I got a call from my mother the other day. She is the mother of six, grandmother to twelve and great-grandmother of three children. She had just returned from a visit to one of my sibling’s homes. She said, “You are right! They are serious about this prepping stuff. Tell me what to do.” My mother’s revelation has been a long time in coming. She is a devout Christian and a Bible teacher. She believes that Jesus will return and scoop us all up to heaven, hopefully before the tribulation. She is what she calls a “pre-trib” [rapture] believer. I have had many conversations with her citing examples from scripture about how God has allowed His children to suffer. She is now onboard now and wants advice. This takes some analysis.
The first evaluation needs to be of her and her husband’s circumstances. Where do they live? Are there financial or mobility issues? Are there health issues? What is the best strategy for them – to prepare to evacuate or shelter in place? They live in a retirement community in a highly populated urban area. There is little chance they could evacuate during a crisis. Dad has health issues and mother is getting up in years and finding it difficult to do daily tasks. The retirement community in which they live has numerous emergency preparedness initiatives underway, and the community center was recently designated as a Red Cross emergency shelter. This is good and bad. We, when deciding where to live, rejected locations near potential emergency shelters due to the possibility of an influx of disaster victims. However, the residents in that community are happy to be preparing the best that they can. I’ve tried to get them to move out of that area and either close to me or move in with me, to no avail. I also asked my son-in-law, a devoted prepper who lives near them, to promise me that if evacuation were necessary, he would pick them up and get them out of there along with his little family. That is the best that I can do for now.
The best strategy for them, in light of the above circumstances, is to shelter in, understanding that this strategy will only work for a short-term emergency. When mother asked me how she can begin to prepare, the first words out of my mouth were “Water. You must stock up on water. You can go without food, but you cannot go without water.” “But there is no place to store anything”, she said, “our place is small”. I explained to her that she needed to get creative about storage space. I am quite familiar with their little condo at about 1400 sq. ft. She has numerous closets and an enclosed patio that adds additional square footage. I told her to line her closet floors with gallon water bottles behind the shoes – there is plenty of space there. I explained that water has a shelf life and she needs to pay attention to using the water she buys and replenishing her stock, saving the plastic gallon containers, which she can place in her storage shed in a tightly tied plastic bag for later use. Advice: Every week you go to the grocery store, pick up 4-5 gallons of water, and get some help with shopping. (Fortunately, I have daughter that lives near mom and helps her on a routine basis).
Now about food. Many promote buying a year’s worth of freeze-dried food, but most people don’t have a couple thousand dollars to throw at food storage all at once. This is true for my folks. Dad has Alzheimer’s and heart problems, so in an emergency situation mother will need to pay attention to keeping his routine as normal as possible. This could include having Dad’s favorite foods on standby. As an example, Dad likes his chocolate milk. Why not stock up on some instant chocolate milk mixes that only require water to reconstitute? For herself, she can stock up on instant coffee and powdered milk. We discussed the list of favorite foods because comfort foods can be important when everything around you is going wrong. Comfort foods satisfy the need for some sense of normalcy. People who suffer from Alzheimer’s are easily upset when the routine changes. We also discussed the need for caloric intake. Instead of buying “lo cal, heart healthy” foods, stock up on high fat, high protein, high fiber foods. Canned foods that come to mind are beans in all varieties, some that are seasoned already. I suggested stocking up on canned goods with “pop tops” – those cans that only require pulling on the tab to open, rather than relying on a manual can opener. Soup cans often come in this configuration. Mother has issues with her hands due to arthritis and it is difficult for her to use a manual can opener, even though it can be done. Many of the food items she will need to stock up on, will require the use of a manual can opener. Does she have one? Is it easy to use? If not, put getting a better can opener on the shopping list. We discussed going to a local “scratch and dent” food outlet for stocking up purposes. She knew of one nearby and made plans with my daughter to take a trip over. Advice: Stock up on canned goods of high calorie, high fiber, high protein content, preferably with “pop top” cans. Stock up on dried foods, such as instant rice, noodles, oatmeal, and the like, that only require water to reconstitute.
Now about heat and cooking. She lives in a relatively mild climate – no snow or howling winds to be concerned with. She won’t have to worry about keeping warm other than dressing warm on chilly mornings. She will have to worry about cooking or just heating water for reconstituting dry foods and warming up canned foods. She doesn’t have an outside yard or outside patio, so cooking on a grill or little stove won’t work. We discussed the use of Sterno fuel cans – the type you would use under a chafing dish. Sterno fuel cans can be purchased everywhere. The ones I have burn for about 2.5 hours each. Sterno brand cooking fuel is non-toxic, biodegradable and water soluble – fairly safe for an older couple to make use of in a small condo. You can pick up a six-pack of 2 hr. burning cans on Amazon for about twenty bucks. If you think about using one can per day, you will need to invest about $100 a month for this type of fuel – a little pricey, but we are strategizing about the best and safest approach for an older couple. A little shopping around for the best pricing may be in order. Additionally, if she doesn’t have a chafing dish she can use, she can purchase a small Sterno Single Burner Folding Stove on Amazon for under ten bucks. Advice: Stock up on sterno fuel cans.
Other supplies include paper and plastic products such as toilet paper, paper towels, and paper plates and cups, trash bags, and disposable hygiene wipes (“baby wipes”). I explained to her that if a disruption in the water supply should occur, she will not be able to flush a toilet or wash dishes, but she could place a plastic bag on the toilet seats to “catch” waste and then move it out of the house. We didn’t discuss what it would be like if the short term emergency turned into a long term emergency and waste disposal became a much bigger problem. We are only talking about short-term strategies here. Advice: Stock up on paper and plastic products.
Medicines and medical supplies: She has a little first aid kit, but the biggest concern will be running out of medications. Her insurance and pharmacy supply her with a 90-day supply of medications. I advised her to get an additional 90-day supply so that her supply would last for 6 months, even if she has to go out of pocket on that additional 90 days. Some insurance companies will pay for an additional 90-day supply if you explain that you will be traveling out of the country, which they used to do, now not so much. If she were to be in an emergency situation, forecasted to last longer than 90 days, they could take a pill every other day and take their chances. If there is a serious medical issue, their retirement community has onsite emergency services and if that were not available, prayer and God’s provision are truly the only things one can count on. Advice: Stock up on medications.
Security and Safety: This is a sticky one. I believe that retirement communities, especially in the nicer urban areas will be targets. I spoke to her about self-defense knowing that she has never used a gun and didn’t own one. Dad used to shoot and taught his boys how to shoot, but his weapons were long ago given to his sons. One of my sisters has been urging her to get a small handgun. In the meantime, both my son-in-laws live nearby, are well versed in weaponry and one is in law enforcement, and if need be, they can provide some protection. All of my children have been trained to shoot and own weapons, so I think, as a family we need to get great gramma up to speed and take her out to the shooting range. Fortifying their condo is a bigger discussion and suffice it to say, one well aimed shot will discourage looters and marauders. I have a deep concern that in a longer term emergency, my parents and many others will be shipped off to FEMA camps, but I am hoping we can evacuate them if it looks like things are going in that direction. Advice to self: Get gramma armed and trained.
Those are the basics for a short-term emergency: water, food, heating and cooking, personal hygiene, medications, security, and safety. I realize that many retired people are on a fixed income and stocking up, especially on medications, is a financial burden. I suggest that for those of you who have parents or grandparents in that situation, you step forward with the cash to get them better prepared. After all, think about what they did for you all your growing up years. If you are willing and committed, you should make that trip, that visit, and do all the shopping for them, get them situated appropriately for their situation. It will give you and them peace of mind. If you can’t do it in person, stock them up via automated deliveries.
Using Amazon’s subscribe and save feature, as posted by another reader using J.W.R.’s amazon link is a great way to have things delivered to the house on a regular schedule, which saves an older person the stress and physical exertion of making large shopping trips. Mom frequently purchases from Amazon, so she could simply shop online and have things delivered. The following list of items can be found on Amazon and are offered under the subscribe and save feature. The downside of this type of shopping is it is a great deal more costly than buying in bulk yourself, and canning and storing food. However, this article is geared towards taking care of the “old folks” who may or may not have the ability to do this themselves.
The Weekly or Monthly Shopping List for Great Gramma (All pricing is rounded up or down and does not always include a brand name. This list is to give you an idea of what you can have delivered weekly or monthly for gramma via Amazon. You can shop around for better deals.):
1. 6 pak of sterno fuel cans = ~$20
2. 16 pack of paper towels = ~$20
3. 24 pack of toilet paper = ~$11
4. 40 count kitchen garbage bags with odor control = $8.75
5. 350 count Baby wipes = ~$11.30
6. Prepared foods – choices too numerous to list – you will have to experiment. Search on “subscribe and save” on Amazon. An example is Betty Crocker Helper Complete Meals, Chicken and Buttermilk Biscuits, 24.8-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6 ) for $18.41. These complete meals only require a little milk (use reconstituted dried milk) and/or water and a way to heat them up. The meat is included. After searching quite a bit, I concluded that one should expect to pay about $2-$3 per a prepared food item of good quality. For an older couple, who generally eat less, and need something that is very easy, the Betty Crocker line of complete meals may be a good compromise and will feed 2 people who don’t have big appetites. No refrigeration or microwaving required.
7. Hershey’s 2% Chocolate Milk, 21- 8 Ounce Aseptic Boxes = $ 19.39
8. Needless to say, water is not something I recommend you buy through Amazon unless you are looking for specialty bottled water. Spring water is available in gallon containers at Wal-Mart for about $.88 a gallon.
9. And so on…
The list above was to give you an idea of what you can do with automatic deliveries to an older parent or grandparent. For about $100 – $200 a month, you can set up automatic delivery to their home and get them a lot closer to being prepared. Don’t buy things that require a microwave (think grid down). If you are local to your parents or grandparents, it makes much more sense to shop at big box stores, Wal-Mart, or a local “scratch and dent” grocery outlet. Maybe a combination of paying them a visit for the purposes of helping them stock up and having regular deliveries scheduled to them is the right combination. In all cases, I’m glad mom is finally onboard and ready to move in the right direction.
In the meantime, my directive is to enlist the help of the bigger family in getting mom better prepped to defend the casa if need be. This should be fun, if not hilarious.