Assembling Your Plan

Once you have determined which types of disasters you want to prepare for, you have to determine the likely duration of the emergency and the number of people your plan will need to include. This is important so that you can determine how much food and water to factor into your plan.

Many experts recommend having a kit on hand that will get you and your family through the next 72 hours should a disaster strike. While putting together such a kit would be extremely prudent, a 72 hour kit in my opinion should be treated as a bare minimum. Your crisis could easily last for much longer. Preparing for an entire week would be even better. Even planning to sustain you and your family for a month or even a year or longer could actually prove to be the prudent thing to do. God forbid a crisis that would require such preparations... but it is absolutely a possibility.

Now let's say you decide that your ultimate long term plan needs to care for and sustain your family for a 12 months. That is an quite an ambitious plan, right? It is also going to be an expensive plan. So what do you do to take the sting out of this kind of investment? First of all, don't get overwhelmed. You can do it.

Implementing this type of plan is completely achievable, you just have to approach it with patience and organization. Simply execute your plan in phases. Figure out your end goal and what you will ultimately need, then distribute the necessary purchases over many months. Spread you supply acquisition over a year (or two, if need be) as opposed to doing it all once. Add to your plan every month working toward that ultimate goal, adding to your supplies a little at a time. Don't try to do it all at once. Set a pace that works for you and your budget! Baby steps!

Also, setting smaller accumulative goals is helpful as well. Break your plan into bite-sized mini goals. Many find this approach very helpful. I know I certainly do. You may ultimately wish to have a year's worth of food in your cache, but work toward a one week's supply first. Then work toward a one month's supply. Once you get there, work toward two months worth, and so on. It doesn't have to be done all at once!

A great place to start for any family is with a basic 72 hour kit. Everyone should have several of these at their disposal at an absolute minimum. Once you have at least one of these put together and ready to go, the next type of kit you should work on is vehicle kits for each of your family's vehicles. These make terrific gifts for family and friends too! Put several together at a time!

Next, now that you have some 72 hour kits and a vehicle kit in each of your vehicles, it is time to work on an EDC (Every Day Carry).

Next:
Emergency Preparedness : Start Off Small!

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