Note: This is day 13 of National Preparedness Month. Follow this year’s campaign on Twitter by searching for the #NPM or #NPM12 hash tag.
This month, as part of NPM12, I’ll be rerunning some updated preparedness essays (like this one) , along with some new ones.
# 6552
Almost 5 years, and roughly 5,600 blogs ago (Nov. 1, 2007 to be precise) I posted an essay called Hickory Farms Will Hate Me For This, where I suggested that instead of buying ugly neckties, holiday-themed sweaters, or an assortment of unidentifiable cheeses for the people on your holiday gift-giving list - that you give them preparedness items instead.
This epiphany came to me one fall day a few years back when I was rummaging through a local warehouse closeout store and found a bin of `shake’ LED flashlights on sale for .77 cents each. You know the type, you shake for a few seconds and it powers the flashlight for several minutes.
I bought 40 of them on the spot, and that Christmas they ended up as `stocking stuffers’ for all of my friends.
Since then, whenever possible, I give preparedness items as gifts. And every year I update that original blog with some of the new preparedness gifts I’ve found or purchased.
The great thing is, many of these items can often be had for just a few dollars, yet they can be lifesaving (or at least important to have) in an emergency.
While I’m not endorsing any specific product or manufacturer, below you’ll find examples of some of the preparedness items I’ve either bought for myself, or for family and friends over the past few years.
A couple of years ago I ran across a deal on LED headlamps, and bought about 20 of them for $2 apiece. The following year, I found LED Cap lights (they clip to the bill of a baseball style cap) for $3 each, which I confess I like even better.
Hands free light can be a real plus in a crisis. These too ended up in a number of people's Christmas and birthday packs.
During the year I keep my eye out for bargains such as these, and stock up when I find things on sale.Several years ago I picked up a number of LED lanterns for $3 apiece at a closeout store. They are particularly nice, and run about 40 hours on a set of AA batteries.
But last year, I found a newer item; a combination LED lantern/flashlight that sells for about $5, and it is rapidly become my new favorite. Lightweight, versatile, and cheap. A hard combination to beat.
This year, I’m seeing a lot more variety in LED lanterns and flashlights, providing a lot more bang for the buck. Not only do LEDs run a long time on a set of batteries, unlike gas lanterns, they don’t pose a fire safety hazard.
Every home should have a battery operated radio, yet many do not. A few years ago I bought my daughter a combination windup-battery-solar AM/FM/SW radio for under $40, and she uses it every day.
Last year, I found a combination AM/FM Weather ALERT radio at a discount store for under $20. Again, every home and business should have an emergency alert radio.
A pair of the FRS radios, like the ones I highlighted in this blog, would make an excellent gift for many families, and can be had for less than $25.
For Christmas a couple of years back I put together some first aid kits, and distributed them to a number of friends and relatives. You can either put one together yourself, or purchase one already assembled.
Living as I do in hurricane country, I’m always aware of the need to store water for emergencies. One of the items I’ve purchased for friends (and myself) are those collapsible 5-gal water carriers. For only about $5, you can store 5 gallons of water, and when not in use they fold up for storage.
Although a bit pricier, I’ve also purchased emergency water filter/purification systems for several friends over the years. Here you’ll find a number of options ranging from purification tablets (chlorine or iodine based) for under $10, to high capacity filtration systems like the one below for about $200.
In between you’ll find a lot of filtration options in the $20 -$60 range, but I’m particularly pleased this year to see the LifeStraw ® is now available in the United States and Canada; at just 2 ounces, this personal water filter will reportedly filter 1000 liters down to .2 microns.
Not bad for around $20.
Even MREs can make an excellent gift, and a couple of years back I found cases of them heavily discounted at my local Costco warehouse.
Battery chargers, or an inverter to turn any 12 volt battery into a 120 volt electrical source make wonderful gifts as well.
Three summers ago, on a particularly hot Florida afternoon, we had a power outage that lasted more than 6 hours. I wrote about it in Sweltering In Place.
While I was already set up with a 12 volt fan, my Sister and Father weren’t so lucky. . . . they ended up driving across town to sit in an air-conditioned restaurant for several hours.
The next day, I went out and bought them each a battery operated personal cooling fan, one that will run for nearly 24 hours on 4 D-Cells.
I paid about $12 each for them.
Something as simple, and as utilitarian, as a multifunction `Swiss’ army knife or a `Multi-tool’ makes a great preparedness gift.
Another inexpensive gift idea: For under $10 you can buy a box of exam gloves, and a box of facemasks.
Joel over at Preparedness and Response came up with what I consider to be an excellent preparedness idea several years ago, giving USB flash drives to family and friends and instructions on how to back up their important papers and documents.
Inexpensive USB Drives start under $10.
He explains it in his essay Helping others prepare (Personal Preparedness), where he gives his rationale for going with the durable mil-spec and encrypted, but fairly pricey IronKey brand.
My thanks to Joel for a terrific idea.
And lastly, I've put together CD's of preparedness videos, along with copies of online manuals and preparedness guides. For the cost of a blank CD or DVD, and a little bit of my time, I've at least put this valuable information into my friend's hands.
I may just copy all of this info on to the USB drives I’m giving out this year instead of on CDs.
These are all useful, indeed, potentially lifesaving items, that most people simply don't think about needing until it is too late.
Giving them as gifts, instead of more traditional items, not only helps prepare the people you love and care about for an emergency, it opens the door for conversations about pandemic preparedness.
We need to cultivate a culture of preparedness in this country, and around the world.
We can start doing that, one gift at a time.
And one last reminder for the upcoming Holiday Season.
This year, when we think about ways to give back to our community, remember that more people will be relying on community food banks than in years past.
In addition to anything else you might do, this is a good time to go through your pantry and donate foodstuffs that are approaching (but not exceeding) their `use by' date.
