Begin your family's preparedness plan by considering these questions and your responses:
1. To what potential natural, people-caused, or personal disasters are you vulnerable?
- How can you eliminate them or mitigate their negative impact on your family's life and lifestyle?
2. What if there were no water available from your faucets, what would you do?
- How much drinking water is "hidden" inside and outside your house – what are those sources?
- Could you treat unsafe water to make it safe for drinking and cooking?
3. Inventory your refrigerator, freezer, kitchen cabinets, cupboards, pantry, closets, or under your bed – wherever you keep your supply of long-term foodstuffs. What do you have on hand in these categories? :
- canned and bottled foods?
- packaged foods?
- dehydrated, dried, and freeze dried foods?
- What's in your possession that's truly nutritious - that could sustain you in a near-normal manner?
- How long could your family eat if the foods in your pantry and refrigerator/freezer were the only food available?
1 day?1 week?1 month?longer?
4. If you need life-preserving medication, how long will your current supply last if it's not immediately available?
- What over-the-counter medications, vitamins, minerals, herbal supplements, and digestive aids do you have on hand?
- In what way do – or would – they support your health?
- How long would your supply last if not replenished now?
5. Do you know which foods to buy, in what priority, quantity of each, and where to buy them most economically?
6. Could you prepare your stored foods, maximizing their shelf life, flavor, and nutritional qualities?
7. Do you know how to sprout seeds to provide "live" foods for essential vitamins and minerals when there's a shortage of fresh vegetables?
8. Do you have the knowledge, skills, tools, seeds, and available space to plant a garden and raise your own food?
9. Do you know how to preserve foods for the future – especially if the electric and gas supplies were unreliable?
11. What type of job(s) could you qualify for if your current employment were terminated?
- What education or training do you need to acquire so you can be a viable candidate for future jobs?
12. Where would you live for the next year if a catastrophe occurred to your family's residence today?
13. Could you live – or even survive – for a year on your current savings?
14. Do you have the faith, foresight, skills, and diligence to prepare for the uncertain future?
15. Are you willing to make the required investment in your family's future well-being and security by:
(a) taking the time to learn how to prepare;
(b) defining a preparedness plan; and
Set Your Personal and Family Goal(s)!
For Example – Your family's basic goal could be: to be able to live in a near-normal manner with family re-sources for an extended period of time – regardless of external conditions. For this to be a reality, the family will:
Acquire a reasonable in-home supply of water, food, clothing, shelter, heating and fuels, and medications;
Commit to the 4-M program –
(1) Money,
(2) Materials (food/equipment),
(3) Manpower (your energy and effort), and
(4) Minutes (your time!) to acquire the items identified for your family needs during an extended period; and,
Get out of debt and have a readily available cash fund of $______ for emergencies!
Remember: There are no emergencies for those who are truly prepared!