Game plan for disaster scenario

[Rivers]

This is intended to buy time in the event of a natural disaster like Katrina, earthquakes, etc. Obviously it's important to have food staples, water, first aid, etc. on hand. With a little twist that benefits the local community, I came up with this game plan:

With a large sealable plastic bin, go shopping for bulk foods like rice and oatmeal, jerky meat packages, bottled water jugs, a water treatment kit, a good first aid kit plus antibacterial agents (alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, etc), other foods that can handle long-term dry storage, basics like aspirin and other pain killers, matches and a magnesium lighter, and so on.

Keeping an inventory (taped to the top of the bin) with the expiration dates of the enclosed items. The plastic bin would allow a quick way to stay supplied should an evacuation be necessary.

While the items are still "unexpired" but on a yearly basis, rotate my supplies by donating them to local charities and food banks. I can also deduct the rotating donations from my income taxes so it's a real win-win for everyone.

Any suggestions for a working shopping list? (Think Costco, Wally World, etc.)

[eckerph]

I like the idea of mountain house products, they keep allot longer than store bought stuff (25years)and you can buy 72 hr kits http://www.mtnhse.com/miva/merchant....uct_Code=80694. probably cost a little more but if i didn't get MRE's so cheap that would be the route i would go.

[sammy]

I have 2 55 gallon plastic drums full of drinking water (PM me if you want some, I have lots of free foodgrade plastic drums. I am in Concord 94518), sleeping bags, camping stove and lantern, 3 gallons of white gas , a 3800watt 220V generator with 20 gallons of gas, food and supplies to last my family one month. This is my earthquake kit, better to have and not need then to need and not have.

[VeryCoolCat]

You might not want to stick with jerky... its too lean and its fat content won't really sustain you.

Rice/Oatmeal require large amounts of water and cooking. If the SHTF... you do NOT want to be cooking. Bottled water can go rotten after a 1 year. You don't really need a first aid kit. A bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some bedsheets should suffice. If you cant find hydrogen peroxide. Break out the Vodka

Pain killers go bad, as for matches... just buy a flint stick. All you need is a knife and a piece of paper to start a fire. Generators can attract a large amount of attention to you. You can get a power inverter at a autozone.


#10 Cans of Mountain House food. About 1 can can sustain 1 person for almost 1 week at least if not rationed.

The water in your water heater may taste bad... but it has a LARGE supply of drinking water. Not to mention the toilet tank (good reason not to put solvents in the tank).

BTW for you anti-soda activists. Soda might be the perfect item for survival. The sugar content/caffeine content will keep you alert and give you some energy.

If the sitation is bad enough that you have to last more than 2 weeks without supplies. then there'll be enough dead to scavenge supplies from.

[sloguy]

how does water go rotten after a year?

[ldivinag]

how does water go rotten after a year?

bacteria and stuff...

that's why a bottle of iodine should be included in your multi gallon water supply... or bleach.

[Bishop]

Note that bleach loses maximum effectiveness after 4 months. Keep your supply fresh. Iodine based water purifiers (cheap and effective) are beginning to be regulated by the DEA, so prices should go up very soon (if they haven't already).

Buy honey it never goes bad, and makes things taste good! Prices are also going up with the whole CCD thing...

I could write more, but there are plenty of resources on this topic.

Oh yeah, and TP. TP never goes bad, and people will always want it. Always.

edit: bleach is still effective, it's just not AS effective... 8 drops of bleach per gallon of water, stir, and let sit for an hour.

[GSequoia]

You might not want to stick with jerky... its too lean and its fat content won't really sustain you.

Agreed here, the salt content is also a concern, you do NOT want food that makes you thirsty.

Rice/Oatmeal require large amounts of water and cooking. If the SHTF... you do NOT want to be cooking. Bottled water can go rotten after a 1 year.

Cooking is fine for longer terms, for the immediate though you want stuff that has minimal preparation, assume you will not have the time to prepare meals and cook them as you'll be busy assessing the situation and/or helping out friends / neighbors.

You don't really need a first aid kit. A bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some bedsheets should suffice. If you cant find hydrogen peroxide.

This is without a doubt the absolutely worst advice I have ever seen for a disaster kit. You should always have as large a first aide kit as you can muster, personally I maintain an *almost* first responders kit (I have a few more items I need to put in). Keep enough for yourself and others.

Pain killers go bad, as for matches... just buy a flint stick. All you need is a knife and a piece of paper to start a fire.

I say keep matches, lighters, AND the flint / magnesium stick. The flint / magnesium stick is your backup's backup.

Generators can attract a large amount of attention to you. You can get a power inverter at a autozone.

Inverters are good for the immediate for sure, you gotta decide what you want to DO with it first, for example if you want to run your big screen CRT television a 150 watt inverter isn't going to cut it. If you want to charge your laptop it will. Generators do make noise, but there are quiet ones and you can mod a louder one to be quiet. Personally in a perfect world (one where I could afford it and had the space) I would have a generator handy and quiet it down real well.

I'd be ready to travel and build up good wilderness survival skills, but for any sort of incident it's best to bug in if at all possible.

Really the only thing that I "worry" about (not really worry, what I mean is the only thing I see having a high enough liklihood that I actively prepare for it) is a large earthquake, in which case be prepared to be completely on your own for three to five days.

[GSequoia]

Oh yeah, and TP. TP never goes bad, and people will always want it. Always.

Not if they've been eating enough MREs

[Rivers]

Ace in the hole here. ;-) Been doing the NutriSystems diet for the last few months. Besides losing a decent amount of weight, I also have easy to prepare foods that should store for over a year. Obviously, in a crisis, losing weight isn't a priority. And the food tastes decent too!

Have a 3000w generator, keep a full tank of gas in at least one vehicle, have emergency blankets, WHITE cloths (for bandages) and a couple dozen cans of canned tuna and instant soups.

About the first aid kit, with my parents' medical training, the first aid kit is a no-brainer. (Dad was a surgeon, Mom is an RN.) Get the biggest, most complete kit you can manage, keep it current (medical supplies age worse than food), and learn how to use it.

The comment about WHITE cloths comes from the bad things that can happen when clothing dyes get into a wound. My parents were very definite about never using anything BUT white for bandages. I guess with my Dad's 16 years of medical school, WWII Japanese theatre hospital ship, plus orthopedic surgery, he would have known.

[eckerph]

road flares are good too, I had to start a campfire in the rain with wet wood once and the flare burns very hot an for a long time too. can also be used as a signal also. maps arent a bad idea either, i have a bunch of maps for the surrounding area i live in and back home (fresno)

[Paul]

Stuff - I got lots of it.

There are two basic senerios - stay put and go away - and each requires a bit of different thinking.

If you're going you're going to need gasoline to feed the car/truck while you idle in the world's biggest traffic jam. You'll need three days food, water, medicine (if you or yours is on it - including contact lens solution) and of course a bit of clothing, a blanket, a rifle and some ammo. The worst case is that you have to walk (or bike ride) out so a backpack is a good thing to have.

Know all the ways out of town - all of them.

If you're staying home you can go a whole bunch deeper. The food can be cooked, water can be boiled or collected out of your hot water heater. Know your neighbors.

Communications is important if you've got more than one person in your group. Amateur radio is the way to go.

In my truck I have lifeboat rations, liter bottles of water, and lots of other stuff. At home I have enough food and water for a couple of months, may be longer.

[SAN_ Shooter]

Bug-out or Hunker-down

Here in San Diego, we are stuck between the Border Fence, the desert and LA's teeming hordes. Bugging-out is not really an option for us and "when" the Big One hits LA/SFO, I just hope that I'm not on travel somewhere.

Unless you live in the heart of downtown "wherever", bugging-out will just increase your risk of personal harm. If you live anywhere in CA, you live in earthquake zone and should already have a cabinet full of canned goods and some drinking water. Three or four of those blue, 7-gallon jugs sit pretty nicely in the garage. Filled to the brim with chlorinated tap water, these jugs should be rotated after every camping trip or every six months(whichever comes first). These basic supplies should see anyone through the first two weeks of a crisis.

I've always assumed that our freeways will be closed/inaccessable at the first sign of civil-unrest, earthquake, or quarantine! So, I always have a pair of good walking shoes at hand. You cannot walk to "home base" wearing your highheeled flip-flops.

In addition to your normal commuting route, be aware of the "safe" surface streets along the way. At a steady pace of three-miles-per-hour, it might take all day to walk home. Travel via residential areas may seem out of the way, but the initial looting will be restricted to small commercial-zones and strip-malls. By the end of Day One, you and yours should be at home and locked-down.

Finally, you know that we're just "preaching to the choir". I cannot imagine any Calgunner, sitting on a rooftop waiting for the UN helicopters!

Have fun, stay safe (and watch your back), Miguel

[ibanezfoo]

I like the idea of "I got what it takes to take what you got" Just kidding. We joke about that at work a lot.

-Bryan

[eckerph]

I like the idea of "I got what it takes to take what you got" Just kidding. We joke about that at work a lot.

-Bryan

In a disaster situation those type of people are going to be a factor. You're neighbor or friend may even turn on you.