Monday, June 4, 2018

THE REASONS TO BE PREPARED

So....hurricane season in officially here. Last year, after a quiet (for us) Summer, we suddenly had hurricane Harvey bearing down on our area.  While it wasn't going to be a direct hit, there was the potential for heavy flooding for days.  They kept telling people it was best to be prepared.  As it turned out, it became one of the worst disasters ever to hit our city.   

About three days prior to Harvey hitting, I went to a large grocery store near the office at lunch just to check things out.  We already had plenty of supplies at the apartment so I thought it would be interesting to see how things were at the store since we had been hearing horror stories. 

This is a large, major grocery store near my office, Kroger for those familiar with the chain. Shelves are always stocked to the max.  Just a regular large grocery store in any city.  

This is why you should ALWAYS be prepared:


No water.
They even put up a sign so people would stop asking.  


This is the other water aisle in the store.
Cases, gallon bottles, small sizes, large sizes, all gone.  The two 24 packs in this picture were snatched up about 5 seconds after I took this picture.  


No bread at all.  No sandwich bread, no tortillas, no hamburger buns, no bagels, no muffins, nothing...


Chips, a few left but mostly gone...


Of course, what goes great with bread when you have no electricity?  

Peanut butter and jelly of course!
Gone.  All of it.


Juice boxes and flavored waters, much of it gone...


Soup, goes without saying, ALL of it was gone...


Canned meat, obviously that would fly off the shelves.  Tuna, chicken, canned beef, Vienna sausages, deviled ham, even the Spam (not hating on Spam, we love it), it was all gone...


Chili, just like the soup, also virtually cleaned out...


Of course it would make sense that canned beans and almost all other vegetables would be gone...


It wasn't limited to savory items either.  The breakfast cereal aisle (cereal, oatmeal, etc) was almost completely cleared out too...


And of course all the power bars, breakfast bars, energy bars, etc were picked over...

Seeing this in a store I go to regularly for routine groceries in aisles usually stocked front to back and top to bottom, reminded me of the post-apocalyptic movies and TV shows we've seen.  Walking Dead anyone?  Ha.  People go to the stores too late, only to find them empty of items and they end up running around like crazy to get whatever few items are left to be found and fighting over essentials.  

It was kind of shocking to see it happening in real life.  It reminds us the importance of being prepared.  What if it was something other than a storm?  If something happened that caused stores to not receive shipments of food and water?  What if you got to the store to get something you needed and found it like the pictures above?


We were prepared, thankfully. One thing we've done since Hurricane Ike several years ago was be prepared during Hurricane season. We keep a couple of cases of water in an extra closet in the guest room and we also have some backup soups and canned meat and vegetables in there as well.  Year round we always seem to have copious amounts of beans and rice in the pantry and we always have large amounts of flours, sugars and the like.  2nd Man can always make bread ahead of the storm or can make it after, if we have power of course.  


The government website READY.GOV reminds us that everyone should be able to survive on their own for a few days until emergency workers arrive as water/electricity could be off for weeks. 

In a really worst case scenario in Houston, we can use the farm as our safe place to go.

Any good suggestions?


20 comments:

  1. Thank you for this VERY timely reminder to always be prepared. All areas of the country have their own potential disasters that people need to be prepared for. And even if one’s immediate area is not affected, having a stock pile is still necessary because people from the affected area will go outside into the non-affected areas to try to get supplies. This happened here after Ike 10 years ago. At that time, our HEB grocery store was supplied from San Antonio, so we were being re-stocked from outside the affected zone. So Houston people were coming into our area, two counties away, for groceries and gas, so we also had shortages here. Now we are supplied from Houston, so even though it did not flood in my town, we could not get our grocery store re-supplied. The entire coast was affected from Hurricane Harvey last year - if I had not had my stock pile of supplies, I would have had to drive several hours inland to San Antonio for supplies.

    At your Farm, you have plenty of firewood to heat/cook your food. Since I live in town, I have a barbecue grill and charcoal plus some cast iron pots in case the power is out for an extended time. And a manual can opener.

    Great reminder post!

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    1. Thank you! You know it's funny, I found the pictures and realized I had never used them because the disaster became so overwhelming and I didn't even think about it after the fact it was too late. So we figured with the season starting, it's a good idea to remind everyone. It really was a surreal time looking back on it wasn't it? I never even thought about the surrounding towns that were having people coming in to pick it over too. Wow.

      Be prepared!!!

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  2. Don't forget food and water for your pets too!

    Also, we are not preppers by any means, but for our emergency kit, we invested in dried foods which have expiration dates of over 7+ years. We tried several of the products, and they were actually pretty good. They're not like home cooked meals, but for sustenance purposes, they will do the job.

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    1. Yes, definitely. Great reminder. We're not preppers per se either, though we are aware how our second property and it being rural, allows us the oppturunity to be prepared a little more. Funny you mentioned the dried foods, we just ordered a "sample" pack from a company and it has several meals we are anxious to try them just to see what it's like.

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  3. wow..i would freak out if i walked into my grocery store and it looked like that!

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    1. It was definitely unnerving. And a star reminder how crazy times can get.

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  4. The cans of dehydrated foods, milk etc. last 25 years and come in gallon sized cans. They take up less room than the ready to eat stuff. Just good to have some. You never know.

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    1. Yep, we hear ya. As I mentioned above, we bought a sample pack of a few meals just to see how they are. We'll have a review of sorts up one of these days soon. They are something we could keep at the farm if we needed it.

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  5. That's like a dystopian movie or something...scary stuff, but well done for being prepared. We have a TON of water stored in the basement. Every time we finish a soda or mineral water bottle, we fill it up with boiled tap water. I think we have nearly 100 bottles down there so far. We have lots of canned goods to for emergencies. Having the garden is a good idea too, but the winters here are harder to prepare for. A generator is next on the list.

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    1. What a great idea to fill a bottle with boiled tap water. I guess the should last for awhile huh? We have the well at the farm so I guess we'd always have water of sorts, the well even has a hand pump in case of no power. But still it would be nice to have them in bottles ready to go. Will have to try that out. And yep, we'll always have seeds on hand just in case it's really touch. A generator is on our wish list too. It just always seems one of those things that's money better spent elsewhere because there is not an immediate payback but if you ever need it, then yes it would be the best purchase ever ha.

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    1. Ooh, sounds good. I just looked it up. A few years ago I read a book called "One Second After". It was pretty alarming as well.

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  7. I have lots of food of all sorts, including beans, pasta, and rice. I have canned food and food I dehydrated. I saw our grocery store in the same shape. Once was in 1993 during the blizzard and then in 2011 after a tornado left us without electricity for 5 days, some had no electricity for 11 days. At your farm, 2nd man can make bread in cast iron. It might not be what he makes now, but it will be bread. It would be interesting what he can make now over a fire or outdoor on a grill. There are books saying how to do this, but I think he can figure it out. The one thing I want in #10 cans are dehydrated eggs--Ova Eggs.

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    1. Oh yeah, we always have pasta too. Once you see a store in person like that it does have an impact. Yep, 2nd man is actually pretty good on the grill though that might be a bit more my domain too, ha. Bread would be a good thing to try on the grill. Thanks for the idea. Ova Eggs? We'll have to look that up.

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  8. Good post on the empty shelves. I hope people will learn from them. Like you my home is all electric so for 2nd mans cooking and baking I recommend you buy him a Coleman Propane Camping Stove with a Coleman Camp Stove Oven so he doesn’t have a critical cooking and baking withdrawal, Ha.

    Here’s the link to my stove including how long the propane will last. The dinner rolls shown were the first attempt but after some adjustments the outcome is great, like baking in a real oven.
    http://livingprepared.blogspot.com/search/label/Camp%20Stove%20-%20New%20Propane%20Coleman

    First attempt at baking two loaves of bread at the same time. Two loaf pan block the hot air from circulating properly, when baking just one loaf the results were perfect.
    http://livingprepared.blogspot.com/search/label/Camp%20Stove%20Oven%20and%20Baking%20Bread

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    1. Thanks!! Yep you just see it one time and it's enough to make you realize and not take anything for granted. Thanks for the link and the review. What a great hands on review. Will definitely look into that and the oven. You are awesome. Thank you again!

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  9. I am not promoting any single brand over another but these butane stovetops can make the difference in cooking and not cooking during a severe power outage. They are compact, easy to use and a very inexpensive solution if you have an electric stove and no electricity. I have one here and at the lake for emergency needs.https://www.webstaurantstore.com/search/butane-burner.html.
    I am also investigating getting a Berky water filter, but I need to do more research on it before I pull the trigger..

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    1. Hey it's ok about any brand. We'll all learn and figure out what works best for each. Sounds like you all have set up the lake to also sort of be a place of refuge in an emergency (and/or just an emergency there AT the lake).

      I've heard great things about Berky filters. Let us know if you do pull the trigger.

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  10. I got used to empty grocery stores long ago when we lived in Maryland. Every time it snowed, or the forecast said it might snow, the grocery stores were filled. For the last hurricane, we didn't buy water. Instead I filled every pitcher and bowl in the kitchen. We were fine.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. See we never have to worry about snows and blizzards but I'm sure that brings out the shopping and empty shelves. Filling pitchers and bowls and glasses is a good quick idea. Thanks for that!

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