Begin your family’s preparedness plan by considering these questions and your responses:
1. To what potential natural, people-caused, or personal disasters are you vulnerable? How can you eliminate them or mitigate their negative impact on your family’s life and lifestyle?
DWB: Perhaps one may say "reasonably mitigate", and to what extent one believes he/she CAN mitigate. Is it better to "Bug In" or "Bug Out". One must assess and plan for both contingencies at the same time, and have in place the means and the modes and plans to institute either action.
2. What if there were no water available from your faucets, what would you do? How much drinking water is “hidden” inside and outside your house––what are those sources? Could you treat unsafe water to make it safe for drinking and cooking?
3. Inventory your refrigerator, freezer, kitchen cabinets, cupboards, pantry, closets, or under your bed––wherever you keep your supply of long-term foodstuffs. What do you have on hand in these categories:
• canned & bottled foods ?
• packaged foods ?
• dehydrated, dried, & freeze-dried foods ?
What’s in your possession that’s truly nutritious––that could sustain you in a near-normal
manner? How long could your family eat if the foods in your pantry and refrigerator/freezer were the only food available?
• 1 day
• 1 week
• 1 month
• longer
DWB: There is an old adage that states, society is only 3 meals from chaos. Within 72 hours the world (your world) will be turned upside down. One can live for 5 minutes without oxygen, 5 days without CLEAN water, and 30 days without food. Always keep these rules of thumb in your mind as you prepare. Which is most important......?
4. If you need life-preserving medication, how long will your current supply last if it’s not immediately available? What over-the-counter medications, vitamins, minerals, herbal supplements, and digestive aids do you have on hand? In what way do––or would––they support your health? How long would your supply last if not replenished now?
• 1 day
• 1 week
• 1 month
DWB: Not all medication is life sustaining, and essential. A visit with you medical provider can give you information that will guide you in which medications are absolutely necessary, which you should endeavor to obtain. Other "comfort" medication can be prioritized according to your financial condition and your "threshold of pain". You should also ask for the "survival" doses and the "optimal" doses of your essential meds.
5. Do you know which foods to buy, in what priority, quantity of each, and where to buy them most economically?
6. Could you prepare your stored foods, maximizing their shelf life, flavor, and nutritional qualities?
7. Do you know how to sprout seeds to provide “live” foods for essential vitamins and minerals when there’s a shortage of fresh vegetables?
DWB: Do you have the equipment and extra stored water to do so? There are techniques to sprouting, and changing water is important. Get the equipment now, and learn how to use it now before you need it to survive.
8. Do you have the knowledge, skills, tools, seeds, and available space to plant a garden and raise your own food?
9. Do you know how to preserve foods for the future––especially if the electric and gas supplies were unreliable?
DWB: Do you have the equipment to preserve foods? Pressure cooker/ cold pack caners/ food dryers, both solar and electric? and more importantly do you have the recipes and knowledge on how to use this equipment? Do you know how to jerk meats, or prepare them to be dried and do you have the recipes and spices to accomplish this?
10. Given your current situation, if you could no longer obtain water, food, vitamins, medication, and money in a routine manner, how long could you sustain yourself and your family without access to these necessities?
11. What type of job(s) could you qualify for if your current employment were terminated? What education or training do you need to acquire so you can be a viable candidate for future jobs?
DWB: Jobs like shoe maker/repair, plumbing, carpentering, farming, leather work (harness making), seamstress, hatter, blacksmith, mason....these trades will be just as valuable for a time as high-tech jobs. Look as the late 1800's and pick one of those trades, and be prepared to provide a needed service for that era for a time to survive. The tech jobs will most surely come back in time, but for a time a needed trade will be indispensable for your families survival.
12. Where would you live for the next year if a catastrophe occurred to your family’s residence today?
13. Could you live––or even survive––for a year on your current savings?
14. Do you have the faith, foresight, skills, and diligence to prepare for the uncertain future?
DWB: Mental toughness will be the greatest strength of a survivor. Get in the mindset now, and get your family's in that mindset. You will be working, eating and living in conditions that you have never imagined. Only the mentally prepared will survive.
15. Are you willing to make the required investment in your family’s future well-being and security by:
(a) taking the time to learn how to prepare;
(b) defining a preparedness plan;
(c) expending the energy to accomplish it?
If these questions––or rather, the answers to them––make you uncomfortable, then this is an opportunity for you to start to work on the answers that will make you more comfortable! Resolve these questions, and many others you may have about being prepared by reading, studying, and utilizing available information. Now is the most appropriate time to begin an in-home storage or family preparedness program! If you’ve prepared for your family’s security with emergency supplies and have long-term storage provisions in your possession, you could turn what might be a life-threatening situation into a manageable problem!
Set Your Personal and Family Goal(s)!
For Example –– Your family’s basic goal could be: to be able to live in a near-normal manner with family re-sources for an extended period of time––regardless of external conditions. For this to be a reality, the family will:
Acquire a reasonable in-home supply of
water
food
clothing
shelter
heating and fuels
medications
Commit to the 4-M program
–– (1) Money
(2) Materials (food/equipment)
(3) Manpower (your energy and effort)
Minutes (your time!) to acquire the items identified for your needs during an extended period
and
Get out of debt and have a readily available cash fund of $__*____ for emergencies!
*DWB: Three months of available cash and $500 in silver junk coins in dimes and quarters (not investing advice).
Remember: There are no emergencies for those who are truly prepared!
DWB: Emergencies happen whether you are prepared or not. But if you are prepared, it is so much easier to cope and survive the emergency.
James Talmage Stevens "Making the Best of Basics"
No comments:
Post a Comment