I am by nature a planner. I feel much better when I have a plan in place no matter what the event may be. It helps me feel prepared for any situation that may arise. Once I have planned, then I am able to relax and enjoy the event. This is true for most things except one… emergency situations.

I have not been able to create a plan for what my family would do in an emergency situation (natural disaster or any other emergency) because the thought of my girls being in that type of situation sends me into a panic attack. I can imagine how scared they would be. It is also very overwhelming for me to think about what items we would need. How many days would we be in this situation? How old will the girls be and what will they need/want. Will we have a pet to care for?

Because my previous fear of an emergency situation has almost been paralyzing at times, my new outlook is to take that fear and turn it into motivation….motivation to come up with a plan because plans give me a feeling of being in control.

We live in the Pacific Northwest. For as long as I can remember, we have been told that we could have a major earthquake any day. Every 300-500 years, the Pacific Northwest has a strong earthquake. Well, it’s been 300 years so any day could be “the big day.” Our city is full of older buildings and homes that likely will not remain standing during a big shake. Reports from engineers have said that after a major earthquake, it is likely that our streets will be filled with building debris making driving difficult.

We are also in an area that experiences flooding to some degree almost every winter and in the last 50 years, we have had several floods that caused areas of the population to be evacuated from their homes or stranded in their homes.

To prepare for an emergency in our geographic area, I really should be planning for an earthquake that destroys our home, wipes out utilities and transportation, and preparing for possible flooding. Today my girls are 4 and 6. In addition to food, first aid and other necessities for us and our pet, I will want to have some comfort items for them.

My first stop in preparing for this unknown emergency was a visit to Grandma’s Country Foods. Grandma’s Country Foods specialize in emergency  preparedness and food storage. For our review, we received samples of freeze-dried meals, a large can of Everest Mountain Beef & Mashed Potatoes and a large can of Country Cream Non-Fat Instant Milk.

I made a few of the meal samples for my daughters. They really enjoyed the Baked Potato Cheese Soup. While they enjoyed their potato soup lunch, it gave me the opportunity to talk to them about emergency situations. We started making a list of what we should have in our emergency kit.

This is just the beginning of our planning. It is nice to know that if/when we find ourselves in a situation where we need to have freeze-dried meals, the nice people at Grandma’s County Foods have made sure that there are delicious and comforting meals available.

Do you have a plan for emergency situations? Do you have food  stored? Grandma’s Country Foods is a great place to go for supplies.

Laurie

Hello, my name is Laurie. My family and I live near the Oregon coast. When we aren’t at work, in school, or on the volleyball court, we enjoy traveling, cheering for our favorite sports teams, playing outdoors, and checking off items on our bucket list. We are lucky in that both sets of our parents, as well as our siblings and their families, live within an hour of us. We get together often to help one another out, celebrate milestones, and go on adventures together.

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