Getting Prepared Month 8: Adding Supplies, Tasks, and an Emergency Preparedness Kit for Your VehicleGaye Levy, Contributor Now surely that is not someplace that any of us wants to be, and for that reason alone we find justification to prepare. Prepare for what? Who knows. It might be a major disaster, it might be a personal health or financial crisis, it might be a terrorist attack or it might be the collapse of civilized society as we know it. Whatever the reason, the need to prepare is ingrained in us from the time we reach young adulthood. After all, the very first insurance policy we purchased was our way of saying I am going to be prepared. These days, we cannot count on traditional insurance to keep us safe, to keep us fed, and to keep us sheltered from the storms that are brewing in our world. Instead, it is my belief that we must self-insure by storing away supplies and learning skills that will get us by when going is not so good. Last September, I laid out a calendar of prepping, 12 Months of Prepping, One Month at a Time. Each month since then, I have outlined a reasonable number of tass to accomplish during the monthly period, and today is no exception. In Getting Prepared Month #8 we continue to fine tune by adding a few more items to our food storage and by putting together a simple, transportable kit that we can keep in our cars. MONTH 8 SUPPLIES GEAR: Did you know that crackers were a staple of fallout shelter rations during the Cold War era? The Shelter Management Textbook published by the Office of Civil Defense included the following table: This table is from the OCD publication SM-16.1 Shelter Management Textbook Date July 1967. Table VIII. 1. Crackers or biscuits/from 5 gal can 6 2. Crackers or biscuits/from 2.5 gal can 4 3. Wafers/from 5 gal can 1.5 4. Crackers or biscuits/from 5 gal can 4 5. Crackers or biscuits/from 2.5 gal can 3 6. Wafers/from 5 gal can 1 These days it is difficult to wrap our mind around sustaining oneself on crackers alone, especially since there are so many other readily available, storable foods, and yet as evidenced by the popularity of the Mountain HousePilot bread or Pilot Crackers,these remain a staple in the survival pantry. Add Some Rib-Sticking Goodness Put a batch of oatmeal (use either Old-Fashioned or Quick) in a blender or food processor, pulse a few times (dont turn it into powder), and you are good to go. Package it up with some raisins and perhaps a bit of brown sugar and you have instant oatmeal at a fraction of the cost. To prepare your homemade instant oatmeal, add very hot or boiling water, stir then let sit fir a minute then eat. Yummy. The Practically Indestructible Garbage Bag A heavy duty garbage bag and I am referring to those large 42 gallon bags not the smaller, lighter weight kitchen bags also can serve as an emergency toilet. If you are sheltering at home and the sewer system in not functional, merely line your toilet or even a bucket with a heavy duty bag and you are good to go. (Of course it might be good to have some kitty litter to throw in the sack after going potty.) Need more justification? Thanks to Jessica at SaltnPrepper, for providing these 40 Ways to Use Garbage Bags in Emergencies. MONTH 8 TASKS: I put them all in an inexpensive pencil box that I purchased at the office supply store. I then added the kit plus a few bottles of water to an inexpensive backpack. As simple as this may seem, I have already had to use everything except the blankets and that is just recently. Since then, I have added some Ibuprofen and a packet of Survival Husbands daily medications to the kit. As with all of our survival and preparedness kits, nothing is static and as needs change or expand, you should change or expand the kit as well. And if you kit is hidden away in the back corner of your closet? Well shame on you! Emergencies happen everyday and since you are prepared, you should take advantage of your preps! Protect the Water in Your Water Heater Secure the Tank Note: Securing water heaters in this manner is now a part of the building code in many areas of the country especially in quake zones. The easiest way to secure you hot water heater is with a commercially available strapping kit. You can also gather the strapping supplies yourself, using heavy-gage metal straps and 3-inch lag screws. However you do it, keep in mind the following: The State of Washington has a downloadable flyer showing you how to do this. Print it out and you will be all set to go just do it. And while you are at it, this would be a good time to add a water heater blanket to your setup. The Final Word Well you know what? If there were a major disaster in your area, you may be waiting a long time. Yes, FEMA and the other alphabet agencies have gotten better since Katrina, but until there is another catastrophe of that magnitude, you will never know whether you will be saved or left to your own resources for three days, a week or longer. I dont know about you, but I would much prefer to do as much as I can in advance to take care of myself and my loved ones. Other articles in this series: Gaye Levy, the 