Hygiene is often times an afterthought when preparing for a disaster situation. But, lack of hygiene and sanitary conditions can greatly affect your health and chance of survival. Lack of hygiene and lack of sanitary conditions are responsible for millions of deaths per year in regions that have been struck by disaster or that lack clean water and resources.

Water is a necessary item for keeping clean. Many emergency preparation lists contain the amount of water needed to stay hydrated per person for a calculated amount of time. These lists need to also include water for brushing teeth, washing hands before cooking and cleaning wounds (even minor wounds).

In regions where there is not a large amount of water, it is used solely for hydration. But, this can have a strong and detrimental counter effect. Without enough water to maintain clean cooking conditions, one can easily be exposed to diarrhea. This will further deplete a water supply for rehydrating the ill and cleaning their bodies. It is important to note that diarrhea caused by unsanitary food preparation can easily lead to more serious problems in children, elderly and those with weakened immune systems.

Sanitary, antibacterial napkins can be used in emergency survival gear. These should be checked and swapped out regularly because the moistened versions tend to dry up quickly. A seasonal check of items in emergency kits is recommended. This is strongly urged for any cleaning solutions or materials that may leak when stored.

Plastic or latex gloves are also a recommended item for emergency survival gear. These items could be necessary for touching animal carcasses or other unforeseen and unsanitary items. While water and a strong soap are always recommended, an extra layer of protection is always a good idea.

Staying clean and healthy is crucial to survival. This should be stressed for everyone, but especially those with small children, aging parents or those with illnesses that contribute to a susceptibility to disease. In addition to storing water and cleaning items, a strong knowledge of how to sanitize water is essential. Disaster situations can last much longer than you have prepared for.

The fall season is a great time to create a new emergency preparedness kit to store in your vehicle. As the weather become cooler and the risk of stormy road conditions increase, the need for emergency survival gear in automobiles also increases. In addition to car maintenance issues and road hazards that can occur, natural disaster and emergency situations can happen at anytime. If you are on the road during a disaster situation you will feel much safer and secure knowing that you have emergency items with you.

Here are some of the most crucial items to store in your vehicle emergency survival gear:

Flashlight: A flashlight will be necessary if you lose power to your vehicle in the evening hours.

Food Items: The best food items to keep in cars for emergency situations are those that will not become ruined by extreme heat or cold. Nutritional meal replacement bars that are high in calories are a great option. These should be swapped out with fresher items regularly to prevent expiration.

Water: Water is vital to survival. If you are trapped in your vehicle during a snowstorm or experience a break down in high temperatures water will be the most important item for your survival.

First Aid Kits: A first aid kit is helpful to have in a car. Not only will the kit be useful if you are in an emergency situation on the road, but it can also come in handy if you happen to be at work or someone else’s home who does not have any emergency preparation items when a disaster strikes.

Warmth Items: While an automobile can provide temporary shelter, it will not provide much heat in a long-term survival situation. You will want to store warm jackets, blankets and extra socks and shoes in your vehicle. Many people also choose to store glove warmer packets in their kits as well.

Radio and Batteries: If you vehicle does not have power you can still stay in touch with local new sources with a radio and plenty of batteries.

There are emergency preparedness kits that can be purchased. They can easily be put together with additional items for your needs. Putting together your kit every fall season should help to insure that you have specific items for your own unique family needs such as medication or formula and diapers if you are a parent of a young child. It will also help you to remember to check that all items are in working condition and that food items are fresh.

Prepping for any emergency can seem intimidating because of the amount of products needed to support a family.  The best way to stock up and save is to set a monthly budget and then buy according to your needs and financial capability. However, there are lots of ways to save money while gathering your survival gear, like preserving your own food or using coupons.

After setting a budget for your survival gear, make a list of priorities – what products you want to stock up on first. By prioritizing what you need, you will be able to have a starting point and not feel so overwhelmed by everything you want to have.  Food is a great place to start, making sure you and your family have food storage is an important and easy first step.  Make a list of items that your family all love and that can be stored in food storage, you can start with cereal or soups, things that have long shelf lives and can be agreed upon. Preserving your own food by canning or dehydrating is a great way to save money while prepping.  There is some upfront cost to both methods but if you are planning on making this a lifestyle, they are great investments.

Once you have a list of food and how much of each item you want, start a list of “extras” that you want in your storage like personal hygiene products and shelter.  These are great items to get on sale or use coupons for.  You can find personal hygiene items at a great deal when you combine sales and coupons and since you can build this up over time you have time to shop sales.  With the end of camping season coming up there will be lots of sales on great shelter and bedding and it’s a great time to look into getting these items for your survival gear if you do not already have them.

Emergency preparedness can get expensive but if you are smart about it and use these ideas it becomes a lot more manageable.  Being prepared for anything is a great goal and one that takes a while to get to, but don’t get discouraged!  It is possible!  Make this a priority in your family and you will be surprised what you can do.

For many people, pets are an integral part of their family. In an emergency situation pets should not be forgotten. While gathering emergency preparedness items and survival gear, your pet’s needs should be highlighted on your list. If you do not prepare with extra water and food you for your animals, you may be in danger of watching your pet’s health diminish or sharing your own food storage and water with your pets.

In addition to extra food storage and water storage for your pet’s needs, you will also need to think about evacuation necessities. Depending on your pet, you will need an appropriate crate or travel carrier. Even if your dog or cat is normally well behaved and has a calm personality, you cannot foresee how their attitude may change in a natural disaster or emergency situation. It is important to have items that will help to keep them safe and secure when they are under stress. A high quality crate with a soft blanket is recommended.

Keeping your animals up to date on all vaccinations is key to having a healthy pet in emergency situations. Also, keep copies of records for vaccinations with your own personal identification documents. If you are forced to seek shelter in a community area you may need to prove that your pets are healthy and have had their vaccines before they are allowed to enter the community area.

You may also need to add items to your first aid kit that are specific to your pets health needs. Emergency preparedness gear for pet owners will include extra leashes or leads, animal toys, poop scoops or , medications and more. This of course will depend on the animal and their age. There are many other items that will be required based on the animals that you have and their current health status. There are several informational sites that have detailed lists for pets of all types including dogs, cats, reptiles and other small animals, such as the ASPCA disaster preparedness site.

Emergency Preparedness advocates know that the “big 3” items for overall emergency prep include emergency food storage, water and shelter supplies. In addition to the “big 3” for overall preparedness there are 3 more important items to remember for your emergency survival kit. These include a high end Multi-Tool or Swiss army knife, a top of the line hunting knife and a firearm.

Multi-Tool: A good quality multi-tool can cost between $50-$100. This will be well worth the cost in case of emergency. Great and proven brands such as Leatherman or Gerber can last for years. A multi-tool can take the place of several different types of tools including a screwdriver, can opener for emergency food storage items, etc.

High Quality Hunting Knife: There are many types of knives on the market. Very large knives can create problems if they are too large to handle easily. Some knives on the market today are created especially for an emergency survival kit. They have hollowed handles for storing matches (which is arguably the fourth most important item for your survival gear) or other small survival items. The stainless steel varieties are a favorite for survival kits because they are will not rust in wet climates.

Firearm: There are debates on what the best survival firearms are. But, there is no debate that they can be extremely useful in emergency situations. A firearm can be used for hunting wildlife, defense, starting fires and signaling across long distances. It is crucial to educate yourself on your emergency firearms and to be comfortable using them.

There are a lot of different options when it comes to food storage, and unless you stock up exclusively on something like freeze dried food you might be scratching your head and wondering what you’re actually supposed to do with a 5-gallon bucket of raw wheat grains.

Lots of people might stay away from raw grains or legumes because it seems like to cook them would be a labor intensive process that involves too much time and effort to create something edible. It’s a valid concern. But what many people don’t realize is that not all wheat grinders are behemoth machines that take up half the space in your garage. In fact, there are many mill wheat grinders designed specifically for the home that are affordable, take up very little space, can be easily stored, and best of all, provide a practical solution to your raw grain dilemma.

When it comes to in home wheat grinders you have a few different options—most mills use either a stone grinder or have stainless steel blades, and you can get either in an electric and manual models. Since we deal mostly in the realm of emergencies here it only makes sense that we might recommend picking one up that requires a little elbow grease—just in case of a long term power outage. Regardless, you can get a quality grinder either way, so we’ll leave that decision up to you. Just know that either method fits in nicely with any food storage plan.

Here’s a quick overview of a few top brands and models that will have you grinding raw grains into quality flour in no time:

Electric Grain Mills

Blendtec Grain Mill

Nutrimill Wheat Grinder

Hand Crank Grain Mills

Country Living Grain Mill

Messerschmidt Family Mill

Food and water are essential for life. Not having these items available in times of natural disasters and emergencies can be very dangerous. Most of us cannot imagine not being able to feed hungry family members due to lack of food. Preparation is vital to avoiding hunger, malnutrition and possible starvation in an emergency situation.

Many Americans tend to forget past times, only a couple of generations ago, when food storage was essential for survival in most regions around the country. This was long before big box grocery stores and smaller convenience stores were located only miles, or less, from most homes located in the city, suburb or township areas. In times of disaster, these commodities in these retail stores can be destroyed or inaccessible.

We can learn valuable lessons from the preparedness efforts of our great grandparents. We can apply these traditional lessons with foods that have been created with modern technology to create the best emergency preparedness freeze dried food storage available.

There are many reasons to take advantage of freeze dried food storage items for emergency preparedness needs. The benefits of freeze dried items include:

Long Shelf Life: High quality freeze dried food items can last up to 25 years. This exceeds the shelf lives of many other preparedness edible items including brown rice and soft grains.

Convenient Packaging: Many companies that distribute food for preparedness understand the needs for easy storage and portability. They have created containers that are both stackable and easy to move.

Easy Preparation: Freeze dried food items are created to be prepared easily with very few ingredients. Some of the most popular meal options only need water to be reconstituted and ready to eat.

Food items are an essential part of any emergency preparedness plan. It is invaluable to know that your family will be fed well even if a disaster strikes unexpectedly.

Ace Bandage
Adhesive Tape
Antibiotic Ointment
Antiseptic Wipes
Bandages
Cotton Balls and Q Tips
Disposable Latex Gloves
Scissors

Some other great ideas to add for general uses are:

Burn Ointment
Butterfly Stitches
Eye Wash (Saline Solution)
Gauze (various sizes)
Hydro-cortisone Ointment
Hand Sanitizer or Soap
Insect Bite Kit
Instant Cold and Heat Packs
Needles
Petroleum Jelly
Rubbing Alcohol
Safety Pins
Sterile Pads
Suction Device for Flushing out Wounds
Thermometer
Tourniquet
Tweezers
Wet Wipes
Aloe Vera
Antihistamines
Aspirin or Ibuprofen
Antacids
Anti-Diarrhea Pills
Calamine Lotion

When buying the items above think about your individual family.  Do they tend to have hay fever?  Is someone allergic to certain medicines?  Be sure to keep special needs in mind, like personal medications or if you have young children you may want to make sure you have medicine that is safe for them to take.You may also want to consider your family pets and their medical needs.
The great thing about building your family’s own first aid kit is that it is customizable to your exact needs.  When compiling your family’s survival gear you may also decide that each individual family member needs their own specialized first aid kit.

Dear Valued Customer,

My name is Brian NeVille (President and CEO) with Wise Company, Inc. We are grateful for the opportunity to provide Wise product and services to each one of you individually. We pride ourselves on product quality and customer satisfaction.

Because of the recent occurrences (earth quakes, tsunamis, increase in food prices, inflation, demands on fuel, etc.) throughout the world, request for Wise product has increased dramatically.
This has put a sizeable stress, delay, and temporary shortage on all types of food products. Specifically, freeze dry, dehydrated, and dry raw-good commodities. We have chosen not to compromise our business by bringing in raw goods from outside of the United States. All Wise products will continue to be USA sourced and made.

Product requests and orders that in the past were shipped within 24 to 48 hours are now estimated at a shipping time of 6 to 8 weeks. We will continue to process orders in a first in and first out manner so it is important to keep the orders in the queue to ensure customers receive product as quickly as possible. Internal measures have and are being taken to address this temporary inconvenience and ensure success.

We will continue to send out status updates as needed. In the meantime, I am personally happy to address any additional questions or concerns you may have. We want to ensure your continued satisfaction. We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.

Sincerely,
Brian NeVille
Wise Company Inc.

Another large provider of freeze dried is Oregon Freeze Dry AKA Mountain House. They supply sites like Emergency Essentials via Beprepared.com. Recently the sales manager for Oregon Freeze Dry sent out this e-mail:

This is an update on Oregon Freeze Dry’s #10 can situation. Because the demand for our #10 cans remains very high, we continue to be unable to meet all #10 can needs. OFD is allocating as much of our Production Capacity as possible to this market segment, while still allowing us to meet requirements in other markets.

Unfortunately, we cannot open sales to all previous dealers. We continue to sell allocated quantities to our long-time, largest customers/distributors.
We expect this situation to remain until at least this summer. At this point, we are not able to predict an actual date as to when we can open sales to all current dealers.

I wanted to share with you a recent company announcement to show that we are working on making improvements to be able to address these sudden increases in food storage demand. Our President, Jim Merryman, has signed off a multi-million dollar capital project to make some plant modifications that will increase our capacity. These modifications will start in May 2011 and we estimate the project to be complete by September 2011.

I know how difficult this situation is for each of you and your business. I truly feel your frustration and OFD is working incredibly hard to turn this situation around as quickly as possible.

Sincerely,
Oregon Freeze Dry, Inc.
Melanie Cornutt
Sales Manager, Retail

It looks as though the average American citizen is catching on and beginning to decide food storage is a good idea. Another popular explanation is that governments and wealthy groups are purchasing these products in bulk. Do some research on freeze dried storage shortage on Google and you will find some very interesting information. On top of that, there have been a myriad of natural disasters recently to spurn forward the idea of food storage.

Listed by date, here are a few of disasters that have happened so far in 2011: Major flooding in Brisbane, Australia, 6.3 magnitude earthquake in New Zealand, 8.9 massive earthquake in Japan and ensuing tsunami, major tornadoes in Southern United States. While it is impossible to foretell what the future holds, there is never a better time to prepare for the future than the present.

Our world has become one of specialization. In the last century or so ever since credit has been made so plentiful and readily available, businesses have sprung up that can provide a person with everything he or she wants and more. Not having to do everything ourselves now, because there is surely some business segment that can do it for us cheaper and in a more timely manner than we could do it ourselves (usually), we have gradually forgotten or possibly never even learned some of the most basic survival skills. Being so specialized ourselves has not only afforded us the capability to become in demand to employers, but also to have room for more leisurely activities, since only having to get really good at a particular skill or skill set makes it so that we can have more money to spend on other things that the other “specializers” have to offer.

So now, in the name of convenience, efficiency, and leisure, we are lulled into a certain sense of security, and it becomes a “hardship” on us to have to even consider food and water storage. There are various and sundry distractions to keep us from having to deal with such a basic need that is at present provided for us in every way, shape and form imaginable. Besides that, why would the way things are now ever change, and we be somehow “thrown back” to yesteryear when members of society had to rely more fully on our own resources to feed themselves?

Thinking things will not change is very analogous to thinking that nothing bad could happen to me. It is very common to the human psyche. Disaster is always a distant thought, and one that doesn’t seem very pertinent to our present reality. It’s a bit like death. We know it is a possibility, but we don’t normally ruminate upon it, because that could hamper our progress. But we should not completely ignore it, either. And the heartache that follows misfortune of almost every kind is never worth the effort and/or resources that were not spent preparing and possibly preventing catastrophes, or at least preventing the worsening aftereffects. This is precisely why future possible disasters and catastrophic scenarios should be payed attention to — because they can happen. Not because they will necessarily, but that the value of being prepared for an event that would trigger the need for food storage and water storage is greater by far than the value of our time or money that could be spent elsewhere. Doesn’t the value of survival surpass any of our leisure activities and the value of other material things? Ironically, we need to survive to enjoy those things.

Food storage will help us to survive. It looks more and more likely all of the time that it will be needed at some point in our lifetimes. Events in our society that we could not have even imagined happening have already transpired. Truth is stranger than fiction. Food storage could become more valuable than anything tangible that you possess.

Related Posts:

Emergency Food Storage: Why All the Fuss?
Disaster Survival- Food for Thought and Belly
Emergency Food Storage Essentials
Emergency Food: Your Saving Grace