Did Covid-19 catch you off gaurd? Were you unprepared? Here are 7 ways to prepare for the next pandemic, crash, or disaster.
Many Americans were caught off guard by the shut-downs, shortages, and closures that followed the advent of the novel corona-virus, Covid-19. Those who weren't prepared found themselves staring at empty shelves that mere days ago were fully stocked with canned goods, cleaning supplies, baby supplies, water, and yes, even toilet paper. Everyone across the nation found themselves driving through eerily empty streets, getting take out or delivery, complete with alcohol, from their usual favorite sit-down establishments. Most Americans are following the recommendations of President Trump and the CDC, quarantining themselves to their homes and limiting social interactions to groups of less than ten. We are trying to keep six feet between us and we are washing our hands frequently, using hand sanitizer in between washings, when we can find it. Businesses are closed. Parks and beaches are closed. Schools are closed. The economy has screeched to a halt, impacting every American....
Obviously, if you didn't have supplies stored up months ago, preparing you and your family for a month or more of relative isolation, you were too late. This pandemic is here and now you have to adapt to your situation but that is a subject for another article. These 7 essential tips will help you be prepared, stocked, and ready the next time society comes to a halt due to a disaster of any kind, be it a pandemic, a market crash, or an act of nature. These tips are not all easy or fast but, if given the right amount of effort and care over the course of the next year (and subsequent years), you and your family will not be caught flat footed during the next societal upheaval.
#1 Learn to Grow Plants, Then a Garden, Then Your Food
Start by growing a plant or two in your home. Try herbs or another edible plant. After you get used to tending and cooking with a year-round herb garden, try a few plants in a small garden. Learn about your local soil, you can take a sample into your local garden center. Grow vegetables you and your family like to eat. Figure out what grows well and what doesn't. Consider your climate, altitude, and growing season. Try tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers, potatoes, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, greens, lettuce. Experiment with perennials like strawberries, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, fruit trees, and herbs like oregano. Once you find the fruits and vegetables that you enjoy cooking and eating, can grow in large amounts, and can easily preserve, expand your garden to provide enough of those foods to supply your family's annual use. Each year rotate and adjust according to your family's specific needs, that way you have nutritious, delicious, and home grown food year-round.#2 Learn to Can, Then Can, Then Can Your Garden Produce
Buy a book on canning, watch a few videos, and look online for tutorials. Every fruit and vegetable cans differently. Altitude, time, and temperature are extremely important and differ from food to food. After you have some knowledge, try it. Buy a box of fresh fruit and can it. Find vegetable on sale, buy a bunch, and can them. Once you get the hang of it, can the produce from your garden each summer and fall. Use those canned goods throughout the year and make notes about what you wish you had canned more of and what you canned in excess. Adjust your garden and your canning each season to optimize for your family's dietary needs.#3 Establish an Emergency Pantry
As you learn to can your garden produce, start stocking an emergency pantry. Establish a place in your house to store a supply of nonperishable food items, paper goods, and other emergency supplies. Start with a few necessities: a large package of toilet paper, dry pastas and sauces, canned goods, trash bags, bottled water, dry spies and herbs, etc. Once you have a small supply, each time you go to the supermarket buy a few extra items and add them to your emergency pantry until you are fully stocked. Build up your supplies until you have at least 6 months of food, water, and necessities. At this point, be sure to maintain or add to your supply constantly, using goods as they approach their expiration dates and replacing them accordingly.#4 Continuously Collect Emergency Medical Supplies and Medications
In your Emergency Pantry, designate an area for medical supplies. If you have a prescription medication with a relatively long shelf life, have a 6 month back up supply on hand at all times. Explain to your doctor your reasons for wanting a back-up supply in case of an emergency. In addition, keep a growing supply of Aspirin, Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Robitussin, Benadryl, Tums, Pepto-Bismol, and any other commonly used over-the-counter medications, including treatments for menstrual cramps. Keep on hand ace bandages, splints, gauze, band-aids, and butterfly strips. Keep a supply of nitrile gloves, surgical masks, cold/hot packs, Triple Antibiotic ointment, hydro-cortisone cream, Vaseline, 90% rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and various lotions. Once you have a stockpile of the essentials, consider getting a basic field surgical kit, a tourniquet, tubing, and other less common medications. Be sure to rotate your medications according to expiration dates.#5 Maximize Your Home's Self-Sufficiency
Dig a well or put in rain barrels. Mount solar panels or erect a wind turbine. Dig a pond for fish and water storage. Install a wood burning stove. Wire in a generator. Live on a river bank? Put in a water wheel turbine. Install an emergency propane tank. Raise livestock, try a few chickens first. Get more freezer and refrigerator space. Be ready to supply the things you need from home.#6 Maximize Your Home and Family's Security
When times get tough people get desperate. Your family needs to be trained, your home needs to be secure, and you need to be aware. Dogs are a great first defense for your home. Even family dogs who wouldn't hurt a fly will bark when an intruder comes onto your property, buying you time to prepare yourself. More dogs equal more alarms. Cameras with motion detection are cheap and easy to install. Today's technology allows these new systems to alert your smart phone when motion is detected, as well as recording to the cloud, real time viewing, and two way audio. Sturdy windows and doors, especially on the ground floor of your home are essential. Deadbolts and multiple locks can be great deterrents, as well as fences, gates, no trespassing signs, and neighborhood watch signs. Finally, and most importantly, you and your family should responsibly own and train with firearms that are appropriate for their size and skill level. They should be comfortable and proficient to the point that they could defend their family in a life or death situation. Firearm safety is of the utmost importance.#7 Build Relationships with Your Family, Friends, and Neighbors
The most important thing you can do to prepare for any unrest in society is to nurture the relationships with the people around you. In highly stressful and uncertain times you want to be able to trust and rely on the people around you. Get to know your neighbors, exchange knowledge, trade resources, build trust, be honest and genuine. Tend to your family relationships, they are your support in trying times. Be open and honest with your kids, your parents, your siblings. Don't lie, don't hide things. Communicate. Follow the golden rule, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Understand the needs of your immediate family, understand what they need from you. Empathize and act with kindness. Show patience when it is hardest and compassion when it is least deserved. When things get bad, be the rock that your family needs. If you live your life this way every day, your neighbors will know they can come and knock on your door in time of need, instead of panicking, or worse.These seven preparations are intended to help your family during a shelter-in-place type emergency situation. Always have an escape plan, a "go bag" or "bug-out bag," and a safe and secure meeting place in case of family separation. If you spend the next year committed to the seven guidelines above, you will be prepared the next time a national or global disaster causes societal unrest, forcing you and your family to stay home for weeks, or even months. Being properly prepared, you can move through uncertain times with confidence and relative comfort. You may even find yourself using your newly acquired knowledge and skills to help someone staring at an empty shelf.
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