Preparations...

So as many of you know I'm constantly planning & trying to be prepared for what life could through my way. My therapist assures me that I do not have OCD if you are starting to feel any concern at all.

One of the things on my list since moving back to the island has been to update our Emergency Bins. Our old bins were way to small & out of date. Over the last couple of weeks the kids & I have been making piles. The goal is to have enough supplies to fend for ourselves for at least a week or more. A week should be safe for most urban families. However, I'm sure our little town would be considered remote incase of a Provincial emergency !

I purchased a large rolling garbage can for our rations. We have also reorganized the garage so that our bins can sit just inside the large barn doors. The hope is that if everything comes crashing down I'll be able to dig it out without to much difficulty.


When picking what food to include in our bin I took the following things into consideration:

1. well packaged sources of protein ( nuts,canned fish, seed etc)
2. enough options for my kids with food restrictions (rice pasta, crackers, bars etc)
3. healthy foods that won't take to much water to prepare ( canned tomatoes, corn, pasta sauce ect.)

Since I can't guarantee and earthquake happening in the summer ( when I'll have a full garden to raid) I also thrown in several pkgs of dried fruit & a jar of multi vitamins. Ideally my home & garage will stay standing. Then I'll be able to access my preserves & freezers for additional food. We'll have candles for light, the wood stove for heat & cooking. I have also placed first aid kits in the garage bins, house & van. I have placed copies of our emergency info, ID & pics of the kids in the bins for easy access.

I have also packed supplies for our puppy Piper. A large Ziplock bag of food, an extra leash & a copy of her license, immunization & a photo just in case we get seperated.


Over the next couple of months I planning on purchasing a new BBQ ( alternative cooking sources are good) and setting up our new rain barrel system ( with a large family with pets it won't harm to have more accessible water).

Do you have a plan for your family? If you'd like some help getting started this site is pretty informative.

I'm fortunate to live in a fairly safe location, have a one story home, a wood stove, a tone of wood & a good supply of camping gear.

Here's hoping I will never have a need to put all my planning into affect !!