Be Prepared: Stock Up on Emergency Food and Water Supplies
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Collapse ▲While it’s easy to hope for the best, staying prepared for the worst is essential. One of the most vital steps in disaster preparation is ensuring you have an emergency food and water supply. We have witnessed this first hand in the wake of Hurricane Helene. As potential winter weather approaches, we should be prepared.
Stocking Your Emergency Pantry
To start, experts recommend keeping at least a three-day supply of food that doesn’t need refrigeration, cooking, or significant water to prepare. If possible, extend this to a week or more for added security. Building your supply gradually is budget-friendly and easy if you plan well. Keep a list of what you need, stock up slowly, and rotate items to maintain freshness.
For those with limited space, set aside a specific supply for emergencies, using compact storage solutions like bins under beds. While canned goods remain safe to eat for years, rotating your stock annually helps maintain quality.
Here are some suggestions for building your emergency pantry:
Breakfast Options
- Packaged fruit and juice
- Shelf-stable milk, tea bags, or instant coffee
- Ready-to-eat cereals, breakfast bars, crackers with honey, nut butter, nuts, and seeds
Lunch and Dinner Options
- Shelf-stable meats, canned beans, or poultry
- Canned soups, vegetables, and fruits
- Crackers, jerky, nut butter, and packaged fruit
Snacks
- Packaged cereals, fruit leathers, nuts, seeds, trail mix, pudding, and chocolate
If your emergency allows the use of alternative cooking sources, such as a camping stove, consider adding spaghetti, rice, and shelf-stable vegetables to your pantry.
Preparing Your Water Supply
Water is your most critical resource. A minimum of one gallon per person per day is necessary, but if you have children, sick individuals, or pets, consider increasing this. A three-day supply is a minimum, but a two-week supply is ideal if you have storage space.
Use food-grade plastic or glass containers for storage, avoiding milk jugs, which are hard to clean. Containers should be sanitized with a bleach solution (1 teaspoon of non-scented bleach per quart of water), thoroughly rinsed, then labeled and dated. Store water away from direct sunlight in a cool, dark place and replace every six months.
Another option is to have an emergency water filter on hand for times when water isn’t easily accessible. Many of these can be purchased locally or ordered online.
Sanitizing Water in Emergencies
If you’re unsure about the cleanliness of your water, boiling it for a minute will kill most pathogens. Alternatively, disinfect with 16 drops of bleach per gallon of water. Be sure to filter out sediment before treatment if necessary.
Peace of Mind in Uncertain Times
Having an emergency supply of food and water is like life insurance. It brings peace of mind, and if you’re lucky, you’ll never need it—but you’ll be glad it’s there if you do.