72 Hour Kits

We have been really working on our food storage/emergency preparedness. I came across this quote:

"For years we have been counseled to have on hand a year's supply of food. Yet there are some today who will not start storing until the Church comes out with a detailed monthly home storage program. Now, suppose that never happens. We still cannot say we have not been warned. Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church-and the need for that cleansing seems to be increasing - a famine in this land of one year's duration could wipe out a large percentage of slothful members, including some ward and stake officers. Yet we cannot say we have not been warned. You do not need to go into debt to obtain a year's supply. Plan to build up your food supply just as you would a savings account. Save a little for storage each paycheck...We urge you to do this prayerfully and do it now. I speak with a feeling of great urgency...The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah."
- Ezra Taft Benson
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pp. 263-266

I have been following this AWESOME site to help get my food storage stuff together.



Here's a link:
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/

We've worked on our 72-hour kits. I read lots of information from that site, and I was going to follow what they had done, but then I found that it didn't work as well for our family. For example, they suggest that you store your 72-hour kits in a rinsed out milk jug (that was an idea that they had heard from church). After trying it, I found that it didn't work so well for us.


They were hard to store (because of their shape) in the place that I wanted to keep them. So I changed things up a bit and customized the 72 hour kits to fit our family. Most of the food contents suggested on their site need to be cooked - I wondered what you would do if circumstances didn't allow you the time or opportunity to cook. Even though you had a 72-hour kit, you'd still be hungry. So I used mostly things that wouldn't need to be cooked (but I did add some extras that could be cooked if circumstances permitted it.) I stocked up more food in our 72-hour kits than someone else might, because my kids and I get GROUCHY if we are hungry!



I also bought some things and had my kids try them before I stocked everything up with stuff they wouldn't eat. (My kids had never had Vienna sausages before?!?) Because of the things I chose to put in our 72-hour kits, I will need to rotate them more often. But that won't be a problem, because it is stuff that my kids will eat. I have a handy list :) that reminds me when something is going to expire so that it can get used up before it does.

So this is what we ended up with:

72 Hour Kit Contents List

Day 1 Breakfast
Cereal Bar
Tang
Lunch
Jerky
Trail Mix
Fruit Cup
Dinner
Vienna Sausages
Fruit Roll-up
Snack
Golden Graham Bar
3 pieces gum
3 pieces candy

Day 2 Breakfast
Cereal Bar
Tang
Lunch
Jerky
Trail Mix
Fruit Cup
Dinner
Stew/Pasta
Fruit Roll-up
Snack
Golden Graham Bar
Gardetto's
3 pieces gum
3 pieces candy

Day 3 Breakfast
Cereal Bar
Tang
Lunch
Jerky
Trail Mix
Fruit Cup
Dinner
Tuna Kit
Fruit Roll-up
Snack
Golden Graham Bar
4 pieces gum
3 pieces candy

Additional - Warm Items (if circumstances permit)
Oatmeal
Oatmeal
Lipton Noodle Soup
Lipton Noodle Soup
Beanee Weenee (can use cold)
Cocoa Mix (can use cold)
Cocoa Mix (can use cold)


Tips:
I purchased the Vienna Sausages from Stater Brothers. They came in a 9 oz size there and the empty container could be re-used as a pan to heat water, stew or pasta.

I purchased a wing-tip stove (from Shelf Reliance) for each person. The wing-tip stoves are inexpensive, easy to carry and would allow us to have something warm if circumstances permitted.

Here is a link:
http://www.shelfreliance.com/product/view/p209



I purchased the Tuna Lunch Kit from Costco. Sam's Club had a Tuna Salad Lunch Kit, but my kids didn't like that one. The tuna kit had a high calorie value.

Plastic spoons and matches were included in the kit.

I measured the tang and cocoa mixes in little snack-size bags to fill one water bottle. The site had it so that two servings were in one little snack-size bag. I found that it was hard to get the powder into the water and keep track of how much half was.



I used Nestle cocoa mix. It would mix cold (if you shook the water bottle enough) and tasted ok with water (rather than milk), we determined it COULD be drank cold if you had to and it would be fantastic warm. We tried Nesquick and it didn't taste very good with water (it mixed better though).

Also, not shown here - its recommended that you have 1 gallon of water per person per day. I put two 16.9 fl oz water bottles in each person's kit. Plus, I have the water that comes in the boxes, 2-2.5 gallons (5 gallons total per box) and we have enough boxes to meet our water quota.

All of the containers have the snap-top lid so that a can opener is not required.

I individualized Norm's kit so that he has different things than the kids do. He wasn't too excited about a fruit cup, but he liked the idea of V-8 Juice.

I made two kits for Norm, one that can be kept with the family's kits and the other one that is kept in his truck.

We stored each person's kit inside of a 2 gallon ziplock storage bag. That way they can stack easier and that allows them to fit in the area I have determined I want them.



Now on to another project!!