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With hurricane season coming and a heightened sense of awareness after the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster in Japan, I decided that I should take some steps to ensure that I can provide for my family for at least a week if it becomes necessary to stay at home during some unforseen event. After Hurricane Ivan, we were without power for 8 days and got by just fine on what we had in the house, but I want to be more prepared.

I'm not about to put on my tin foil hat and prepare to defend a secret bunker from attacking hoardes of zombies at the end of the world, but making some reasonable preparations seems like a very good idea.

So far I have put together the following

1) a supply of various canned and dry foods to better stock the pantry.
2) cases of bottled water
3) emergency weather radio, flashlights, batteries
4) camp stove is functional and Ihave extra fuel
5) I have plenty of various camping equipment that could be employed (water filter, tents, etc)
6) Home first aid kit
7) extra food for dogs/cats
8) small stash of cash in small bills in case credit cards don't work if electricity is out.

I feel like I've done a good job without going over the deep end, but wonder if there is anything I have forgotten. Any good ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Hopefully you've got it covered under first aid kit but a supply of any really important medications someone might have to take.

The supplies required for predictable necessary survival, like long term power outages, are fairly common sense of what you will need. If an emergency arises in potential other areas, like, nuclear, biological..., you might look into the pick-up and go kits. These kits are compact and can be used to relocate quickly if necessary. They will last many years so you don't have to replenish as needed for your normal home emergency kit.

You could always get food from military surplus stores - those MRE's or whatever they are called. A lot of them aren't that bad....we did a whole bunch in AP chem during the thermodynamic unit...and then ate them. That, was a good lab! Although, unless they improved the brownies in the last 5 years, don't bother, the chocolate brownies for desert suck.

Yucca,

too complicated. You need:

1) guns
2) bullets
3) friends with same

From there you can get whatever you need from anyone who doesn't have items 1,2, and 3. Look at history and natural disasters the world over including Katrina and you see the same pattern. I'm not advocating violence and I have a well stocked "stash" for multi-day emergencies.....but I also have 1,2, and 3.

Yucca, I would make a few other suggestions. A 5 gallon bucket, a large heavy duty tarp, camp shovel, hatchet, and some signalling device like a flare gun or good mirror. A couple bottles of everclear (high alchohol content, these should be stored seperately from items 1 and 2 above )

okay. why everclear?

Sungura wrote:okay. why everclear?

Fire
Fuel
Disinfectant
Boredom
Barter

Sungura,

all the uses marduke mentioned are true (especially barter), but they can also be easily served by other readily available materials. The main one is....pain killer. You may not have access to Darvocet

Ah. Well I'll have to get a stash then. Alcohol tends to induce migraines for me, so it would totally NOT be a painkiller. Why not just grab a jug of ether from the lab?

Medically speaking, alcohol is a poor painkiller or "remedy" for anything except as a topical disinfectant. Taken internally there are way too many side effects, like making a patient inherently unreliable and unpredictable. Entertainment value - perhaps.

It's interesting how in the US most discussions about disaster preparedness quickly turn to peripheral items like guns and alcohol.

Sungura wrote:Why not just grab a jug of ether from the lab?

Because it's probably denatured and not consumable.

NZ,

alcohol may not be a "good" painkiller...but in the absence of ANY...it sure seems like a good 2nd choice. I guess it all depends on the nature of the disaster as to whether guns and booze are peripheral or not. Power out in your county for a week? no your prolly not going to need a gun. Live in a country where you CANT effectively own guns? same. Live in or near a major city when things go down the toilet? Well you prepare how you see fit and I'll do the same

Marduke wrote:

Sungura wrote:Why not just grab a jug of ether from the lab?

Because it's probably denatured and not consumable.

??? Consumable?? I mean to knock people out...alcohol for painkiller isn't gonna do much good actually, especially if you need to suture a wound or dig out a bullet or whatever. Ether may be old and you have to be careful the amount used, but it's still easy to use and works well for general anesthesia.

he confused ether and ethyl :) However, there is a fair amount of scientific literature to support the use of alcohol as a analgesic and even anasthetic. It can also be effective in non intoxicating quantities. I'm not saying its the best method, but since most people can't "just grab a jug of ether from the lab", it is convenient.

wyandottecaver wrote:However, there is a fair amount of scientific literature to support the use of alcohol as a analgesic and even anasthetic.

Not to encourage even further divergence from the intended topic, but really? I'd be interested to see references, and so would the ICU RN sitting next to me. Your comment also begs the question - once you anesthetize somebody what are you planning to do next? DIY surgery?