Preparedness Checklist

[drewbear]

Okay, so here's a checklist of items I should have on hand in the case of an emergency, whether limited or major. Feel free to comment if you have anything you'd like to add or suggest replacements; I'm always willing to accept advice.

Bolding the ones I have and in no particular order:

Food & Water:

* flour
* sugar (I have white, light brown and dark brown)
* rice
* beans (dry black beans and canned pinto beans)
* pasta (thin spaghetti and macaroni)
* airtight containers for all above
* 15 1-gallon jugs of water (currently empty, but can be filled as needed)
* canned soup (I only have 5 or 6 cans, though)
* canned meat (2 cans of tuna)
* canned bread
* canned fruit
* canned veggies (1 can each of spinach, corn kernels, green beans and diced tomatoes)
* powdered milk
* root vegetables (sack of potatoes, 2.5 onions, 3 bulbs garlic and 2 carrots)

Transportation:

* car/truck in good repair (gotta get the oil changed, the alignment fixed and have the guys who did my brakes take another look at 'em, but otherwise, yeah)
* bicycle

Clothing (assume all should be durable and fit comfortably):

* hiking boots, broken in
* 4 pair thick cotton socks
* 2 pairs long jeans
* 2 pair underwear
* 2 cotton t-shirts
* 2 long-sleeved shirts (not dress shirts)
* raincoat/rain slicker
* towel (yes, who HASN'T read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but it's still good advice)

Health & Hygiene:

* stocked & current first aid kit (2 of 'em: smallish one in the car & medium one in the apartment)
* 30-day supply of any necessary medicines (getting the refill this weekend)
* stock of OTC meds like aspirin and antifungals
* stock of antibiotics (if possible)
* large bottle of multivitamins
* bar soap
* travel sizes of toothpaste & shampoo
* new, clean toothbrush
* bleach
* topical disinfectants such as hand-cleanser gel or Clorox wipes
* toilet paper
* latex gloves

Camping:

* tent
* sleeping bag/mat rated for local climate
* hiking backpack
* easy-to-understand survival guide (like the Boy Scout Handbook)

Emergency Gear:

* taper or pillar candles
* matches
* flashlight
* battery- or crank-powered radio

General:

* spare glasses or contacts (if needed)
* digital camera
* portable entertainment (lightweight books, music players, deck of cards, etc.)
* spare batteries
* duct tape
* heavy-grade plastic sheeting
* current maps of the area you are or are traveling to
* dust mask(s)
* utility knife (2 or 3 Swiss Army knife knockoffs)

Okay, I know I'm missing or forgetting things, so please feel free to add to the list.

Comments

Endgame of survival

[(Anonymous)]

You need good instructions on how to do things, i.e. use bleach to make potable water, erect a shelter, make a snare, skin a cat(no, not really)but how to make what you snare edible. Lean a lot more on dried food, fruit leathers and such, than canned. If you take off on your bike, canned goods get pretty heavy. How to make a solar still and oven. A roll of heavy plastic is a good thing to have, along with a good supply of duct tape. Good for shelter, warmth, solar still, preserving items from damp and germs. Also book on how to identify edible and poisonous plants. Extremely good maps of anyplace you might want to go. During the war, aviators had maps printed on silk so they would be durable when they were shot down. Make sure you check the expiration date on anything you buy to hold. Also, where it was manufactured or grown. I don't trust much form China anymore, especially pet food, or heparin. Freezer zip locks are excellent for storage, especially double bagged, with the air sucked out. Those really large ones are good to keep cloth clean and dry. Very high proof alcohol(ie,everclear) Cleansers of various types and disinfectants, and antimicrobials. Date everything, and store in smaller portions, since you are not planning for a cast of thousands. Don't forget other supplies that you use like paper products. Plan for various situations, such as holing up in your apartment for a period of time. Driving or otherwise traveling cross country to home or a designated safe place, or roughing it in the woods. Think of different disaster situations, such as pandemic, terrorist attack, nuclear, biological, anarchy,
Shake em up flashlights and crank radios, and even TVs are great and can be found in a lot of places including some drugstores. OTCs are also good to stockpile, and antibiotics if possible. A good book on folk medicine and herbal remedies. Vitamins and other supplements. All the kind of things that all the contestants on all the Survivors should have read before the shows. Learn how to make a basket from grass. You can cook stew in a basket either by adding hot rocks(stone soup anyone?) or over a campfire. Foil is another essential to have on hand.Army-Navy store is a good place to shop for survival gear. It is also easy to get carried away.

On another note, Aunt Elizabeth will probably require surgery again on her hand and I will as well. At least the surgeon assures me I can have a spinal instead of general anesthesia, since that makes me stop breathing.

Re: Endgame of survival

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

I'm rejoining AAA this month, partly for the roadside assitance and partly for the maps.

I already have the plastic from when I had to ghetto-repair my car windows, but I do need a new roll of duct tape.

Like salt, foil is something that, for some reason, I always forget I already have at home. So I have about 5 times as much of each as I would actually use in any reasonable amount of time. :-P

[marctic.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends on what kind of "emergency" you're talking about but if you mean zombies or similar, I don't think a car is a necessity. From most of the post-ooops stuff I'm familiar with, I think a motorcycle or bike is a much better idea- much more maneuverable whereas a car will get stymied in the jams caused by the people fleeing the cities.

I also recommend a good stock of multi-vitamins if you're planning on relying on canned fruits and veggies- and some extra vitamin C tablets. The big bottles from Costco usually have an expiration date of a couple of years or so. Also, energy/hiking bars are probably a good idea. Quick energy if you need to make a run for it.

If you put gallon jugs of water in the freezer, it'll make your freezer run more efficiently (it works better when it's full). When the power goes out you'll still have ice for a little while and your frozen stuff won't thaw right away as well as being a clean water supply.

Flashlight- they make a kind that you can power by squeezing it. I think it's a good investment.

Soap? For you and your clothes? Oral care? Replacement glasses? I'm not sure what your situation is, but if I broke my glasses I'd be pretty hard pressed to do without.


Just some stuff at the top of my head.

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking survival situations in general, but yeah, a bike is on the list for scenarios where cars are unfeasible. I'd prefer a bike to a motorcycle for 2 reasons: first, I don't know how to ride a cycle. Second, a bike doesn't require fuel. Scenarios where a bike is preferable are also generally ones where fuel will be rare or hard to access.

Got the multivitamins already, actually. I bought 'em a while back when I was mildly anemic and still have most of the jumbo bottle. I hadn't thought about the frozen jugs thing; I'll have to try it...

The squeeze/crank flashlight or lantern is on the shopping list already, I just forgot to put it on this one.

Thanks for mentioning the hygiene issue. I'd completely forgotten about it in a "well, that's just obvious, right?" thought pattern.

Survivalist of the fittest

[(Anonymous)]

Spare glasses are a very good idea. Also charcoal and a small grill for your deck for cooking with no electricity. You can use baking soda and or salt to clean your teeth and a whole lot more. Practice as much as feasible your survival skills before they are needed. Think 1 gallon of fluid/daily for consumption and in pandemic bird flu scenarios 2 month in place quarantine.Check on line for some of the disaster scenarios the Homeland Security is planning for. The triage protocols have just been made partially public.

Re: Survivalist of the fittest

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

I'm somewhat leery of the DHS, but their guidelines are a good place to start. Unfortunately, most of them assume that some form of government will be along soon to take care of things. I'd rather not trust blindly in government efficiency.

Quarantined Canadian train

[(Anonymous)]

They quarantined a train in Canada today. A 84 year old woman died and several people were sick with flu-like symptoms. Come to find out, authorities say she died of a heart attack unrelated to the others' illness. Still, kind of scary like all the stubborn infections that refuse to go away that otherwise healthy people have been having.

Re: Quarantined Canadian train

[drewbeartx.livejournal.com]

As we were discussing, humanity is in an arms race against infectious disease and we're just barely ahead of the curve. So I'm not surprised that they put the train under quarantine.