Food Storage Made Easy » Disaster Kits

Emergency Preparedness Planner

Jodi and Julie — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:05:12 +0000

Remember when Jodi and I went to the Self Reliance expo a few weeks ago. We told you a little about it here. Well I wasn’t expecting to fall in love at a Self Reliance Expo… but as you will see in this video… I DID!

In our Emergency Binder post we did awhile back, we talked about how important it is to have your documents safe and ready to grab and go in case of an evacuation. I had been meaning to put my binder into a better binder and get special sheet protectors ever since our 7 Day Challenge this year. Well I somehow kept procrastinating the job and when I saw this Prepare My Life Planner I was so thrilled because Tami – the creator of the Planner thought of EVERYTHING I have ever thought of doing with my binder and MORE.

The binder I was using didn’t have a zipper OR a handles, so things would always fly out. With the important documents I had in there this always made me nervous. The Prepare My Life Planner has both a zipper and handle and is easy to carry around.

I had a nice set of tab dividers in my binder however, they didn’t extend PAST the documents. The documents were in sheet protectors which made them extend too far past these regular tabs and they were pretty much useless because of it. The tabs in the Prepare My Life Planner go well beyond all the sheet protectors and are logically labeled with the proper sections.

My passports seemed to make an escape every time I even looked at the binder. With the zipper sheet protectors, I don’t have to worry about this.

The cash I kept with my binder had no where to go, but since the Prepare My Life Planner has a sheet protector for EVERYTHING you can possibly think of, it now has a home.

Some more features I LOVE about my Prepare My Life Planner are:

Complete with Emergency Preparedness sections: Prepare My Family, Prepare My Home, Gather Supplies, Prepare to Evacuate, Prepare to Stay.
Also includes comprehensive sections on: Personal, Insurance, Financial, Assets, Final Planning.
Forms for you to fill out ALL your information that you can access and complete online as well, save to your hard drive, and print copies for loved ones.
Each section walks you through checklists of things you need to do, and things you need to place in your planner in the appropriate sheet protector. Each sheet protector is unique to the type of document you are storing.
Comes with emergency cards you can pass around, and pen

The Prepare My Life Planners retail at $169.95, and but we can get them for you for $139.95, and FREE SHIPPING. These make great gifts. I’m already planning on getting my parents this for Christmas. And I just might tell them, they ought to get one of these for each of my brothers and sisters for Christmas too.

Please note: Free shipping applies to the United States only. We will invoice you for an additional amount if you order internationally. Thanks!

72 Hour Kits Revisited: Part 2 of 2

Jodi and Julie — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:26:36 +0000

The winner of a 24 SINGLE-USE PACK of INSTA-FIRE is Melody Rader. A perfect addition to any 72 hour kit for cooking or keeping warm! We will contact you to get you your prize soon. Thanks to everyone who contribute such great ideas for our 2-part series on 72 Hour Kits.

In Part 1 of 72 Hour Kits Revisited, we talked about supplies to have in your 72 Hour kit, along with some great reader tips to think about when building your kits. Today we’re talking about something we all LOVE….FOOD! We’ll also be talking about things to consider for special circumstances or situations like pets, kids, and babies.

We’ve been asked a couple of times for pre-made menus and each time we’ve gone to prepare them, we’ve stopped because we can’t please everyone We decided the best way to help you plan the food for your kits was to do 2 things. The first is to give you a personal meal planner worksheet. The second is to give you a long list of foods people have suggested, then you can fully customize your plan. PLEASE – DON’T GET OVERWHELMED. – THIS POST IS LONG – WE KNOW, WE COMPILED IT! Just use it as a guide and press forward. Here we go:

This worksheet can help you get your thoughts down on paper. Print it out, fill it out with foods your family will eat, then you can place the menu plans in your 72 hour kits. It’s a good idea to place the menu plans in your kits so you don’t forget what you had planned to eat when the time comes.

There are a lot of different ways of eating out there! Some people want healthy, some want no cook meals, some want meals you don’t have to rotate, there’s allergies to consider and ages. We polled our readers and got some ideas. See which category, or categories you fall under and pick foods from there.

REGULAR FOOD OPTIONS:
-Granola bars (vacuum sealing them makes them last longer)
-Chocolate candy/chips
-Dried fruits/dehydrated fruits
-Tuna pouches (already packaged from store)
-Wheat crackers for the tuna
-Raw almonds
-Hot cocoa
-Fruit drink mix
-Raman noodles/cup a noodles
-Jerky (though salty will make you more thirsty)
-Pouches of soup mixes (potatoe, brocoli, chicken noodle) just add water
-Canned: spaghettios, raviolis, tuna, sardines (can be eaten cold) (figure I can put 1 can in each bag to supplement food rations, so nobody has to carry a -bunch of heavy cans (the cans have the pull tops so no need for can-opener – we’ve been told these can explode when you open them, so be careful)
-Peanut butter
-Small jar jellie
-Small container honey
-Banana chips (the potassium in them can help with muscle soreness if your are using muscles helping people in a disaster type situation)
-Protein powder
-Gatorade (you’ll need electrolytes)

MINIMAL ROTATION OPTIONS (MRE’S):
Emergency Food Bars (i.e 3600 calorie bars)
MRE Meals (check out the options at Emergency Essentials and Shelf Reliance)
MRE Meals can last up to 25 years – remember to store water and cooking fuel
-Beef stroganoff
-Spaghetti
-Lasagne
-Chili mac
-Breakfast skillet
-Chicken and rice
-Chicken ala king

“HEALTH’IER” OPTIONS:
-Instant oatmeal (none of those colored frankenmeal ones – just maple, cinnamon, or organic varieties)
-Foodsaver bag of 3 days’ worth of dehydrated apple chips (with an oxygen absorber to extend shelf life)
-Bush’s baked beans, 8 oz. pop top (This is used as a cooking vessel to heat other foods – wash and save this can after use.)
-Pouches of “squeezy fruit” baby food (Plum Organics, Ella’s Kitchen, or Happy Baby – found online, Target, or Babies/Toys R Us)
-Pouches of big kid squeezable applesauce
-Chunk light tuna in water (This fish contains much less mercury than the white or albacore.)
-2-3 foil packets of mayonnaise and relish (to make an impromptu tuna salad)
-Shelton’s Chili (Delicious and additive-free! Two kids can share a can.)
-Cascadian Farms kid size peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars
-Resealable bags of dried fruit or large raisin boxes
-Yummy Earth lollipops and/or a small bag of Surf Sweets gummies
-Lunchbox size packs of crackers such as Late July
-Laughing Cow cheese wedges (They do not require refrigeration.)
-Reverse osmosis filtered water, each with a small rock of Himalayan pink salt added in order to re-mineralize the water.
-Crystal Light Pure (sweetened with stevia and sugar, all natural flavors and colors)
-Packet of Emergen-C

GLUTEN FREE OPTIONS:
-Larabars
-Lundberg Rice Cakes
-GF Granola (like Bakery on Main)
-Beef Jerky
-Can of Chicken or Tuna
-Mary’s Gone Crackers
-Dinty Moore Beef Stew
-Hormel Chili
-Applesauce
-Canned Fruit
-Fruit Leather
-Fruit Roll-up or Fruit Snacks
-Raisins
-Boxes of Pacific Almond Milk
-Peanut or other Nut Butter
-Honey

VEGAN OPTIONS:
-Prepackaged precooked meals (like the indian dishes that can be found in mylar bags in the ethnic foods aisle at the grocery)
-Cliff bars
-Lara bars
-Nut bars
-Vitamin B12 tablet
-Bar of vegan dark chocolate
-Peanut butter
-Nuts packaged in food saver bags
-Seeds packaged in food saver bags

NO COOK OPTIONS:
-Cereal bars
-Crackers
-Peanut butter
-Pudding cups
-Fruit cups
-Fruit roll-ups
-Cans of vegetables
-Pork and beans (can eat cold)
-Granola bars (vacuum sealing them makes them last longer)
-Chocolate candy/chips
-Dried fruits/dehydrated fruits
-Almonds

KID FRIENDLY FOODS:
-Tuna pouch
-Chicken pouch
-Canned peas, carrots
-Crackers
-Crasins, & other dried fruit
-Fruit snacks or other candy treat type things
-Cheerios in vac sealed bag
-Canned fruit (mixed, pears, peaches, apple sauce)
-Bottle & Single serving milk packets
-Granola bars
-Hormel complete meals – chicken & rice or turkey & mashed potatoes

CONSIDERATIONS FOR BABIES
-Instant formula
-Plenty of diapers or cloth diapers
-A travel package of wipes
-Pacifiers
-3 cotton/flannel wraps, and 2 muslin wraps.
-Baby food
-Washcloths
-Small comfort toy/s.
-Clothes – and plenty of them!
-Ziplock bags. These work great for storing used diapers or anything else that is dirty, or clean for that matter.
-Bulb nose syringe and saline
-Infant tylenol/motrin.
-Desatin or other diaper rash cream and travel-sized baby powder
-For detailed information on these items- visit this post

KID KITS: ITEMS
-Small Backpack or Bag
-Paper, Coloring Book
-Crayons, Pencils
-Travel Games- Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Checkers
-File Folder games
-Crossword book, Sudoku book
-Card games- Go Fish, Old Maid, UNO
-Books

CAT KIT (alter for other pets):
-1 gallon of water
-1 plastic gallon jug filled with dry food
-1 12 pack box of wet food packets
-1 small bag of treats
-Small litterbox
-Litter scoop
-Plastic gallon jug filled with kitty litter
-Small plastic trash bags for scooped waste disposal
-Towel
-Mini pet first aid kit
-Vaccination/vet records
-Color photo of cat
-Extra collar w/contact info
-Leash and harness

COOKING SUPPLIES
- Plastic utensils
- Paper plates
- Small cup
- Tin can for cooking
- Matches
- Can Opener (if needed)
- Fire starter packets
- Wing tip stove and fuel pellets
- Stove in a Can
- Backpacking Stoves
- Sterno canned heat

We posted this in Part 1 for people who want to buy Pre-Made kits. You may chose to do a combination of putting together things you already have and buying things you don’t already have, or doing a custom purchase kit.

Emergency Essentials

Everything from a basic one person kit to a deluxe kit for the whole family.

Shelf Reliance

Create a completely custom emergency kit for your family using their Emergency Planner.

72 Hour Kits Revisited: Part 1 of 2

Jodi and Julie — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 06:01:16 +0000

Today we’re sharing ideas about making your own 72 hour kits, and then some options for purchasing them at the end of the post. 72 hour kits are useful for the first 72 hours following some type of emergency/natural disaster. Often times they are used in scenarios where you have to evacuate your home. If you could stick around your home, I’d hope you have more then 3 days worth of food- but that’s another story.

72 hour kits typically contain supplies for dealing with disasters along with food and water. Today we’re sharing a list of supplies and some great tips we got from reader submissions. Thursday we will be sharing food ideas, along with a planning guide you can use to customize the food in your kits to your families needs and tastes. Please note, we also recommend having your important documents gathered in either an emergency binder, or safe.

Here is a list of non-food supplies. This list is on our disaster kit’s page. You might want to take a closer look at that, but know that we’ll be updating it along with the food part of it after this week. The items in black are the items we currently have on the page. The items in red are new items we gathered from reader submissions.

□ supply of water (one gallon per person per day)
□ first aid kit and prescription medications
□ extra pair of glasses , or contact solution
□ credit cards and cash
□ change of clothes and sturdy shoes
□ battery powered radio, and extra batteries
□ blankets or sleeping bags, rain poncho, body warmer, glow stick, tarp to make a tent
□ list of emergency plan contact info
□ booster cables for car, car shovel, rope, N95 dust mask, working gloves
□ flashlight with batteries , or hand-crank flashlight
□ wind/waterproof matches, and candle, plastic trash bags
□ personal hygiene products (baby stuff, soap, tooth care, toilet paper, hair ties, wet wipes)
□ games, books, hard candy, toys
□ tire repair kit and pump, duct tape, swiss army knife, and over the counter medications, maps of surrounding areas, sewing kit, blank CD for SOS or signaling for help, whistle, multipurpose tool (screwdriver, knife, saw, pliers, can opener etc), PowerCap (baseball type hat with built in headlights)
*more about pets on Thursday

The following are some tips we thought were worth sharing, but couldn’t really put them in a list since they are more ideas about how to purchase, store, or accumulate your supplies. Read them – and thank you to our readers for sharing them.

PURCHASING: After you’ve come up with everything you still need to buy for your kit, break it up into a purchasing schedule. Purchase just 1 or 2 things each week for however many weeks it takes you. The point is you’ll be making progress, even if you can’t buy it all at once.

GRAB LIST(S): Instead of having just one grab list (things you would grab if you have to evacuate) have multiple lists- one for each family member. Tape those lists up on the inside of your front closet door. When it comes time to evacuate, anyone who is old enough can get their list and hurry. This will save time deciding who is going to grab what.

INDIVIDUAL KITS: For anyone old enough, make them their own kit. Have food, water, and clothes in each kit so in case of separation everyone will have their own stuff. Divvy up the remaining supplies among all the kits. Put the heavier stuff in the stronger member’s kits. Use backpacks, or rolling bags that are easy to transport. Lugging around big rubbermaid bins is HARD.

TRIAL SIZE TOILETRIES: There are sample sizes of shampoos, toothpastes, deodorants etc you can purchase for the kits. They are in the regular personal hygiene aisles at the store. No need to lug around big containers of those things. Another idea is to save the samples you get at hotels and put those in your kits. They always get thrown away anyways if you only use a small portion!

THRIFT STORE CLOTHING: It can be inconvenient and kind of wasteful to store regular usable clothes in your kits that stay stored in a closet while children outgrow them. Consider purchasing outfits at a thrift store for you kits. That way you wont have to feel bad about not using whole outfits while they still fit.

COLD WEATHER BAG: There are a lot of items you might want in your 72 hour kit if it were cold- but you wouldn’t want if it were warmer weather. Store all the stuff you would need in colder weather in a separate bag or container that you would grab and go in case of emergency during the winter. If it happened to be warmer, you could just leave it behind.

PUT FRESH FOOD ON GRAB LIST: If time, circumstance, and space allow – grab any fresh food you may have and throw it in a cooler on your way out (if you are leaving in a car). You may really appreciate fresh produce in the first 24-72 hours of a crisis.

DIAPER BAGS PACKED: This goes for evacuations or everyday emergencies. Do your best to ALWAYS have your diaper bags packed with extra food, clothes, and diapers. If you’re in the habit of doing this all the time it could really save you in a REAL emergency (like those don’t happen daily with babies on the go).

IDEAS FOR ROTATION: Depending on how often your kit needs rotating (the foods you chose will dictate this), make it a habit to change them out at the same time each year. Whether it be Halloween (where you use some of the extra candy as comfort food), Spring cleaning week, April Fools Day (we did that last year so we wouldn’t be fools- we know it was corny) or any other time of year, get in the habit of rotating them.

COMMUNICATION: If in case you are evacuating and you expect your house to be in tact when you return, it’s wise to maybe leave a note about your where-abouts on a door. That way when people come looking to see if you are safe – they will know you are elsewhere.

Emergency Essentials

Everything from a basic one person kit to a deluxe kit for the whole family.

Shelf Reliance

Create a completely custom emergency kit for your family using their Emergency Planner.

The 7 Day Challenge: DAY 6 (SUNDAY)

Jodi and Julie — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 06:01:36 +0000

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, or spending any money for the entire 7 days! And please feel free to adapt the scenarios to fit your own family and situation.

You have decided to take a pleasant Sunday afternoon drive to enjoy the scenery of the changing leaves. However, a little while into your drive disaster strikes. One of your tires has a blow-out and you are in an area with no cell phone service. To make matters worse your battery died too and it is a full hour before someone arrives to help give you a jump.

Today’s Tasks:

Take a drive with your family or a friend or two
Change your car’s tire out on the side of the road (view tutorial)
Wait for one hour in your vehicle with the engine turned off (it’s dead remember).
You and your other car passengers must be entertained, kept warm/cool, and given a snack and a drink.
You must have jumper cables in your car to charge your battery.
If you have children of driving age, give them a lesson on how to change a tire and make them practice it at least once

Today’s Limitations:

For this day, and ALL days of the challenge: no spending money, no going to stores, and no restaurants.
For women, you must change the tire yourself. No cheating and getting your husband to do it.
You can’t call roadside service because you are in a dead cell phone area.

Advanced Tasks:

Wait in your car for 3 hours instead of 1, and make it during a meal time.
While changing the tire you accidentally locked your keys in the car. Can you pick the lock?

REMEMBER, TOMORROW’S CHALLENGE WILL BE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
How long would you have lasted under these conditions?

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.

Food Storage FOOL’s Day Results

Jodi and Julie — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:09:27 +0000

Well we had a great “Food Storage Fools Day” where we actually did some things we have been putting off FoReVeR! We were so glad our readers joined us and got some great emails, facebook discussions, pictures and feedback about what you all did. Wasn’t it so much more fun to do it together? We were just glad to have the accountability to actually DO stuff.

Although Julie was tending her nephew, had unexpected dinner plans come up, and was kinda feeling lazy on April 1st, she was THRILLED to have this day to FORCE her to get some things done! These are the things she accomplished.

-Purchased propane fuel and charcoal for the Volcano II stove she has. This is her current “electricity free” cooking plan, but it wouldn’t have worked well without fuel!
-Got some new foods for her 72 hour kits that required no cooking. Some of the things she added were beef jerky, raisins, granola bars, crackers with canned chicken, and new candy.
-Took all the disaster kits supplies out of the big awkward bin that is hard to carry and moved it into two bags.
-Packed bigger clothes for her toddler in the bags, and actually put clothes for the baby in the bag.

Jodi has been feeling behind with her gardening. Even though the weather was awful this week she was still able to get a great start on some of her gardening tasks that she has been putting off for several weeks now. Here’s what she got done:

- Printed and put together her new gardening binder
- Planned out and typed up her garden plans for this year.
- Sorted through all her seeds and made a list of what she still needs to purchase
- Planted a TON of seeds in her jiffy pellets using the planting schedule from her gardening binder
- Made a plan for getting the outside gardens ready for planting some seeds directly outdoors, hopefully to be done this following week!
- NOW I finally feel ready to start gardening this year, yay!

For those of you who submitted your pictures and results we entered you into a giveaway for our Food Storage Made Easy Binders! And the winners are…

Stephanie W
Alisa D
Sondra M

Email us at info@foodstoragemadeeasy.net and we’ll get you the download!

Here are a few of the pictures we got from all of you! Good job guys, you inspired us with your emails, hard work, and diligence!

Disaster Kits … and a GIVEAWAY!

Jodi and Julie — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:28:10 +0000

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED – RESULTS WILL BE POSTED SOON!

Our Grandma Lori Food Storage Makeover project has led to quite a few questions from readers on the different types of “ready-made” Disaster Kits that are available. We initially outlined three disaster kit options and chose our recommendations based off of Grandma Lori’s preferences. We asked our friends at Emergency Essentials to help us put together a list of all of the kits that they have available and when you might use each one. They gave us some great information for us to share with you, and also offered to do a GIVEAWAY of one of their great kits. Yay for one of our lucky readers!

To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment telling us what aspects of Emergency Preparedness you would like to learn more about. The winner will be randomly selected from all of the comments. The giveaway will run until next Sunday, February 21st at 10 pm MST and the winner will be posted Monday.

A Trekker 2 Disaster Kit from Emergency Essentials. A 3 day supply for 2 people, retail value $99.95 on sale this month for $84.99. See below for more information on what the Trekker 2 kit contains.

Bottled Emergency Kits {more info}
Bottled kits are economical and contain basic emergency supplies neatly packed into a 32 oz. water bottle for easy transport. They contains items such as hand & body warmers, ponchos, emergency blankets, matches, flashlights, whistles, basic first aid kits, and more.

Starter Emergency Kit {more info}
This can act as a basic kit or an add-on to any other emergency kit for additional people. It includes food, water, light, warmth, communication, and more.

3-Day Lite Emergency Kit {more info}
This economical kit gives you the basics you will need in an emergency. It includes food, water, warmth, light, communication, and first aid all packed in a medium backpack for easy transporting.

Roadwise™ Emergency Kit {more info}
This kit includes items specially selected for storage in your automobile.

3-Day Emergency Kit {more info}
Calorie food bars and aqua blox allow this kit to be stored in varied temperatures so it can also be used as an auto emergency kit. It contains basic food, water, warmth, first aid, light and communication items all packaged in a medium sized backpack. Recommended for one person for up to three days.

Trekker™ Kits
These kits are designed for either one (Trekker I™),
two (Trekker II™), and four people (Trekker IV™). The Trekker II™ Kit was rated ‘Best Value’ by the Wall Street Journal. These kits contain calorie food bars, aqua blox, and over 120 (Trekker I™), 150 (Trekker II™), and 275 (Trekker IV™) additional preparedness items. Some additional items found in our Trekker™ Kits that are not found in our 3-Day Emergency Kit are fire starters, purification tablets, more extensive first aid kits, additional hygiene items, and larger backpacks for storing the additional items.

ReadyWise™ Kits
Our ReadyWise™ line combines portability with convenience and ease. In addition to calorie food bars, these kits include MRE’s and MRE Heaters providing additional variety and nutrition. They offer a more comprehensive first aid kit when compared to our Trekker options as well as some additional items including a wool blend blanket, flashlight with the ability to charge a cell phone, and some emergency tools. ReadyWise kits are available in either 1 person or 2 person kits.

Comp™ Kits
Comp™ is short for ‘comprehensive’ which is the word that best describes this line. We have combined the convenience and ease of MRE’s and MRE Heaters with over
280 (Comp I™) and 390 (Comp II™) emergency supplies. These kits offer improved warmth, cooking, light and communication, first aid and sanitation, storage and tools supplies when compared to other kits. Some additional items that are unique to this line include an emergency toilet and water storage kit, our finest first aid kit in any of our 3 day kits, survival book, sewing kit, tri-fold shovel, and Deluxe Hiking Pack.

We hope you find this information helpful when selecting your Disaster Kits!

Valentine’s Day and Food Storage?

Jodi and Julie — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:01:20 +0000

We made this post last year- but figured it’s still appropriate since it’s almost Valentines Day again and a lot of our readers have never seen this… If you made this last year remember to restock any foods (if your spouse hasn’t already sneaked them and ate them already). If you haven’t seen this before, then here you go….

Are you having a hard time deciding what to get your “special someone” for Valentines Day? Well worry no more. We have made it easy for you – and what’s better then the gift of preparedness? Send your loved one to work with a special 72 Hour Kit for the Office. We even made a contents list and cute little tag for you to attach to the container you gather the contents in.

For the tag – that reads “Because I always want you to be safe” and contents list, click here. As always, you may customize this list to meet your specific needs and don’t worry if you can’t get all the items at once. Put a few of the items in, and keep giving them extra “parts” as special surprises through out the year.

IN THE KIT (buy trial size if you can)
- food (protein bars, granola bars, beef jerky, candy, fruit roll ups)
- toothbrush/toothpaste
- washcloth/facewash/bodywash
- shampoo/conditioner
- razor/shaving cream/deodorant
- change of socks/underwear
- kleenex/wet wipes
- hand sanitizer
- travel-size first aid kit including small bottle of Tylenol
- work gloves
- rain poncho
- space blanket
- small flashlight with spare batteries
- a whistle (to draw the attention of rescue workers)
- carbon-filtering dust mask (for smoke, dust, debris, etc.)
- small novel
- small radio with spare batteries
- cash (small bills for vending machines)
- contents list

WITH THE KIT
- crow bar
- water

To print the tag and contents list, click here, or click on either of the images. Good luck and Happy Valentines Day!

Disaster Kit Scavenger Hunt

Jodi and Julie — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:46:11 +0000

Are you STILL procrastinating getting your disasters kit together? Well we thought of a fun way for you and your family to GET IT DONE! Presenting the Food Storage Made Easy….

Get your family together for a fun night. Whether you hunt for the items in your house or at a store, make it fun! Included in the scavenger hunt are strips of paper you can cut with the name and image of the item – that way young kids can get involved too! Cut up the strips and assign different family members different items. Make it a race and see how quickly and fun getting prepared can be!

When you’re all done make sure you store your kit in a safe place you would have quick access to in times of evacuation. Click on the image to download your scavenger hunt kit today!

Also – don’t forget to fill out your family plan and get your evacuation plan including car kit in order!

Food Storage Makeover: Disaster Kits Part Two

Jodi and Julie — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:18:30 +0000

Today is the DAY! We got Grandma Lori’s disaster kits all purchased and compiled and she is very excited with the results. We started out this phase of our Food Storage Makeover by discussing the three different options available for disaster kits. After some discussion, we found a solution that worked well for Grandma Lori. Check out our video below to see our discussion and the final results!

We have had a lot of people ask us about options for buying kits that are already put together. We got the one in the video from Emergency Essentials who has a huge selection of different kits you can purchase depending on your family’s needs. We will be doing a post later this month discussing some of the different options. (*hint* There just MAY be a giveaway associated with that post!)

Food Storage Makeover: Disaster Kits

Jodi and Julie — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:10:44 +0000

We’re so excited about our Extreme Makeover: Food Storage Edition project we are working on with Grandma Lori. We decided to start with getting her Disaster Kits put together. Disaster kits consist of a 3 day supply of food, water, and emergency items). As we went through our Emergency Preparedness worksheets we realized that they might not be ideal for every situation (including Grandma Lori’s). We came up with the following 3 options to discuss with her:

Pros
Inexpensive – if you have a lot of the first aid and emergency items on hand already and purchase food items in bulk at the grocery store
Flexibility – Freedom to choose foods for your 72 hour kits that suit your family’s needs and preferences
Cons
Time intensive – Inventorying your materials on hand can take a while, plus the added time of going to the store to purchase any items still needed
Hard to find – Some items may be hard to find if you don’t have a specialty preparedness store near your home

Pros
Convenience – No need to think or plan, everything you need is available all in one kit, including food and water and backpacks to carry it in
Cons
Expense – Buying everything new could potentially be more expensive then looking for good sales prices or using things you already have

Some good places to look for ready-made-kits are Emergency Essentials or American Family Safety.

Pros
Personalized – Some people like the kit for emergency supplies, but still prefer to put in real food for 72 hour kits
More complete – Any items not included in a purchased kit can be added in as a supplement
Cons
Consideration – Takes a little more thought then just purchasing a pre-made kit

If you are at the stage to be putting together your Disaster Kits you may wish to consider these three options. We will be going into more details on the three options in the future as we revamp our Disaster Kits page.

Make sure to stay tuned next Monday for the next video in this series to see what Grandma Lori decided on and to see the results of the first phase of her Food Storage Makeover!