Emergency Preparedness Instructor

There is no way to be one-hundred percent prepared for every possible scenario. Trying to think of, and ready your family for, everything will drive you mad. That does not mean that you shouldn’t do everything in your power.

I live in a comfortable home in a lovely neighborhood. I do not live here alone. My sister’s family, which consists of seven children and a spouse, live with me. When preparing my disaster supplies, I have to consider their family as well as my own. I do my best to make sure that I have six months of dry food at any given time. We also have approximately fifty, five-gallon storage containers of water. When you store water like this, you have to put bleach or chlorine in it to keep bacteria from growing. This summer we will be working on putting in an eight thousand gallon water tank. I have several plastic containers filled with necessities such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, diapers, feminine hygiene products, pain relievers, first aid kits, etc. It is also a good idea to keep some treats in your storage. I know that this may seem trivial, considering that you are preparing for a life-altering event, but consider that everything that your family knows will be ripped away and they may need the comfort. I like to keep some canned frosting around. I know it’s not great for you, but it will last forever. Anyone that has children will know how much easier this will make a life for everyone.

One area in which I am seriously lacking is having portable supplies. I am sad to say that we are in no way prepared to leave our home. This is an area in which I have trouble, because of a large number of people in my house. In September of last year, we were forced out of our home by a wildfire. While this may not be a natural disaster, it was a wakeup call. We had our savings safely in the bank, all our videos and pictures in the back seat of the minivan, and wonderful family to take us in. Lying in my nieces’ bed, my children sleeping on the floor, and wearing borrowed pj’s I couldn’t help but think that we were not prepared for a situation that displaced us on an enormous scale.

I stock up on food snacks that were invented by the U.S. military services, and for a couple of reasons. Military snacks are designed to do two things. The first is to provide nutrition and energy. The second is to last a long time, sometimes under harsh conditions, troops, sailors, and pilots might face. Food snacks invented by the U.S. military tend to have shelf lives measured in years, not months.

I buy them from three usual sources. The first is expos, shows, and conventions that come through town and focus on military items or wilderness survival. The second is a local Army/Navy surplus store that I love. The third is a few online sites that usually have good stockpiles of MREs and snacks from the military branches.

I find these snacks highly useful in quite a few circumstances. I keep a drawer full of them at work for when I might have a late night. No one ever eats them behind my back because they don’t know what they are. I keep a box of them in my car trunk if I’m ever stranded. I also use them when hiking and camping.

Currently there are people all over the world who are in search of Meals-Ready-to-Eat or MREs, such as one from XMRE. Given the fact that those meals cannot be found in regular grocery stores, it isn’t as easy to purchase those kits as most other types of meal options. Before you go out in search of MREs, be sure to be well informed first by making good use of the information we will providing to you here.

Be sure to read the fine print at all times on any meal you are thinking about purchasing. You need to ensure that it is real, military-grade MRE. Some companies are producing unofficial MREs these days. Usually they will state that they aren’t authentic in their descriptions. That is why you need to read the fine print and review all information that is available before making any purchases.

Be sure to make price comparisons and shop around to make certain you get the best deal. Purchasing MREs in bulk is usually the best way of getting a reduced price. However, if you purchase from the wrong vendor you could end up wasting money even when you buy in bulk. Before you decide which place is offering the best price, be sure to check around at 3 or 4 different stores first.

Don’t ever buy MREs online if product images are not provided by the seller. Unfortunately there are dishonest individuals who will claim they are offering what you are searching for, and then ship out something that is entirely different at a cheap price. Although there might be a chance of an individual posting one image and then switching to a different product, it is less of a chance. It is always a good idea to see the produce before buying it.

Whether you are wanting to purchase MREs to stockpile in the event of a disaster, or are curious to see how they taste, it is critical to have the right information. It will help to ensure that make good use of your money, and end up with a high quality MRE at a fair price.