Intro to Emergency Preparedness

I’m not a prepper, okay, I just like to be prepared. ‘I’m lining my nest, it’s in my nature’ I told my husband this morning while he laughed and shook his head at my most recent online orders…

Welcome to my emergency preparedness list. A work in progress gathering of ideas and resources for how to increase your resilience in uncertain times and prepare your home for pretty likely power and supply shortages and price increases.

This is mostly my initial research and current immediate goals, a general overview. As I learn more about canning, get my garden going etc. I hope to share a lot more about the process so we can learn together! Wether shit hits the fan now or not, I wan’t to continue learning how to be self sufficient and bringing others along with me so we can build strong communities.

If you aren’t following the war in Iran and the action in the straight of Hormuz…at this point I don’t know how that’s possible, I think we are all aware. And no matter what you think of the why’s and wherefores surrounding this, it’s certain that we are headed for a very intense next couple of months, at least. Even if the straight opens again right now, we will already have a definite lag in oil supply and very possibly an extended shortage. Along with that comes a chain reaction of issues that will effect everything from food production to power supply, or even internet connectivity. Experts are predicting a global food emergency- this isn’t to scare you, but it’s a reality we need to plan for. The lag between oil shortages and an effect on food prices tends to be 4-6 months though, about one growing cycle, so there is time to prepare for this.

For many families, even a couple of weeks of this could be catastrophic as we tend to live pretty ‘day at a time’ with groceries and digital dependence, but it will effect everyone differently. For me, living out in Hawai’i where so many basic things are imported, I’m expecting lots more empty shelves and higher cost of basic goods.

Uncertainty is the only certainty in life, and while I have spent many hours in the past down conspiratorial rabbit holes, catastrophising about tomorrow, I have chosen to land instead on peaceful preparedness. Living in fear and obsession does nothing but steal peace, and ultimately I have to feed, clothe, and love my kids every day regardless of what comes, and will continue to do so as the world changes. But, I can also continue to improve my awareness and self sufficiency so that we are resilient to whatever comes our way.

Emergency preparedness doesn’t mean ‘doomsday prepping’, it means educating, planning and preparing for all kinds of emergencies- sudden financial hardship, unexpected medical accidents, fire, floods, or….major societal shutdown due to crazy oil prices. Whatever.

It means decreasing your dependence on external forces so that you are increasingly the architect of your own existence. It means having plans in place for reasonably imaginable scenarios. It means storing up your little acorns in the fall so that you have food to see you through til spring.

I’m honestly behind on this- it’s something I’ve been intending to be more proactive about for years but Ms Procrastinator 3000 over here loves to wait til the last second just to keep things exciting. So, even though I’ve been watching it come for so long and saying we should prepare for some kind of big, uncomfortable shift, it appears it has taken multiple invasions, a war, an oil crisis to kick my butt in gear.

Here’s how I’m prepping.

I’m preparing mainly for- food shortage, basic goods price increases and decreased power availability/higher electric bills. We’re talking analog swaps, homemade goods, cheap and lasting food supply, sustainable solutions and unplugged information.