Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Are you prepared?


I have heard many times that we need to be prepared in case of emergency; having a well stocked first aid kit, water and non-perishable food items on hand to last a few days.

When I was a teenager, we experienced the Ice Storm ‘98, however living in the city, we weren’t REALLY all that affected by it. We lost power for a little while, and the roads were a mess but that was about it. I had friends that lived in the country, and they had to come in and stay with friends/family in the city because there was no estimate on how long they would be without power.

A few years later, there was the major power outage throughout the province of Ontario, Quebec and into the US as well…again, living in the city we weren’t TOO bad off – we had rolling black outs but our food and water supply was fine.

While I KNEW that we should have some sort of kit in place, it’s something I kept putting off.  A few weeks ago, there was a forest fire – not far from our house.  For anyone that lives in, or knows the Ottawa area, this is pretty much unheard of. A few houses were evacuated in the immediate area (not for long, and more because of the smoke than anything else) but it really got me thinking – how would we keep our boys fed, hydrated and safe if we were REALLY affected by an emergency or a natural disaster?.

We have no kit….we don’t have extra water, or canned food. If something was to happen and we had to leave immediately, we would have to leave with the clothes on our backs and that’s it. Having our boys to think about, this really upset me.  I started doing some online research and contacted the Red Cross to see what exactly is recommended to have in an emergency kit 

Over the next few weeks, I plan on making some small additions to my regular grocery list so that I can build up a great kit for us. It will be stored in the basement, and I will keep extra clothes with it as well. I urge you to do the same. You can purchase kits from the Red Cross , and add in the essentials for food and water, or you can head out to your local store and build your own.

Are you ready for an emergency? Have you ever been through a major power outage?

**This is NOT a sponsored post. These are my own thoughts and opinions, and I received no compensation**

7 comments:

  1. I think that is a great idea! And really, I should do one too. Funny thing is that I have one for the car, but not for the house?? I have no idea why I don't really have one for the house. You just never know and hearing about things on the news really makes you think! Thanks for reminding me :)

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  2. nope, I think it's because we live in an area that rarely sees natural disasters but that doesn't mean it can't happen. we really need to be more prepared for all kinds of things.

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  3. I've thought about putting together a kit as well. But never seem to make time for it. Thank you for the reminder.

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  4. I am not prepared... OH NO!!! This is weighing heavy on my mind lately!

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  5. What a great post. I do have a box in our cellar in the basement for power outages, tornadoes, etc. We've had a couple of scares to get me prepared, but thankfully I've never had to use anything in the box yet.

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  6. This is always a good idea! Keep a smaller one in your car as well along with the usual first aid emergency kit. If you get stuck somewhere out of town, it can be more than 24 hrs before you are located.

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  7. Ice Storm!! No power/heat. Getting an emergency kit together is on the list of things to do!

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