For those of you not familiar with the LDS faith, every 6 months we have a "General Conference" which is broadcast via satellite (from Salt Lake City) to members of the Church all over the world. It occurs during the first weekend in April, and the first weekend in October.
So, here at Safely Gathered In, we're going to start doing that as well. Every General Conference time, we'll remind you all to rotate your 72-hour kits and your car kits. Of course, if you just finished your 72-hour kit with us a few weeks ago you won't need to do it this time around, but if you've had your kits done for a few years, it's time to open them up and see what you find!
Things that should be rotated are: clothing (sizes), diapers (sizes), water, and food. The water and food doesn't need to go to waste - you can just put it in your pantry and eat through it in the next couple of weeks (provided it's still good). If you notice that some of your food still doesn't expire for another year or so, you don't need to replace it if you don't want to, since you'll be doing this again in 6 months.
During this rotation weekend, you should also check the status of your flashlights and batteries, and any other items you think may need updating or checking.
Of course, this doesn't have to be done this weekend, but you should do it in the next few weeks. Then, at the end of September, we'll be reminding you all to do it again. Remember, a 72-hour kit (or car kit) full of expired food and dead batteries probably won't do you much good, so it's important to update!
7 comments:
Great idea. The reminder will be helpful. We also have it as part of our family home evening. One FHE a month is a preparedness lesson. We rotate between updating our 3 month supply inventory, rotating our 72-hour and car kits, and practicing fire drill/safety. It seems to work nicely for us to have one week a month dedicated to making sure we are prepared.
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Bug out bag. Try to take foods that do not take water to prepare, I see so many bug out
bags with things like, instant oatmeal, hot chocolate & soups. The water should be for
drinking & take vitamins & protein bars. I also take a bottle of fiber, not only is
fiber needed but it also swells for a full feeling. I came across what is called
Lifecaps. They are a capsule that has everything needed to survive without food with
the exception of water. It is full of vitamins & minerals plus Iodine. Anyway, you take
three of them a day & drink water. I can actually take enough food in one backpack to
las 6 months because of these little Lifecaps, protein bars, fiber & water. I will run
out of water in a week so I do carry a small filter & a couple of those straw water
filters that filter the water as you suck.
You do not always have the ability or time to heat water to make soup or oatmeal. Anyway,
after I bought 25 bottles I found a coupon code & bought 75 bottles more. The coupon code
is... healthcap It will get you 33% off. There are also sites that have those filter straws
that are cheaper than any of the stores around here. (SLC) I think they are a really good
idea along with some purification pills. I cannot remember the sites off the top of my head
but you can Google for aquamira filter straw. Aquamira is the manufacture but do not buy
off there site because I have found them for almost 1/2 what they want on their own site
on other sites. Good luck, Gods speed & get serious about your bug out bag!
Thanks for great idea, I am soooooo impressed!
One thing that we do instead of just rotating the car kit and 72 hour kit, is we stage a fake emergency and use our kits as if we are in a real emergency. I remember last year, when we jumped in the car with our 72 hour kits and headed out into the hills, we were all excited and nervous. We camped out for the day and went through different emergency scenarios. We all learned a lot from it and the kids were really excited.
One thing I might suggest (I'm new to the site so I haven't read everything and if you have already said this--sorry!) but maybe a small empty gas can? for those times you may run out of gas...anywhere!
I carry 2 packages of Datrex bars instead of granola-type snacks; 1.5 liters of water plus a Lifestraw; a pack towel(Sham-Wow)a couple of emergency blankets (good for heat retention or reflecting sun if too hot)a small crank flashlight which has an am-fm radio & charges your cell; I bought a bigger 1st aid kit last month & am adding additional stuff now. All this from Emergency Essentials, once a month I add something else on my list from them so I can keep gaining ground without spending too much.
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