HERE's a link to the CDC website on preparedness, brought to you by the US Department of Homeland Security.
In a nutshell, their minimum suggestions are:
- Most important: Water (3 days for evacuation, 2 weeks for home)
- Food, easy to prepare, nonperishable (3 days for evacuation, 2 weeks for home)
- Camping supplies, tools, maps
- Personal hygiene items and cleaning supplies, medicine
- Cash, copies of personal documents
- Pet/baby supplies, games for children
- Clothing for weather in your area
- Plastic sheeting and duct tape, in case you need to make a shelter or make a room air-tight
- Create a disaster plan, based on the most likely scenarios for your area
How much water is that?
Per day, each person will need 1/2 gallon of water for drinking, and 1/2 gallon for cooking and hygiene. I'm not sure how much water pets need, but am counting 1/2 gallon for Stormy. And keep plain unscented bleach around to sterilize water in an emergency (16 drops per gallon).
I'm using gallon water bottles, leftover from a friend's bottled water habit. I had gathered them from her over a few months for "a gardening project," which is technically true since I will use them to water the garden every 6 months when I dump them out to refresh the water. With the Rim Fire risking SF's water supply recently, had I decided it was finally time to fill them. We have 36 gallons, at least enough for 2 people and a dog for 2 weeks. 36 gallons is quite a lot, but our house has a lot of deep shelving, and I tucked them in the backs of the shelves where they can't be seen.
How much food is that?
1000 calories per day if you want to survive, 2000 calories if you want to be comfy, but possibly more if you'll be more active or want to share. They also recommend having comfort foods around, especially for children.
The stored food needs to be able to be eaten without any cooking prep. We're also not supposed to rely on anything in the fridge or freezer, due to spoilage if electricity goes out (but of course, if it does, eat that stuff first).
Technically we have more than enough food in the pantry, but it is not easily eaten because most of it is miscellaneous ingredients for stuff that requires cooking, rather than prepped meals and snacks*. Once I get a little better at pressure canning, I plan to have 2 weeks' worth of tasty home-canned soups stored up (also just to have an easy dinner on hand!). From cooking whole chickens we get a heck of a lot of strong bone broth, so this should not be difficult.
As for the other stuff, camping gear and whatnot... we do have it. It just needs organization, since it's still scattered everywhere after the move.
*I do this on purpose so that I don't mindlessly eat! Chips or cookies would disappear in a heartbeat.
How's your emergency preparedness going?
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