Emergency Prep: January

I have been trying to start and emergency preparedness closet for over a year now but never really got it going.  I decided that this year I would do one thing per month to get our home and family ready for an emergency due to weather, natural disaster or any other emergency situation.

January's focus: A central stock pantry and our emergency backpacks

We have an extra closet in our house that I use for a pantry.  One of the things that I dislike the most is grocery shopping.  To avoid it as much as possible I stock up on all of our usual items at one time so I don't have to go back for awhile.  This has helped with our grocery bill over the last few years as well but now that I am menu planning differently that I have in the past, I thought I would clean out the pantries also.

Project 1: Clean out both pantry closets.  I took everything out and grocery shopped for the emergency pantry from what I had on hand.  To start our emergency pantry I have:

2 boxes granola bars
4 boxes spaghetti
46 oz can tomato juice
1 box peanut butter crackers, 2 boxes cheese crackers
2 bottles pancake syrup
2 small bags rice
2 cans cranberry sauce
3 large cans beef tamales
1-28 oz can diced tomatos
6 boxes juice pouches
1 jar cherries
1 jar dill relish
7 boxes popsicles (at least the kids will have some yummy juice in an emergency!)
2- 36 oz bags oat clusters cereal
1- 32 oz corn syrup
1-46 oz apple sauce
1-32 oz grape jelly
2-18 oz BBQ sauce
2 bottles mustard
1 catalina dressing
2 small diced tomatos
2 small tomato sauce
1 large refried beans
2 ranch dressings
1 southwest ranch dressing
1 can green beans
1 large can cream of mushroom soup
2 small cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans peaches
1 pineapple chunks
3 boxes mac and cheese
2 cartons chicken broth
1-64 oz kethcup
1-18 oz peanut butter
3 cans manadarin oranges
5 cans tuna fish
2 boxes salt
2 small cans cream of mushroom soup
1 large can coffee
2 boxes of indiv. coffee packs
200 small paper cups
6 boxes kleenex
3 packages paper towels
2 packages napkins
3 small liquid hand soap
2-18 oz sport drink powder mix
3-16 oz boxes of oatmeal
2 bags steel cut oates
20 indiv. packets oatmeal
6 pack corn muffin mix
extra spices and seasonings
3 boxes cake mix (gotta have something to look forward to!)
2 boxes cookie mix
1 brownie mix
2 boxes hot cocoa
1 disposable BBQ grill
1 box of MREs
4-64 oz bottles of juice
1 fruit roll ups
1 bag indiv. serving teddy grahams
1 bag indiv serving M&Ms
11 gallons of water
small plastic shoebox with travel packets of ketchup, mustard, mayo, jelly, etc.

So, I think that is a pretty good start and we just might be able to make a few meals out of what we have or at least survive for a few days.  Bonus: we already had it all so no money spent!

My plan is to continue to stock up each week when I go grocery shopping.  The best way is the after holiday sales.  (All of my paper goods, candy, cake mixes we purchased for .50 or less after Halloween and Christmas.  In an emergency, who cares what is on it, right!?)  Also, if you make your list ahead of time of the quantities you will need for your family you will know what is on the list and can catch some of the items on sale as they come up.  I have my list broken up by 52 weeks.  While I will try to stick to the weekly breakdown, if something comes up on sale I will just stock it then and mark it off of the list.  It doesn't seem so overwhelming if you purchase 3-4 extra items on each grocery stop.  I'll let you know at the end of the month what all I purchased by the week and how I met my goal for that month.


Project 2: Emergency backpacks

Several summers ago when the wildfires were rampant I made an emergency tote and set it beside the door in case we needed to leave quickly.  I want to take this and break it down by individual so that each person will have their own personal set of supplies.  I currently have 3 backpacks so we are in need of 4 more.  My goal this month is to stock all 7 backpacks and have them ready to go.  I will update at the end of the month on the progress of the backpacks as well as their contents.


Have you thought about being prepared for an emergency?  Do you have a stockpile?  I'm curious to know what your thoughts are and how you prepare!

Simplifying: Day 2

Yesterday I worked in our bedroom starting with all of the plastic bins that line our walls.  Some of them need to be put in the attic but most of them are for the upcoming garage sale.  I moved them all over to the corner and stacked them neatly and the room already looks cleaner.  Today I was working again in our bedroom when I got a call from Jeremy that he had locked his keys in the car.  New mission: find the extra remote so we didn't have to pay $$ to get in.  After an hour of looking and thinking to myself "This is why I need to clean and organize!" I looked in the desk drawer, the last place Jeremy said it might be.  I didn't actually look.  I figured if I was going to have to rummage thru the drawer I might as well clean it so the entire drawer was dumped onto the floor.  You know what I found?  The extra remote!  Yippee!!! 

Now, I know this sounds silly to some but the kids and I prayed over that remote that it would work just once to open the doors.  The whole reason Jeremy wasn't using it anymore was because it needed a new battery and, while I know batteries don't cost as much as paying someone to actually unlock the truck, we just don't have an extra penny to our name right now.  We made it to the school and pulled up to the truck.  "Ok, here we go.  Let's pray that this works."  As I said it Joshua pushed the button and the doors unlocked.  "Thank you, Jesus!"  and "Yeah!" was heard and we texted Jeremy that he could get into his truck.  "Now don't touch it again."  I laughed to Joshua and he responded with a laugh and "I'm trying not to, Mom.  Now hurry and get out of the parking lot before I hit the wrong button!"  Thank you, Jesus for saving the day!

Later this evening I finished the drawer.  It looks so much better and the goal is to keep it that way!

Simplifying: Day 1

Yesterday was spent cleaning the kitchen.  The entire kitchen!  The floor was swept, the lower cabinets were cleaned out and organized and vaccuumed out, the floor was swept, the upper cabinets were cleaned out and organized, the pantry was cleaned and organized, the refrigerator was cleaned out and cleaned, the floor was swept, the windows, window sills and counters were cleaned, the drawers were all cleaned out and, the floor was swept one last time.  I got plentys of items for our upcoming garage sale, 2 full bags of trash, and the kitchen looks so much better.  Best of all, I already feel better.

I also cleaned out our medicine boxes.  I had one box for kid's medicine and one for adult medicine.  I went thru the boxes and threw away all of the expired medicines (some from 2008!) and medicine spoons and cups.  Yes, you read 2008 right.  Thankfully, we have been blessed with healthy kids and rarely ever get into the medicine box.  Thank you, Jesus!  Needless to say, after cleaning that out I was down to just one all inclusive box of medicines with room to spare.

Here is to a year of cleaning, organizing and simplifying!