Great Question!

"I have a question for you. Since you are, of course, preparing for whatever may come.....I am wondering if you have made other preparations other than food storage? I was wondering what kind of house you live in and what you do when there is no electricity for heating, cooking, etc. Do you plant a garden, raise your own animals.....i.e., chickens, cows, etc. for eggs, milk, meat, etc.? I just find it interesting to know to what extremes people are going to. Also, wondering if you've looked into alternative medicines or storing those?"

~Sandra

Great questions! No..I wish I could raise my own chickens (maybe??) and do more of that type of preparation. However, we just live in the out skirts of Salt Lake and have neighbors in our backyard—not a lot of space for anything other than a garden. I try and plant as much as I can in my garden and bottle, dry, freeze, or can the extras of the season. We also have three fruit trees that have proved to be a blessing—free apples, pears, and peaches in the summer. It doesn’t get better than that!

As far as fuel storage, we do have a generator, gasoline, camping stoves, propane heaters, butane stoves, etc. We keep a good stock of fuel that we would need for cooking and heating in an emergency.

I do store basic medicines: Tylenol, Asprin, Vitamins, Cough Syrup, Cold/Flu medicine, etc. Any medicine my family uses on a regular basis (during sick season that is), I try to store a couple extras for an emergency—or if we were unable to have access to them. For those who use prescription medicine it is important to store as many extras as you can in your storage. I for example, have Asthma, so I always keep my prescriptions filled and max out my allowed supply, so I have extras on hand. I know this is not possible with all medicines, but if it is possible, it is a good thing to do.


Other items I try to keep well stocked are hygiene items: toilet paper, paper towels, wipes, shampoo/conditioner, bar soap, liquid soap, laundry soap, dish detergent and soap, toothpaste, extra toothbrushes, cotton balls/q-tips, hand sanitizer, bleach, Clorox wipes (for cleaning and sanitizing), and other basic cleaning supplies.

First Aid items are also an important part of your emergency preparedness supplies (72 hour kits, car kits, etc.). Having a wide variety and different sizes of bandaids, wraps, etc. are important for storage. There are several items that are important to have in your First Aid kit. You can find lists online of important items to store. I will post more about first aid later in the month. This is part of my goal with some of our tax return money--beef up our 72 hour kits and first aid supplies. Watching the people in Haiti helps you realize some of the items you may be low on.