Unprepared

That is what we are.

For family home evening tonight we had a "surprise" preparedness drill. A fake phone call alerted us to a Chemical spill on the freeway near our home and gave us 5 minutes to gather everything we would need to survive for the next 3 days. Everyone scrambled and five minutes later we found ourselves all loaded in the van. Our lack of preparedness was then obvious:

We had only a jug of apple juice. No water.
Our only source of shelter,warmth and bedding were two pillows and a Maddy sized poncho.
Our shoes were mostly flip flops, church shoes or sandals.
Only 2 of us had a change of clothing.
We had $10 cash.
Our food consisted of a half eaten loaf of raisin bread, a half eaten box of crackers and a box of granola bars.
Our partial 72 hour kit and comprehensive first aid kits were still in the basement.
And we totally had forgotten about the dog.

Worst of all, during those 5 minutes we managed to misplace Elsie. Turns out she had gotten her shoes and climbed into the car like she was supposed to. We lost precious time figuring that out, however.

To our credit we had plenty of diapers and wipes, toothpaste, a full tank of gas and our important documents. But not the wills.

We decided that not only should we have a complete 72 hour kit, but also an evacuation plan that included stewardship of little ones and pets. Although I knew where the 72 hour kit and first aid kits were, no one else did. And I couldn't carry them and the baby, and so I had focused on the documents and diapering needs. Hopefully, in a real emergency we would have more than 5 min, but even so it probably would be better to keep our emergency stuff more accessible to the car, and have everyone clearly know where it is.

So, now we have a plan of who does what and takes care of whom. Securing the little ones in the car will be first on the list. And in the coming weeks I am going to finally get that 72 hour kit up to date and complete. We are then going to redrill and see how we do....

My preparedness mission for this week: 2 gallons of water per person per day for drinking/sanitation and cooking needs. For our family that is 14 gallons. I'm thinking that three of these might be the way to go.