Family Survival Essentials

The Survival Rule of Threes is a convenient way of memorizing the order of importance for each basic survival necessity. In extreme survival situations you cannot survive more than:

* 3 minutes without air or blood
* 3 hours without shelter
* 3 days without water
* 3 weeks without food
* 3 months without hope

Keep this in mind when planning for your family survival essentials.

If you live in Urban, Suburban, Earthquake, Hurricane or Flood Zones you MUST have a relocation plan. You need to be aware of circumstances so you can make your decision to relocate well in advance of the need.

Shelter in Place
The decision to stay put is primarily based on the extent of your preparations of your family survival essentials, the stability of your home and your personal safety in a given situation. Considerations include:

1. Safety and security of your residence and surrounding area
2. Practical extent of your food and water supplies
3. Effect of high heat or extreme cold if electricity is lost
4. Effect of loss of pure water supply
5. Alternate sanitation capacity

Bug-Out Option
If relocating is the best option for a specific event, consider these basic criteria:

1. A pre-established and prepared place to go
2. A reliable means of travel, including alternate means
3. Enough time get there safely before a mass migration from your area
4. What to take
5. What to leave behind

Pros & Cons
Staying at your urban or suburban residence, if adequately stocked, may be the best option for you if you have no prearranged and stocked place to go. Even if you do have a retreat option such as a pre-arranged plan to stay with a relative, ensure your plan includes the ability to stay put for a short time while the wave of any social unrest passes. In times of crisis, large population centers can become dangerous. If you fail to see the signs of impending natural disaster or civil collapse soon enough, it may not be safe to travel right away.

Even if you plan for long term survival in-place, your plans should include a relocation element taking your family survival essentials with you. Events such as wild fires, flooding, mass migration through your area, and extreme social unrest can turn even the best urban/suburban retreat into an unsafe place.

Bugging Out
Think about where you spend your day. In the event of a fast developing event you may get cut off from your residence and supplies. Keep a small bug-out-bag (BOB) ready at home, at work, and in every vehicle. Check your bag every month and refresh your water and food stocks. Be prepared to carry your bag over moderately long distances. Proper forethought and smart packing will keep it as light and comfortable.

Wilderness Survival Skills
Don't plan on heading for the hills and living in the forest with your survival supplies. This is the worst option you can choose. However, there are some wilderness skills that can see you through even in urban areas. You don't need to become a proficient back-woodsman, but you do need to know how to tell direction, start a fire, locate and purify water, select secure temporary sites and a few skills that will help you on your trek to a safe, well stocked place. No matter how far away from your safe place, don't depend solely on personal or public transportation to get you there.

Water is essential to survival - for you and your pets. And, you may also need to have your own source of water for bathing, washing dishes, food preparation, and sanitation. Most water has a shelf life of only one year, so use your stored water as your bottled drinking water, replacing it as needed, so your water supply will always be fresh. If you are not able to use the water fast enough to keep the supply fresh, use the expired water your flowers, rinse your hair, or flush the toilet. Rinse the bottles out, then refill the bottles with fresh water to enhance family survival essentials. Even good water bottles cannot be refilled more than once or the plastic may leach into the water. This is another reason to keep buying fresh water and rotating them to the back of the line. Mark bottles that have been refilled a second time so they will not be used for drinking. After a disaster, you can still use this water for baths, washing hair, and flushing the toilet, etc.

You need to have enough clean water on hand to allow for at least 1 gallon per person per day and a half gallon per regular pet (less for the hamster and more for the horse) per day for drinking and food preparation. Another family survival essentials tip is to collect rainwater for gardens and toilets.

You can purchase fresh bottled water in stackable containers, or have bottled water delivered to your home. Find out the shelf life of the water by reading the labels. You can even find some large containers of water that have a spigot for filling cups easily or to act as a faucet for washing hands.

Fill your own containers with tap water. This water can last up to a year. Rinsed-out, two-liter soda bottles are great for tap water. They are free, have lids to keep the water clean, are not too heavy, and are small enough to store in lots of places. Storing some of these filled bottles in the freezer will also keep your food colder while saving on your electricity bill (leave some room in the top of the bottle for expansion as the water freezes). They can also be used in the refrigerator in a power shortage to keep food cold. (Remember that soda bottles may be filled with tap water once for drinking, and only for utility water after the second or third filling.) When the water in the bottles is too warm to keep food cool, you can also drink it.

Be prepared for the coming food shortage.


Face it, when a crisis arises, you and your family will be on your own. And if you want to be able to help others, you will need to have a basement full of stored foods not only for your family survival essentials but also as a barter for goods and services. Just imagine the peace of mind you'll enjoy knowing your family will have enough to eat no matter what happens! Lastly, you will finally say good-bye to being a super market slave. Every time you go to your basement or pantry and grab a jar of your private food supply, you are truly self-sufficient and finally off the establishment food grid while stocking up on family survival essentials. .

Most canned foods will store safely for several years, and more things come in cans than you may realize. This is a good way to have potatoes and other vegetables last nearly forever. Fruits are always in season when they come from a can. You can even find roast beef, chicken, turkey, salmon, tuna, corned beef, and more main-dish items in cans. Several types of chunky soups or canned stew make a hearty meal when served over rice or potatoes, or with bread or crackers.

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You don't have to be an Old Testament prophet to see what's going on all around us. A desperate lower class demanding handouts. A rapidly diminishing middle class crippled the government. An aloof, ruling elite that has introduced us to an emerging totalitarianism which seeks control over every aspect of our lives.

As the meltdown progresses, one of the first things to be affected will be our nation's food supply. Expect soaring prices along with moderate to severe shortages and your family survival essentials will only last so long. If you don't have the ability to grow your own food next year, your life may be in danger. Supply lines for food distribution in this country are about three days, meaning a dependence on "just in time" distribution systems, which will leave store shelves empty in the event of even the smallest crisis diminishing your family survival essentials.

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It stinks when the power goes out like the wind and ice storms of last year. Even if you were prepared for all the generators being sold out in hours only to find that you had to go looking for a gas station with power so that you could refuel it? There are just some things that we absolutely have to have power to run both short term and long term to meet your family survival essentials.