make crackers, tortillas, or bread because if you have a jar of peanut butter, canned beans, canned veggies, and fruits you have a meal or two sitting in your pantry.
6. Learn to cook from scratch, you can survive any disaster with those skills and a full pantry with baking items needed.

Please be prepared for the unexpected, you must take care of yourself and your family. The government can’t take care of everyone. Please be self-reliant, you can sleep at night if you are prepared. May God bless you and yours.

My favorite things:

My book is available worldwide in every bookstore and online everywhere.

Prepare Your Family for Survival: How to Be Ready for Any Emergency or Disaster Situation