The 7 Day Challenge: DAY 3 (WEDNESDAY)

Welcome to the 7 Day Challenge. For 7 days, we are testing our Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage Plans. Each day will bring a NEW mock emergency or situation that will test at least one of the reasons “WHY” we strive to be prepared! REMEMBER: No going to a store, gas station, or spending any money for the entire 7 days! And please feel free to adapt the scenarios to fit your own family and situation.

A TORNADO is tearing through your town. You have been told to evacuate to the nearest shelter and don’t know if your house will be there when you get back. Grab what you can and evacuate (after evacuating, you will come back home and will simulate being in a shelter for the rest of the day). To make matters worse the tornado knocked out the electrical grid for your whole town so there is no power at the shelter or your home.
Goal: Evacuate first then survive the day under “shelter conditions”

Today’s Tasks:

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION AND DO THESE TASKS IN ORDER: Pick a time that most of your family is home and you can evacuate together (maybe right after school).
Print out a copy of our NEW Emergency Preparedness Plan for use later today (you can use electricity for this)
You have 30 minutes from your “evacuation time” to grab your 72 hour kits, extra food you can stash in a cooler and use for the next few days, a way to cook your food, spare clothes, sleeping items, and any keepsakes you want to make sure not to lose.
Drive around with the family or go to a park for a little while. Explain to them that you will be going home but pretending you will be at a shelter with limited activities and space. Review your family plan and explain why you might need to evacuate (tornados, wild fires, etc.) and what a shelter would be like. Be careful when explaining to young children so they don’t get scared, but feel confident in being prepared.
When you return home, partition off a 10×10 area of your home to use as your shelter. Stay in that area for the rest of the night except to use the bathroom (the shelter has a public bathroom). Cook your food from either your 72 hour kits or the extras you brought in your “shelter” or cook it outside if you don’t have a fuel suitable for indoor cooking (but only using the fuel, and cooking utensils you evacuated with).
Entertain yourself and your family in the evening with no electronics (a great activity would be to complete your entire Emergency Preparedness Plan)
SLEEP in your “shelter” for the night. In the morning the challenge is OVER
SHARING TIME: Share pictures of your experiences today on our Facebook page or on Instagram (use tags @foodstoragemadeeasy and #FSME7daychallenge) or type up your thoughts about how you survived today and share them in the blog comments or on today’s Facebook discussion thread

Today’s Limitations:

For this day, and ALL days of the challenge: no spending money, no going to stores, and no restaurants
You cannot use your kitchen or any other room of the house (except the bathroom) once you do your evacuation
You cannot use any electricity for lights, cooking, etc. for the WHOLE day

Advanced Tasks:

Your car is broken and you must evacuate on foot
Actually stay away from your home for the whole day and overnight in a campground or park to simulate a shelter

REMEMBER, TOMORROW’S CHALLENGE WILL BE DIFFERENT.

Make sure your fill out today’s Report Card to see how well you did, to keep track of areas you can improve, to remember things you need to do, and things you need to buy. Use the data to make a game plan to take you to the next level of preparedness, whatever that may be.

DAILY GIVEAWAY

Remember — This year we are going to be offering the chance to win daily PRIZES for people who are participating in one of the following ways:

Commenting or posting pictures on our Facebook page
Loading pictures on your instagram tagging @foodstoragemadeeasy and #FSME7daychallenge
Commenting on today’s blog post with how you did
Submitting pictures/stories to us via email at info@foodstoragemadeeasy.net

TODAY’S PRIZE
1 Providence Basic Travel Two Person 72-hour Emergency Kit

TODAY’S WINNER: KARI B WHO POSTED THE FOLLOWING ON FACEBOOK
Email us at info@ foodstoragemadeeasy .net to coordinate getting you your prize.
Great today, and we’re not finished!
We set the timer and packed the car! My 17 year old son and 14 year old daughter each ran to get things. I went to the garage to get 72 hour kits. I was not panicked as we packed our 72 hour kits, I was sure that they were filled with everything we needed! We grabbed sleeping bags, pillows, and then noticed no water in the car. At the 30 minute mark, we drove away only to return 15 minutes later to unpack it into our 10×10 room. Our neighbor really wondered what was going on!
We laughed as we started going through everything! Not everything was in as we had hoped- our 72 hour kits were missing important items and the clothes were not too small! My kids were thrilled to find money that I had stashed in their kits. My husband and my 72 hour kits were missing completely! I wonder where they are! (I will label everything tomorrow!)
We did grab the Coleman stove to heat things up, but forgot tongs and utensils, cups, plates, etc. We had a buffet of MRE’s for dinner complete with taste testing! We’ve decided that we need another option than just MRE’s! We are going to buy a Solo Stove after this week and look for freeze dried or other “just add water” foods! We need something that is fast, small, and easier.
I noticed that it took so long to gather the things that I needed that there was no time to gather up the momentos and other important things. Our computers are safe, thanks to Carbonite, but all of our scrapbooks, family history, etc. were left behind. My daughter, when asked if there was anything in her room she wished that she had grabbed, said, “no.” Everything else was replaceable and not that important! (Sounds like we need to declutter!)
Tonight we will sleep with our things. It makes a huge difference to write down exactly what you are feeling right after the challenge. I have a great list of “to-do’s”!
I have 2 daughters that are away at college. Each challenge I have made a list of things that I want them to be prepared for– they each have 72 hr kits, sleeping bags, and emergency food… but there is so much more I am excited to share with them!
Thanks Jodi and Julie.