New Year New Weather

A new year brings hope and optimism. It is also the perfect time to create or reassess your survival preparation. Are you ready for whatever may come at you in 2022?

With harsh winter conditions upon us in much of the country, and as we celebrate "Winter Weather Safety Week," here's a great place to start: What will I need to endure 10 days in harsh weather conditions, without power or outside assistance?

INVENTORY AND OP TEST (Operational Test)

For the following categories, take stock in what you currently have on hand and test it to make sure it works. During this inventory make sure you have enough for every individual in your household and note any gaps so corrective measures can be taken.

Food:

  1. Do you have enough for this 10-day period (times the number of individuals in your home)?
  2. Is the food still stable/edible?
  3. Is it still properly stored and free of any rodent infestation?

An obvious and simple solution is 4Patriots Survival Food. It lasts up to 25 years and comes in a secure storage bin. You simply add water, and it tastes GREAT!

Water: The juice of life. A human can survive up to 3 weeks without food, but only about 3 days without water.

  1. Plan to have a minimum of 1 liter of water per person/day.
  2. Ensure that your water will not freeze should you experience a loss of power. Either have a way to insulate it (placing it in a cooler without ice) or purchase larger insulated storage containers.
  3. If you already store water, it is time to change it out.
  4. In a pinch you can always drain water from your hot water heater which will give you 40-50 gallons of potable (drinkable) water.

Power: Last winter during a severe storm, thousands of folks in Texas never would have thought they would be without power for weeks – but they were. If it can happen to them, it can happen to you.

  1. If you don't have the Patriot Power Generator 1800 – GET ONE! Although not a whole home solution, it is just what you need to get through a life-threatening situation like a prolonged loss of power. We received a ton of messages from those folks in Texas who owned them during their outage and they couldn't have been happier.
  2. If you do own a Patriot Power Generator 1800 – pull it out, ensure it is fully charged by plugging it into the wall until the indicator displays 100%, then test it. Get your family together and show them how to place and plug in the solar charging panels.
  3. For any other items that require a charge like your Halo XT flashlight or Patriot Power Cell – ensure they are fully charged and test them.
  4. Make sure you have NEW extra batteries on hand for items that use them.

Shelter: Let's assume you are in your home and still have a functioning roof over your head. There is a good chance that without power it is still going to get very cold.

  1. Extra sleeping bags are ideal but having blankets and winter coats will also work.
  2. Space blankets are small and also very effective.
  3. A large tarp can be worth its weight in gold if you have a hole in your roof or a broken window. Add one to your supplies.
  4. You will also want to move to an interior room of your home and close all other interior doors to maintain as much heat as possible, so come up with your plan should the need arise.

First Aid: When bad things happen, people get hurt. In addition to having an adequate first-aid kit with medical supplies that can address fractures, heavy bleeding, allergic reactions, and cold injuries, I HIGHLY recommend taking a basic first-aid course and getting CPR certified. This basic level of knowledge could save a loved one. You wouldn't want to live with the alternative.

  1. Have extra required prescription medication available again, assuming 10 days without outside assistance.
  2. Over-the-counter pain and fever reducing meds.
  3. Allergic reaction medication and cough suppressants/decongestants.

Vehicle: We spend a lot of time in our vehicles and the chances of getting into a survival situation dramatically increase when the winter weather rolls in. Just recently there were people stranded in their vehicles throughout the night on I-95 in the Washington D.C. area due to severe weather and accidents. You should go through the list above for home preparation and duplicate it to a lesser degree. Plan for 48 hours stuck in your vehicle in severe winter weather conditions. A Patriot Power Cell is a must in this case, as many of those stranded were forced to turn off their vehicles or run out of gas – you need to keep your cell phone working.

  1. Add road flares and reflective caution signs.
  2. Ensure you know where and how to use the car jack and the spare tire is in working order.
  3. Never let your gas get below ½ a tank.
  4. Keep up on your auto maintenance to include the condition of tires and wiper blades.
  5. Perform a function check on headlights, tail/brake lights, hazard lights.

Understand that preparation is 90% of surviving any life-threatening situation. If you take a little time to perform the above tasks on an annual basis you will find yourself in a vastly better position to tackle that "worst case scenario" than most folks out there.

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