Being Prepared for Emergencies Part 2

Are you worried about being evacuated? Are you wondering if you have the right things in order if you had to leave your home or homestead on a moments notice?

I live in the province of British Columbia, which is currently in a provincial state of emergency due to wildfires.

I feel for and sympathize with the many many people, including some of my relatives, who are terrified for their lives and homes and homesteads.

One way that I have found to help myself be a little less worried is to be prepared for those times when mother nature is giving us a kick in the butt. I’m going to share with you a couple ways that our family has been getting organized and prepared for emergencies.

*This post contains affiliate links.

72 Hour Kits

First off, a huge huge part of being prepared is to put together a 72-Hour kit. You can find the Canada Get Prepared Guide here.

A quick list of a Basic Emergency kit contents is as follows:

• Water! – At least 2 litres of water per person, per day; include small bottles that can be carried easily in case of evacuation order.
• Food that won’t spoil, such as canned food, energy bars and dried foods (replace food and water once a year)
• Manual can opener
• Crank or battery powered flashlight (with extra batteries). Replace Batteries once per year.
• Crank or battery powered radio or a weatheradio
• First Aid Kit
• Extra keys to your car and house
• Some cash in smaller bills, such as $10 and coins for payphones
• a copy of your emergency plan and contact information.

Make sure you check out the Get Prepared Guide for their recommended additional items as well and for help in putting together your emergency kit. Also, check out Prepared B.C. for more info on pet preparedness, preparedness for seniors and people with disabilities, and even a list for zombie preparedness (which sounds ridiculous I know, but there is a bunch of good advice so give it a chance)

Get Organized

The list and guides above, will help with those very basic needs if you are in an emergency situation. But what if you have a bit more time to prepare? I have been slowly working my way through decluttering and organizing our house and homestead and something that has helped me immensely has been utilizing a few resources from the Conquer your Clutter super bundle. The planner section in particular, has been so helpful not only for day to day operations, but also in emergency situations as well.

My Favorite Planners from the bundle?

• The 2017 Homestead Management Printables (all information pertaining to your homestead kept all in one place! Seed sowing calendars, home dairy production records, livestock health records, incubation chart, laying hens egg tally, etc etc)
• 2017 All Inclusive Binder ( Planning, Family info, Always prepared, emergency info, budgeting, medical info, auto maintenance, babysitting info, holiday etc).

Something that I think is important to have organized and is important to pack if you have time, is pictures. You could get the 10 Steps to Organizing Photos and Memorabilia with your purchase of the bundle as well.

There are many different organizational products that come with the bundle and I encourage you to check it out yourself ( you can click HERE to do that) But the above resources are particularly important for having information all together in one spot. I have printed mine out and put together in a couple binders in easy to grab locations.

Research and Learn

Another resource I have found to be quite useful is Youtube videos. Many people share how they have packed their own 72 hour emergency kits and also “Bug out Bags”. There are some kits specific to adults, kids, teens, babies, all sorts of specific needs. There is a lot of helpful information out there if you do a little bit of research beforehand.

One website that has a ton of information about building your own 72 hour kit is A Bowl Full of Lemons. Toni has several posts that go in depth about the different components of a family 72 hour kit.

Related: How to be Prepared for Emergencies around the Homestead part 1

• Blizzard of 2017: In Pictures

In conclusion, I just want to say, whatever emergency you may find yourself dealing with, I hope you and your family stay safe.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on them, my blog may get compensated, but at no extra cost to you. I promise that we are only affiliated with programs and products which we have personally tried and tested and believe to be great.  Thanks for supporting our homestead dreams!