Living in Christchurch has given us a new view of emergency food supplies. We had one, sort of, and it consisted mainly of tinned stuff.
Trust me, after 3 days you do not want to open yet another can of anything.
So I've adapted my store to include a wider variety.
Besides the dried pastas etc I have polenta, couscous, a large packet of dried skim milk, a yoghurt making thing and dried yoghurt packages. There is also long life pouches of apple sauce and the likes. I keep a container that can hold 6 kgs of flour full, and my supply of baking powder is almost legendary now lol. There is a small container of yeast, but I'm not that worried about it... when there is no power its easier to make scones etc than it is to make a loaf of bread.
One thing they don't mention is loo paper. There is nothing worse than running out of loo paper and not having any way of getting any. So there is a large pack in the back of the laundry now. (Thank the lord for double ply handy towels
though the waste water people are probably still cursing.)
Besides the alcohol based hand cleaners, I'd also suggest a big bottle of mouth wash, and the dry shampoo stuff. Also for the ladies, a stock pile of sanitary products, especially if there are more than one or two of you. Don't forget that stress can work 2 ways on a monthly cycle - stop it cold or bring it on.
Every time I go to the supermarket now I get something for the kit. We still have the staples of tinned products, but there is way more variety. The Warehouse also has a big sale on those white containers on wheels fairly regularly... they're a godsend.
We still don't really have enough water stored. But there is NEVER a day there isn't bleach in the laundry and the bbq is always kept full of gas now so we can boil water either on top of the freestanding fire or on it. I'm not too fussed about storing water... we have a 4wd, so if worse comes to worse we can take the containers to the river and fill them there. It's a lot easier to store 4 empty water containers than it is to store them full. After each quake, priority #2 (getting the family together being #1) is filling the water containers. Luckily we have had water at the tap all the way through - just not anything you would want to drink for a while.
While I'm at it... have a look in your pantry. Is it anything like mine with bottles, cans, packets etc stored in a fairly orderly fashion on shelves? Can it! You have no idea of the mess and how much stuff you will be throwing away. You can get holder that screw into the back of the pantry doors. Put ALL the glass items in these, together with anything liquid that can (and will) explode when thrown on the floor when a couple of mega tonnes get released. Everything else gets put on the shelf but as soon as it's opened it goes into sealed containers. Still probably going to make a mess, but not nearly as bad. Latches on the pantry doors isn't a bad idea either. It will still fall out when you open it, but you can at least control the flow.
That's it for now. I'm sure there's other stuff I can mention but I need to sleep now lol
