How would you respond to the question, what kind of food would you store for long term survival? I talk about it here.

    I was reading a discussion online taking place on a website that is dedicated to self-reliance and disaster preparedness. I have been thinking about that conversation for the past 3 days, it puzzled me for a number of reasons, it started out with a question. "What type of food would you store for long-term survival?" This isn't the exact wording but it is close. There were several people involved in the conversation, I did not contribute, their viewpoints were actually to the point of being almost astounding. This particular site normally has fairly good conversations, none have ever posted any insulting, or intentionally negative comments, which I appreciate.

It's good for us to communicate, talk, and exchange ideas, as long
as it is civil, no need for name calling. 

  Of the 5-6 participants, all of them agreed with one person's statement that he was planning to survive long term on the items in his pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. That does not make sense for so many reasons I don't know where to begin. These people were from different places in the Country, and it is a very isolated, and small group, I read it because, well, that's what I do, I read. I will begin with the obvious problems with surviving on supplies in the cabinets:
1)  Flood, during a flooding event everything gets saturated with water, everything. Flood water is one of the most contaminated substances on earth, all of the chemicals, oils, fuels, and household cleaning agents are among the substances being distributed by the water. Floodwater invades septic systems, sewer facilities, and fresh water supplies, it even contaminates well water. The flood carries dead animals, bugs, snakes, and all sorts of livestock, when the carcasses rot in the water, Cholera, wading in the stuff is a hazard. I'm thinking of what was one of the worst flooding disasters in the U.S., Hurricane Harvey, flooding occurred in areas where it was unexpected, giving people a few minutes to flee for their lives, many did not make it. Water moves fast, it is destructive knocking down structures in its path and combining the building materials and chemicals used in them with all of the other substances in the water. Imagine that water entering your pantry, refrigerator, or freezer, then eating the food, a bad mistake even if you are starving. Water is contaminated, even if it is in sealed plastic or glass bottles, the outside needs to be cleaned with a bleach solution. Flood water should not be used for any purpose, with the exception of putting out a fire. During a flooding event pantry, refrigerator, and freezer food cannot be trusted, sealed water containers must be cleaned.
2)  Wildfire, a new policy being enacted by firefighting units in several states is to shut down electrical service at the start of a wildfire, living in California I embrace that action. In the event of a wildfire, (the fire in Santa Rosa traveled at 1 acre a second), they move quickly and if your home is in its path it will be gone in minutes. Everything in the home is destroyed, the people who are victims are left with nothing, relying on pantry, refrigerator, and freezer food is out the window. The water in wells is contaminated as well, it is almost the same effect as a flooding event. Most homes are built with materials having chemical additives in them, treated wood is especially bad, it's toxic. (I wrote a blog on wood ash from treated lumber Link) The ash of treated wood contains deadly levels of Arsenic, there is a case (I detail in my blog written about it), in Minnesota, there is a case of dairy cows that jumped a fence in a panic. They ended up in the neighbor's pasture, within a week they were dead, an autopsy revealed they died from arsenic poisoning, the ash is salty the cows licked it, the farmer next door burned treated wood to heat his home and dumped the ash in the pasture. 5 tablespoons full will kill a cow, 1 tablespoon is deadly to humans, it will contaminate wells. In the event of a wildfire, if your house does not burn down and the food is stored protected from the smoke and water, it can be used. How I ask can a person possibly predict if their home will burn down or not during a wildfire? It's impossible to predict so the pantry food supply cannot be relied on, except as a possible source. No matter how we store water the containers will have to be cleaned, that is no big deal, but it is if they are not cleaned.

Store water in food quality storage containers

3)  Tornadoes, most storms, that turn into disasters have at least one thing in common, electrical service is lost. Tornadoes share the unpredictability with wildfire, when a person is under a "Tornado Watch", we hunker down in our basements or another shelter. We don't know if our home will be struck and destroyed or passed over. I had a brother who lived in Minnesota (he is now deceased) and survived a tornado ripping through his neighborhood. 80% of the houses were destroyed, one on each side of him, and the entire block across the street. He told me one of the houses had a classic car in the garage, the house was destroyed and the car did not have a scratch on it, sitting on the cement pad that was in the garage. The twister was picky, it jumped his house. I ask again how could a person possibly predict that his/her (I do want to start using the word sheim), home would be skipped? It is impossible so again pantry food, refrigerator, and freezer food cannot be relied on as a positive source of food for a long-term event. If the funnel passes your house, it can be if it is stored securely and if the refrigerator is kept cool with ice. However most of the time if your area is unaffected utilities will be restored within days, or hours. Precautions with sealed water vessels must be taken.
4)  Hurricane, all natural disasters are terribly destructive as we have found out during the year 2017, Hurricanes and Wildfire are in a class all to themselves. These two events are two of the most completely devastating catastrophe's that we face, they are indiscriminate in their destruction. Hurricanes have a "season", a predictable time of year when most of them occur, time can be predicted but intensity and direction of travel are tougher to predict. Accompanying Hurricanes are torrential rainfall, Tornadoes, Flooding, Home Fires, and total Structural Collapse in some cases. Many homes experience heavy rainfall, high winds, and lightning, with minimal or no damage, others do not fare as well. If the home makes it through the storm, then the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer food may be used. However as with all incidents if the house is destroyed, burned down, flooded, or condemned the food supplies are lost as well. The same precautions with water need to be observed. The home food supplies may be used if the house is uncompromised, again how in the world can a person predict month's ahead of an event if their place of residence will survive? It's impossible to predict, the food cannot be relied on to be intact.
5)  Pandemic, I believe to be the #1 threat to society, we may be quarantined for 3-6 months or much longer. A minimum of a 6 month's food supply should be kept on hand, long-term storage food and water. The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 took one full year to run it's course through the United States, 700,000 people died here, an estimated 40+ million worldwide, so many residents of the U.S. died that it lowered our life expectancy by 12 years. Major portions of the country were quarantined, places, where people congregated, were controlled. In the case of a Pandemic, utilities will remain on, unless the source was our water system water will be available, maybe. If our water system is determined to be the source, we have no water, for a long long time. Pantry, refrigerator, and freezer food can be relied on, consume refrigerated food first, then use the dry goods. The situation during a Pandemic will be getting supplies, not storing them. In this case home food supplies can be used, but we must follow all food storage precautions.

It takes some effort, but building an emergency food supply is one
of our self-reliance responsibilities. 

  There are many more incidences that I could talk about, but I am sure you got the idea. The point is that as humans we have a tendency to believe "Everything is gonna be alright." I have that opinion because normally everything is OK, but there are times we should face reality. The reality of storms, disasters, and fires is that we need to be as "self-reliant" as we possibly can be, a little thinking, planning, and storing of supplies is truly prudent. Be "self-aware" and list the potential hazards you may face in your area, we will most likely never suffer a Hurricane in California due to the jet stream, but we will experience earthquakes and wildfires. Only 33% of us are even remotely prepared for a Catastrophic event, we can do better, and we really need to take these events seriously. The Government will be there to help, but it is delegated to a "response" action, they don't know what, where, when, or how an event may manifest itself. For at least the first week we should be in a position to take care of ourselves, completely.
  Thank you for reading and sharing my blog, do you think I'm on target or I'm so off the mark? Perhaps you think my cognitive abilities are corrupted? Let me know, what kind of food and supplies should we store? Maybe you think I am a bit of an alarmist, besides being eccentric I just may be an alarmist to an extent, regardless, be prepared, I am, kind of.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com