Monthly Archives: February 2015

Homemade Dog Food

Dog food can be expensive and tedious to buy. There tends to be an unbalanced nutrition in common dog foods. Generally there is a lot of corn or other grains and very little protein or healthy fats. Making dog food at home can be much more rewarding for you and your dog.

When preparing your dog’s meal, you must think about cover all bases of nutrition. You want to have a balanced meal that provides enough calories and also has enough what your dog needs. Make sure that you give your dog the right amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats. Below are some suggestions of what you can add to your homemade dog food.

Proteins – Our main source of protein is raw eggs. Yes, raw from the backyard coop. He goes crazy over them. Shells included, crushed up. For smaller dogs, one egg a day would be enough. But Samson is quite the big boy, so two eggs a day does it for him, though sometimes I do only give him one. Raw eggs not only help your dog get its necessary protein, it also helps tremendously in making their coat shiny and beautiful.

Other proteins include meat, beans (he loves beans), seafood and some dairy. You can feed your dog raw or cooked meat, however, you should never mix them. If you choose to do raw meat in your dog’s diet, it must strictly be a meal of raw meat. A dogs body processes cooked and raw meats differently — giving them to your dog in the same meal can cause more harm than good. Strictly raw, nothing cooked (including other things like veggies and oatmeal).

Fats – This can certainly come from the meat that you give your dog. You can also use oil, but we choose to just use drippings or fat from the meat.

Carbs – Grains such as rice and oatmeal are a great base for your dog food, and carbohydrates are necessary to keep your dog’s energy levels up to par. We tried brown rice several times, but his body did not digest it &mdash it came out the same way it went in. Therefore, oatmeal is our go-to grain. His body digests it easily, and there are lots of good things that oatmeal does for the body and the coat.

Vegetables – This goes along with the “carbs” section, but I like to treat it separately. Take this time to really dive into what veggies your dog might like, each dog is different. Samson loves carrots and peas (cooked or canned). Vegetables are a necessary part of the diet, though not as necessary as proteins, fats and carbs. I always suggest doing more of the top three, and then sprinkling a thin layer of veggies over top.

Calcium – Egg shells, certain dairy (yogurt, cheese, limited raw milk).

Fatty Acids – This is kind of an “eh” category. Your dog will be getting most of these from the other things that you’re giving in the homemade dog food. Fatty acids come from egg yolks, oatmeal and some plant oils.

Source: MotherEarthNews

Here is one idea for a good mixture of dog food:

-2 cups of cooked oat meal (steel-cut oats)

-1 cup of kale or spinach

-1 to 2 cups of cooked meat

-1 raw egg (with the shell)

-1 cup raw yogurt

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

 

Via:  survivalist

10 Household Items That Could Be Used As Life Savers during Survival Situations

There is no denying that the internet today is filled with articles and blogs about ‘the basic stuff we need to bring in our bug out bag…’ or ‘the bare essentials for survival…’ and the likes. And most of the time, the things being mentioned in these posts appear over and over and over again as if we’re not yet fed up of reading this overload of information. So instead of writing another guide about the usual suspects, I decided to share about the other things which can be equally useful in times of disasters and emergencies. Stick around as we are going to give a rundown of the 10 household items which can used as life saver during survival situations and probably leave some space for them to be included in your bug-out bags.

  1. Sanitary napkins
  • Conventional use: These things are often used by women during their menstrual visit. Sanitary napkins are usually made to absorb huge amount of menstrual fluids and are always sterilized to avoid the genitals from being infected.
  • Survival use: This household item can be used as padding for treating wound injuries in the field. Simply patch the napkin like you do with a gauze bandage and it will protect the wound from getting infected.
  1. Super glue
  • Conventional use: This heavy duty adhesive is used mostly for doing house repairs as it can stick to most surfaces like wood, plastic, leather, ceramics, and even glass.
  • Survival use: Super glue is actually safe to use for adhering severely wounded areas because of its sterile composition. If you don’t have any strings to use for stitching, simply apply the glue over to the lacerated area and wait for 3 minutes until completely fastened. Just bear in mind, this is a very painful process. So it would help if you can provide more support to the victim so he can bear the hurt with ease. (Keep in mind that when using superglue to close wounds in the field that using only enough to hold the wound closed is better than using too much because when the victim is finally transported to medical facilities, someone at the facility will have to re-open the wound to assure proper sterilization procedures or underlying tissue repair and foreign object removal. Superglue can save a life for sure! Don’t compound the trauma by using too much when “saving that life.”)
  • Using the superglue (cyanoacrylate adhesive) mixed with the baking soda creates a rock-hard compound that will fill in for missing materials while doing repairs.

  1. Whistle and compact mirror
  • Conventional use: Compact mirrors are used mostly by women if they feel the need to do a quick re-touch. On the other hand, a whistle is used to call out the attention of others by making a loud audible sound.
  • Survival use: If you are stranded in the wilderness, you can make use of these items to call out the attention of an incoming rescue party. A mirror can be utilized to redirect the rays of the sun to signal rescuers and guide them to your point of location (like an aerial rescue). A whistle can also be a great addition to your survival gear as it can be used to direct the rescue group to find you if any visual indicator is not possible to be seen immediately (like in most jungle or cave-in rescues).
  1. Charcoal and cheesecloth
  • Conventional use: Charcoal is often used for barbequing and fish aquariums while cheesecloth is mostly used for wiping excess moisture in meats and for straining.
  • Survival use: These 2 household items can be used to purify water. Place activated charcoal from fish aquariums (not the type for barbequing as these are known to have mfg chemicals that makes it unsuitable for filtering) in the cheesecloth and let the water pass through it like you do with a normal strainer. The coal has the ability to clean the water by trapping microorganisms while the cloth will filter most of the solid impurities that make the water filthy.
  1. Gunpowder
  • Conventional use: To blast ammunition when fired by a gun and for making fireworks.
  • Survival use: For cauterizing wounds – This stuff is usually seen in action movies. If ever you are wounded severely and you need to close the wounded area to avoid infection, simply dust equal amounts of gunpowder into the affected area and light it up! Obviously, this will hurt a lot. So it would help if you bite on something to mend the pain a bit while going through the process.
  1. Chewing gum
  • Conventional use: To freshen up breath after meals.
  • Survival use: A stick of gum is a good appetite suppressor. The chewing motion of our mouth signals the brain that we are eating something. Thus, we don’t feel hungry right away. This is very helpful especially during an event of emergency when food is scarce and possibly rationed into equal portions to feed all the members of the bug-out group.
  1. Vinegar
  • Conventional use: Good for adding flavor into our salads and is also a great household cleaning agent.
  • Survival use: This household item can be used as a replacement for alcohol for sterilizing wounds and prevent any infection from happening.
  1. Condoms
  • Conventional use: Contraceptive.
  • Survival use: A strip of condom is flexible and waterproof that you can use it as a waterproof bag for storing water (up to 5 gallons!) and for preventing electronic gadgets from getting wet.
  1. Harmonica
  • Conventional use: For playing harmonious music.
  • Survival use: This item is a very helpful tool for coping up with the traumatic situation you are facing. Simply play the harmonica and this will help you relieve all the stress and anxiety you are feeling and learn to face the next day with a renewed hope and a positive vibe that everything will be fine eventually. (Unless of course you are in a situation you need to be silent.)
  1. Baking soda
  • Conventional use: For baking and for household cleaning.
  • Survival use: Baking soda can be used to treat stomachaches (just add 1 teaspoon to a glass of water), preserve the flavor of stored drinking water, and for stopping fires from getting out of control.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

 

Via:  americanpreppersnetwork, BugoutPro.com


Canned Food Alternatives

Below is the best advice on food storage I’ve seen or heard, and none are paid endorsements; they’re just my opinion:

A video by Wendy De Witt entitled “Sensible Food Storage”. The first 22+ minutes are on food storage; the other 35 minutes are on equipment. I believe it is the easiest, most commonsense, and cost-effective method.

Also, here is the link to her free doc.

Additionally, this woman has a series of ten or more videos on dehydrating that are excellent.

Below are some more links to what I feel are the best canning channels on YouTube, along with a few examples of their canning:

Here are the links to the two rocket stoves I would recommend:

  • The SilverFire – more stable because of the broad base and heavier weight
  • The BioLIte BaseCamp – nice because of the grill-to-boil lever, USB charger with LED light so you can watch what you’re cooking in the dark, and bucket handle:

For prepping purposes, the best vacuum sealer is probably the 12 volt-capable FoodSaver GameSaver.

Be prepared for when the fecal matter impacts upon the air circulation device!

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

 

Via:  survivalblog

Map Of Military Installations, Ranges, & Training Areas In The United States


I came across a fascinating map which may be of interest to some of you – of US Military bases, installations, ranges, and training areas. It is interesting to know what may be nearby in your own region, as well as general knowledge.

 

This map is very much incomplete. Off the top of my head there is Fort Belvoir and the Marine Corp Base at Quantico. I wonder what other places are MIA. Would love to see this overlaid with other government no-go facilities (those referred to as “restricted area” regions).

Still nice for reference.

The original file was huge, so I re-sized the map image down to 6000×5000 pixels (about 6MB) for more practical usage, view-ability, and download-ability.

All point locations are from best available unclassified sources.

The locations shown encompass both owned and leased lands. Not all installations, ranges, and training areas are depicted on this map.

This image is a work of the United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

US Military Bases & Installations Map
(6000 x 5018 px, 5.7MB)

Other articles you might like:

Maps For Your Car

 

Best Road Atlas Maps of the Northwest

 

How To Download Free Topo Maps

 


Population Density Migration 1980-2000

 

Also check out:

Six maps you need for an urban evacuation

Plan Your Escape Routes Before Disaster Strikes

Six maps you need for an urban evacuation

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

Via: modernsurvivalblog

GridCrash: Instant Chaos, Just Add Code

Guest post by By Doc Montana, a contributing author of Survival Cache and SHTFBlog

—————–

With all the recent attention about cyberterrorism flowing from the popular media’s kitchen sink approach to journalism, I thought it an appropriate time to address the very real possibility of an instantaneous GridCrash. And what makes a GridCrash so frightening is that it can happen without any warning, under a clear blue sky, in the middle of any day, and carries with it an unlimited supply of unpredictable downstream events. One second there is power and water and information. Then next second you’re Dark, Dry, and Dumb.

What Normal Is

Today’s “normal” is housed in little more than a constant stream of ones and zeros that every computer everywhere consumes at a record rate even if the source of the numbers is highly questionable.  Add to that the massive arrogance and overconfidence held by those at the top of the computing food chain and you can easily see that this recipe for disaster is already in the oven baking away on broil.  The magnitude of this threat is so mind boggling that the shear weight of the implications are paralyzing to the point of indifference.  Ladies and gentlemen, we are so far down this rabbit hole that even if it does not cave in on us through malice, it will cave in under its own weight no matter what.

Sony’s recent woes are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but they are also a useful wake up call to prepare for the most sudden kind of crash that produces no sound. Even worse, a crash might actually be a safer stop than what is likely to happen where we are terrorized first then we crash. The vast underestimation of North Korea’s cyber-capabilities, regardless of who is truly behind the wheel, is evidence enough to worry that this current ‘beta test’ is a dry run for all potentially malicious digital actions whether directly related or not.

Data breaches like those of Target, Home Depot, AOL, the US Government, and just about everyone else whether you were informed about it or not, are child’s play in the big picture. Got a pile of SS numbers and bank info? Well goodie for you. Lost personal data is like graffiti.  But when the keys to modern civilization’s kingdom go missing, we know it’s not a drill.

The Scary Parts

First, like identity theft the only way cyber trespassing is detected is after it happened. I can rattle off a pile of statistics, but since you are the likely recipient of  letter informing you of a data breach involving your personal information, you already know this is both real and out of control not to mention seemingly without any punishment to those who collected and then lost our data.

Second, if you heard about it, then its no longer internally contained and thus raging so far out of control that the PR nightmare and stock price drop will no longer deter the silence.

Third, the victim is at the mercy of the criminal’s word when it comes to the extent of the damage, and there is no way the criminal is going to show his complete hand. Instead, that fist full of aces will be thrown down over time and as needed. All we can do is watch and wait.

Consider North Korea’s threats. If they pulled off the biggest cyber-coup since the dawn of the microchip, then pretending their threats are idle is foolish at best.  Strange thing about N. Korea, it is so far behind in all our measures of progress that of all the places on this planet, it is the one that seems the most contradictory when it comes to cyber-crime. It’s almost as if the mild mannered owner of the local burger joint runs the biggest meth dealership west of the Mississippi.

And forth, the downstream implications of a massive and malicious cyber-takeover are literally unimaginable due to the infinite number of combinations of outcomes. The forest of fault-trees has never been logged so we have absolutely no idea how this will play out. And no doubt the sugar coated outcomes delivered to Congress have made this sound like a vote-able choice was involved somewhere.  Making matters worse is that those who are paid the big bucks to think about this stuff have won’t share much info with us peasants. Not that it will make much difference, but it would certainly help.

Remember the big push to outfit all Americans with duct tape, bottled water, and plastic sheeting?  Well, that list should have included some additional items like tax breaks for preppers, survivalist literature displays at the post office and DMV, city council meeting updates on public survival education and supply channel backups, and most importantly, a candid and honest assessment of the risks given our current infrastructure. Since we are all relying on each other to do the job right the first time, and we know that rarely happens, we should build into our GridCrash plans the fact that things will be much worse much faster than what the red three-ring binder sitting on the shelf would lead you to believe. This will not be a slow whimper into darkness. It will be an instantaneous cyber shock wave that will leave everyone with their mouth open and their ears ringing.

So take a moment right now and think Boom! It’s over.  It’s not an EMP so your car will run through the gas you have on hand. Anything not relying on the water/electric/gas/financial/communication/medical/logistics grid will continue to function for a while, but that’s only the stuff you can touch with a 10-foot pole.  The rest is gone.  Vaporized.  Or worse.

The physical world is still here and just the same as two seconds ago.  What is different is that our modern society is not only held together with ones and zeros, but so much of our collective knowledge base is kept in those weightless digits as well.  The announcement from the White House stating that the Sony data breach is a national security issue means we are officially one small step behind North Korea, and one giant leap away from being able to do anything about it.

Well of course its a national security issue. What isn’t? But this is so much different than a traditional physical threat. This current “issue” is like a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer. The time for threat is gone. That ship sailed when Sony sin’s went public. The truth is we have no idea how, where, when, exactly who, why, and the biggest question of what. Chasing hope in a crime scene is not encouraging.  So on to plan B.

Regret Will Be Expensive

Make no mistake.  This is big.  When cell phones and computers go dark, we will be shocked and confused.  When water, power and food stop flowing, we will be scared and angry.  When the bullets start flying, we will be on our own. Remember all those good intentions of forming a neighborhood network of like-minds, all those survival items sitting in your Amazon shopping cart, all those additional cans of food you were going to buy soon?  Guess what?   You blew it. Yup, you screwed the pooch. May I ask why? Not that it matters now, but I’m just curious. Did you really believe that you would have any more of head start on this then you do now? The alarms have gone off. The lights are flashing. The doors are slowly closing. And its all in the headlines.

Look in the mirror. And then fish or cut bait. If you are waiting for someone to tell you what to do, well then I will right now. Follow this simple list:

  1. Get scared.
  2. Get food.
  3. Get water.
  4. Get protection.
  5. Get a clue.

This website, shtfblog.com and Survivalcache.com are jam packed with advice, gear, perspectives, solutions, and of course clues for unfriendly times.  But none of it matters if you don’t pull your head and your family out of the sand and do something. Anything is better than nothing, and you are much smarter than the average bear since you’ve read this far.  It’s time to do some serious preparation.

Let’s, for a moment, let our imaginations run amok with near-Sci Fi scenarios of cyber-terrorism that, unbelievably, are actually already in play.  Consider for a moment what would happen if many of the cheap home wireless routers, internet TV appliances, and cheap no-name computers had malicious code baked into them at point of manufacture. Hardly a stretch. In fact there are cases where network devices were contaminated right out of the box.  The moment it was plugged in, it began its nefarious activities.  Now consider how many consumers could care less where the electronic device came from as long as its cheap or a Black Friday blowout sale.

Or how about data storage devices with on-board malicious code that automatically writes bad stuff to any media inserted into it. Or the very media (CD, DVD, USB, Etc.) that are shipped infected.  Maybe the code is dormant until a certain date, or maybe personal info is captured and sent to who knows where, never detected for years.  Even if we suddenly wanted to protect our grid, we can’t. That train left the station the moment you plugged in the cord.

Finally, imagine if a black market outpost was not full of arms dealers, but instead packed with a clean-cut suit-wearing business types selling stolen and mutated computer viruses.  When a virus, worm or operating system vulnerability is created or discovered, it could be worth millions of dollars. But unlike actual weapons made of molecules, digital weapons can be shared instantaneously all over the world, and an infinite number of perfect copies can be made from just one.  What if one AK47 could be instantly transformed into thousands or millions of AKs.  All you need is one gun and you can outfit an army. Oh, and that AK can be emailed.

Given the swift response the US made to N. Korea, I imagine that much of our current grid and network protection comes from a old-school MAD mentality rather than perfect security.  MAD, if you recall is a nuclear annihilation model where you assure the destruction of your enemy if they are so stupid to annihilate you.  Perhaps those in the top-floor offices believe that nobody is dumb enough to destroy another country’s grid because it will result in the immediate destruction of their own grid.  Hmm.  I don’t think I’ll hold my breath for that to work very much longer.  Finding a digital-suicide bomber is only a matter of time.

However, if it’s any consolation, I offer this one-time opportunity to our readers.  Should you find yourself in a GridCrash, just head Montana ward  Should you happen to stumble upon my land, I will welcome you with open arms.  You see most of the essentials of modern life are still just interesting conveniences out here in wild Montana.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

Via: shtfblog

What Else? Surviving of Course

Guest post written by Louise Jacobs

————-

When you are in a crisis situation, your whole mindset changes, your priority list gets revised. And the worse the situation, the more basic your needs.

Right now, most of us are in the fortunate position of being able to prepare in many ways, because we have options. Sure some people will say things like “We can’t move out of the city because our kids are in a good school here with nice friends”, but if the tower next to your home collapses, you are going to grab your kids and head for the hills real fast, with nary a thought about the school or friends.

But since the tower seems to be pretty solid right now, at least prepare for the more likely scenario of food prices skyrocketing and incomes dropping. I don’t know if it’s happening where you are, but it is for my family.

Everything that I do may seem silly to some, but it is with an eye towards food self-sufficiency. For example, when I feed peanuts to the squirrels in the backyard bird feeder, it is not just because I am a sweet and silly old lady. That squirrel will let me come pretty close, and if it does well and raises a similarly tame family because of the extra treats that I give it, if the SHTF, they’re lunch.

The wild collared doves also know where to come for some seeds and grain on a cold and snowy day. I regularly see 8 of them now, whereas two years ago, there were only a couple. I’m sure that with a little stuffing, one would make a meal for the two of us. But only as a last resort.

As well, I consider compost to be the poor man’s gold, the more you have, the more you can grow. I won’t buy it anymore, because this past year, some herbicide contamination caused us more work than we needed. But we have risen above it, asparagus is already planted in the worst affected areas, and more garden beds have been made with no outside amendments. So actually, something that was meant to hurt us, has benefitted us in the long run.

A couple of pet rabbits got bred when we saw the way things were going, and now we have ten times the manure producers than we had before. How great is that?

It doesn’t bother me that there are a few chickens running around, producing no eggs. As long as they are still pooping, they are producing something. It’s all for the benefit of that precious compost pile. The contents of the vacuum cleaner, the lint from the dryer, even hair when I clean the hair brushes, it’s all put into the compost bucket.

The other thing that I consider very important in survival gardening, is to be flexible. For example, where we live now, rutabagas (which I love), just don’t do well. It might be the herbicide, might be something else in the soil, for sure it doesn’t bother the maggots. So I won’t waste the space any more. Instead Hubbard squashes will be substituted in soups and stews. They grow well for me and there are NO maggots.

Onions also don’t do well for us, although the ones we used to raise at our old home were fantastic. So we planted lots of perennial ones, tucked in here and there wherever there is a space. I like the greens better than chives, if you plant lots, some will grow a usable chunk on the bottom that will be just as tasty as a regular onion. In the fall, I watch for the prices of the bulk onions in the store to go down, buy a bag and keep that in the cool pantry. In February, when I notice a couple beginning to sprout and go soft, the whole works that is left gets sliced and dehydrated. Its good stuff. So far, onions cost be $15 a year. But my dried stash is growing, and so is the perennial onion patch, and I probably could skip buying it, if I had to.

Last, but not least, I am a seed saver. Not only does it save us a bundle every spring (my normal order was well over a hundred dollars every year, and now its about a third that), seeds can be eaten.

For example, I will harvest 2/3 of my beans and peas, and let the rest go to seed. That way, we have plenty for the following year’s planting, but also dried beans and peas can be cooked and eaten, just like the ones people buy in stores. It’s funny how some people don’t make that connection.

We will let kale plants stand in the garden over winter, to give us beautiful blossoms in the spring. The bees love us for it, and hang around to improve the pollination of the apple and cherry trees. There will be seeds for planting, but hey…..how about seeds for sprouting? We will try our own sprouting seeds this year from kale, arugula and radish plants.

So maybe my little odd ways will give folks something to think about and be of some benefit in an emergency.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

Via: modernsurvivalblog

 

Preparedness Supply List For A ‘Typical’ Disaster

For ‘ordinary’ preparedness at home, there are supplies that you might acquire that will get you comfortably through most ‘typical’ emergency/ disaster situations which may endure for hours to perhaps days or even a week.

Whereas there are more involved and deeper levels to preparedness for worse situations, the following list of preparedness supply categories will set you up for success with a short term mild to moderate disaster encounter (which occur much more frequently than the potential for a severe or SHTF event).

Here’s the list:

Hopefully the short list inspires you to check your own…

 

EMERGENCY / DISASTER PREPAREDNESS SUPPLIES AT HOME

The following list is fairly short and simple, and as I said above – is purposed for a non-SHTF emergency situation where one’s modern lifestyle is simply disrupted for a time.

 

Drinking Water

Municipal water supplies rarely go offline during a typical (small to moderate) short-lived disaster. However it may happen that one’s water source might become contaminated. Therefore a supply of drinking water is highly advised. You might simply purchase cases of bottled water, or you might consider keeping several water containment vessels filled with drinking water (replace every 6 months for assured cleanliness and purity). If you rely on well water, this really is a necessity (power outage scenario).

 

Drinking Water Filter

As mentioned above, water may become contaminated (floods, hurricane, infrastructure damage, earthquake, other..) and one’s water storage might become exhausted. A quality drinking water filter will enable purifying thousands of gallons and is a lifetime investment that can be used anywhere and anytime – even for ordinary concerns regarding your existing tap water.

 

Non-perishable Food

Many typical disaster situations will result in a temporary power outage which may last hours, days or a week or more. Whatever food that’s in your fridge and freezer will quickly thaw and spoil (24 – 48 hours). Therefore you really need to keep an adequate supply of non-perishable food. Surprisingly many households do not have enough food to supply much longer than a few days or a week. It is very easy to stock up with food to last 3 weeks or even 3 months. Just do it… Don’t forget a manual hand can-opener.

 

Flashlights & Batteries

Again, a power outage will be common during many ‘ordinary’ disaster situations. A quality LED flashlight for each member of the household along with an LED lantern or two will keep you functioning after dark. I also highly recommend a headlamp which will enable both hands free for working. Extra sets of batteries should go without saying…

 

Camp Stove & Fuel

Although canned foods do not ‘require’ cooking (they’re technically already safe to eat), camp stove will enable cooking at home without electricity (use common-sense for safety). You might need to consume the foods that are in your freezer… You can also heat/boil water for hygiene, water purification, cleaning dishes, etc..

 

Portable Radio & Batteries

Information about the ongoing emergency/ disaster situation will be important for your decision-making. An AM/FM portable radio will provide that information – even during a power outage.

 

NOAA Weather Radio

Lets face it, lots of disaster scenarios are caused by severe weather. A NOAA Weather Radio will provide forewarning as well as updated information on the storm. It’s cheap insurance – and could potentially save your life.

 

First Aid Kit

Unfortunately some emergency situations result in the need for First Aid. Having a good quality general purpose First Aid Kit should patch up most typical ailments. I also supplement my kit with additional supplies (things like antibacterial ointment and any other such item which might not be in the original kit).

Also, don’t forget your ” Prescribed Drug’s”. You would be surprised to find that most people do not have in the least a one month supply of their medicine. This could mean life or death depending upon the seriousness of the need.

 

Shutoff Wrench For Utilities

Have a purpose-made wrench/ tool to shut off gas and water outside your home (e.g. at the meter). Useful following a disaster which causes infrastructure damage and potentially has damaged gas lines, water lines, etc.. (earthquake – hurricane – tornado).

 

Portable Propane Heater

Some disasters happen during the winter (e.g. severe winter storms). If you rely on electricity for your furnace (regardless of its fuel source) then you will be SOL without a house-wired generator. Having a safe indoor portable heater will help keep you warm.

 

Sleeping Bag

A “cold” weather sleeping bag for each person. If you’ve lost heat in the house, a cold-weather sleeping bag will be much more efficient to keep warm. Additionally, there are other circumstances where a sleeping bag might be a very good preparedness item to have on hand.

 

Solar Charger

During a power outage, often times the cell phone towers are still operating. However your cell phone will eventually drain its battery. A purpose-made solar charger (with USB ports) will charge your electronic communication devices (e.g. cell phones) and may keep you ‘on the grid’ with regards to outside communications.

 

Toilet Paper

Don’t laugh! While every household (hopefully!) already has a supply of TP, the question is do you have enough to last a week or more? It would be a bit unpleasant without it (which is why I mention it ). This goes for any other hygiene supplies. Just check your inventory and be in the habit of having plenty of these consumables around in storage.

 

Heavy Duty Garbage Bags

Garbage bags for sanitation purposes. Again, everyone has garbage bags at home, but it’s best to keep a supply of heavy duty bags (and plenty of them) for temporary disposal of unsanitary things outside the house (e.g. do you have a baby in the house? lots of diapers?, etc..). If for some reason your plumbing (toilet) is out of commission, HD trash bags will suffice for a liner of a do-it-yourself toilet (got a 5 gallon bucket?). You get the idea…

 

Paper Plates & Cups, Plastic Utensils

You don’t want to be dealing with having to clean dishes during a disaster situation at home. Your power might be out and/or you have other things to be concerned about. So having paper plates, paper cups, and plastic utensils will enable you to simply throw them in your heavy duty garbage bags for trash.

 

Fire Extinguisher

Surprisingly, not everyone has one (or several!) readily accessible fire extinguishers in their home. Make the effort and get yourself several. Ideal rooms include the kitchen, every bedroom, utility room… I keep several around the house in strategic locations.

 

Cash

During a regional power outage, it will be difficult at best to purchase items in your area. Although stores may be closed or damaged, having a supply of cash at home will enable some transacting where needed. Keep small bills (ones, tens) while avoiding large bills which may make it difficult to make change.

 

Self-Defense

It does not matter how short an emergency situation is (or how long), never forget to have a firearm, ammo and the knowledge of how to use it. Your worst problem will always be someone who thinks they will take what they want and do anything to get it from you. I think of this problem as an emergency within an emergency.

 

Chain Saw

Since most power outages occur during storms, I think it is important to have a gas chainsaw, gas and oil for it on hand. I had to use mine several times when my power went out in order to cut the many trees blocking my driveway and take out the trees that landed on my roof, twice. People in town hand chainsaws or had to wait weeks to get trees out of the way to get out or to stop leaks in their roofs to put plastic sheeting down. A handsaw or my axe would not have helped me much during that July storm…. But then, I still couldn’t get out on the road when 300 downed trees blocked the highway to town


For those who are already prepared, “I’m preaching to the choir”, but not everyone has thought it through… A prepared household should be able to easily survive (fairly comfortably) for days (or longer) without external support, and it’s not that difficult to prepare for. It only requires thinking through the requirements of your daily life and having alternative methods in place to provide the basics (without electricity, for example). Don’t neglect the aspect of safety – think about what you might need to deal with injury, damage, or other potential hazards.

Apart from any physical or financial damage which may occur during a given disaster, a short period without our modern conveniences can even be refreshing – providing an eye-opening view on real ‘life’ (without all of our distractions)…

While preparedness lists are never-ending, and could drill down to literally hundreds or more items, the list above will hopefully set you to thinking about your own preparedness from a ‘top level’.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

 

Via: modernsurvivalblog

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Safest Counties from Naural Disasters in U.S.

 

This is an interesting resource. The interactive map lets you click for additional information. Check out your area and see how it rates regarding natural disasters.
http://time.com/safest-counties/

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

 

Via: ferfal