Our General Store…Aluminum Foil and Mylar Blankets

This week we learned that one out of eight families in the United States are on food stamps! How long can the government afford to keep supporting that many? They will need to reduce the programs or increase our taxes and fees to make up the shortfall. I am betting I know which one it will be.  A report this week on MSNBC said those who were storing food were “exhibiting an extreme reaction”. Really? The extreme reaction has been the action of those in Greece who are now being told the free ride must end and they are rioting in protest. I do not want to be seen walking into a grocery store if that happens here. I like Abraham Lincoln’s quote much better: “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail”.

Just a reminder, because of my concern for rising food prices and economic uncertainty,  I will send any new subscribers to the Totally Ready Newsletter a copy of our March issue which includes the information you will need to store a nutritionally balanced three month supply designed for your family’s needs, not a generic list you may find other places. Those of you who have been subscribers already have the information and the plan and now is the time to work the plan.

There have been so many questions about EMPs and Solar Flares, how we can prepare for them, and how we can live afterward, that it is time to add a few things to our General Store to help. Tomorrow we will discuss how to build a Faraday cage to protect items from the effects of an EMP. To do that we will need metal which will “repel” the effects of an electromagnetic pulse.

We can only protect a very few of our own electronic devices. Even with a radio and a few other items still in good working condition how will we use them if there is no power from the power grid? We will need to provide our own heating. We will need to cook our food in a different manner. We will need to protect our family from searing summer temperatures. Aluminum foil and emergency mylar blankets are integral to this process.

The June issue of the Totally Ready Newsletter will include an entire section devoted to cooking without power. We have already talked about a few of these including foil dinners which, of course, requires foil to be used in the cooking process. This is an issue you will definitely want to copy and include in your preparedness binder. Think about it, when the power fails you will not be able to access all the great information you have concerning survival. You will not be able to do a search for directions on the Internet. When we began our Seven Steps: 365 things to do to be Totally Ready, almost, I asked you to create a binder. Again, when we began our General Store I asked you to start a binder. This years as we commenced adding non food items to our General Store I again reminded you to add to your binder. If you have not gotten the message before now is the time to start that binder!

This past weekend I attended a HAM radio conference which was geared to emergency communications. One of the speakers was from San Diego county and spoke about the 2007 fires. The people in his community were without power for eight weeks! Two months! They had no water because wells can not pump without power. They had no light, no air conditioners, no fuel pumped at gas stations, and little help from relief organizations and the government. It does not take an EMP or a solar flare to take down the power grid for a long period of time. The past two weeks we have seen increased terrorist activities. What if they were able to take down a grid or two or three?

This week purchase aluminum foil and emergency mylar blankets. This will be an expensive week so I promise next week we will add a frugal item. Mylar blankets have dozens of uses so I have a stash of about 20 in addition to what I have in the car and in our 72 hour kits. If you aren’t sure how you would use a mylar blanket see our September 2007 post: Survival in Your Pocket or check out your August 2009 edition of the Totally Ready Newsletter for an expanded list. I also have two huge rolls of foil from Costco. You should purchase as much as you can reasonably afford. When purchasing foil; be sure to purchase heavy duty foil. You will save money as you will use less to accomplish your goals.

Join Our Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TotallyReady/

Subscribe to our Newsletter: http://blog.totallyready.com/announcing-the-totally-ready-newsletter/

Comments are closed.