Stocking your pantry
Most households purchase groceries on a weekly basis, and may also do additional top up shops during the week. But think of what would happen if an emergency incident occurred that prevented access to the shops, for example where injury, illness or road closures may keep you confined at home. Most households would very quickly run out of food, especially if electricity and water supplies were affected.
While many emergencies will only extend over a few days, planning for a 14-day stay at home (possibly without water and electricity) by building and rotating items in your pantry, ensures you are prepared for a wide range of circumstances.
The Pantry list is grouped into the types of food and other essential items that may be required during an extended stay at home.
These include:
• Drinks • Pet food • Dried and long life food • Snack food • Emergency backup power supply • Baby supplies • Ready to eat canned/bottled food • Health supplies • Other items (such as prescription medications)
Naturally all households differ, and you should customize the list to suit the needs of your household.
You should also give special consideration to any family members with special needs, such as babies, young children, pregnant women, the elderly, ill or infirmed. You can start to build your supplies over time, adding more each
time you shop. Regularly check the expiry date/s of your emergency supplies, and consume or replace any items as required.
In addition to ensuring you have an adequate supply of food, water and emergency provisions, there are some other simple steps you can take to prepare for an emergency situation:
• Discuss your plans with family and friends.
• Consider how family members/friends outside your household might cope in an emergency? Would any other family members join your household in an emergency situation (e.g. parents, grandparents, adult children)? If so, you may need to consider how to include them in your plans.
• Have important phone numbers such as your family doctor, local police station, State Emergency Service, fire brigade and utility providers in a prominent place (e.g. the fridge door).
• Listen to local news and get up to date information.
Hygiene Maintain a high level of hygiene. The last thing you would want if you were confined at home, is for yourself or a family member to become ill. • Washing and drying your hands properly is one of the best ways of protecting against the spread of germs. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with either soap or an alcohol-based rub. Drying well is just as important. • Use alcohol based wipes to wash your hands and clean surfaces if water is not available. • The important times for washing and drying hands are before preparing food and eating, and after coughing, sneezing,blowing noses, wiping children’s noses, visiting the toilet or looking after sick people. • Keep your coughs and sneezes covered. Use tissues and put them straight into a covered, lined rubbish bin. • Distance yourself from sick people to reduce the spread of illnesses.
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Be prepared