I prepared for a utility outage first, the rest just fell into place, here's a blog on getting started to be as self reliant as possible

A utility outage isn't so bad if we prepare for it. 

   I generally write my blog around one word, such as carbon monoxide, water or another word or two .that is able to be related to my survival niche.  The reason for this is that we are more prone to suffer a utility outage during a severe storm than we are facing a total collapse of society. I have oriented my business around preparing for the first 3 days, then get set up for a month. In fact when we are prepared for the first 72 hours it is actually more like a weeks prep if we don't not have to evacuate our homes. That's due to the supplies we have in our pantry's, cupboards and refrigerator/freezers. We would be able to live for quite a while, 5 days maybe, without touching our survival packs. If we adopt the practice of using the 5 gallon water bottles in a water cooler it is easy to keep 5-20 gallons of water on hand at all times. A gallon of water cost 30 cents a gallon, if your tap water is potable the 5 gallon jugs can be filled with it. A gallon or two in your freezer will play double duty, drink it when it thaws and while it's frozen it will increase the length of time the frozen food will stay frozen. The foods such as noodles, oatmeal, pancake mix and canned food will all be usable unless it's been corrupted. If the canned goods are expanded and look as if they are going to explode, they are no good, give them a toss in the trash. The food items that touch flood water or are contaminated by fire must not be used as well. There is a lot of preparation to set up a successful emergency plan, it is very involved to plan for a 3 day event. That's another reason I focus on the short term preparation, get all set up, then move on to the longer term preparation. I am an advocate of being as self reliant as a person possibly can be, in fact to the point of being so well prepared for the first three days it ends up being a set up for a week. My idea of survival in an emergency evacuation situation is to prepare for the short term emergency first, then strengthen the long term. For a heads up on planning click here.
 

The field wildfires move as quickly as the ones in the mountains.

 In the case of an incident that does not allow us to return home, another emergency plan should be constructed. A good practice is to make a list of the natural events that have occurred in your area, then make a list of man made events that could strike. Mine is something like this, I live in the San Francisco Bay area on the delta, in a flood plain, in earthquake country, prone to wildfires. My emergency plan takes that all into account, my #1 threat is a utility outage, #2 Is an earthquake (taking out the utility's), #3 Levee failure (due to the earthquake) #4 Wildfire (the island I live on is peat). It's not a complete list of the events that may happen, I live near Hayward and Berkeley (40 miles distance) so civil unrest is a concern as well. It may be that several emergency plans need to be constructed, it's OK the more planning we do the more prepared we are.
   I read a number of blogs on survival preparedness, some are written for long term survival of which there is a need for sure. It seems some of the preparation is more of a "stuff" gathering exercise versus needed items to get us through the first week. When I worked as a millwright in a power production plant we would plan our own machinery repairs. Planning, ordering parts and manuals were part of the job. There are people who would order "stuff" making it appear (or they think) that is real work. We ended up with some shops full of new parts, and the millwright was ordering more. Sometimes I get the impression that's what some long term emergency preparation is, gearing up.
 

I would be cool to have a bunker like this, I'd have to live in
it, that wouldn't be bad.

I will continue to be a "stage 1" advocate, take care of the first 3-7 days first, figure out where we are and what we have, then move on to longer term planning and preparations. My wife calls it "tossing the stick", I've done it my entire life, it's the way to get a lot accomplished. I believe "stage 1" preps will naturally lead into "stage 2" prep which will lead into "stage 3" and well you got the idea. It will be a natural, logical flow and will make more sense one step at a time. The word I centered this blog around? Logical disaster preparation, OK that's three sometimes I do that and count it as one word.
   So what do you think? Am I all wet, am I thinking wrong? Leave a comment or a story, ask a question thanks for reading.

jimandkate                                                                                  EmergencyKitsPlus.com