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Saturday, December 31, 2011

Year End Preparedness Activities

Original Article

Now that the old year is on the wane, it’s a good time to evaluate how we did in 2011 as we look forward to 2012.
  • Evaluate how much supplies you have stored up.  How much water and food have you managed to store so far?  For us, due to space issues, we have about a couple week’s worth of water, and about eight weeks worth of food, including the refrigerator and pantry.  I know we have a ways to go in terms of water, but that is now our starting point for the coming year.
  • How much equipment do you have?  We do have a couple of ways to purify water, with the Big Berkey filter for bugging in as well as the Lifesaver bottles in case we have to leave.  We also have plenty of batteries, matches, flashlights, camping stove and lanterns as well as solar chargers in case the power gets interrupted.
  • Consider the skills you’ve picked up.  At Apartment Prepper, so far we’ve learned how to make bread from scratch, brew coffee without electricity and make home made yogurt.  We learned how to cook freeze dried food.  We also featured basic recipes for plain white rice, and making a pot of beans.  The balcony garden did not do so well this year due to the drought, but we are ready to start is up again this coming year.
  • De-clutter and make more space for your supplies.  We are constantly trying to find space for survival supplies, so we have to keep re-evaluating our space.  The end of the year is a good time to clean up.  You will also want to check if any pests are around your storage areas.  We are pretty vigilant about keeping pests out but notice they try to come in from the outside.  In apartment buildings, whenever someone moves in or out we notice a few extra pests trying to come in.
  • Examine your canned food expiration dates-you don’t want this food storage disaster to happen to you!
  • Evaluate your home security.  Being in the big city, we are always conscious of security issues.  Make your doors and windows more secure and consider other alternatives for home security.
  • Evaluate items you carry daily and consider personal security items as well.
The above is not a complete list, but should hopefully get you thinking about your own preparedness and survival activities.  Don’t beat yourself up if you fall short of your own expectations; instead, give yourself a pat on the back on how much you have accomplished!  Likely, you are already ahead of 70% of the population.

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