Source: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf001089.tip.html

Stock And Rotate Emergency Supplies

Since you never know when an emergency is going to happen, I stay stocked up and prepared year round. I have a specific cabinet set up with canned foods, cereals, powdered milk, water, pet foods and other necessities. Anything that doesn't come in a water proof container gets put in one and labeled before going in the cabinet. Everything in there is arranged by month/year. Every 3 months I rotate everything out and restock.

Instead of buying bottled water, which can get awfully expensive when you're buying a lot, when I finish with a 2 liter soda bottle, I wash it out good, then bleach the inside good to sanitize it. After it's been rinsed good, I fill it with water and label it. I can stock a lot more water this way without spending a fortune on buying it. I keep a minimum of 50 two liter bottles of water. This way I don't have to worry about not having enough to cook with, drink, or wash and clean with if we lose water.

As I rotate the water, I put some on a separate shelf for use for cleaning with. That gets rotated only once a year. The rest all gets rotated every 3 months. Everything in the cabinet is dated with the rotation date so there's no mistake about when to do it.

In a spare bedroom (since I don't have a basement or garage), I keep a kerosene heater (kerosene is kept in the shed outside), spare batteries of all sizes, flashlights of all sizes, battery powered lanterns, blankets, battery powered radio TV, and DVD player, books, pens, cat box and litter for my cat.

I also have a 12v stove and coffee maker that I can plug into the cigarette lighter in my car to cook with. This way we are all set in case of loss of power for an extended amount of time.

By Cricketnc from Parkton, NC

Source: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf001089.tip.html
© 1997-2009 ThriftyFun.com

Disclaimer: ThriftyFun.com cannot accept any responsibility for any injury or damage that you may cause to yourself, others, or property when following any advice given on this site. Read the full disclaimer: http://www.thriftyfun.comdisclaimer.ldml If you find any information on ThriftyFun.com or in our newsletters that is either erroneous and/or potentially harmful to others, please Contact Us, immediately.