3 Steps of Disaster Preparedness for the completely unprepared

There are an untold number of reasons to decide to become better prepared for any one of the hundreds of different things that could happen. One of the scariest for me was watching 3 hurricanes this past summer, cause massive damage in 3 completely different areas in the USA. All 3 were horrendous, but the fact that so many people in Puerto Rico still do not have dependable power and clean water, should make it obvious the government simply cannot be counted on to be there for us. It is up to us to make sure we can take care of ourselves while the rebuilding is going on.

I talk to people in my area on a regular basis and almost everyone is worried yet, most openly admit, they have no more than 1 weeks worth of food in the house and most of that is in the freezer. It will go bad in a hurry if power is lost.

When I ask why, most everyone says one of the following...

Lack of money or lack of time

Focus on getting started not on the long term goal

When you hear people talking about needing to have 1- 3 years (or more) of food designed for long term storage, it's scary? It seems like a monumental and expensive task and there is a good chance your wallet simply is not prepared to get you to your goal anytime soon.

Don't focus on the short term and the task seems much easier.

Breaking it down makes it easier to visualize making it happen

Step 1 - the basics

When Larry and I first started putting back food, we had only been married a few years and were supporting my disabled mother and my son on just one salary (it was cheaper for me to not work and take care of mom instead of hiring someone to take care of her).

We started by working to ensure we had a 3 day supply of food. It was easy to simply add a couple of boxes or cans of food to the shopping list each week. I watched eBay like a hawk for coupons for things like macaroni & cheese, pasta sauce, etc. and would buy 10 to 12 coupons when I knew it was a product that went on sale fairly often. You just might be surprised how many products I ended up buying a large quantity for less than $0.25 each. Many were actually free when I caught the right deal.

In less than 2 months, we had a stock pile that would last a lot longer than 3 days. Most all of it was high carb foods but for most everyone except a diabetic, the carbs can keep you going (energy wise).

One step, then the next

Step 2

Once your 3 day supply is set, start working on a 1 week/month supply. At this point, you can start adding in some foods you family prefers. Just remember to keep working toward foods that can store long-term and require as little cooking as possible. Also be thinking of purifying water. Depending on what has caused the emergency, there may not be any running water, gas or electricity. Learn if and where there are alternative water resources nearby. I will not live anywhere without a water supply nearby.

Start changing your thinking about what is edible and what is not. You might be surprised how many people (think truck drivers), live off eating food directly out of cans (without heating) on a regular basis. Sure, it is better if you can heat your food to at least 120 degrees to kill all bacteria, but the truth is, the canning process requires it to be heated well above 120 degrees and kept there long enough to ensure all bacteria are dead.

If the can is sealed properly (no air getting inside), the chance of a single bacteria remaining alive has less odds that winning the lottery. It is only when air is re-introduced that the possibility of bacteria growth begins. Even then, the can should not have any live bacteria in it, your big worry is wild bacteria being introduced if the entire can is not eaten in one sitting.

I am a truckers daughter, I was a truckers wife, I am a truckers mother and I use to be a trucker. That doesn't include all the uncles, cousins, etc. Between us we have probably eaten 30,000 plus can of food, straight from the can and not a single one has been poisoned from it. You have to weigh the extremely small odds of being poisoned against going hungry and make your own decision.

Step 3 is ongoing

Many people think having a week or two of food put back is enough. It is your choice on whether to take than chance or not. I think what we are seeing in Puerto Rico is a good reason to think it is NOT enough.

At this step, you might want to concentrate more on purchasing #10 cans of various dried foods or sealed 5 or 6 gallon buckets of food. I suggest you shop around because prices can vary greatly. The one place I have purchased the most of my food is [Honeyville}(https://shop.honeyville.com/). (NOTE: I am NOT an affiliate and will earn nothing if you shop from them.

They tend to have the best prices but tend to be out of stock fairly often on some of the regular items. Their shipping cost is only $4.99 no matter how much you order on most items. Plus, you can mix and match the #10 cans to get the discount price for buying a case of 6 on most items.

There are many newer sources I saw while getting the URL for Honeyville. Most did not exist when I was buying food on a regular basis. Check them out too, because there could be sources cheaper than Honeyville.

Another place I have purchased from on many occasions is {Rainy Day Foods](https://rainydayfoods.com/). They use to be Walton Foods but they separated the human and animal feed product lines and Rainy Day foods was born. Again, I do not earn a dime if you shop from these links.

Step 3 never ends

At some point, you will reach the point where you simply do not have any more room to store food. We reached that point at our old house which was only about 850 - 900 sq feet. At that point, it was probably about 2 years worth of food. When we bought this place we jumped to about 2500 sq ft on the main floor alone and a semi-finished basement that is somewhere around 1800 to 2000 sq ft. Suffice it to say, there is more now than when we left the old place.

But before I started increasing the amounts, I purchased better ways to store the foods, making it easier to rotate stock. I honestly cannot tell you how many years worth of food we have, but it is organized so as I use up what is in the main pantry, I can pull the oldest stock to use now, and replace it with fresh stock.

For Meat Eaters

Long term storage is an area where meat eaters lose out. The freeze dried meats are expensive, especially if you are feeding a family. Most of the dried meals with meat will cost over $30 for a #10 can that is mainly some sort of pasta with some meat and sauce powder thrown in.

Number of servings tend to vary but most run between about 12 and 16 servings per can. Not bad for a single person, but can easily run over $10 per meal for a family of 4.

You can make your own if you have a food dehydrator. Stews and pasta meals work best. Just be sure to make your meal thicken than normal. Soups are not a good idea unless they are very thick. They will flow off the drying sheets if they are too thin.

Spread as thin as possible on the drying sheet and dehydrate on a meat temperature setting until thoroughly dry. You can simply break it up by hand after drying. I prefer to grind them in a blender until powdered. They are quicker to re-hydrate and take up less storage space that way. The texture is different but I still prefer it this way.

Before my wreck, we often went on weekend trips to the mountain. You can add the powder to old large (clean) medicine/vitamin bottles and keep in your backpack. Add a little warm water and you have a tasty meal in minutes.

The hard part is getting started

If your money is tight, start by adding just one extra item to your shopping list each week. When you can buy more, do so. Just make an effort to add at least one item a week and you will be better prepared than 75% of the population!