So before the baby got here (about 8 months ago). My wife was freaking out about my emergency pile of food (about 2 weeks worth) because the best if used by dates were passing. So I gave in and agreed to donate it to a shelter. Which sounds better than it is. Because my wife never delivered it and after it had froze and thawed multiple times remebered it was in here trunk. Bottom line is it all got tossed.

Now for the good news. After all the bad stuff that is happening on the east coast we have gotten motivated again. So we went to *warehouse club* to start stocking up on canned food. Oddly enough we saw they had three pallets of emergency rations. Not normal MRE type stuff. So we picked up a 45lb. bucket of hard white wheat and 30 day (for one person) pack of dehydrated food. I've always been against these type of prepped food but with a new baby and long work weeks I gave in. I know how to bag and seal wheat ( mylar and oxygen absorbers) so this was definitely a purchase of conveinance. In the worse case this stuff is shelf stable for decades so its a cheap insurance policy and it lets us take our time to rebuild or supply.

In the course of our talks we realized to have a months worth of food you can't forget :

Salt, Pepper, Spices
Medicines (I know this has been touched on a lot).
Tampons (not just for nosebleeds)
baby food / evaporated milk /formula diapers
dog food - for our two dogs to be clear but, if its canned food it has to be consumable by humans per the FDA. Not saying I would eat it. But things change when you haven't eaten in a few days.

My wife kept saying how can we cook all of this stuff if there is no water. Which is a great point, if you don't have water you can only live for 72 hours. So all the food in the world won't help. The first rule is always fill up the bathtub. You need 2 gallons of water for every person in the house per day. 1 for drinking and 1 for cooking/disenfection. You can find bathtub bladders that are made of heavy plastic and come with pumps so the water is sterile. If your bathtub is not in direct sunlight the water will be fine for a few days as most (municipal water is already chlorinated). Just remeber the chlorine will leach out over a few days.

Last today when we were in the back yard the flies were out of control. We are a few weeks away from our first freeze (It was 86 degrees today). Well the dogs had been leaving land mines everywhere and I brought up the point that those flies that were landing on our faces were also chowing on dog poo. My point is the one of the major killers of people in less industrialized parts of the world is unsanitary latrine conditions. If you've been reading the news, people have been defecating in the hallways in the highrises in new york. This can only lead to bad things. I'm not sure what to do about the people in cities but if your are digging catholes in the back yard your best bet is to cover it up.

Just some thoughts yardians. Also smoke and prayers sent to all those affected by the storm.