Your hot water heater contains drinkable water. You can test this by getting some hot water from your kitchen tap – don’t mix with cold – and drinking it. In my house this water has been through a water softener which changes the mineral content (calcium carbonate is replaced by salt) so it does not taste very good but it would keep you alive. Learn how to extract water from the hot water heater if the municipal pressure fails. (First thing to do is shut the water main valve to prevent contamination. Secondly, open a hot water tap upstairs somewhere. Thirdly, take water from the heater’s drain valve. The first few ounces will be ugly but after that it’s good. Test this out to make sure you know how.)

A more elaborate plan would be to place a tank in series with your cold water tap. A non-working hot water heater could serve. If all of your cold water goes through it, this tank will be refreshed every day. Get a plumber to install it with isolation valves. You could probably find such a tank for free since it doesn’t need to heat. Just make sure it does not leak.

http://www.beready.gov for ideas
http://www.firstaidnmore.com to buy kits in bulk.

If anyone else has any ideas how to stress the idea of preparedness to those who prefer to bury their head in the sand….HELP!!!!

A couple things I have kept in the shed, ready to grab at a moment’s notice since those experiences- cans of gas, freeze-dried food, easy-to-grab camping supplies, cookware, comfy shoes, socks, and sweatshirts for myself and my fiance, and medical/social security cards/birth certificates all on one ziploc baggie (which is, of course, hidden away.)

I also have all of my photos online, so I don’t have to worry about grabbing family photos. I do, however, have all of my scrapbooks on one place so I can grab them and go.

About maps. Take time now to mark several escape routes using various colors of highlighters. If a route is blocked this will make finding an alternative much easier and faster.

I recommend glow sticks for lighting. After a natural disaster there are often gas leaks and open flames are not possible. Glow sticks provide light all night long without running down batteries.

One last item, I always recommend a hand crank flashlight/radio combination that also uses batteries. Use the batteries for a short time and the crank option will work again. Some are also solar powered and need to be charged using the solar before their first use.

If you haven’t seen my blog please check it out. I have a Seven Steps program posted every Monday and we do 7 things each week to be more prepared. I post tips daily and on Wednesday, tips for saving money.I hope you’ll visit. http://blog.TotallyReady.com

High on my list of foodstuffs are items that do NOT require additional water for preparation, and where heating is optional. Clean potable water will be in short supply in most emergencies, and folks shouldn’t count on being able to prepare foods that require additional water and a fuel source such as ramen noodles, pasta, rice, oatmeal, etc.

It’s not just CLEAN water that will likely be available, a power outage can cut off ALL water. Electric pump for your well? Forget about water. Live in an apartment building higher than seven stories? No water for you either, even with that big tank on the roof; once it’s drained by gravity, no new water will be pumped to the tank.

Fuel sources will be in tight supply, and if you have municipal water supply, there will likely be a mandatory boil water order. That will use up tons of fuel.

If you have no electricity, many newer gas stoves won’t work because they have a safety valve that shuts off gas flow when there’s no power.

Plan on using alternate heat sources for cooking, but note that if you’re in a car or an enclosed shelter, you can’t light a fire of any type because of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

If you’ve got some cans of Sterno (gelled alcohol fuel) and a few bricks, you can easily make a small efficient cookstove nearly anywhere.

Find a flat surface. If it’s not inherently fireproof (granite countertop or metal stovetop, for example), put three bricks on the surface, laying them flat so you have about a 12″ square fireproof cookspace. Place two additional bricks on top of the brick cookspace; these will be the windscreen and will support the pots/pans. Place one or two Sternos (depending on the size of the pots/pans and what needs to be heated, a big pot of water needs two Sternos) in between the two bricks and light them. Place the pot/pan on top of the two bricks.

If this is a winter emergency and you have no heat, those bricks will be a welcome source of heat, they’ll be nice and warm when you’ve finished cooking/heating. Place the warm bricks in your sleeping bag or under your blankets and crawl in to warm up.

Repeat of my ideas from Reader Mailbag #28:

My preparedness foodstock includes shelf-stable items that require no refrigeration, cooking, or special preparation. For the most part, they don’t require additional water for preparation, and I get most of them at Costco or Sam’s Club, so the prices are reasonable.

Peanut butter, crackers, tuna pouches (no can opener required!), granola bars, ready-to-eat soups in juicebox packages (again, no can opener required), canned veggies (corn and peas), etc.

I have a ziplock bag with a bunch of individual jams and preserves, saved from all those restaurant breakfasts.

I favor the granola bars, but you might prefer Pop-Tarts or energy bars. Dry cereal is good, make sure it’s well-sealed in ziplock bags. Milk or soymilk in individual juiceboxes is good if that’s your prefererence.

Kids like canned ravioli and Spaghetti-Os. Adults and kids might like canned beef stew.

All of these require no water to prepare, and heating is optional.

I have tea bags and instant coffee (can’t stand the stuff, but I figure I might be really desperate for coffee). Also water in both gallon jugs and individual bottles.

Red Cross says you should have a minimum gallon/day per person for a minimum three-day event, I keep about 1.5 gal/day (because I drink a lot of water), and I plan on a week.

Also disposable paper plates, bowls, cups, utensils (plan on no potable water or water at all to wash dishes).

Heatsources are sterno (gelled alcohol fuel), candles in glass, bare candles, and a small backpacking stove with fuel.

Of course, batteries, flashlights, radios, first aid kit, medications, instant hand sanitizer, toilet paper, hygiene supplies, etc. I have a small 4-cell AA/AAA battery charger that runs from both a car cigarette lighter and a wall AC outlet, along with some rechargable AA and AAA batteries.

And CASH. Plastic is useless when there’s no power or communication. Cash requirements vary depending on one’s circumstances, but I think at least $100/person is the minimum to get through an emergency, maybe a minimum of $200-300 dollars for a single person or couple.

With all these items, the key is to periodically use and replenish them so they are always fresh. Pick shelf-stable items you actually use on a regular basis, or would be willing to use (I never had canned veggies in the house, I eventually learned to use them in omelettes and soups).

Those bottle hand sanitizers, I wish I’d bought a boxful. We just got water back from Ike today and not being able to wash your hands is incredibly frustrating.

If it’s something like a hurricane where you have days worth of notice (a rare luxury, I know), go ahead and do all your laundry well before hand. I was lending out clothes to friends because I had everything clean ahead of time. Unfortunately we waited a bit too long to start the dishwasher and I woke up to half clean dishes and a mostly empty hot water tank (would have been really useful for flushing toilets!).

Oh and buddy up to your neighbor with a gas chainsaw if you don’t have one. Only your neighbors will be around to help you get that huge tree out of your street/driveway afterwards. Also useful for zombies as mentioned before.

My dad did a lot of work retrofitting our house and he figures that if we have an earthquake so big that the damage to our house meets the deductible (I believe it’s 300,000 or some insanely high number like that) then the insurance company will have gone bankrupt paying off the claims of all the people who didn’t retrofit and their houses will have been completely demolished. Better to invest the earthquake insurance premiums wisely, maybe it will mean less money to rebuild, but at least you will have the money even if you don’t hit the deductible. Whereas if you bought earthquake insurance, it’s really just a donation to the insurance company.

And with that in mind, if I’m home and our big earthquake hits then I’m grabing my digital camera and taking lots of pictures of the house to prove to the insurance company that the house was still standing after the quake. I suspect that, even though we have fire insurance, if there’s a fire somewhere else after the quake hits and it makes its way to our house then insurance company will try to argue that our house didn’t burn down, it shook down. So I’ll want to take lots of pictures to prove that the house did not shake down, and then bring the camera with me if we have to evacuate.

But yes, we do have fire insurance at least. So whenever I throw a party my dad says he’s not worried about me burning down the house, as long as I don’t shake it down!

Much of the country has upped the % of ethanol and many small portable engines;generators, mowers, chainsaws.. have developed problems with gas that is stored or left in them for even a relatively short period of time – a couple months.
The problem is that small plastic parts – fuel lines, filters, tanks & carbs decay. This not the myth that lower levels had initially. I know a couple of people who tried to have their tools repaired and the shop said buy a new one, too many parts were damaged. Even gas treatment, specifically for storage, is not as effective as in the past. Either run it dry or consider using coleman fuel / white gas, it is more pure and doesn’t break down – I know that some fire departments do this as they have equipment that may sit for some time between uses.

Again just some info so that all of your preparedness isn’t knocked out by one glitch.

I also do this to my personal telephone book. I don’t plasticoat it, just minimize. It’s about 8 pages long and it is kept in my purse.

I will start trying to load up on some of these items and make certain my important papers are in one place and protected. I live in NE MO and am prone to flood areas and tornados.

Thanks, Trent.

P.S. I keep telling people about this site. It has lots of useful info for all types of people.

Canned bacon is funny and, for some, a reasonable survival supply to have on hand. Bacon, like candy, is a morale booster.

Zombie preparedness is a joke, son. Those of us who want to be prepared, but don’t want to feel like crazy survivalists, sometimes refer to our supplies as our Zombie Survival Gear. It’s funnier than “Worst-Case Stuff.”

Bug Out Bags are a darn good idea, and I’m surprised you didn’t mention them in your article.

Come on guys, the surviving the apocalypse doesn’t have to be a drag…

Also, disposable diapers and wipes and plastic bags. If you normally cloth diaper, during a disaster you may not have electricity or water to wash with, yet those babies keep on pooping!

I would think that beef jerky or tuna would be an excellent emergency food . . . protein satisfies hunger better and provides more energy. Plus – it doesn’t require the manual can opener if it comes in packets.