In a perfect world, if something went wrong, my family and I would get in our off-road vehicle and travel to my fully stocked large retreat cabin, that sits on a thousand acres of farm land, complete with it’s own water source, (a spring fed creek and stocked lake), its own vegetable garden, surrounded by plentiful game and its own moat. Our six-bedroom cabin, with it’s own array of photovoltaic (PV) panels, charge controller, and battery system, along with our solar hot water system, and fireplace, and it’s stocked pantry with several years worth of food and ammunition- would be waiting for us. My husband’s military friends, who are all excellent fisherman, and hunters, could come with their families, bringing their own reserves, ammunition, and gear, and we could utilize our own private compound to “weather out the storm”. But unfortunately, I am not wealthy, and I do not live in a perfect world, and do not own a 1,000 acres or any of the things I previously mentioned. I do not own an off-road vehicle, do not have my own private gas well, so what do I do? It is relatively easy for those who are wealthy to prepare for emergency contingencies, but what about the rest of the population? What if you are one of the many unemployed Americans who are barely getting by now? Or a retiree, living on a fixed income? A single mom? My philosophy is to make do with what you have, where you are.
Some of the things I’ve read about emergency preparations are ridiculously expensive and absolutely daunting for the average person. So I decided to see what ideas I could come up with, for the average person, who is “just getting by”. Here’s a compilation of some easy to do things, that anyone can do, and some of them cost nothing!
- H2O- WATER is the most important resource we have, and need, and if a disaster were to
strike, rendering the Electric grid down, most municipal water supply systems would go
down within a week., some less than that, as many do not have back-up generators. An emergency supply of water for each member of the family could mean the difference between living or not. A minimum requirement would be one gallon per person or pet, per day, and extra for bathing.
a) Storing Water – If you’re on a strict budget, re-use containers you are already bringing into your house. You will be recycling at it’s best! Over a 10 day period, here’s what I accumulated, at almost no cost whatsoever: Two gallon containers (milk jugs), Two 2-liter pop bottles, Two half gallons of juice containers, and a 1 gallon jug from lemonade. That’s over 5 gallons of water. Wash the containers fully and then fill with water. b) I line the perimeter of my closets, my pantry, and under the staircase of my home, with containers of water . You can also store an entire row of them behind many couches or other large pieces of furniture, or under a bed, if you live in an apartment that does not have a garage. These are all “hidden” storage areas, that do not take up any usable floor space. If you wanted to add a shelf, you could double that storage. By using this free method, I can accumulate 20 gallons of water, without spending any money, other than the cost the city charges me for water, every month. After 18 months, I have 360 gallons of extra water.
b)BLEACH Every time household bleach goes on sale, I buy a few gallons. Bleach is a very inexpensive anti-bacterial agent, and you can add a little to the jugs of water if they’ve been sitting awhile. You may also want to rinse the milk jugs 9after washing thoroughly) with a 5 to one solution of water to bleach, to kill bacteria, before filling up.
c)PURIFIER: A portable water purifier would be a wonderful addition to any emergency kit, and can be obtained for less than $80. If you have to leave your location, this could be the difference between surviving or not.
2) FOOD RESERVES
a) DEHYDRATED FOODS ARE EASY TO STORE AND CARRY – Don’t forget the proverbial Ramen noodles. I recently purchased a package of 10 packs of Ramen noodles at a dollar store, for only $1.00 a package. That’s 10c a meal, or 5c if you split a package with a second person. $2.00 worth of ramen noodles could feed 2 people for 10 days! Of course, this would not be optimum nutrition, but adding a little canned or dried meat, along with some vegetables, and you do have a complete meal b) CONDIMENTS-if you are down to just rice, beans and pasta, having condiments would make the food so much more palatable. Don’t throw away those extra packs of ketchup from McDonalds. Ketchup can be used as a spaghetti sauce when water and spices are added.
I save the plastic one quart yogurt containers (both fresh and frozen), and put one in the kitchen for leftover condiments. When it’s full, I put a fresh pak in the container, put the lid on it, and put it in with my food reserves. McDonald’s always give you more ketchup and salt than you could possibly use. I recently was given a large handful of Parmesan cheese, garlic sauce and dried red peppers packets when I picked up a take-out pizza. These ingredients alone could turn rice into “Risotto” or plain noodles into “Garlic Pasta Parmigiana”. Keep a one quart zip-lock bag handy in both your kitchen and your car for those extra napkins. b) CANNED GOODS are not my favorite choice, but are another practical way to store food. I recently found black fried beans (large cans) for 89c a can. Canned milk is an excellent choice, and canned fruit, as well as canned meat, like SPAM. Personally, I prefer the #10 cans, of dehydrated food. #10 cans (institutional cans) are a great value, if you are cooking for a large crowd, but if you have no refrigeration, they are impractical, heavy, and a pain to store, unless you have the proper storage containers. c) DRIED FRUIT-is relatively inexpensive, and easy to store and transport. I recently bought bags of banana chips, raisins, dried mango, and pineapple chunks for $1.50 for an 8-oz bag. Dried fruit is an excellent source of energy, and keeps you from getting constipated, when you have a diet lacking in fresh fruits and vegetables. d) TVP (TEXTURED VEGETABLE PROTEIN) is made from soy, and is an excellent source of protein as an alternative to meat. It is my all-time favorite, and requires no refrigeration (until it’s been re hydrated). It has the wonderful property of taking on the flavor of whatever you are cooking it with. If you want it to be a hamburger substitute, rehydrate it with beef bouillon. If you want it to taste like chicken, rehydrate with chicken broth. If you’re a vegetarian, rehydrate with vegetable broth or water. I love to use it as a meat sub when making spaghetti, and it adds more protein to soups and stews. Recently, I made a stew for 12 people using dehydrated minestrone soup, a handful of TVP, a handful of wild rice, and fresh red onions and carrots. I fed all 12 people for under $10. In addition, it only took about 45 minutes to make, and everyone thought I had been making soup all day! Great for cold weather! At Amazon.com this month, I purchased 4 10-oz packages of Bob’s Red Mill TVP (one of my favorite brands) for only $8.23 (including shipping!) This constitutes 44 servings of protein, for less than 19c per serving! Use this instead of meat 4-6 times a month, for an average savings of $2.50 per meal,and use the savings to help pay for your food reserves! It does have an expiration date, so you would need to start using this after a year or so. Since I use it on a regular basis anyhow, this is not a difficult thing for me, as I am just replenishing what I use after awhile, still in keeping with my goal of accumulating 18 months worth of food. It’ also great as tacos, and in chili. Another favorite dish is black beans, rice and tomatoes, with a handful of TVP added. The men who are big meat eaters do not even have a clue that they ate a “meatless meal”!
3) SAVE IT! Those reusable household plastic items, like cups, grocery bags, containers like the 1 qt yogurt containers I mentioned previously, those would be invaluable in the event that commercially made items were unavailable. I could write a book on the many uses for grocery bags. My mother taught me a trick: Fold them, and you can store three times as many , in the same space! In the event that you did not have running water, you could put one in your toilet, or on top of a 5-gallon bucket, and use it as an emergency toilet liner. Your home would quickly become unpleasant , if you could no longer flush the toilet,and you wouldn’t want to waste valuable drinking water on toilet-flushing! They also make great trash can liners, when you don’t have any for small trash cans. You can use one as an emergency glove, in lieu of a latex glove, for nasty cleaning jobs.
4) (HIDE IT IN PLAIN VIEW! A Food Reserve does you no good if it is stolen from you. In the event that a disaster of a catastrophic nature occurs, you could be forced to DEFEND your food reserves! A Mormon friend of mine has a fake vanity table, (complete with glass top!) and if you lifted up the fabric, you would find food reserves. Any large quantity of the same uniform size could be used as a piece of furniture, hidden in plain view! A case of food, covered by a cloth, could also be used as an end table or night stand. Simply painting a cardboard box with black paint makes it resemble a piece of furniture, so if you cover it with a cloth and glass top, you have a cube of food reserves, that resemble a plain piece of furniture. If you have “dead space” anywhere in your walls, or in your attic, if it’s insulated, you could also put in a reserve of dehydrated foods there. A PVC tub of food surrounded by other items in storage would not even be noticed. Another great idea is to take a large box, wrap it in Christmas paper, and use it for storage (make sure that the contents are also in air-tight containers). It will look like Christmas decorations. A false bottom in a cedar chest or closet could house your valuable cans of food or shallow boxes.
5) CONVERT! At least a portion of your savings should be converted to precious metals. My personal favorite is silver dimes. I bought a roll of silver dollars before the millennium, at a cost of $10 per coin, for one troy ounce. That same roll today is worth FOUR TIMES THE PRICE I PAID. Dimes are a better choice as they would be a better vehicle for trading. Having gold coins might be great, but if no one can make change, they would be cumbersome. In the event of a global disaster, trading silver could be worth much, much more. Since savings accounts are paying, at best, 1-2% interest, investing that money in food reserves would be my number one choice, and silver second.
6) BE PREPARED TO LEAVE YOUR LOCATION! If things get rough, and you live in a densely populated area, your only recourse might be to leave the area. For less than $100, you can put a portable tent, extra water and food reserves, emergency blankets, and clothing, in the trunk of your car, along with a medical kit, a flashlight, some batteries and other emergency necessities. Please do not put MREs in your trunk, other than for travel, as it greatly shortens the life span of the MRE. Keeping a full tank of gas plus a safe container or two of reserve fuel could be a necessity in turbulent times. Even if you have a “safe” location, you have to be able to get to it. Having a fully stocked cabin that is unoccupied (and undefended) could be paving the way for someone ELSE to survive. After about a week of no food, martial law would be enacted, and you may not be ABLE to leave. If you do not own a vehicle, store your stuff and gear in backpacks and duffel bags, that you could carry on foot , if necessary. Every family member (other than infants) should have a packed bag. Extra underwear and socks, along with wet wipes, could be a wonderful blessing, if you ending up traveling for days, without bathing. Don’t forget medications and vitamins! I have a mother who is in her 80s, and I refill her critical prescriptions every 27 days, so that I have a reserve should something go wrong, and the pharmacy is closed. Also, if you are living off food reserves, vitamin supplements can greatly enhance your health, when your diet might not be optimal. If there are herbal alternatives for your medicines, it might be wise to stock up on them, as well, since medications might be scarce or even unobtainable.
7) HAVE A FAMILY PLAN- Being prepared in advance, and having a plan will vary, depending on where you live. If the population is large where you live, consider moving to a small town or a rural location, preferably with at least a few acres for farming. Here are many rural “fixer-uppers available right now. I recently bought a house in a small town for under $6000, that is perfectly livable. My mortgage payments are only $150 a month. This is not my permanent home, but I can use it as a “safe house”, or a vacation getaway. For that little bit of money each month, I sleep better at night, knowing that I have taken positive steps to insure a safe place for us to go to, (or for other family members to go to).
8) MAKE A GAME OF IT! Being prepared is the responsible, prudent thing to do. You are not a “HOARDER” if you have slowly and meticulously saved to insure the survival of your family. Buying food in advance is the single best return on your investment right now, as food costs go up every month! I like to set a monthly budget for my expenditures, and make it a personal challenge to see how soon I can accomplish certain goals, all staying within my budget . My husband was surprised to learn how much I had accumulated in just three short months.
9) HOW TO PAY FOR I T- Have a yard sale, and spend the proceeds on food and Emergency reserves. Get a part-time job, and spend half on getting out of debt and the other half on buying food reserves! Sell something you don’t need on Craig’s List, and use that money! Using coupons and sales, it is possible to acquire quite a bit of stuff., in less time than you think! The local “BIG LOTS” here recently had a 20% off sale, on their entire inventory. I was able to take some of the money I earned part-time and made it go very, very far with the discount, like boxes of pancake mix for $.80 a box. One of my last expenditures was a couple of good old cast-iron skillets. At only $12 each, those were are a real bargain, and they survive cooking over an open fire, quite well! Put your thinking cap on! Barter! Gives a new meaning to, “Will Work for Food!” Involve your entire family, and make it a habit that you pass on to your kids. When my kids were small, we would frequently have a “no electricity night”, and eat by candlelight. We would play board games or do puzzles, and had a fun time, while we were saving money, and if we had a power outage, it wasn’t the BIG DEAL for us that it was for some. During very cold weather, my husband and I have a queen-sized “double” sleeping bag, that we place UNDER a down comforter on our bed. You can’t even see the sleeping bag, and we are toasty warm, even in cold, snowy weather. Sleeping in sleeping bags by the fire was a “camp out at home” adventure, and my kids thought of it as great fun. Introducing your children to this concept on a regular basis (even if only once a month or quarter) is a great practice and will make you, and your family feel empowered and more secure. Remember, THE MORE PREPARED we all are, the SAFER we will all be. God Bless!