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Are You Prepared if it Happened to You?

The power outage in the East and into the midwest makes one stop and think about what they would do if this happened to them? Are we prepared to live for a few days if we lose power wherever we live?

Fortunately, it did not hit Iowa, but across the river in Omaha, NE they noticed a flicker so they took steps to prevent it from happening.

We have non-perishable food stored up to get us by a few days. We also have a barb-q grill and supplies to cook with. The flashlights all have battteries and we have candles and some kerosene lamps as well. Water storage amounts to probably a weeks worth. My main fear is the heat. We live in a mobile home which can get pretty hot. I can't imagine living without A/C. I most likely would spend alot of time on the cool linoleum floors of my house.

On my webpage I have a list of prevention ideas. Please feel free to check it out. https://www.geocities.com/patomey/2Emergenc...eparedness.html

The most important thing to have is water. I try to remember to buy a gallon each time I go to the store. For washing purposes, I fill 2-liter pop bottles with water and 1 tsp. bleach. I store them in the back part of my kitchen cupboards where they are out of site and reach. Keeps cookware from going way back there.

If it happened to you are you prepared? I know I need to work on more avenues, like making sure I have my Rx filled all the time. I also need more drinking water.

Paula

You Happened it Prepared Are

I am not completely prepared, but I do have lots of supplies.  Just need to get some more water and a little bit more first aid supplies.  But other than that, I think my family and I would be ok, if a black out was to happen here.  We have been through a black out before, only it was weather related.  Others were without power for a few hours, while others were without power for weeks.

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Excellent questions.

I live in the Detroit area.  I was driving home, just a few blocks from my house, when the radio station that I was listening to died.  I tried another station.  It was dead.  And another.

I got into the house, and our lights were out.  We live about 40 miles outside of the city of Detroit.  Later, we found out that we were on the edge of the blackout.  Our city water never lost pressure and about half the city didn't lose power.

As soon as I got into the house, we filled up every container we could find with water.

I got the "crank operated" emergency radio out of our 72-hour kit, and found one of the news stations that was working.  Over the next few hours, we learned the extent of the outage.  We were amazed to hear, almost immediately, that it wasn't a terrorist attack (although how the government agencies making this statement knew that I will never know).

The short story is, we fired up the gas grill and cooked some of the meat in the fridge.  Then we put the really fragile stuff (milk, eggs, etc) into the freezer, with the idea that it would stay cold longer.  Since the power was only out for about 20 hours at our house, we didn't even have to break into our 72-hour kit or our emergency water supply.

The lessons we learned -
1. Get a water purifier.  We didn't need it, but if the power had been out for a couple more days, we probably would have.

2. Insect repellent.  It was the hottest day of the summer, and we wanted to sleep outside.  The mosquitos quickly chased us inside.

3. Have a lot of easily prepared food available.  We have some MREs, especially in our 72-hour kit.  We also purchase case lots of canned foods, such as corn, tuna fish, tomatoes, and peanut butter.  With a grill or small camp stove, ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese will also do quite well.  And you would be amazed at how good tuna fish mixed with malt or balsamic vinegar can be.

Basically, it isn't too difficult to be prepared for a small problem like the power outage.  But we would be hard pressed if a problem persisted for over a week or so, mainly in the water area.  We have sufficient food to last our family at least 3 or 4 months, probably longer depending on how creative we could become with wheat.

Actually, the biggest problem around here was the fact that people tried to rush home on the freeways.  They didn't take enough care to deal with intersections without signal lights and ran out of gas.

NightHawk

You Happened it Prepared Are

Nighthawlk, wow you seem pretty prepared. The last Enrichment Meeting in my branch was about Prepardness and is going to be the subject of our next Family Home Evening, we have a small food storage but I want to organize something better and also the 72 hour kit and the first aid kit. We never know when we will need it and we need to be prepare in all times.

You Happened it Prepared Are

Well, we found out how unprepared we really are.

I suggest you try to get Wheat Cookin' Made Easy from Deseret Books.  It has great information for any type of preparedness meeting.

For example, it tells how to add vegetables to your diet with wheat sprouts and how to make vegetable protein out of wheat.

It also has bread, pastry, and even brownie (good ones) recipes using only whole wheat flour.

You should probably also visit www.providentliving.org to get some excellent information.

NightHawk

Are You Prepared if it Happened to You?

QUOTE

I suggest you try to get Wheat Cookin' Made Easy from Deseret Books.

Any idea on how much this book cost? Thanks for the link.

Are Prepared it Happened You

$18.95 at Deseret Book.  I checked on the website.

One quick idea:
If you know how to sprout seeds such as alfalfa or mung beans, do the same with wheat berries.  Then eat the sprouts.  Apparently makes an excellent source of vitamins and minerals.

Also, from what I understand, grow wheat in a controlled environment, about 1" of potting soil.  The book suggests placing wheat that is already sprouted in the soil.  Let it grow to about 8" to 10" (20 to 25cm), then cut with scissors and clean and juice.  I guess that this is becoming a very popular "health drink".  I have heard that the same is being done with barley as well.  Of course, in health food stores, they are extremely expensive.

Finally, look for ways to make Bulgur and use it.  I found one recipe on the web, and it is very similar to what is in the book:
https://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/bulgur.htm

After you make the bulgur, it sounds like it is a good idea to keep it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.  It still has the wheat germ, with all the oils, so can go rancid.

I haven't yet tried any of these ideas, but plan on doing so soon.  I especially like the idea of using bulgur to make tabbouli, cracked wheat cereal, and to make a pilaf for grilled vegetables.

Finally, search for ways to make gluten.  If you cook it up with beef or chicken bouillon cubes, it makes (reportedly) tasty protein based food.

Of course all these ideas are probably most important for long-term use of stored food, rather than the temporary, disaster, short-term use that this thread was originally focused on.

But then, I think the two walk hand-in-hand

(I am going to find some messages that I have read about long-term preparedness, with the idea of living in "tent cities" during the last days.  That is, if anyone is interested, I will summarize what I have learned.)

NightHawk

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How Scared of Terrorism Should You Be?
By Ronald Bailey

Not very. You are four times more likely to be killed by a lightning bolt than by a terror attack. Ref. Source 9