Once again, the Patriots are in the Super Bowl. While I’m from Massachusetts and of course, I root for my home team, I’m actually more into the advertisements. I have been studying them for more than 20 years -- I learned in college that they are and would always be an essential part of staying current in digital media.
Missing the Super Bowl would leave me unprepared for the year’s work ahead -- just as not planning the Game Day menu ahead would leave thousands of Bay Staters hungry for more than Tom Brady touchdown passes. As EfficientGov’s coverage of resilience increases, this year’s Super Bowl preparedness made me realize that the biggest game of the year offers fundamental lessons for emergency preparedness as well.
I’m going to stick with the food analogy: The energy spent on spectator snacks can be channeled into planning ahead to ensure a week’s worth of access to safe food and clean water for your household -- an emergency food supply.
Whether you realized it through unbelievably catastrophic weather, gripping social challenges like the Opioid Epidemic, the recent Government Shutdown or mass casualty incidents, you already know that personal security can evaporate rather quickly, and basic needs can be the hardest to meet.
Emergencies that disconnect us from the convenience of safe roads, functioning utilities and our usual suppliers can happen any time. To increase personal and family resilience, the experts say we all need to gather a week’s worth of emergency food and water for our households, and check and rotate the stock quarterly to minimize wasted food.
While everyone’s preferences and budget for food items that store and can be made with little more than water will differ, Alaska Granny’s three minutes of sage advice as she pans her emergency food stash is as fast as a Matrix upload.
In addition to the items in her video, which can be reviewed below, others have suggested meal replacement bars, oatmeal packets and packaged, dehydrated meats. Also, according to Do1Thing, each person in your household will require a gallon of water per person per day.
Three Emergency Food Supply Tips from My Kitchen:
- By using a food dehydrator and food sealer, you can add dehydrated vegetables and fruits to your emergency food supply.
- By purchasing food items over a month of shopping, you can spread out the cost of your household emergency food kit and stagger replacement purchases with stock rotation.
- By buying 7-gallon rigid water containers, or Jerry Cans, that can be filled when there is time to prepare, you can cut down on bottled water purchases.
For all you football lovers out there, enjoy your Game Day snacks as you consider their lesson on emergency food supply planning. And know that I love the Super Bowl, I’m just more into hockey.
