” Preparedness for contingencies goes a long way to turning chaos into mere inconveniences. Finding one’s self unprepared when life throws you a curveball sucks. Hopefully, like many TTAG readers, you maintain some level of readiness for emergencies. If so, congrats. The question quickly becomes how much is enough though when it comes to ammo, food and water?
First off, rugged independence made America great. More importantly, by maintaining your own preparedness, you become part of the recovery after an emergency, instead of part of the problem. The more Americans prepare for emergencies and disasters, the faster the recovery will take place.
Food and water
Why is water storage important? Simply put, dehydration makes a horrific way to die. At the Beslan School Massacre, the Muslim terrorists withheld water from the hostages – children and adults alike. By the second day in the summer heat, people eagerly drank urine from shoes. By the end of the second day, the first few began to die from dehydration.
Nobody wants that for their family.
Medical issues and death from lack of food do not happen as quickly as dehydration, but nevertheless, energy levels drop without food. Believe it or not, even with a caloric intake of 1100-1600 per day, most people will die in a matter of months. Don’t believe it? Just look at those in concentration camps during World War II.
Those with existing health issues may see those problems made worse from not eating. And while Americans on average have plenty of extra weight with which to exist during lean times, medical professionals seldom recommend the starvation diet.
So, how much food and water should you put away for an emergency?
Two weeks’ worth makes a great start for your personal preparedness. If you have nothing currently, seven days’ worth is a 1000% improvement over your current state of readiness.
You’ve probably heard some say to have a year’s food at home. It’s up to you, but know that today, not even most Mormons have a year’s larder in their homes.
Looking around, it’s easy to see why. In today’s America, a disruption of the food supply lasting more than a few days is virtually non-existent unless you live in sparsely populated, remote regions.
When it comes to clean water, municipal supplies come filtered and treated to our taps. Cities have backup systems in case of malfunctions or power outages. For them, failures come few and far between – and even then typically only require a short boil order of a day or two.
For the average American, a two-week supply of emergency supplies will get them through 99.999+% of anything life will throw at them.
Alternatively, with no supplies, there’s always government assistance. Just like at the Superdome in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, right? Failing to prepare translates to preparing to fail. Those skinny-jeans wearing Obama pajama boys can wear their Che t-shirts and preach social justice at the Superdome next time.
But that’s not enough!
Do you have special needs or want to secure additional peace of mind? Fine. Bump your supplies up to four weeks – or a year. Or ten. It’s your money, time and storage space. I’ve been there. Before Y2K, I had a year’s supply and a whole lot more. I earned my doctorate in preparedness the hard way. Afterwards – and to this day – I felt like a fool.
Today, I’m perfectly comfortable with four weeks’ worth of food, water and toilet paper / baby wipes. Are you foolishly planning to come to my house in an emergency because you think I’m stocked? Hah! Bring a tent and some food. You can camp in the nearby park. There’s a porta-potty out there.
What about feeding family or neighbors? If you plan to start feeding others, you’ll never be able to store enough.
Why not more? Residential security.
If riots or civilian breakdown occur following a calamity, how long will your residence remain safe and secure? In most cases, in the near-term, it should remain relatively safe for a few days to a couple of weeks, minimum. You know your neighborhood and what’s beyond it. Gun owners will keep an eye out for their own homes and those of their neighbors in the days following any emergency. Opportunistic looters will avoid gun-toting residents for good reason.
What happens though a couple of weeks after your neighbors run out of food? And their children begin begging mom and dad for something to eat? At this point, things will grow increasingly dicey for you, no matter your level of preparedness.”
By jboch
GunsSaveLife.com
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