Are you prepared for an emergency?

In December 2000, our part of the world had one of the worst ice storms to hit in decades.  I was completely unprepared, and it was a life-changing event for me.  We had no backup heat, no large quantity of food in stock, laundry was still waiting to be washed, and my husband had no way to run his CPAP machine for his sleep apnea.  I realized at that time how extremely fragile our way of life is – what an illusion we live with daily when something such as an ice storm can completely debilitate a family.   The shock of realizing how spoiled we are and our dependence on modern conveniences was a real eye opener.

We were out of power for over a week, some people were out for several weeks.  Because we had no backup heat, we were forced to evacuate our home and stay with family.  Afterwards, it mobilized my husband and me to take a hard look at our lack of self-sufficiency.  I suspect most families are the same way – it takes a major event to spur you into action.

We wound up installing a free-standing natural gas heater that requires no electricity, and bought a gas-powered generator so that we could at least run a few “necessities”.  Within one week of installing the heater, our power was out again from yet another storm.  Thankfully this time, the power was only down for 24 hours, but we were prepared!  Since that time, we’ve had to drag the generator out at 2am so my husband could sleep, but at least it was available.  Because it is medically necessary for him to have an electrical source, we also recently bought a 200 watt Xantrex Powerpack which has paid for itself several times.  We keep it beside the bed so he can just reach over and plug his CPAP directly into it and go back to sleep til morning.

When the power goes out, and you realize laundry has not been done, dishes have not been washed, floors have not been vacuumed, and now you have no way to do this without “conveniences”, it really is a slap in the face.  Some of us have to learn the hard way, but once that lesson is learned – you never forget it!

Now with the economy in a mess, I feel like there’s a storm brewing that could send us all back into the economic stone ages.  Times are hard on almost everyone you talk to with no end in sight.  The government taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is just a band-aid on the real problem – people are living beyond their means.  When you talk about downsizing to a smaller home (or already live in a smaller home by choice), folks look at you like you’ve lost your mind.  We would love to have a large brick home on several acres of land, but the reality is that we couldn’t pay for it.  We had a house in the Burbs in the early ’90s, and almost lost it when my husband’s hours were cut.  Without the overtime he had always worked, we almost lost everything we had because we had based all of our bills on it.  Huge mistake on our part, but again – another learning process.  We downsized our home, and have never regretted it.  There have been times it’s been hard just to pay for what we have now, but we’re so thankful for it, no matter what other people think.

I really believe we must all make preparations now and not wait until disaster strikes (whether economic or otherwise) and realize we were caught unaware.  If you have money, that’s great, but what will you do when the grocery stores have no food?  Money will not feed your family or keep your home warm in the winter in an emergency.  You, not the government, have the responsibility to take care of your family.  That responsibility includes being able to feed them, keep them safe and warm, and provide basic necessities.  There are a lot of things we all would like to have, but they are not integral to living.  Lord, help us to know the difference!

My sole purpose in life may just be to serve as a warning to others.  Learn from the mistakes I’ve made, and take the time to think about what you can do to be more self-sufficient.  Ask yourself what you would do if an emergency happened and grocery stores ran out of food?  What would you do if the power went out for a month?  What if it was in the dead of winter and the central heat went off?  What if the roads were bad enough you couldn’t get to extended family’s home?  Be prepared for the unexpected!

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More on stockpiling food and menu planning

If any of you have a Fred’s discount store nearby, they are carrying plastic containers that will hold around 25-30 pounds of dog food.  They are very sturdy with a handle on one side, and cost $8.99 each.  I bought a few to hold bulk sizes of sugar, flour, and rice, especially once they are opened.  The lids have a flip/spout thing which will come in handy for scooping out food for cooking.  They were on sale last week (originally they were $9.99, I think) – look in the pet food section of the store.  I’ll try to get a picture posted soon.

Dollar General has 30 gallon plastic totes for less than $10 each which work great for storing flour, sugar, rice, etc.  Be sure to put a few bay leaves in before you seal it.

I normally buy groceries every 2 weeks (I set it up on my husband’s paycheck cycle), and plan menus for at least that long at a time.  Since I’ve been buying in bulk, it’s made shopping so much easier since I always have a certain amount of food onhand.  Our grocery bill has not gone down though, because I’ve been picking up extra canned foods every pay day.  When you have a large amount of flour onhand, for example, it’s easier to move on to another item you need more of such as sugar.

From now until Christmas, grocery stores will be putting more and more canned goods on sale with Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching.  Why not stock up on corn, green beans, peas, etc. while they are .50 cents (or less) a can?  It will save your family money in the long run, and you will have confidence that there is something in the pantry you can feed them.

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