Is your home always prepared for the unexpected storm?

Do you always have on had items that you can use incase a storm comes through and wipes out power or water or worst case, both? Hurricane season has started, it is late but it has started with a big one. Hurricane Bill is building up strength and heading north. This made me think back to when we had hurricane force winds here in Louisville. Yes, almost in the middle of the USA and we had winds from a hurricane that hit Texas last year. Power was out for days in some areas of our city. The picture above is our guys playing in the wind. Do you notice in the background....it took our fence down.

I always keep items on hand that is easy to prepare and also items that will keep our family safe incase of a threat or storm. I wanted to share a few thoughts with you and also some suggestions.

1. Bottled water. This seams simple and really trivial but we have to have water. I keep at all times 8 gallons of water in my home stored. That is 2 gallons of water person that lives in my home. This isn't enough for a long period of time but at least it is some. I rotate the water out so basically new water every 3-6 months. I will just buy a gallon every couple of months and use the oldest gallon.


2. Plastic Sheeting. The government advised this back when we had the 9-11 attacks. They advised the public to have it to cover the window and doors incase of chemical attacks. I still believe this is a threat but also, plastic sheeting is needed incase of roof leaks, a window being shattered by tree falling, or you needing to block off a room to keep heat in one area. A roll of plastic sheeting is not hard to store and inexpensive to purchase.


3. Rice Cakes & Chex Mix. Ok, I might have lost you on this one, but they have a long shelf life, they taste good if you buy the flavored ones and they are not bad for you. I keep a couple of bags of each and rotate them out with new from time to time. I just make sure when I am rotating them out that I do it in a timely manor to where we can still enjoy eating the ones that I am replacing.


4. Flashlight, batteries, matches, candles. Do I need to say more? These are things that you should have on hand. But they should be in one place and easily to find.


5. Grills. I keep a table top charcoal grill on hand in my supply but we also have the gas grill. You need to have a way to cook if power is out. The charcoal grills are really cheap at the end of summer so it would not be a bad idea to get one to have just in case that gas grill runs out of gas.. They are easy to store. Walgreens has them for 50%off right now.


6. Medicines. You need to keep your medicines all in one place in your home. That way if you need to get them quickly or you need to send someone to your home to get them, the medicine will be easy to find. Pain medicine, stomach medicine etc, I keep a small medicine box in my emergency kit along with bandades, hot compact and cold press.


7. Food & Milk, look at the food that you have, make sure you keep food in your home that has a long shelf life and easy to fix. Ravioli, spam, canned tuna or chicken, etc. Use it but keep it always available. Keep a box of powered milk on hand at all times. The powered milk has a long shelf life and easy to mix.


8. Tools. Keep a hammer & screwdriver available in your emergency kit. You can buy these at the Only 1$ store.

Here is a suggestion on how to keep all your emergency supplies together. Buy a large trash container with a snap on lid. Put the grill, water, blanket, plastic sheeting and tools in bottom then put your food (if you would like) and medicines (not your prescription meds) in the top in ziplock bags. Label the trashcan and put in the corner of your garage or storage building. If an emergency comes, you have it all available for you.

All this information is information that you already know but it is always good to have a reminder.

Have a safe hurricane season!