Does this forum include disaster preparedness?

[Sonoran Bloom]

Originally Posted by igotmywings I ADORE honeyville..I actually have a brick and mortore store near me that I go visit. LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

I actually find Thrive foods to taste and look WAY better than honeyville.

Originally Posted by LaniMami So I am almost completely done with our 72 hour kits. My last big purchase was the Katadyn pocket filter ($300!) but it filters down to .2 microns, lasts up to 13,000 gallons, fits easily in my backpack, and is field cleanable. Only thing I dont like is it doesnt work on viruses, but I have bleach tabs for that, and gonna get iodine too. May as well have as much as I can to make sure we have drinkable water since thats most important. Other than that just filling in the gaps, I really need to concentrate on food, everything is canned, I'm looking for as many lightweight options as possible for our backpacks (ie pouch tuna instead of canned etc) but dont want to live off of MRE for 3 days

The Katadyn is awesome! I want one but it's not on my priority list yet since we really don't have access to water down here except for the water we store....so I have to focus on storing water primarily. Have you looked at freeze dried entrees for your backpacks? Much tastier than MREs but you will need to include a bit more water in your pack.

[igotmywings]

see out of the thrive stuff I have tried I have mixed emotions about it..but thats the same for honeyville LOL. some stuff i like thrive and some honeyville.

[jbug_4]

What does everyone have in their 72 hour packs? Like a list- dh and I can't really agree on what needs to be in ours.

[LaniMami]

Where we live we have plenty of water like ponds & lakes around, we also have a state park a few miles from us that we could get water from as well as fish and gators for food if it came down to it lol. So having the filter was important for us. Plus I have the rain barrels & plan to get some more to keep in the garage to collect rain water if needed, and that would need filtering too.

My 72 hour kit is seperated into 2 big tote containers, one has food stuff: breakfast, lunch, dinner, fruit cups & canned veggies, as well as 24 packs of ramen noodles. I didnt buy mre or dehydrated foods, I bought canned or instant type foods from the store that I knew we would eat (canned soups & meats, chef boyardee, chilli w/beans, uncle bens ready to eat rice etc). My thought was I'd want to preserve as much water as possible for drinking/hygiene so these foods would be best since dont require added water to cook (except ramen soups). Also snacks, coffee, tea, & powder lemonade mix just to keep things interesting. I have three 4 gallon bpa free plastic jugs that I can fill before evacuating, gonna buy more 2 gallon collapsible jugs for transporting water as they store easier since collapse flat. I need to put eating utensils in there and will be set.

The other tote has a fire kit, which has stuff like candles, fireproof matches, etc. A hygiene kit with soap, toothbrushes & paste, deodorant, etc. A clean up kit with washclothes, dishsoap, garbage bags, etc. A very specific first aid kit with surgical stuff (scalpel, stapler, sutures w/needle, tweezers, etc) and anything that may be needed for serious injuries.

Both totes can be emptied and used to wash clothes, dishes or store more water. We also each have our own backpacks, the kids have change of clothes, small first aid packs with simple stuff like bandaids & alcohol pads, a snack pack with granola bars, PB crackers, etc, personal care stuff like toothbrush & paste, soap, washcloth, I want to get them each activity pads, and small games like pack of cards or something. I wanted them to feel included but not overwhelmed.

Me and hubby have much bigger (think hiking) packs, we have ALOT more stuff, water filter, cookware, silverware, 2 changes of clothes, water bottles, yada yada. I am not done putting them together, I still have stuff to get like a backpack size stove (will most likely get several types to cover all bases). What I'm trying to achieve is if we need to evac we can toss totes in the suv, grab our backs and go. If we had to walk we would have to transfer whats in our totes to our backpacks, so eventually when Im done we will take walks with loaded packs to make sure we can do it & strengthen our backs. We also want to do a practice bug out where we tell kids we need to evac, everyone grabs their stuff & we go camping with just what we have.

And I have a pack in the car (get home back) with water bottles, first aid stuff, snacks, blanket, etc. Yes, I'm neurotic

[Sonoran Bloom]

72 hour kit basics:
Water (one gallon per person per day)
First Aid Kit & Prescription Meds
Extra pairs of Glasses/Contacts, contact solution, if applicable
Cash in small bills (ideally mostly ones and some fives)
Change of clothes & sturdy shoes for each person (think layers to accommodate seasons)
Crank radio (or bring extra batteries for a battery powered radio)
Flashlight (same goes for hand crank vs. battery), Headlamp is great, too
Blankets or sleeping bags, rain poncho, glow sticks, tarp & rope for tent
Written emergency plan including emergency contact info
Booster cables, car shovel, work gloves
N95 dust mask (at least one per person - we aim for one per person per day)
100 hour candle w/ wind & waterproof matches
plastic trash bags
Personal Hygiene (baby stuff, wet wipes, toilet paper, soap, toothbrush & toothpaste, etc.)
For Kids: Games, toys, favorite snacks
hard candy
Swiss army knife or multi function tool
duct tape, maps and whistle
Enough food for each person for 3 days (LIGHTWEIGHT and focus on calories, not serving sizes)
Sturdy backpack to hold it all (depending on the size of your family, it may be multiple backpacks...focus on keeping them light)

*You can add to this base list to customize for your needs. Your 72 hour kit should bring peace of mind so if you or DH want something in there, toss it in. You can always re-evaluate if you end up walking and the bag is too heavy.

*If you have pets, consider what you would do with them. If taking with you, pack enough food and water for them as well as leash, carrier, fave toys, etc. I do have a more complete list for this if anyone is interested.

*We also keep all our important documents (birth certs, dvd of wedding photos, etc.) in a safe place that is also easy for us to grab and take with us.

HTH!

[jbug_4]

We have separate packs, don't really know what we didn't just think to throw our own extras in there- duh. Forgot about the dogs, luckily we have a Newf and a smaller mutt. Our newf can carry a pack for them. She can pull a fair sized cart too, but that might be pretty unrealistic in an emergency.

[LaniMami]

I think I'm confused about how I want my 72 hour kit to work...I want our bug out bags to essentially be our 72 hour kits, but I would have to really break everything down and divide things between me and hubby. Problem is he could probably carry more weight than me, but I know how to use what we have better than him. Not saying I'm smarter, but he seriously lacks in the imagination and sometimes common sense department Having it in the totes is handy in its own way, but being able to just grab all the bags and go seems so much easier.

Sonoran Bloom, is there a particular kind of hand crank radio you chose, and any special reason why? There are a few choices for those and battery operated, I havent bought one yet cause I dont want to waste money on junk kwim?

I think I need to make a new list of things I still need for our packs so I know where I am at with things.

[Sonoran Bloom]

Originally Posted by jbug_4 Our newf can carry a pack for them. She can pull a fair sized cart too, but that might be pretty unrealistic in an emergency.

That is soooo awesome! and

Originally Posted by LaniMami I think I'm confused about how I want my 72 hour kit to work...I want our bug out bags to essentially be our 72 hour kits, but I would have to really break everything down and divide things between me and hubby. Problem is he could probably carry more weight than me, but I know how to use what we have better than him. Not saying I'm smarter, but he seriously lacks in the imagination and sometimes common sense department Having it in the totes is handy in its own way, but being able to just grab all the bags and go seems so much easier. Sonoran Bloom, is there a particular kind of hand crank radio you chose, and any special reason why? There are a few choices for those and battery operated, I havent bought one yet cause I dont want to waste money on junk kwim? I think I need to make a new list of things I still need for our packs so I know where I am at with things.

Yeah, I hear ya. We are continually altering and improving our setup as we think of different 'what ifs' and learn more. I love the tub idea but it would be a total PITA to have to sort through stuff if we had to set out on foot. Right now we have totes with all our camping gear that can quickly be loaded into a vehicle, along with water boxes. Then we have the bare necessities in back packs - still enough to live on for 72 hours but it would be rougher.

We have an old hand crank radio that DH has had forever in our camping tote and a battery radio in our back pack. I want to switch them because I hate the idea of lugging batteries around on our backs. Maybe I'm lazy. Anyway, I've been eyeing this Red Cross crank radio for our backpacks. You made me go back and look at it again (so I could link for you) and it is 40% off right now! I'll be talking to DH tonight! lol I like it because it is more of an emergency radio rather than just a regular radio that you can crank like our current one. It has the weatherband channels, is crank, solar or battery powered, weighs only about a pound, flashlight and emergency beacon light. Obviously I don't have it yet, but it is the one I've been wanting.

[LaniMami]

Our stuff is in totes, those big plastic rubbermaid ones. Easy enough to pick up and toss in the car, but if I think of that, plus our bags, and then as you mentioned if we had to go out on foot, just seems a bit much. I think I am going to buy some freeze dried meals for our backpacks, right now I just have snacks but if we just had to grab bags and go we would need some kind of food. I'm sure I'll figure something out and report back when I do

Hate to burst your bubble, I looked at that radio on Amazon.com and it didnt get good reviews at all. The good news is there are plenty of other red cross radios on amazon that got 4+ star reviews, and prices start from about $30 up to $70. I'll be looking into these a little more before making a decision.

[MamaCrunch]

Originally Posted by Sonoran Bloom 72 hour kit basics: Water (one gallon per person per day) First Aid Kit & Prescription Meds Extra pairs of Glasses/Contacts, contact solution, if applicable Cash in small bills (ideally mostly ones and some fives) Change of clothes & sturdy shoes for each person (think layers to accommodate seasons) Crank radio (or bring extra batteries for a battery powered radio) Flashlight (same goes for hand crank vs. battery), Headlamp is great, too Blankets or sleeping bags, rain poncho, glow sticks, tarp & rope for tent Written emergency plan including emergency contact info Booster cables, car shovel, work gloves N95 dust mask (at least one per person - we aim for one per person per day) 100 hour candle w/ wind & waterproof matches plastic trash bags Personal Hygiene (baby stuff, wet wipes, toilet paper, soap, toothbrush & toothpaste, etc.) For Kids: Games, toys, favorite snacks hard candy Swiss army knife or multi function tool duct tape, maps and whistle Enough food for each person for 3 days (LIGHTWEIGHT and focus on calories, not serving sizes) Sturdy backpack to hold it all (depending on the size of your family, it may be multiple backpacks...focus on keeping them light) *You can add to this base list to customize for your needs. Your 72 hour kit should bring peace of mind so if you or DH want something in there, toss it in. You can always re-evaluate if you end up walking and the bag is too heavy. *If you have pets, consider what you would do with them. If taking with you, pack enough food and water for them as well as leash, carrier, fave toys, etc. I do have a more complete list for this if anyone is interested. *We also keep all our important documents (birth certs, dvd of wedding photos, etc.) in a safe place that is also easy for us to grab and take with us. HTH!

Please do!! We've always wanted to be prepared, but it never really made it too high on our priority list for some reason, but the past few months I've been talking with my brother about it and we've decided we really aren't comfortable with our level of preparedness... I have 2 dogs (and fish, but really, in an emergency... I'm not going to be able to take the 120gal aquarium with me, so we will just have dogs, Sorry fishies ) and I do plan on adding more pets to our family, namely another dog when one of ours passes (or sooner if we get in a place financially where that is acceptable... although if I can't find a home for this foster, we might just end up keeping her LOL) I would LOVE to have more insight into prepping for them too... I've already thought about it a bit... I want to get them paracord collars and possibly leashes, small packs (they're medium dogs, and they're not young pups anymore, although the foster is a bit bigger, much younger, and MUCH stronger! LOL) and stocking them with water and food... do they have doggie MREs?! That would be AWESOME!!