Creating a Family Emergency Plan for 2024
Written by Cheri Stirling
Welcome to 2024 friends! New Years is one of my favorite times of year. I love getting a new calendar, setting new goals and intentions for the year, and feeling like it’s a fresh start. I love to get notebooks, mark out big events and birthdays, and try to set new routines to build better habits for the year.
However, like we’ve learned in the last few years, we never know what is inside Pandora’s box, so this is also a great time to take an inventory of where we are in preparation for it. I like to use the first couple of weeks to reorganize the pantry, update 72 hour kits, and play a little ‘what if’ game.
What’s in the Pantry?
I reassess the pantry a few times a year. Why? Because this is what changes the most in our preparation status! Depending on menus for the week, and budgets, we tend to shop in our pantry as much as we can, and with little helpers in our home, it could use a good reorganization every once in a while.
There are several ways to inventory your food storage. I am a little bit of an old soul and honestly prefer a notebook and pen for this project. However, you can always document what you have in a Google Sheet (like this editable template here) or Excel spreadsheet, or in an app like Stock Up. (Available at the Google Play link or in the App Store) I write down everything we have that is unopened, because ideally I am working through the open groceries so they don’t go to waste. This gives me an idea of how long our food storage would last if there were a situation such as a supply chain delay, or a food shortage.
After I’ve tracked all the food in our cupboards, I start to add up what we have. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints recommends that for every adult in the home we have 400 pounds of grains (including things like wheat, pastas, rice, or corn), 60 pounds of legumes, 16 pounds of powdered milk, 10 quarts of cooking oils, 60 pounds of sugars or honey, 8 pounds of salt, and 14 gallons of water for one year. Children between 7-10 years will need about 90% of that, ages 4-6 will need about 70%, and 3 and under will need 50%. Now, remember that is just a survival ration. Think pioneer biscuit cakes coming across the plains. That is not in any form a 2024 diet proportion size.
This is where those canned goods, food mixes, bottled fruits, and anything else in our pantries start to kick in. If you are just starting out building a food supply, aim to have at least a week’s worth of regular meals your family has on hand. If you are a more advanced preparer – try to reach the next benchmark: two weeks, one month, two months, three months. If you already have those on hand as well, work on building a bigger variety of long term food items to your storage. Things such as different types of beans, or some quinoa, or freeze dried foods. Add things that will enrich your nutrient selection, so that your family can be as healthy as possible through difficult times.
Let’s Play a Game
After you’ve tackled the pantry, it’s time to start thinking about the rest of your daily activities, and what it takes to run your home. All of us remember the unfortunate toilet paper apocalypse of 2020, where suddenly home necessities disappeared. Things like soap, paper products, cleaning supplies were nowhere to be found. It’s important to not only stock up on food, but the essentials you use everyday to keep your home a safe and sanitary place to live.
This is the time of year when my husband and I play a not-so-fun game of ‘what if’. We talk about potential disasters for our area, and scenarios like, ‘What if the power went out for an extended period of time?’ ‘What if we had a house fire?’
Then we compile a giant list of the things we would like to buy or projects we would like to complete, and we start making plans to take those steps. We look at prices, and solutions for our problems. (Pinterest and YouTube have a wealth of knowledge on how to be better prepared, or how to DIY these kinds of projects for less money.) For more tips on this technique, check out Meghan’s episode with Lee Ostler ‘Balancing Spiritual and Temporal Preparedness’.
Putting the Plan Together
Our last step for our new year preparedness plan is to actually build a plan. Creating a more formal emergency preparedness plan can really help fill in the gaps, and helps us plan drills or activities to help each other and our kids be more prepared for an emergency.
If you haven’t created a family emergency plan, you can check out the Red Cross for tips, or you can fill out the form below, and we will send you our step-by-step guide PDF!
Action Steps
- Take an Inventory of Your Food Storage
- Inventory Home Storage
- Create a List of Needs
- Create A Family Emergency Plan
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