GUEST POST from Don: Exit Plans, pt III

EXIT PLANS (Part III)

Psalms 55:6-8 NIV says:  “I said, ‘Oh that I had the wings of a dove!  I would fly away and be at rest – I would flee far away and stay in the desert.  Selah.  I would hurry to my place of shelter, and from the tempest and storm.’ “

Point #1:  “WHO YOU GONNA CALL?”

The fact is that it is impossible to prepare for every contingency.  No one person, no single family, no community has enough resources to deal with every issue.  That doesn’t mean you can’t do anything.

Michigan has a law requiring the governor to stockpile medical supplies and equipment for local and regional emergencies.  That stockpile includes gloves, masks, IV tubing, equipment, etc.  When COVID hit it was discovered that the supply wasn’t there.  It had been used for local things like flood response.  The supply depot had not been re-stocked.  Thus, Michigan nurses had to reuse gloves and masks for days on end.  (I know because our daughter was one of those nurses at a local hospital.  She had to wash and re-use single use gloves for days.)   After one shift the masks were useless, but they were forced to wear them again and again (as though that could protect nurses and patients).  Oh, and the ventilators that keep lungs operating, they weren’t there either.  See the following story: Depleted National Stockpile Contributed to COVID PPE Shortage

There is a lesson to be learned with that.  If you are supposed to have a stockpile, you should actually have one.  The government never learns this lesson.

The same goes for our nation’s petroleum reserve.  The nation’s executive has drawn repeatedly from that supply for less-than-emergency situations and has failed to refill it.  So, if we are hit by a major emergency as a nation there won’t be enough fuel to power our military equipment, let alone regional economies.  …. That’s dumb! ….

Meanwhile, the government is pushing for electric vehicles.  That is actually putting America more at risk in a disaster.  The most likely necessity to go down in an emergency is electrical power.  A hurricane doesn’t stop blowing and flooding just because a power line is down!  So, if you are dependent on an EV and you live on Florida’s coast, you won’t be able to get out.  Emergency services won’t be able to get there to help either.

The lesson here is that we should not count on our government to be ready.  They have failed repeatedly to be ready for emergencies.  We might want to plan that they will fail again.  “Don’t bother calling,” they might as well announce.

Point #2:  EVERYONE SHOULD DO SOMETHING RIGHT.

So, it is really up to YOU to do something right.  The more families which have a stockpile of emergency-valued items and a plan, the better it will be for everyone.  In fact, it will be much better for you, too!  Imagine if the water supply is destroyed by a mutated virus.  Where will you get safe drinking water?  Your local water tower will be polluted, too (think of Flint, Michigan that was forced to use the Flint River water but failed to use the annually reviewed water treatment plan that was in the file cabinet.  The water supervisor was convicted for failure to do his duty).  What would have happened to YOU in that emergency?  

Food in your freezer is NOT a safe emergency resource.  The average adult in America eats just over 260 pounds of meat per year (but you need far less).    One cubic foot of freezer space will hold about 40 pounds of beef.  Nice facts.  Yet meat (or anything else) doesn’t keep forever in a freezer.  I would think there should be a formula for how much food you should keep in a freezer at any one point.  I have a formula for our house.  We store sufficient food for about 2 months (for 2 persons less than 70 pounds of chicken, pork, beef, bacon, sausage, stew bones, pot pies, vegetables, frozen fruit, etc.).  Since frozen food has the greatest risk of spoilage when the power fails, in reality even with our severe limits on cold storage we have way too much stuff there if there is a power outage.  Almost all of it would be rendered dangerously useless.  You can only eat a few pounds of meat or frozen foods in one week of lost power!  Some families could extend that for a few days or weeks with a generator, I suppose.  My point is DON’T OVERLOAD YOUR FREEZER.  Keep it more on the empty side unless it is below freezing outside.  Less in summer, more in winter maybe.

Have emergency food products ON HAND.  You should have some powdered milk and powdered eggs.  Unopened they remain good for over a year.  Coffee?  Are you the type of person who buys coffee just when your supply is about out?  Stop that!  When you open a can  buy a can.  When you open the second to last pound of salted butter (salted butter lasts longer if non-refrigerated than unsalted) buy another pound or two.  You can even buy dehydrated butter (?? I have never tried it).  You should have an emergency 2 week supply list of canned goods.  Obviously, if the power doesn’t go out you can cook some meats and you won’t need as many cans of tuna, chicken, or Spam.  Other sources of protein and fats are also useful, like peanut butter, nuts, and dried beans.  Dried fruits are helpful, too.

An alternative cooking method is also essential.  You need coffee, you need to be able to boil water for safe drinking water, you need to cook that rabbit you caught.  For those things, and for warmth and light, you need an alternative.  

The point:  Doing “something” (stocking your freezer) is less important than doing “something right” (stocking up on canned goods).

Conclusion:  Don’t expect government help when stuff hits the fan, be prepared to help yourself (and your neighbor) the right way.  It is unlikely that a freezer full of beef will be much help, but a few cans of Dinty Moore might be.  You’ll need a manual can opener!  It doesn’t have to be expensive or take up a lot of space to be of use in an emergency.  Have more than a few days worth of TP and several gallons of pure water, please!

[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere.
ALSO, Don is always open to offer his thoughts on various topics. If you have a specific request, you can let him know in a comment; he reads – and replies to – them all. ~ Sherry]

See more GUEST POSTS from Don!