WATER: Water needs to be your VERY FIRST consideration. Consider things like non-electric water filtration, water purification, Clorox (not scented!), and remember, ...water collected with a 3' square of plastic with 3' of food grade(like surgical plastic) hose (as a straw), a bowl of cup, and a small rock placed in and over a hole dug into the ground about 2 1/2 feet deep will keep a person alive, if necessary. Also, store some drinking water. Figure on two gallons per day for each person for drinking and washing. There is usable water in your hot water tank, just flush and clean it out a couple times a year. FOOD: Work on stocking extras of your usual groceries for one week, then two weeks, then one month, etc., with a smattering of "basic staples" added as you can. It is SOOOO important to include some of the routine "survival" foods and recipes into our regular day-to-day meals. Being prepared also means preparing ourselves and our families to enjoy the foods that will be part of "harder times," while NOT feeling deprived by not being able to get our "normal" foods! This will also help us cooks learn how to fix the storage foods in ways that our folks really like them. A separate, portable, three day supply (per person) of foods that need no cooking, such as tuna, peanut butter, jelly, pork and beans, plus some non-fat dry milk, graham crackers, dried fruit, canned fruit juice, etc., plus one gallon of water per person per day, is a must. Don't forget to put a small stash of food and water in all of the vehicles, with the bug-bag (this is actually a "bug-out-bag") that you already have there. You might use clean and sanitized milk or soft drink containers filled just 2/3s full of water (and then the air squeezed a bit). These should withstand freezing temperatures, all right. The Mormon book "Essentials of Home Production and Storage" is one of the most useful books we have found, especially for $2.50. See a Mormon friend of call The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in you area and ask them to get a copy for you. Their one year basic storage shows food for one year per person as:

Grains (wheat, rice, corn, etc.) ..... 300#
Non-fat dry milk (not instant)........ 75#
Sugar or honey ....................... 60#
Salt .................................. 5#
Oil .................................. 20#
Dried Legumes (peas and beans)........ 60#
(plus garden seed (and sprouting alfalfa see {a legume}, too) (Also remember the first aid kit and over-the-counter and prescription meds, too.)

BASIC STORAGE EXPANDED: Wheat flakes, hard winter wheat berries, buckwheat, grits, cornmeal (or just corn and a mill to grind it yourself when the time comes to use it), white rice (brown rice will go rancid rather quickly), etc., are some of the more popular grains, but granola, 7 grain cereal, etc. are also great. A vacuum sealer is a real boon, even for dried beans, etc. There are several types, but the manual hand- pump-in-reverse type is great and inexpensive, too. Vacuum seal EVERYTHING, if you can, and the smaller batches of stored items are especially helpful. We keep both instant (some) and non-instant (mostly) non-fat dry milk in small, airtight batches. Honey can crystallize but is much better for you than sugar. Just heat the honey container in some warm water and the crystals will liquefy again and be fine. Sea salt is great, and it's also best kept in small, airtight containers, with rice, pasta, or the like to trap moisture. Virgin cold-pressed olive oil is our favorite multi-use oil, but some safflower oil, canola oil, etc. are also helpful, and tasty (and don't smoke-up the way olive oil does). Learn to cook with very little oil, and discover the ease and healthy benefits of baking, broiling, etc. DO ROTATE THE OILS AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN... rancid oil is NO FUN. Actually, rotate EVERYTHING you store, some things more often than others. Split peas and lentils are a good choice for legumes, since they cook the quickest, as well as the more popular pinto beans, navy beans, black-eyed peas, etc., which give a nice variety of tastes. Beans and rice together make a much better and more complete protein. Soybeans can be hard to incorporate unless you are dedicated to this mindset, but it is a terrific protein. Proteins help us to feel strong and help keep us from feeling hungry, too. The only garden seed you should keep are the "open-pollinated" ones, with a book on seed saving and organic gardening. ROTATE ALL GARDEN SEED YEARLY! Some seeds have a shorter viability period than others, but this is too important a part of a good food storage plan to take ANY chances on. These open- pollinated seeds are available to most of us without paying big bucks to buy the #10 cans of them. Sprouting seeds can really help to keep a body healthy and strong. Alfalfa and clover are tasty and mild, but we enjoy the zing that radish, mustard and turnip seeds provide. Please be sure that all seeds to be used for sprouting do not have pesticides on them! Never try to wash and sprout "pink" covered seeds.

This is the very BASICS in food storage, but please don't forget your addictions... chocolate, coffee, tobacco, toothpicks, seasonings, etc. We ALL have addictions, and many are food related. They give us a sense of control and normalcy. Also, include things for entertainment (a book of simple games), art (crayons, clay), music (harmonica), and books for both fun and survival skills. Remember to take care of all storage things AS IF YOU won't be around to explain how to prepare, or use them. Mark everything CLEARLY, including utensils (like can openers), cooking instructions, recipes, seasonings, and pack things in small groups of varied and related things. If all this survival stuff kind of scares the family (spouse OR kids OR parents), remember to change your vocabulary and call it camping. Be willing to go to a spot THEY want to camp at, when THEY want to go. And try to find others to go together with, so the FEAR is taken out of this.