The first thing that I recommend that you do is to research. Check out the Red Cross site and the recommendations made for how much food and water to store per person. Look at the recommended lists for a first aid kit. Check out other blogs on 72 hour kits. There are lots and lots of resources to read through like http://teotwawkiblog.blogspot.com and/or http://preparedness365.blogspot.com . You will find some bloggers have stopped posting but still have great older posts with information you can still use. If you are on Pinterest then search "emergency preparedness" or "72 hour kits" and you will find many, many more blogs and websites available to read. Research until you have an understanding for emergency preparation and survivalism and a feel for how deep or thorough you want to prepare for an emergency.
The second step I recommend is to create either a pinterest board for all the links you collect or a notepad on your computer desktop with the urls to the different websites. I have both. Pinterest is a great resource because you can search specific topics like dry canning or candle making and save the link to the specific blog post. You can also create a secret board on Pinterest so that no one really knows just how much you are researching and doing to prepare for emergencies. While it is good to encourage others to prepare themselves, I don't think broadcasting to the world that you have food and water for 3 months in your garage is a great idea.
The third step is to put together a binder with information that you want to have in hand should there be no power or access to Internet. I am currently working on mine and I am including recipes and directions for items that I might want to make like home made vinegar or emergency candles. I am also including first aid instructions that might come in handy. Anything that might be useful in an emergency you want to print it and have it on hand now.
Fourth, decide on an amount of money, no matter how small, and start putting it aside for your emergency fund. I recently cleaned out some rooms in my home and sold some items that I didn't want. Instead of spending the money I decided to hang on to it for my emergency cash fund. I also found an opportunity to bring in an additional amount of money weekly that I will devote toward my emergency preparation. This way I don't put any added burden on my family. You could walk your neighbors dog, mow some one's grass, etc. Or maybe you could quit smoking and use the funds that you would normally spend on cigarettes to purchase needed items. If it is important to you then you will find a way to squirrel away something each week.
The fifth step is to start a list of things that you plan to purchase and store in preparation. I started using a notebook to keep my lists in so I could add things and mark them off once I have them. Here is the beginning of my list:
- Set up a first aid kit
- Create and store 72 hour kits (I am creating Bug Out Bags with 72 hour kits included)
- Purchase and store water (1 gallon per person per day, 3 days worth to start)
- Start to store non perishable food items
These steps are just the beginning. This is a process and will take time. I have created this list to get you in the mindset and to prepare you for the process. The steps listed here won't take much money but are active steps toward becoming more prepared. Once you have these steps completed then you will be ready to start actually purchasing and storing your emergency supplies.
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