In Case of Emergency

Long term food storage is an invaluable hedge against any number of calamities. But what about a crisis that requires you to abandon your home on a moment’s notice? Common sense tells us that we should prepare for such an event, but how?

Emergency evacuations happen frequently across the country. You can never predict when one might touch you and your family. Are you ready to evacuate your home on a moment’s notice, without warning?

You can’t shoulder your food storage and cart it off with you. Even if there were time to grab a few things, how would you carry them? How much and what should you take? There simply may not be enough time to ponder such considerations.

A key element in any emergency plan to deal with a sudden evacuation should be an emergency kit. What’s an emergency kit? It’s a selection of things vital to short term survival in an emergency.

A practical kit usually starts with three essentials that are typically in short supply in any sudden, crisis situation: food, water and fire. Any emergency kit should include those basic items in the event of a sudden evacuation.

Let’s look at those three:

Food: A kit should contain enough food to see you through a dislocation or evacuation of several days. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), "You should be prepared to take care of yourself and members of your family for the first 72 hours.” That’s usually enough to tide you over until rescue services can reach you. It should be either food that’s ready to eat right out of the package or ready with minimal preparation. Emergency situations seldom allow food preparation time.

Water: You can’t do without it, but it’s heavy. Carrying enough for even a few days’ consumption is impractical; your kit would be far too heavy. The next best thing is a small water purifying device that can treat ordinary water sources you might encounter or locate.

Fire: The ability to light a fire for cooking and warming is vital in a crisis evacuation. Since it’s sometimes tough to locate burnable material and even tougher to start it burning, another vital item is a fire starter that makes starting a decent fire a breeze. It’s even better, if the fire starter can function as a sole fuel source in a dire situation.

The second criterion for the kit itself is that it be portable. You will probably have to carry it, so keep it light and make sure it has a handle.

Since a true emergency precludes taking the time to leisurely put together what you need, an emergency kit should be thoughtfully secured beforehand. You can either design and equip one of your own, or you can rely on the experts at Augason Farms to offer one that will fit your specific needs.

The next consideration is positioning your kit wisely. In real estate, they say the three most important considerations are “location, location, location.” That holds true for your emergency kit as well. Locate your emergency kit so that it’s easy to grab on your way out the door in case of a sudden evacuation. Don’t put your kit in some obscure or hard to access location. If you can’t remember where you put it, you probably won’t have time to look around to find it. You’ll be forced to leave without it.

Lastly, home isn’t the only place to consider having an emergency kit. If you own a boat, recreational vehicle or have a cabin, you might want to consider placing an emergency kit in each location. You never know where or when an emergency might reach out and touch you. In fact, you would be wise to carry one in each of your vehicles, since people are stranded in their car or truck all the time, forced by circumstances to struggle simply stay alive. Next time, it may be you.

If you don’t have the time or the desire to build your own, Augason Farms makes emergency kits in pails, backpacks and duffle bags, each designed for a specific use. These are inexpensive kits, well designed to accommodate almost every emergency need.

Family owned and operated since 1972, Augason Farms believes that great taste is a tradition worth preserving. Crafted with a focus on taste and health, their products are manufactured to the highest standards. Let them provide you with delicious peace of mind.

By Anthony E. Larson
Augason Farms Copywriter

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