Emergency/Survival Kits

[bassturtle]

One of the things that I've been really lax about as the husband and father of the house is to have any kind of emergency supplies. A couple of years ago there was a nasty tornado that ripped through a town south of here and some people were trapped in their basements for a couple of days. Tornado season is still several months away, so I really want to use the time to get prepared.

Talk to me like I'm an idiot child and give me a blow by blow as to what I need to have for my wife, my 7 month old son, and myself.

[Mark Latimour]

A good first aid kit with some broad spectrum anti-biotics, anti-diareogha medicine, laxatives, antihistimines, painkillers, antinausea medication, decongestant, rehydration salts, cortizone cream, eye and ear drops, and a decent amount of clean and sterile dressings. I always carry that with me when I am travelling overseas as you never know what may arrise. I also have a leatherman tool, scissors and a mini-maglight. I also have iodine tablets for sterilising water if I have to drink from a dodgy area. If you have it in your house you should be able to deal with any minor emergencies that occur if you cannot access a doctor for a few days / week.

[Thor]

We have hurricane season up here, same deal.

Good call on the meds, scrips, band aids and bandages.

After Hurricane Bob, I got a 5000 watt Generator and
put it in the shed. And extension cords.

Coleman camp light, couple of tanks of gas for it. Also the silk mantles for it.
Few boxes of wooden kitchen matches
Gas grill or camp stove.
Mag Lites and a supply of D batteries.
4-6 gallon jugs of bottled water.
Ample supplies of canned or dried food on hand, soups, fruit,
tomatoes etc. Condensed Milk.

Couple of coolers to keep what's left in your fridge or freezer
cold. Keep a couple of those gel packs frozen in your freezer
if you can. Consume the perishable stuff first.

I have a Black and Decker 'Storm Station' that you plug in
from time to time to recharge, you can charge a phone off
of it a few times and it has a radio in it.

Beer. Lotsa Beer.

[Stanley Design]

Gameboy
Batteries
Beer
Condoms

that should do it.

[SuperDuck]

[Bryan316]

I TOTALLY WANT A ZOMBIE EMERGENCY KIT NOW

[bassturtle]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

A good first aid kit with some broad spectrum anti-biotics, anti-diareogha medicine, laxatives, antihistimines, painkillers, antinausea medication, decongestant, rehydration salts, cortizone cream, eye and ear drops, and a decent amount of clean and sterile dressings. I always carry that with me when I am travelling overseas as you never know what may arrise. I also have a leatherman tool, scissors and a mini-maglight. I also have iodine tablets for sterilising water if I have to drink from a dodgy area. If you have it in your house you should be able to deal with any minor emergencies that occur if you cannot access a doctor for a few days / week.

Cool. Thanks for listing everything seperate like that. My plan is to buy the stuff and make my own first aid kit. Most of the store bought kits just look cheese-ball to me.

[Steelix]

where are you bassturtle?
Moore OK (where |m from) gets hit almost every year.


Some things that proved usfull after my neighborhood got blown away:
Lanturns (and a few flash lights)
Radio (preferably a little battery operated TV)
Police scanner (to hear instant going-ons around the area)
Shovel
Saw
Crow Bar
Helmets
Walky talkies (they cut off the cell phone towers in disaster areas, keep from overflow of calls)
Camera (insurance photos, before you get the trees out of the street or make other alterations to the area)

[bassturtle]

Originally Posted by Steelix

where are you bassturtle?
Moore OK (where |m from) gets hit almost every year.

Omaha. We haven't had a tornado hit IN town for a long time.

[Diggler]

I just keep extra canned/dry goods around for food. It's what we eat anyways, and you're not talking about stuff that needs to keep for years. Buy extra and rotate your stock. Buy a couple of those 5 gallon water containers that go in the dispensers; milk jug containers deteriorate over time. If you have a couple hundred to spend, a generator can keep the heat going in your house or run a few appliances... just DON'T run it inside or in the garage!

Most importantly, the first rule about Survival Club is that we don't talk about Survival Club. You don't want to hear, "Oh, if something happens, I'm coming to YOUR house!"

[MJ5150]

I put it off forever also. I was at Costco one day last summer, and they had this tight survival kit that had two weeks of food and supplies for a family of four in a sweet barrel. It was $200, so we bought it.

I suggest you purchase some premade survival kits, and then add a few personal comfort items to it.

-Mike

[MakiSupaStar]

I've got a lifeguard first aid box in my garage. At least a week's supply of water. Batteries are crucial. I'm not stocked up enough on the batteries. Blankets, spare clothes. Food. Chef boyardee and stuff like that. Tuna. Flour. lighter. Matches. A tent that sleeps my family. air mattresses with a battery pump. It fits inside a trashcan on wheels.

[Ericman197]

Originally Posted by Diggler

Most importantly, the first rule about Survival Club is that we don't talk about Survival Club. You don't want to hear, "Oh, if something happens, I'm coming to YOUR house!"

Seriously, for this reason it's always good to have guns on hand. If something like a plague occurred and people had to be quarantined, you can bet that there would be rioting in the streets, people beating each over supplies, etc. That would be the emergency I would worry about: things like blizzards are temporary, but disease can linger for weeks.

Having extra necessary medications is a very good idea. If you need something to live, you should have at least a month supply of it (this could be a problem if it's a schedule II drug, talk to your doctor).

Food is not a major issue compared to water. If you wanted to save space/money, you could probably live off a bag sugar and a tub of lard in the short term... but you MUST have water. It wouldn't be a bad idea to go to Costco and buy cases of water, and cases of whatever cheap NON-diet soda is stock. I say non-diet because soda with sugar has a much longer shelf life, and in case the heat goes out it will not freeze. Plus the sugar has calories, which is a good thing if you're going to be without food for a few weeks.

I'm not an expert on cold weather, but I've heard that zero degree sleeping bags are good. Having a bunch of mylar blankets would be neat too, as well as a laser heater.

[Diggler]

You could live off of lard and sugar for a bit, but 'comfort' food is every bit as important as getting the calories you need to stay alive so that you can keep morale up. On that note, you should have some board games, books and stuff set aside to pass the time and to help entertain your kids.

I have read that the average city has only about three days worth of food available because of the way the just-in-time stocking occurs. Any disruption in that supply chain beyond three days WILL result in unprepared people doing desperate things to feed their family, including taking it from yours.

I have a sub-zero sleeping bag that I bought years and years ago; I went on a hunting trip in the mountains of Colorado, and although the temperature dropped to about 15 degrees, I was too hot in it. So yeah, they really work.

[bassturtle]

Originally Posted by Ericman197

Seriously, for this reason it's always good to have guns on hand. If something like a plague occurred and people had to be quarantined, you can bet that there would be rioting in the streets, people beating each over supplies, etc. That would be the emergency I would worry about: things like blizzards are temporary, but disease can linger for weeks.

I wasn't going to mention firearms in this thread, but that's the one portion of all this that I feel confident in. Bulk ammo and extra AR mags are what I'm going to be hording over the next couple months.

[spade2you]

Originally Posted by bassturtle

I wasn't going to mention firearms in this thread, but that's the one portion of all this that I feel confident in. Bulk ammo and extra AR mags are what I'm going to be hording over the next couple months.

I always keep about 4 AR clips ready, 2 M9 clips, and a shotgun w/10 rounds handy.

[Stanley Design]

Can't you buy a brick of 5000 rounds for like $9.99 at walmart in the states for a 9mm? Someone told me that once. If you can, You should have a couple million bullets sitting in your closet. Or at least I would.

[Diggler]

I wish it was that cheap. You're looking at $7/50 rounds now. I'm getting .223 remanufactured ammo overruns and seconds for about $200/1k, and standard .mil ammo will cost $350-$400/1k.

[bassturtle]

Yeah 9mm and .223 (5.56) is what I've been stocking up on. I have other firearms in different calibers, but I figure keeping weapons that shoot standard NATO rounds as my primary weapons is a good idea. Not to sound crude and not that I'm expecting it, but if the western society crumbled and we're picking up ammo off dead guys 9mm and .223 should be easier to come by.

[bassturtle]

Here's another question - you guys keep pre-cut fitted pieces of wood around that you've already sized up for covering windows in case of a storm or other disaster?