Prepping Part 1: Emergency Overview

As some of you already know, my husband and I could be classified as "preppers".  No, we're not the rapture-dooms day followers that will be drinking suicidal kool-aid during a ceremony on a certain day, predetermined thousands of years ago by Mayan mathematicians and astrologers.  We prepare, or "prep", for those unknowns in life.  This could be anything from a flat tire to a worldwide flu pandemic.  All of us are preppers in our own way.  We all have it ingrained into our minds to have some sort of a skeleton plan in place for emergencies, and this can be as small as reading the fire exit plan in our hotel room after we get settled.

In an emergency situation, the only way to survive is to have a PRACTICED plan in place.  This is why life guards hold regular training sessions with personnel to ensure everyone understands their role in the united goal of saving a life or lives in an emergency situation.  This is also why your local fire department has regular meetings, safety checks, and simulations.  After all, in a true emergency, focus and keeping one's head about them can mean the difference between life or death.  These next few posts will revolve around this idea of prepping, and each part will delve deeper into the specifics of what emergencies you and your family might begin considering.

In this post, I am going to focus on the basic prepping that I believe every single person needs to be practicing routinely.  And, because of my location, I will be focusing on natural/man-made disasters particular to my area here in the midwest.  However, you can easily use my examples and information and apply them to your particular situation, simply tweak as needed. :-)

The Boy Scout motto is "be prepared".  However, within those two little words is a myriad of education, information, time, energy, some money, and organization.  BUT IT'S NOT DIFFICULT! It's actually quite exciting, and I am nerdy enough to think it's fun to even qualify prepping as a hobby.  Start by making a list of possible emergencies in your area.  My beginning list looks a little like this:
1) House fire
2) Tornado
3) Flood
4) Drought

These are the events most likely to happen in my region.  What are yours?  Now, considering this list, the first step towards preparedness is to start thinking of an emergency plan for each scenario, thinking of worst-case first.  Make sure to physically WRITE OUT your plan and COMMUNICATE it to your family.  Make sure everyone knows their specific role and PRACTICE the plan!  You will find that each of the above situations, and more later as we discuss them, will require a "To-Go bag" or a "Get Out of Dodge" (GOOD) pack.  This is simply a back pack for each family member that includes items that could help you live for a three day "unknown" period.  My next post will cover items you should consider putting in these packs, and, if my computer cooperates, there will be pictures. :-)