May 2008

Hi Preparedness Group,

We had 2 great classes yesterday on water and food to include in our 72 hour kits, including information on how to purify water. We also tasted a Beef Stew MRE (which we found to be pretty good), some different flavors of Ensure, and some Homemade Emergency Bars (recipe on the handout). Also, thank you, April for letting us see your completed and labeled 72-hour kit meals in ziplock bags! That was very helpful. (April will be sharing with us some sample menu plans, soon.) Thank you, too, to Janna who showed us some pictures in the evening class of how she has organized her completed kits and water on shelves in her under the stairs storage room. Wonderful!

For those who weren't able to make it to the classes, I have attached the handouts. Here are some stores in the Wichita area that group members said are good to find camping equipment in: Sportsman's Warehouse, Gander Mountain, The Yard, Harbor Freight, Target (collapsible cups, small & other camping equipment), Walmart (Gatorade packets, water purification tablets, 5-gallon water containers and other camping equipment), & Sam's Club (Sterno cans).

Our Goals for this month:

1. Continue working on your 2-week water supply in your home storage.
2. Fill containers for your smaller (portable) supply of water to go with each 72-hour kit -- such as 1 & 2 liter bottles attached with carrying straps, water retort pouches, etc. (This counts as part of your 2 week supply of water)
3. Plan your Menus for your 72 hour kits (e.g. oatmeal pkts, MRE's, canned food, snack bars, etc.) -- make out a permanent shopping list for items that will need to be rotated every 6 mo - 1 year.
4. Buy the food for your 72 hour kits. Label the food items with the date you bought it and expiration date. Place meals in Ziplock Bags in your 72 hour kits.

Thank you!
Debbie
P.S. Our Class next month will cover First Aid Kits and Prescription Medicines.