Bugging In or How to prepare for emergency living situations.

   What should you have stored away for emergencies? Of course, the ideal situation is to be able to stay in your home as long as possible. Therefore, you need to have your home as stocked up as you can afford.
Basically, you need food, water and a way to prepare food in the event you lose electricity, gas and water service. Don’t store an excessive amount at first, you will need to concentrate on all the other safety precautions before putting away a lot of food. After you are reasonably sure you and your family can survive for a week, then you can go back and stock up on longer term needs.
No amount of preparation is going to be worthwhile if you don’t have your whole family secured. So, have a plan for getting all family members home. Be sure everyone knows the plan, too. It would be terrible to arrive at your child’s school or your spouse’s work to find them gone. Therefore, make sure you all know how to get together in case of an emergency where you may have no communication available to you. Even at home, in case of fire or other disaster where you have to leave the house, know where you are to meet, so no one is left behind or worse yet, goes back to save someone when they are already out.
Now, you have a plan for getting the family together; you have some food and water for a week, what next? Without heat you will probably need some way of keeping warm. Extra blankets, comforters or quilts would be handy to have on hand, along with warm coats and other clothing for everyone.
What about when it gets dark? Long hours of darkness could be demoralizing to say   the least, if not downright unsafe. You might not want to curl up in bed every night waiting for daylight. Even during the day you may need lights for rooms that are dark, say a bathroom that doesn’t have a window. It might be a good idea to stock up on flashlights, extra batteries, lanterns, candles, matches or lighters, and solar powered lights. Those little solar lights that can be used to light the walkway can also easily be brought in for a few hours of light. Having several to use could last all night if you turn them all off but one at a time. That will conserve the battery usage. The next day the lights can again be placed outside to recharge.
Now; you have everyone at home safe and sound, some food and water, a way of keeping warm and a way of lighting the house; what next? Even if you don’t have children, it might be a good idea to have some type of entertainment such as games. A deck of cards, or a few board games can be used to pass the time and to help alleviate fear and worry. Simple crafts could be another option.
As mentioned before, you may need light for dark rooms such as a bathroom. Without running water, how are you going to use the bathroom? Stock up on large containers of water for flushing as well as for bathing. Or better yet, for the toilet you could have a camping potty. There are many YouTube videos on some good emergency potties you could prepare and have on hand. One of the simplest potty ideas is to use a five gallon bucket with a trash bag liner and some sawdust or other composting materials. Be sure to stock up on toilet paper too.
Speaking of paper, you may want to store some extra paper towels and wet wipes. If the emergency situation goes on long enough, it may become impossible to bathe in the tub, so larger bathing wipes would be handy to have. Search for them on the internet if you can’t find any locally. I believe you could find them at camping supply stores.
Another important aspect of being prepared is to have a first aid kit and know how to use it, make sure everyone in the house knows basic first aid skills. Have pain relievers and any prescription medications stocked up also, as well as simple cold and allergy remedies.
It might be a good idea to lay out clothes at the beginning of an emergency to be able to have clothing that will be usable over a long period of time. That could be as simple as wearing the same outfit multiple times. Hanging worn clothing to air out is a better idea than just tossing it on the floor or into a hamper. You could have to wear that outfit again if the situation is extended and there is no way of washing your clothes.
A very important aspect of emergency disaster preparedness is to have every member of the household to be involved in the preparation. They will be more likely to follow the plan if they have had a part in preparing and know the importance of everyone’s help.
After the initial week’s worth of stores, what then? Go back over your stock of food, water, paper products, etc. and decide what would need to be added to be able to survive for a month or six months. In stocking food also plan for how you will prepare the food. You could keep on hand a camping stove and fuel, along with a good water filter. A life straw per person would be helpful, especially if you are stuck in a long term situation.
I was going to cover bugging out too, so I’ll post another article on how to prepare for having to leave your home . Prepare aenjoy!