Preparing For A Natural Disaster

[come dance with me]

I have to make a pack for cyclone season.

What do you put in a disaster pack if you live in an area prone to natural disasters?

We are lucky in that our house is always safe and dry but we often lose power for up to a month and we are flooded into our street for up to a month at a time too. Usually our crops are destroyed from either wind or rain.

How much of everything would you normally have in your emergency pack?

[PadmeMaster]

I haven't yet made an emergency pack, but I would think that foods like rice that all you need is water to make would be good. Canned beans too. My parents are foster parents and the recommended amount of food is like 1 can per person per meal per day of "non-perishables" (per kind; they say a lot of different kinds, too).. So maybe 2-3 bags of rice, extra water, 7-14 cans of beans/greanbeans/etc that tastes good cold.. Personally, I might also buy a few bags of pretzels, but there's no way they'd last until the actual emergency... If they made the week

[mamaw]

Since you say you can be without power for a month you need to stash whatever you eat for at least a month. You can cook on a grill.. Canned goods,jerky, water , medicines, batteries, a generator is nice so you can run your fridge or & freezer to save your food supply...Many foods can be eaten directly from the can ie: baked beans, dinty moore beef stew,salmon, tuna,dries fruits & veggies. crackers, pretzels,cheese wiz., peanut butter, protein bars& shakes

...long term food storage is wonderful all you need is water & many reheat directly in the bag. You can google gluten-free long term food storage & many sites will pop up, you can order by the can or by cases.. Alot keeps for 20 years or more... hth mamaw

[Austin Guy]

How about an evacuation route?

[Reba32]

I'm more partial to the low-carb survival kit personally, and you need protien sources just as much or more than rice IMO! You need cans or vacuum packs (vacuum packs weigh less) of tuna and/or salmon, dried meats, packages of dried beans (less expensive, more meals than canned, and lighter to carry if you have to evacuate!), packages of nuts, trail mix, dried fruits, gluten free snack bars (Dr's CarbRite, Lara Bars, a few other options), about 4 litres of water per person and pet per day (don't forget your pets!), a water filter (backpacker's type not Brita type) and water treatment tablets, and fire starter. That's just the basics

Backpacker freeze dried packaged foods are unfortunately not gluten free, nor are MREs or emergency kit foods, so if you're in a disaster prone area, you really have to have your own ready to go.

[BethJ]

I try to keep my pantry well-stocked year-round so when hurricane season arrives, I don't have to go out and buy a fortune in canned and shelf-stable food. When one threatens, I only have to pick up a few extras.

We now have a generator which should help considerably. Last time we were without power for four days so cooking things like rice isn't a good option. Since then, I've kept a few of those ready-to-eat shelf stable rice packages on hand.

My kitchen is basically gluten-free so I don't have to worry about special food just for me.

[come dance with me]

With the last cyclone that hit it was pretty much the size of our entire state so we did leave town but it still went inland to where we fled to. At the time of our cyclone in North Qld the southern half of the state was flooded and so was Victoria and New South Wales and the Northern Territory was on cyclone alert while Western Australia was on fire along with parts of South Australia and Tasmania is too small to cope with the rest of the country. I know heaps of people went there but they had nowhere to stay because everywhere was booked out. We are ve*an too which means no tuna or canned meat of any kind for us.

[kareng]

There are gluten-free freeze dried camper meals. I know my son had some on his backpacking/canoeing trip. Chicken & rice and the green beans were good. He isn't gluten-free, some of th items just happened to be. Not sure what company they are from. If someone is interested, I could give them the outfitter's email.

Not sure the availability in other countries.