Purchasing Emergency Supplies

Posted by Sean on January 5, 2009 under Purchasing, Supplies | Be the First to Comment

Once you have a clear idea of what you want (and need) to place in your emergency kit, the next step is to begin assembling your kit. This means purchasing the items you need and doing it on a results-oriented schedule. The following article will outline helpful steps and resources to make it easy for you to get your emergency kit assembled.

Check out the Red Cross checklist as you plan your purchases. When preparing your shopping lists, group specialty food items according to the names of people in your household to ensure their particular dietary needs are addressed.

5 tips for buying emergency food supplies

When buying the edible components of your emergency kit, remember to buy

  1. Foods that are easy to store (items with a long shelf life or packaging that preserves freshness and are re-sealable)
  2. Foods that don’t require a lot of water to prepare
  3. Items that taste good and meet the dietary needs of people in your household
  4. A manual can opener and disposable utensils
  5. Nonperishable foods for your pets

Foods that come in “convenient” packages and are designed for long-term storage might appear to be a good deal but if they are complicated to prepare or simply taste terrible, you are wasting your money.

An excellent resource is an article entitled “Preparing an Emergency Food Supply, Short Term Food Storage.” Written by food safety specialists, the article outlines important tips to keep in mind when purchasing emergency supplies by focusing on how you should be planning to store the food once you have begun to use it.

A Balanced Purchase Plan

The number of emergency items (food, supplies, clothing, etc.) can be overwhelming if you are trying to buy them all at once. A better approach is to build you emergency supplies list and then buy a few key items at a time over the course of several weeks.

For example, in Week 1 of your purchase plan think about the basics: water, light and shelter. This translates into: bottled water, flashlights or candles and a tent or large plastic tarp. Week 2 then expands to include more essentials: food, warmth, first aid. This translates into: canned soup / canned vegetables / canned meats, blankets (e.g., heat reflective blankets) and a simple medical kit with gauze, antiseptic cream, ice packs and compress bandages. The CDC offers a useful list of supplies for your first aid kit at http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/earthquakes/supplies.asp.
Take a look at an example of a weekly buying plan that was published by the Palm Beach County Department of Public Safety. Their list focuses on the risks and issues related to hurricanes but many of the items on their list are common to emergency preparedness kits for any disaster situation.

Store It – Use It – Replace It

You should be familiar with what you have on hand as part of your emergency supplies. The best way to know this is to use your supplies and replace them on a regular basis. The last thing you need in an emergency is to find out that your food supplies expired or were damaged by water or mold. Don’t let useless supplies give you a false sense of safety! Plan to rotate your food supplies based upon a regular schedule – 3 months, 6 months, 12 months and so forth. You can find several food rotation planner tools at http://www.pep-c.org/nss-folder/rotationplanner/ .

If you are looking for a planning tool that goes beyond your own checklists and references listed here, you might find the Food Storage Planner be an option. The program is currently available for Windows systems (but not Mac OS). There is also a basic food quantities calculator available at http://www.coolcontent.com/familyfun/FoodStorage.html.

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Planning for your emergency supplies needs

Posted by Sean on December 15, 2008 under Planning, Supplies | Be the First to Comment

Planning for your emergency needs is an ongoing process and should be incorporated into your overseas household routines.

The three basic questions to answer when setting up your emergency supplies are:

  1. Where will you store your supplies?
  2. How much water will you need?
  3. How much food will you need?

Since you don’t know when an emergency (such as an earthquake) might strike, you should put together emergency kits for your home and car. Your home kit will be more comprehensive and your car kit should be in one container and easy to take with you if you need to leave your vehicle.

For your home kit, assemble the essential food, water and dry goods supplies to provide for a period of at least three days. Keep this kit in a location that can be quickly accessed (e.g., master bedroom, storage space on the ground floor of your home or in a storage space outside of your residence but still on your property). Make sure all family members know where the kit is kept and what is in it!

If your space allows for it, you can set aside supplies to shelter in your home for up to two weeks. To better estimate the food supplies you will need, check out the food storage calculator at http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm and the article entitled “How to calculate supplies needed for a Hurricane/Typhoon/Cyclone.”

Think about your family members’ preferences and nutritional needs as you purchase and store food supplied. Familiar foods are important since they can improve morale and contribute to a sense of security during a crisis. Think about storing foods that are high in calories and nutritional value. Purchase foods that require no refrigeration, water, special preparation, or cooking. One helpful resource to assist you with meal planning is the Emergency Food Pyramid from the Ohio State University Extension.

When identifying a storage point for your food, try to find a dry, cool spot—a dark area if possible. Be sure to set aside additional plastic bags and containers to store perishable foods, such as cookies and crackers. You should also have screw-top jars to store products such as sugar, dried fruit and nuts so that you can safely store them even after their packaging is opened.

You should plan a regular time and date to check your food stores. An easy reminder is when changing to or from daylight savings time. When checking your food, throw out canned goods that become swollen, dented, or corroded. Also, be sure to use foods before they go bad, and replace them with fresh supplies, dated with ink or marker. Place new items at the back of the storage area and older ones in front.

References & More Information

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