Emergency Kits Earthquakes Expired Meds and Old Canned Food

The recent earthquakes in California and round the world have prompted us to take the time to renew our earthquake emergency supply box.

The box itself, and some of what is in the box we  inherited from grandma's supplies before she moved.  She has her new kit all in a five gallon can now.  The theory is you can grab it and take it with you,  but she said even that would be hard for her to lift.

We have a large box outside.  Inside our kit there are some satchels we could carry if necessary.  Why am I blogging about this?  Well, just to remind you to be prepared and even if you have been prepared in the past, you might want to check out the condition of your emergency supplies. Our  aging batteries needed to be replaced with newer ones.

I  guess if we were stranded we wouldn't mind if the beans were a little outdated, but we may not have been  able to "eat those beans, sister and like them."

And if you need a  painkiller, you at least want it to be marked good for this century, right? Out goes the 1999 bottle. So the good news is, we haven't needed the supplies that we've set by. 

When we took a break today we ate a can of wild salmon that was "best before July 2010."

If we were stranded we wouldn't be too worried about the BPA's in the canned food, but generally I have been trying not to buy canned food at all. And I must say, those pretty dry beans I have in glass jars look lovely in the pantry and I really do mean to remember to soak them the night before and cook them nice and slowly more often than I do.

But hey, today we remembered and acted upon cleaning and renewing our emergency supplies.  Just a little trip to the store and we will be all done.

The suggested things to stow might be different for your area so check it out with your local agency and see what you should have on hand.  Storing water is always important. Hopefully you will never need it, but you'll be glad to have it if you do.

 What a great collection of items were in the smaller little blue box packed back when by Grandma and Grandpa...safety pins, scissors, water purifers, a knife, bandages, reading glasses, soap, lighters, matches, pain pills, toothbrushes and .... yes, Grandma, we put the bottle of  brandy back all intact. Age in brandy is good thing, right?