The Everything Guide to Living Off the Grid (40 page)

Food

During emergencies you don’t want to give your system a shock by eating foods you have never tried before. Your emergency supplies should include foods like peanut butter that are easy to use and offer you high protein. Make sure you try out your emergency supplies if you are going to use foods like MREs and dehydrated foods before an emergency happens.

If your activity is reduced, you can survive on half your usual food intake for an extended period and even go without any food for many days. Food, unlike water, may be rationed safely, except for children and pregnant women. If your water supply is limited, don’t eat salty foods, since they will make you thirsty. Instead, eat salt-free crackers, whole-grain cereals, and canned foods with high liquid content.

MREs and Dehydrated Foods

Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) were originally government-issued dehydrated meals developed for soldiers. Although the government does not allow military MRE manufacturers to sell to civilians, there are MREs available for sale to the general public. The positive aspect of an MRE is that it is a complete meal in one package that is designed to withstand the elements. Within each package there is generally an entrée, side dish, cracker or bread, spread, dessert, candy, beverage, seasoning or hot sauce, plastic ware, and a flameless ration heater. Each MRE contains one-third of a day’s nutritional value, with 1,250 calories and mineral and vitamin supplements. The downside of MREs is that they can be expensive and there are limited menus available in the retail versions.

Dehydrated foods have come a long way in the past twenty years. Originally very simple and bland, dehydrated foods comes in a great variety of offerings, including gourmet foods. You can purchase dehydrated foods in large number ten cans, the size of a coffee can, to feed your whole family, or in individualized single meals. As the name implies, all you have to do is reconstitute the food with water and then heat it. Dehydrated food can have a shelf life of eight to ten years.

Family Friendly Foods

If you have children, your emergency food stores should include food that is familiar and comforting. Peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, pudding, and powdered drink mix can lend an air of normalcy to a tense situation. Be sure to have crackers and hard candy in your emergency food supply for treats. Powdered chocolate drink mix can help turn nonfat dry milk into a more palatable drink for both children and adults.

Maintaining Your Strength

During and especially after a disaster, it is vital for you to maintain your strength. Be sure that you eat at least one well-balanced meal each day, drink enough liquid to enable your body to function properly, and take in enough calories to enable you to do any necessary work. Vitamin, mineral, and protein supplements are essential during times of high stress on your body; don’t forget to take them.

Water

Having an ample supply of clean water is a top priority in an emergency. A normally active person needs to drink at least two quarts of water each day. If an emergency occurs in the summer, or if you live in a hot or arid environment, you will require more. In all cases, children, nursing mothers, and ill people will require more than two quarts of water a day. Because you will also need water for food preparation and personal hygiene, you should store one gallon per person per day. FEMA recommends that, if possible, you store a two-week supply of water for each member of your family. And if
supplies run low, don’t ration water. Drink the amount you need today, and try to find more for tomorrow. You can minimize the amount of water your body needs by reducing activity and staying cool.

Store drinking water in food-grade containers. Two-liter plastic soft-drink bottles work well. You can store water to be used for personal hygiene, flushing toilets, and general cleaning in old bleach and laundry detergent containers.

To prepare your own stored water supply, follow these tips, as suggested by FEMA:

• Thoroughly clean the bottles with dishwashing soap and water, and rinse completely so there is no residual soap.
  
• Additionally, for plastic soft-drink bottles, sanitize the bottles by adding a solution of 1 teaspoon nonscented liquid household chlorine bleach to a quart (¼ gallon) of water. Swish the sanitizing solution in the bottle so that it touches all surfaces. After sanitizing the bottle, thoroughly rinse out the sanitizing solution with clean water.
  
• Fill the bottle to the top with regular tap water. If your water utility company treats your tap water with chlorine, you do not need to add anything else to the water to keep it clean. If the water you are using comes from a well or water source that is not treated with chlorine, add two drops of nonscented liquid household chlorine bleach to each gallon of water.
  
• Tightly close the container using the original cap. Be careful not to contaminate the cap; do not touch the inside of it with your fingers. Write the date on the outside of the container so that you know when you filled it. Store in a cool, dark place.
  
• Replace the water every six months if not using commercially bottled water.
  

During an emergency, remember that you can use some of the “hidden” sources of water in your home, including your hot-water heater, accumulated water in your pipes (accessed by unscrewing a pipe in the lowest area of your home, like a basement), and water from ice cubes in your freezer. You should not drink the water from toilet flush tanks or bowls, radiators, waterbeds, or swimming pools and spas.

If you use the water in your hot-water tank, be sure the electricity or gas is shut off, and then drain the water from the bottom of the tank. When the power and/or water is restored, be sure to fill your tank back up before turning on the power.

You can also find water outside your home in case of emergency. Rainwater, streams, rivers and ponds, natural springs, and lakes are other sources for water. Be sure never to take water from places that have material floating on top, or that have an odor or dark color to them. Never drink flood water. Water that you have gathered from the outdoors needs to be treated before you can safely drink it. There are several ways to treat water:

• Use a ceramic filtration system to filter out unhealthy microorganisms.
  
• The safest way for you to treat water is to boil it. However, you must remember that boiling does not mean a bubble or two. When you boil water, you must bring it to a rolling boil for at least one full minute. If you are concerned about evaporation, you can place a lid on the pot to capture the steam. After boiling, place the water in a clean container and allow to cool. For better-tasting water, you can return oxygen to it. To do this, simply pour the water back and forth between two clean containers. The movement of the water between the containers will increase the oxygen content. This method also works for stored water.
  
• If you decide to chlorinate the water you have gathered from your water source, you should add sixteen drops (⅞ teaspoon) of bleach per gallon of water. Stir the water thoroughly and then let it stand for thirty minutes. Once the time has passed, smell the water. You should be able to smell the bleach. If you can’t, add an additional ⅞ teaspoon bleach per gallon, mix thoroughly, and let it stand for another fifteen minutes. Once again, smell the water. If it still does not have a slight odor of bleach, discard it and find another source of water.
  

Medicines

You should not only have an ample supply of over-the-counter medicines for emergencies; if you rely on prescription drugs for your health and well-
being, you should also try to have at least an additional three-month supply of them in your home. Talk to your physician about writing an additional prescription to ensure you can have an extra supply in case of emergency.

Here is a list of some of the basic over-the-counter medicines and medical equipment you should have in your home:

• Pain relievers like acetaminophen, aspirin, naproxen, and ibuprofen
  
• Antibiotic cream like Neosporin or Betadine
  
• Tweezers
  
• Rubbing alcohol
  
• Cotton balls, bandages, Ace bandages, adhesive tape
  
• Antacid (Tums, Rolaids)
  
• Thermometer
  
• Cotton swabs
  
• Sunscreen
  
• Hydrocortisone cream
  
• Anti-diarrheal medicine
  
• Heat pack and ice pack
  
• Itch medicine (calamine lotion)
  
• Cough syrup, cold/allergy medicine, antihistamine and decongestant
  
• Mild laxative
  
• Petroleum jelly
  
• Syrup of ipecac (to induce vomiting)
  
• Hot-water bottle
  
• Eye cup and over-the-counter eye wash
  
• Ear drops
  

Light

Emergencies can happen in the middle of the night, and that is not the time to start searching for flashlights, batteries, or other light sources. To be prepared, you need to have immediate light sources and potential long-term light sources.

Flashlights

Flashlights are great for a quick response to an emergency situation. The more reliable flashlights are LED flashlights because incandescent bulbs can burn out suddenly or break if you drop your flashlight. LED flashlights don’t have breakable parts and actually last for about 10,000 hours of use.

If you purchase an inexpensive flashlight, the light will not be as bright and might be slightly off-color. There are many different shapes and styles of flashlights, but the major difference is the size and weight of flashlight you want to carry, as well as the brightness you desire.

• Key-ring flashlights are generally more gimmicky than useful. They can fit in your pocket or your purse and weigh next to nothing, but most give barely enough light to see a few feet in front of you.
  
• Pocket flashlights are a good choice for emergency. The better-quality flashlights are able to regulate voltage, so even when the battery is losing power, the light will remain bright. They are small enough to carry in a pocket, purse, or backpack, or to put in a drawer in your nightstand.
  
• Glove-compartment flashlights are too large to easily fit in your pocket and too heavy to carry in your purse or backpack. The best ones provide you with an adjustable high and low beam; the low beam for use inside the car, and the high beam for lighting the outside of the car in emergencies.
  
• Emergency crank flashlights are excellent tools for emergencies. Not limited to the charge of a battery, they are small enough to fit in a glove compartment and can run thirty to sixty minutes after one minute of cranking. Often these flashlights include other options, like weather radios.
  
• Large household flashlights are heavy and can be cumbersome, but they provide a great deal of light when you are trying to find your way through your home in a power outage.
  
• Rechargeable flashlights are great while you still have power or, if they are solar powered, while there is sun available, but they lose their power fairly quickly compared to other choices. A rechargeable flashlight is best used in areas where a sudden power outage can be dangerous or frightening, like for small children in a bathroom, because they are easily located.
  

Experts recommend lithium-ion–powered flashlights for use in very cold weather and for flashlights stored in a disaster shelter because they last for a longer period of time under harsher circumstances.

Candles

Using candles for emergency lighting is one of the least expensive lighting options. Emergency candles that come in a glass container are the best kind of candles to have in case of emergencies. Regular dinner candles or even scented candles don’t put out the kind of light you need and can be dangerous if left unattended. Emergency candles are long-burning. There are even some 120-hour versions, and they are constructed for safe burning.

When using any kind of candle, be sure it is situated on a stable surface that is free from clutter. Because a quick draft can cause a candle flame to jump, never put a candle near curtains or any other flammable objects.

You can also use candle lanterns to increase the safety of using candles. Lanterns provide a base, a lid, and a glass surround or chimney to place the candle into. They also provide a carrying handle, so the candle can be safely transported without fear of the flame being blown out. Some lanterns designed for camping and outdoor use can hold a standard white emergency candle, which can burn for eight or nine hours.

A Candlelier is a lantern that holds three standard emergency candles. The candles can be burned individually or simultaneously, depending on the amount of light you desire. The top of the lantern has a heat shield that can also be used as a small stove. They also produce enough heat to be a personal heat source.

Lanterns and Oil Lamps

Lanterns and oil lamps are another option for lighting your home during an emergency. Lanterns have been used for centuries to provide portable light for barns throughout the world. Generally, kerosene or specially made lamp fuels are used for lanterns. You can purchase an inexpensive oil lamp that uses paraffin oil at most department stores. These are mostly ornamen
tal, although they give enough light to see and can be placed throughout your home when not in use as part of the décor. Both of the aforementioned fixtures generally use wicks to pull the fuel up from the base and feed the flame. Specialty lamps, like Aladdin lamps, use mantles and kerosene fuel. The light from an Aladdin lamp is equal to a 50-watt light bulb.

Storing Important Documents

From birth certificates to passports, from insurance policies to car titles, many of the documents you have in your home are very important, but could be lost during a fire, flood, or other disaster. It is a good policy to make several copies of these important documents. The original copies should be kept in a safe-deposit box in a bank; another copy could be given to family members who don’t live in your household, another copy should be filed away in your home office; and the final copy should be laminated and stored in your 72-hour kit, so if an emergency arises and you have to leave your home, all of your important documents are with you.