Prepping short for preparedness is preparing yourself and your family for either short term or long term disruptions. Could be for weather issues, financial, illness, job loss or a national or world emergency. Depending on what you’re prepping for what steps you will take to be ready. If you are prepping for a short term emergency, less than 2 weeks, it will be relatively easy to have what you need on hand. I suggest writing out your plan so you have a guide to follow and keep you on track. Depending on your location will determine what you can do reasonably. If you’re in an apartment having a generator may not be option so keep that in mind when writing out your plan.
A few things I recommend
1. Flashlights and batteries or solar lantern
2. Radio-Make sure you have batteries or it is solar charged.
3. Food-non perishable food items. Canned soups ready to eat, canned meats, crackers, trail mix, nuts, dried fruits, shelf stable milk, dry cereal, bottles water(lots of water) instant coffee if you are a coffee drinker. You get the idea.
4- solar cell phone charger
5. Generator- If you can I strongly recommend a generator. The bigger the better. If it’s multi fuel that’s even better. Please keep in mind you really can’t run one 24/7 as the fuel cost is crazy and in an emergency fuel may limited by availability or you lack of being able to get more. You can run them a few times a day to keep freezers and fridges cool so you don’t lose perishables.
6. Medicine/ Hygiene - OTC and prescriptions. Keep extra on hand at all times. A high quality first aid kit. You can buy them already put together or if you’re like me you can put one together yourself. Hygiene is important. Soap, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, Kleenex, toilet paper/wipes, shampoo, Lysol or Clorox wipes, bleach etc..
7. Don’t forget the pets if you have them. Keep extra food, water and any medication they may be on stocked up.
8. If you are preparing for a winter storm in an area where things get really bad have things like ice melt or some sort of salt on hand to melt ice off walkways. Shovel or snowblower for snow.
9. Source of heat is very important if an emergency happens in the winter and you live in an area that gets cold. A ventless propane/gas heater is great. If you use one you need a source of propane or natural gas. Wood burning stoves are a phenomenal source of heat.
10. If you have kids having a source is entertainment is necessary. Coloring books, crayons, puzzles, board games, and even games on computers and iPads can keep them entertained providing you can keep those items charged.
Sort term emergency preparation is pretty simple, not all that expensive and can be done in a short period of time. Short term to me is less than 2 weeks. Look at your situation and prepare accordingly. If the power was out for 2 weeks and your cook stove is electric how would you cook? Do you have a grill? Does it need propane? Do you have enough propane to carry you through cooking on your grill daily for 2 weeks? Is hot your water heater electric? How would you heat water for washing yourself and staying clean?
How you prep will also be determine by your location town, city or country. For instance. If we needed to heat water or cook in the country. We can build a fire, that’s not an option in an apartment. So think about your location and how you could make it work. Do you have a place you could go if you needed to leave? How would you get there?
We are living in very uncertain times. We all need to be thinking about these things and taking steps to ensure our personal safety and the safety of our families.
Next time I’ll talk about long term preparedness.
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