This is an emergency 2…
OK, getting out of Europe trip recap mode and back to reality for a minute. Check out part 1 of my emergency preparedness brain dump here.
So we’ve got all of the supplies in order. What else are we missing? Ahhh, that’s right: food and water.
WATER.
We recently purchased a Berkey water filter. Seattle water is great, but our pipes and/or water heater aren’t in the best shape so we bought this bad boy for uber water filtration. It will come in handy if we have to snag water from an alternative water source like our Water Bob š We also have 25 gallons of water stored with this cool boxed water kit. The general rule of thumb is to have one gallon of water per person for two weeks, which we don’t quite have, but hell, it’s better than nothing! I also plan on adding iodine pills to the mix down the road.
FOOD.
Out of everything that needs to be prepped, food is where I’m the weakest. I’ve never been able to figure out a good system for rotation and end up wasting a lot of items that I don’t catch before they expire. There are also items that have a great shelf life that I’d rather not eat on the regular. Here’s a list of what I try and keep on-hand.
- Rice and beans – I like the Vigo brand
- Peanut butter
- Oatmeal – Trader Joe’s carries one that rocks
- Nuts – Costco has an assorted, no salt mix that’s handy to have around
- Pasta
- Power bars – Larabars are my jam
- Rice
- Instant tea and coffee
- Sports drinks
- Soup and chili
- Booze!
I like to think that my gardening skills could come in handy too if there happened to be some sort of food shortage, but I can only count on that for four or five months out of the year right now. I do plan on winter gardening next year though so that could help stretch that length of time.
Oh, and I can’t forget Miss Stella! I always pick up the largest bag of dry dog food possible to keep around. She mostly eats wet food but I can never keep up with buying enough – it’s darn expensive too. At least I know she’d be OK crunching on some dry stuff if it came down to it.
OK folks, what am I missing?
