Reply #64: We finally ordered two disaster kits from Costco. Link [View All]

The Emergency Food Kit (275 servings in a weather-proof bucket, 20 year shelf life, $79.99) and the Emergency Supply Kit ($74.99, 20 year shelf life, weather proof bucket, includes radio and water filtration system)

I have been trying without success to make my own kits -- for one thing, the canned goods kept expiring over time -- ever since the Loma Prieta earthquake, so these are a godsend. The food is dried. The fact that they are in buckets means I can stack them in a closet in the house and have some chance of finding them again. The buckets are about the size of laundry detergent or cat-litter buckets.

I saw these in a Costco 150 miles from home, and knew they were exactly what I wanted. Our local warehouse doesn't carry them, so seeing them in the online catalog was great.

As soon as we get some time Mr. H and I will open up the buckets and look everything over.

Our location on the Central Coast (Santa Barbara vicinity) is geographically vulnerable to natural and manmade disasters, and the message of the Drowning of New Orleans was "You're on your own, suckers." Even if FEMA is restored to its former competence we still need to be able to take care of ourselves for awhile if we survive the Big One.

I am so sorry for the troubles in China and Burma right now. Those poor folks are just screwed. Apparently China has good building codes on the books, but the frenzy of construction over the past decade or so has left a lot of that by the wayside. I'm just not seeing much rebar in all that shattered concrete. Otoh, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake will level just about any human structure.

Hekate

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