(Go HERE for all Home Safety Week posts.)
Okay, so you’re on board for getting your family ready for an emergency?
Good.
In an effort to keep this as non-overwhelming as possible, I’m breaking up our tasks into more manageable bites. Baby steps.
Today we will tackle food and water supply.
Did you know you can survive for several weeks without food, but only 3 days without water? Scary.
You can print this list out by clicking HERE.
The list itself is pretty self explanatory, but there are a couple of things I want to chat with you about.
WATER:
As for water storage, you can buy commercially bottled water from the grocery store and that’s easy. We happened to MAJORLY score when we randomly found those two blue water storage jugs
We also have water purification tablets
FOOD:
A few years ago, I was out shopping and randomly decided to buy some “non-perishable” foods for an emergency kit. It wasn’t researched, thought out, or even planned in advance. I just kinda started putting things in my cart that I thought would work. When I decided to tackle Home Safety Week, I pulled out my haphazard food kit and was SHOCKED to find that every single food item (and some of my first aid stuff) was expired. Like, 2 years expired. Grrrrr….
I was frustrated because it meant that not only was I throwing away uneaten food, but it meant that I had to replace it all.
A waste of food, my time AND my money.
Plus, when I started to do the math…6 people in my family…times 3 meals per day…times 3 days…that was 54 meals I had to put together.
54 meals is a lot of food. It’s a lot of cans. That take up a lot of room.
That I have to re-buy every few years (even if I remembered to rotate it out to avoid throwing it away, it still means spending the money over and over again!).
I had seen these ARK Readiness Kits before, and while I knew they were a good idea, I was hesitant to spend the money at first.
Until I realized that buying 54 meals…and rotating it out to avoid spoilage…would actually cost me MORE to put together my own food supply.
The more I looked into the ARK food kit, the more I was sure it was a better fit for my family. It has a shelf life of 20 years, comes in a weatherproof bucket, and has 330 servings of food! One and done. No more thinking about it, it doesn’t take up a ton of space, and it has more than enough food for our family.
I contacted the fine folks at TheReadyProject and asked if they would like to collaborate for Home Safety Week. Lucky for us, they were game!
TheReadyProject.com is offering ONE lucky reader the opportunity to win one ARK Readiness Kit! There are a few ways to enter, and I’ll pull a winner on Saturday, June 22.
And not only that, but they are offering readers 40% off (that’s a lot!!!) with code HomeSafetyWeek (thru June 25). They don’t offer discount codes often, so if you are interested, you should take advantage while you can!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: The Ready Project provided my family with product and the giveaway item in exchange for sponsored content. I approached them because it seemed like a perfect fit. But the truth is, whether you buy an ARK kit or not, I think we are all mostly concerned that your family is emergency ready. Whatever that looks like for you.
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You’re right, I wouldn’t have thought I needed this until I saw it. Must have! :)
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I had never heard of an ark kit. How awesome! You are right that you constantly have to refresh your supply, and it would cost more in the long run. I love this idea! Thanks for introducing it to me!
Great resources and ideas. I work with our corporate communications team to occasionally push out information to all employees at my company on disaster readiness. I really like how you have broken down the food and water requirements and have provided options for people.
So true that many people WANT to be prepared but don’t always follow through (like me!). But, I really need to do this especially since we have some food allergies in our family. Thanks for the great resource.
I had no idea something like this existed! So many meals and it lasts for 20 years!! Wow!!!
I didn’t even realize this existed!! With a family of 5, it’s a no brainer.
I didn’t even know this existed…amazing!
So this is a random anecdote, but we bought our new house from a Mormon family and we have an entire area of the house designed to hold food rations (it’s more or less a tenet of the Mormon faith to have supplies in case of emergency/apocalypse/etc.) The family also left behind this huge outdoor water storage tank. They call it “providential living”. Anyway, that storage area is presently just holding toys, so if something goes down, the kids will be hungry but they’ll sure be having fun. :)
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I learned that there are 3 or 4 items for each of the 3 meals per day – including drink and side dish. I’d love to have one for my family because it would be easy to get done, easy to store, and it would be great to not have to check or rotate food twice a year.
What a great idea! I’ve never heard of this before. Definitely need to get one of these!
Oh I need this!! When we moved we didn’t have much $ so we ate thru most of my food storage (thank God I had it!) now I am slowly trying to build it up again. Dried food is a must tho!! Fingers crossed!
I’ve had the same thing happen to me with my self-made ’emergency rations’. Felt terrible to throw out all that expired food.
Last time I rotated our food, I had to throw out so much. This would be just one less thing to worry about.
We are totally getting into being prepared – this would be amazing! Thanks for the chance :)
I have seen these kits before at Costco…they are great. Seriously considering purchasing one.
Those kits are a great idea!
These look amazing! Now to convince the husband….the 40% off might help me in that regard :)
I have seen these at Costco but didn’t think they were something I’d want but I didn’t realize that they lasted for 20 years! That’s amazing. I’m sure the zombie apocalypse will happen by then. We already have a plan of action for an emergency but no food supplies. I better get busy!
thanks for the reminder about being prepared for a disaster. Living here in earthquake country you never now when one will hit. Thanks for sharing this!
looks like a great supply to have on hand. super easy.
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i didn’t even know these existed!!! I’ve always kept the basics… bottled water (gallons and individuals) in a milk crate in the cars and basement, with blankets, matches, candles, shake style flashlights, wind up radios, and cash. in case of of getting snowed in and stuck in the car, honestly… LOL!
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I’m curious as to where you are going to store this. Like you, We had started to build up a supply of canned goods in our garage, but then read about how the heat of the garage could actually spoil the food. Do you know if its the same with the ark food? I’m wondering if it would need to stay in a temperature controlled space.
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I love that with all of the food being dehydrated, each bucket is so lightweight. If you need to grab them in a hurry you won’t need a strongman to help you put, lol.
They have it all! But, they are a bit pricey!
I would love to win one of these! We are a family of seven, so like you, setting up my own emergency food would be time consuming and super expensive!
This is so awesome. Especially since it’s hurricane season in the gulf.
I just called my husband and was all like “we have to buy this ARK!” … he clearly thought I had lost my mind. So we have to win it :-)
I had no idea these even existed. It would be perfect for my family of eleven!!!
I love the idea of the 20 year shelf life. Like you I had some food set aside but we would probably be getting sick eating it now. So this kit is a perfect solution.
I like the fact that there are no MSG or high fructose corn strop in the kit. Granted HFCS would probably be the last thing on my mind in case of emergency, it still nice that there is none in there :)
Amazing!! Thanks so very much for all the info.
I never even new these kits existed and that they were good for so long.
I didn’t know they were actually affordable. It’s nice to have that option! I’m not sure i could make meals by scratch with no power!
I had no idea such a thing even existed! And now I want one! Need one, actually!
Great info. My husband has been putting some disaster recovery stuff together and this is so helpful!
I never do anything about this, I think about how I should probably have stuff together, but in reality that’s all I do, think about it. Maybe this will kickstart me to get it all together now…
I didn’t even know that you could buy all of that in a kit. What a fabulous idea. I worry about things like that as we live in a strong tornado area and this would make me feel at ease.
I wonder if its mouse proof… I have thought about getting one my local winco sells them for about $75.00 maybe I can win one instead. :)
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Oh, and even with the discount of 40% off, winco has them cheaper…. now I REALLY need to get one at winco… :)
We got our ARK kits at Costco! We could use one more, but score!!
I didn’t know the ark kits even existed. Awesome idea and I just have to say I love this series of posts you are doing! I freaked out when my twins were born and bought a fire ladder for their room but that is as far as I have gotten. You have inspired me to get my act together-thank you!
Oops-did not mean to post my full name!
I haven’t heard of ark kits before. I can’t wait to be able to add this to my emergency preparedness supplies!
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I never really thought about your point about the time, energy & expense of maintaining your emergency food supply. This one time purchase makes total sense. Talking to my hubby about it…
Much needed post, thank you.
I learned that it even existed! It’s fabulous. Access to emergency staples in one place!
just bought two of those buckets with the discount code. thank you! thank you! so much better than the food storage we were working on…which looked much like your can food collection!
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