An emergency can strike at any time. Because you never truly know what is waiting around the corner, you always want to be prepared to take care of your family in case something happens. That is why you should start building up your emergency supplies now. Here are some things you should always have on hand.
Medical Supplies
In an emergency, you could find that getting to the doctor is almost impossible. So, when you’re building up your emergency supplies, you don’t want to forget to include medical supplies. You can start with a basic first aid kit and then build it out from there.
Medical experts recommend that you keep the following items in your kit:
- Superglue
- Various types and sizes of bandages
- Eyeshield
- Sling
- Tourniquet
- Gauze
- Tape
When building your medical kit, you’ll also want to consider your family’s health concerns. If you have family members with medical conditions, you’ll want to keep extra bottles of their required medications on hand. Make sure you periodically rotate the medicine so you don’t let any of it go bad.
Water
Depending on where you live and what type of emergency you’re facing, you might not have safe drinking water available. You will only live for about three days without water, so you need to have it on hand. Emergency experts recommend that you store about 1 gallon of water per person per day.
Instead of filling your garage up with bottles of water, you should consider using water barrels. The average water barrel holds 55 gallons of water. If you have a large family, you’ll want to invest in multiple water barrels. Additionally, you’ll find that putting the barrels on small dollys helps you move them around easier. Make sure you get a dolly rated for your size of water barrel, and that has solid caster wheels that won’t buckle under the weight.
Food
You’ve likely seen expensive food kits specifically designed for emergency preparedness. While those do make stocking up food easy, that’s not the only way to do it. If you want to start small, buy a few extra non-perishable foods every time you go to the store, and if you find a good sale on something, stock up on it.
You want to ensure that you only purchase things your family enjoys eating when buying the extra foods to keep on hand. Additionally, experts recommend keeping some sweets on hand. The sugar in the sweets can act as fuel for the body, and the treat can go a long way in bolstering your family member’s moods in a hard time.
