One of the most important items that you can have in your emergency supplies is a water filter. There are a variety of ways to clean water and make it safe to drink: boiling, distillation, reverse osmosis, deionization, chemical purification and filtration. In this post, I want to explain the basics of micro porous filtration or more simply said “how a water filter works”. At the end of the post, I have included some excellent reference articles from Wikipedia that include more detailed information on the topic for those that are interested.

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After you have completed priority #2 which is to gather Grab and Go supplies, your next priority is to gather Shelter in Place supplies. Over the years, I have found it very helpful to divide my emergency supplies into two broad categories: Grab and Go supplies and Shelter in Place supplies. My definition of these two categories might be slightly more detailed than the traditional ones. As we reviewed in my previous post, Grab and Go supplies are designed for short term survival, about 72 hours. Shelter in Place supplies are long term emergency supplies that are designed to keep you and your family alive much longer than 72 hours.

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Because of the severe flooding that is happening along the Red River, I am posting an article from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) about flood safety. This is a very good article and our hearts go out to the folks suffering with the terrible flooding in North Dakota.

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You will see these types of bars in many survival kits. Originally, these types of food bars were designed for use by the U.S Coast Guard for survival on life boats. Because they were designed for this intense survival environment, they are excellent for use in your emergency supplies. Here are the main attributes of food bars that make them great: Continue reading…

Finding the right emergency radio for your needs will depend on the type of situations that you might find yourself in. Communication during a disaster is critical for your survival. Getting timely, accurate information from local authorities will more than likely come through either your radio or TV. Here are some items to consider when deciding on what type of emergency radio to purchase: Continue reading…

If you find yourself in need a fire, but you don’t have a lighter or matches there are a number of options you can turn to in order to get a fire started. The most common match-free method used involves magnesium, flint and steel. Lens-based options are common, too. Fires can also be started using friction, steel wool and certain batteries, or even by using a soda can and a chocolate bar. In any of these methods it’s best to have dried tinder in order to build the fire and keep it going. (Tinder is any dry substance that readily takes fire from a spark, such as dried leaves, plants, or pieces of wood.)

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People who are unfamiliar with what a NOAA Weather Radio is might first think of an old guy with a long beard going into a big boat with a whole bunch of animal friends. This is a different type of NOAA. NOAA stands for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA falls under the United States Department of Commerce and among other things they are responsible to track all things weather related that impact our fine country. You have probably heard of the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center. These two organizations are inside of NOAA and provide all kinds of weather related information.

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After you have completed priority #1 which is to make a plan, your next priority is to gather Grab and Go Supplies. To do this, let me first explain what Grab and Go supplies are designed to do. Like we have discussed in other posts, you should anticipate that following a disaster you will not receive any help from authorities for at least 72 hours. Your Grab and Go supplies should allow you to evacuate quickly and survive the first 72 hours after a disaster.

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So you bought a bunch of emergency food storage (smart thinking!) and now you’ve got to figure out where to put it and how to store it. Let’s keep it simple. Here are some suggestions:

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Storing water is a huge part of every emergency plan. Like we have discussed in this blog before, you got to have water and preferably a lot of it. But storing a lot of water presents a major problem: rotation. As most of you know, water is very heavy. It weighs a little more than 8 lbs. per gallon. To put that into perspective, your 55 gallon water barrel when completely full weighs more than 450 lbs. Yikes! That is a back ache waiting to happen if you try to move it. And getting the water out of it to rotate can be just as difficult.

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