Since moving to California and not having family less than a few miles away, I have been more concerned about disaster preparedness. Living in Utah gave me peace of mind because it seemed like EVERYONE is prepared (food storage, water barrels, first-aid kids, etc). I feel like it is a different scenario here in California.
I got thinking about what would happen if there were riots in LA or a terrorist attack and suddenly there was a run on the bank, gas station, grocery stores. It's a scary thought if you are not prepared. So I decided to make some goals on the things we need to work on as a family to be more prepared.
1. Have mini (fanny-pack) size first-aid kits in our cars- FINISHED this one while making the big kit-super easy.
2. Family Survival First-aid/Hygiene kit -FINISHED! well almost-still have some little things to add
3. WATER- always have at least 3 or 4 cases of water bottles(costco) in our garage-this is super easy, I just pick up a few more every time I go to Costco or the grocery store
4. Store Gasoline in our garage -Still need to work on this. Think about if you need to get out of town or evacuate fast.
5. Make 72-hours kits --I'm going to find a good list for this one
6. Work on consolidating our food storage
This post is all about #2. Here is my list that I used for my homemade first-aid/hygiene kit:
JUST SO YOU KNOW: this is the very thorough list. These are not ALL necessities. My kit doesn’t have all of these yet (I’m still working on it). You can pick and choose what your family will need the most. Suprisingling you can fit it all in a backpack-especially after you take things OUT of the packages.
I’m going to put ******** next to the items that I feel are a necessity for all people.
Get a backpack to put everything in. I don’t recommend RED because you might NOT want that kind of attention in an actual end of the world scenario.
**Get a small notebook and pen and write expiration dates of everything so you can keep track of what you have in there*** A pen and paper is also good to journal/take notes of things as they are happening in a disaster situation.
INFECTION PREVENTERS
- Nitrile or Vinyl Gloves ***(no latex- ppl are deathly allergic)
- masks (surgical or N95-swine flu) - not necessary to have but still good to prevent infection
- bulb syringe (use to clean out babies noses) or medicine syringe-*** just ask your local pharmacy and they will give you them for FREE- Use to irrigate wound
- Alcohol Pads***- clean wounds/skin
- Betadine pads or liquid- used to clean wounds and disinfect water
- Bacitracin***- antibiotic ointment (better than neosporin)
BANDAGES/WOUND CARE
- Fabric band aids*** (try to get non latex)-all sizes
- Gauze rolls
- ABD pads ***(amazon) or feminine pads-to stop bleeding
- 2x2 or 4x4 gauze pads
- ACE bandage***
- q-tips
- Bandage scissors*** (amazon)
- Paper tape, medipore or cloth tape (amazon)***
- Matches*** (to sterilize needles/safety pin)
- Duct tape***
- Super glue*** - good for small cuts
- Safety pin***
- Sterile Saline solution or water***- I just bought a huge thing of contact solution (to clean wounds)
- Burn gel/cream
- Hydrocortisone cream/ bug bite relief***
MEDICATIONS
- Infant/Childrens
- Tylenol***
- Ibuprofen***
- Benadryl ****must have***
- your doctors recommended dosage chart for those under 2 years old
- Adults Medicine ( you can do more than this if you want. If you have left over precription meds I would include them, Especially pain pills/muscle relaxers and ibuprofen 800. They don’t really expire when they say they do)
- Ibuprofen*** (advil, aleve)
- Tylenol*** (acetiminophen)
- Diphenhydramine (benadryl)*must have***
- cold medicine (optional)
- Tums (calcium carbonate)
- Stool Softeners (colace)
- Loperamide (immodium) for diarrhea
- EpiPen- if you have someone in your family with a life-threatening allergy (need a prescription to get one)
OTHER STUFF
- thermometer***
- mini flashlight/ batteries***
- tweezers***
HYGIENE ITEMS-all are pretty necessary
- toothpaste/ toothbrush
- soap
- hand sanitizer
- tampons/pads
- baby wipes/ diapers***
- lotion
- sunscreen***
- bug repellent ***
- Depending on your family- you may need child/infant medications and hygiene items like diapers/wipes, diaper rash cream.
WHERE TO BUY THIS STUFF: Most of this stuff I kind of had lying around my house (wipes, toothbrush, medicine, tweezers, scissors, flashlights, tampons, etc)
- COSTCO: Try to find someone to go in on some of the stuff and split with you
- medicine is cheap in their generic brand
- Aspirin 325 mg or baby aspirin 81 mg
- ibuprofen and tylenol (acetaminophen)
- Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
- Baby/kids medicine (tylenol, ibu, and benadryl)
- Alcohol Swabs
- Contact Solution
- Nitrile Gloves
- bandaids
- AMAZON.COM ( especially if you have prime-free shipping)
- Some things I found were cheaper or similar to walmart/target prices and I just order them here for convenience
- wound care items (gauze, tape, abd pads, burn cream, bacitracin, scissors)
- TARGET/WALMART
- these tend to be cheaper than CVS, walgreens, rite aid
- medicine is in smaller sizes which is nice
- their store brand generic items are cheaper
First-Aid guide book? Here are few I thought looked good.
- http://www.amazon.com/Preppers-Emergency-Survival-Medicine-Handbook/dp/1500579181/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1410649427&sr=8-6&keywords=survival+first+aid+guide
love this! todd and i just updated our 72 hour kits for FHE a couple weeks ago! i think about this kind of stuff all the time too! this is a great list! thanks for info!!! hope you guys are loving california!
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