Disaster Prep: Go Bags for the Family

I suppose I need to cut back on watching the evening news while I prepare dinner.  My children have been asking a lot of questions about tornadoes the last month or so.  My four year old is particularly concerned about one of them coming inside our house, despite our reassurances that the wind stays outside most of the time.  

In our coastal community, hurricane season began six weeks ago, so I have been taking stock of our supplies.  Because we live more than twenty miles from the coast, we rarely evacuate when a storm comes our way, and although I am not ruling that out, we prefer to stock what we will need to ride out a storm and its aftermath.  That means water, non-perishable food, medical supplies, batteries, candles, and plenty of things for the kids to do.

Also, this year, I prepared “Go bags” with emergency supplies for each family member.  I asked the children to help me collect everything and make decisions about their clothes. They actually had fun looking for the toys they wanted to pack and helping me find all the supplies from around the house.

I read about go bags on two blogs recently, and realized we needed to be better prepared in the event of a last minute evacuation.  Jessica over at Life as Mom wrote about her “24 Hour Go Bags” last fall.  Her post is full of helpful hints, such as color coordinating the family bags and when to buy them on sale.  She includes a helpful list of what she packed in each bag, and what she plans to add as she finds other items on sale.  I will do the same below. 

Jessica also created a fill in form for family and emergency contact information to place in each child’s bag.  I really like that the form conveniently has 2 columns and prefills the second column with the family information (address, parent name, etc.) as you type the first column.  In the extra space at the bottom, I wrote that we are Catholic and that my children speak both English and Spanish (she used that space for insurance information).

Bobbi at Revolution of Love wrote about her disaster preparations earlier this year, and included rosaries and other prayer tools in her family bags.  Of course, I had to add those items to my own bags!  

I chose to use some backpacks given to the children at a local home improvement store during a children’s workshop.  We also pick up many similar bags at festivals around town, so if you are looking for something lightweight, you might not have to buy anything.  The children are using bright orange bags (easy to spot), mine is black, and my husband is using our old travel backpack, as he will carry more food and water for the rest of us.

Go Bags Packing List

1. Clothing and Toiletries.  Family color shirt (ours is green), shorts, socks, underwear.  Sunglasses, ponytail holders (comb in my bag), hand sanitizer, bandages, toothbrush and paste.  During the emergency, I will take the bag of sunscreens I keep in my outing bag and move it to my go bag.  My husband will carry anti-bacterial wipes, regular baby wipes, and toilet seat covers for all of us.  I am also going to look for lightweight pants that we can pack instead of shorts; after a storm, the mosquitoes will be out in force.

2.  Food and Water.  Bottled water (2 each), packaged granola bars, trail mix.  As we ride out the storm, I’ll add other food that will keep for a few days: yogurt and plastic spoon, bread, cheese sticks, crackers.

3. Emergency contact and money.  I sealed the contact information card, a family portrait (leftover Christmas photo card), and five dollars in bills and change inside a zip bag.  If the children are separated from both of us, they can make calls and show emergency workers what their parents look like.

4.  Flashlight with batteries.  My husband and I each have a crank operated flashlight that doubles as a radio.  The kids carry mini mag lites.

5. Prayer aids and entertainment.  Each of us packed a rosary and prayer cards.  The kids also decided to pack a small stuffed animal and a small notebook and pen.  I am going to look for other small books and toys to include (such as mini playing cards).  My husband will carry the extra charger for our cell phones.

Here are a couple of pictures that include most of the bag contents; we will add items as we think about them or find useful things on sale.  

child bag contents

adult bag contents

We will also pack our passports, a printout of our bank balances, insurance cards, a flash drive with important information, and more cash in a zip bag that my husband and I will carry, along with extra zip bags for the cell phones and other items we may grab as we head out.

I think we are ready.  In the event a hurricane heads our way, we will move the go bags from the hall closet to the room we stay in during the storm, along with raincoats.  Everyone will wear jeans, socks, and tennis shoes so we can be ready to evacuate on the spot if necessary (if our roof collapses or the house begins to flood).

These go bags are just a brief look at our disaster preparations; we do so much more to prepare our home when a storm is forecast for our area.  In addition to stocking pantry foods, we make other food ahead of time, pack the freezers full of ice, fill the tub with water for the toilets, stock up on propane and charcoal, fill the vehicle gas tanks, do all the laundry, put candles and matches in every room, back up the computers, store important papers and photos in plastic on top shelves, board up the windows, and bring in all the patio furniture and gardening tools.   More details in a later post, if you are interested.

Linking with: Catholic Bloggers Link up Blitz, The Better Mom, Motivational Monday, Pinterest Party, Welcome Home, Weekly Kids Co-op, We Made That, For the Kids Friday

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Got Cantaloupe? What to Do During an Outbreak

Yesterday, I learned about another outbreak of bacterial illness caused by contaminated cantaloupes.  Chances are, if you live in the Midwest, you have heard about it; cantaloupes from Southern Indiana are the problem this time.  If you haven’t heard about this outbreak, here is a news article that lists the states where people have fallen ill.  In this article from the organization Food Safety News, you can see the same information as a graphic, and note that they have posted at least one update at the top of the article (I plan to check this article and website again for updates).

Cantaloupe by Brunhilde Reinig

My children love cantaloupe.  One of the reasons I am writing this post is because we bought a cantaloupe a week ago that is still sitting in my refrigerator.  The kids have asked me to cut it a couple of times, but I was waiting until we had finished eating other fruits.  As soon as I saw a news article about cantaloupes causing illness, I remembered our cantaloupe, and I sprang into action.  I’d like to share how I handle news about food illness outbreaks, particularly foods we have already bought.

Of course, the easiest thing to do is throw out any suspect food that might cause illness.  You absolutely should do this if you aren’t sure whether your cantaloupe is a problem.  Be especially cautious if you or anyone in your family is pregnant, breastfeeding, or immune suppressed (due to chronic illness, a serious infection, certain medications, youth, or age).  My family is in good health and I hate to waste food; also I’m curious about how food gets contaminated, so I always research before I take action about a food borne illness.  Here is how I do it.

5 Ways to Protect Your Family During a Food Illness Outbreak

No. 1: Pay attention to food news.

In order to protect your family, you need to know about the outbreak to begin with.  I try to get a little bit of news every day, and I use different news sources.  This ensures I get a wider variety of news, as well as makes it easier to get news on a daily basis.  I listen to National Public Radio in the car most days.  Sometimes, I watch local or national news while I make dinner.  Other times, I read the headlines on yahoo after I log off from my e-mail.  We subscribe to our city newspaper on Sundays, so I try to read through the paper when I have time during the week.  I learned about this particular cantaloupe illness, as well the one last year, from the yahoo headlines before I saw television news coverage.

No. 2: Research food related news further.

Once I learn about a food borne illness, I look for on-line articles and watch the news to get more information.  During this process, I usually learn about other food illnesses.  For example, both last year and this year, I learned about previous infectious outbreaks caused by cantaloupes that I had not heard about because they were smaller in scope.  Seeking good information is key.  In particular, I want to know where the food was grown and where people who are ill acquired the food.  See the links above for information on the current outbreak.

No. 3: Seek information on the food you have bought.

Once I learn which growers, suppliers, or people are affected, I check the stickers on my produce for information on origin.  If there is no sticker, not enough information, or we have recently eaten the food, I call the store where I bought it and speak to the produce manager.  I called last year and this year about the cantaloupes and each time, I was told the exact origin of the fruit I bought.  I had to wait while they confirmed the information, but I was happy to do so in order to have an accurate answer.  Fortunately, our cantaloupes were not infected.

No. 4: Wash your produce very well.

For protection against any outbreaks you may not know about, and to remove dirt, germs, and pesticide residue, always wash your produce well.  All of your produce should be washed, even if you intend to peel it.  This is particularly important for cantaloupes: their bumpy ridged rind is the perfect place for dirt and bacteria to hang out.  The rough skin on a cantaloupe can pick up and hold germs from any number of sources: irrigation water, agricultural animal run-off, wild animal feces, farm worker’s hands, and washing equipment.  Any bacteria on the rind can move through the fruit along with your cutting knife.

I use a vegetable brush to wash all of my produce.  Recently I have been washing just with water.  In the past, I used water with a few drops of dish soap, but after I switched to natural dish soap (hence no preservatives), the mixture got cloudy and I no longer trusted it.  A few days ago, my friend Karri shared a recipe for produce wash that uses water, apple cider vinegar, and lemon juice.  I have heard about using ACV as a produce wash before, so you can bet I’ll be mixing up this new wash tomorrow and scrubbing my cantaloupe with it a couple of times.

No. 5: Cultivate a healthy immune response in your gut.

For protection against any illness, food borne or infectious, keep your gut flora (beneficial bacteria) flourishing.  Eat yogurt, kefir, and fermented foods daily.  Supplement with pro-biotics, especially during and after illness, while taking antibiotics, and when your stomach is upset.  Other foods that have anti-bacterial properties include oregano, garlic, ginger, and thyme.  Use these often in your cooking to help your immune system battle bacterial illnesses.

How do you handle news of food borne illness?  Will you be eating cantaloupe?  Share your thoughts in the comments.

Amy at Raising Arrows hosts a weekly Welcome Home Link up focused on homemaking and related topics; you will find this post linked there this week. 

The many bloggers at The Better Mom host the Better Mom Mondays Link up for posts on “the topics of mothering, marriage, homemaking, discipleship, recipes, organization and more,” so I have also linked there.

Sarah at Nature’s Nurture hosts a weekly Tiny Tip Tuesday Link up for posts “pertaining to anything natural, frugal, sustainable, or homemade.”

I have linked up at Crafolic’s monthly Tea with Saint Anne Link up, which is for posts helpful to Catholic families.

  

Megan at Sorta Crunchy shares hosting duty for the weekly Your Green Resource Link up with three other blogs.  This link up is for green living: recycling, repurposing, do-it-yourself, organic gardening, and recipes using whole foods.

Ann Kroeker hosts a weekly Food on Fridays Link up, so I have also connected there, where you will find many links somehow (either casually or directly) related to food and recipes.