Plan Ahead To Prepare For Staying Low-Carb During Emergencies

Being Prepared on Low Carb Is A Necessity

I had scheduled the start of our discussion concerning dietary fats for today, but I want to say a few things about emergency preparedness first. Everyone should consider that there are natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, forest fires, tornados, and hurricanes in addition to human-caused disasters. Everyone, and every family, ought to have emergency supplies and emergency plans – this includes if you want to stay on your low-carb & keto lifestyle during emergency situations.

I recognize it is hard to talk about these things without making some readers more nervous than they already are, but denying that we might need emergency supplies will not prevent the need. I promise you will feel a lot less anxious about the immediate future once you have taken some steps to ensure that you can get through extended days of crisis successfully.

You Can’t Prepare For Every Contingency, But You Can Prepare For Most

There is no way to make arrangements for every conceivable possibility. You should recognize that there are over 331 million people in our country and the chances that you will be a direct victim of any disaster are slim. What you DO need is some emergency food and water, a few other supplies, and some general understandings with those closest to you.

Just as we can’t plan for every possible emergency, we aren’t talking here about planning for an “End of the World” scenario. You don’t have to dig a cellar and stock it with enough food for years. Society is not likely to come apart at the seams. There is no way to plan for that kind of thing.

What we are planning for is the temporary disruption of the national and local distribution systems. This can happen if the roads are not open, if warehouses burn, or if gasoline is temporarily unavailable. You don’t need to be thinking about moving to the backwoods. You only need to plan to have enough food, water, and other needed supplies for a few weeks, for each person in your household.

Di Bauer’s lists of emergency foods in other parts of the CarbSmart Magazine (unforeseen.html) will help you keep to your chosen low carbohydrate plan. There is no need for me to repeat any of those lists. But while you’re getting those foods, and even though you will want to plan for some variety, don’t buy what you don’t normally eat! For example, if you never eat canned tongue, don’t buy it for your emergency food supply. Canned tuna that you like, even without mayonnaise, is infinitely better in an emergency than canned tongue, which you wouldn’t normally touch with a ten-foot pole!

Prepackaged Foods

If there are non-low-carbers in your home, make sure to have packages of foods for them of the sort that they would expect to be eating during more usual times. A crisis situation is not the time to try to change people’s eating habits. And don’t forget to have a supply of foods for your pets, as well.

Water is a bigger problem than food since there is no way to condense it. If your municipal water is temporarily unavailable, or if the pumps won’t work because the power is off, those of us who normally drink about a gallon of water a day may have to cut back. Try to make room in your emergency supplies for five gallons of water for every person in your household. This is for drinking and cooking. Have more on hand if you have the room to store it. Washing is a nice habit. Be sure to throw a sheet over the water to keep it in the dark. This discourages the growth of algae.

Get an extra month’s supply of any necessary medicines. Get a supply of paper plates, paper napkins, and paper cups to cut down on how much dishwashing would be necessary. If you normally use an electric can opener, include a hand-crank type in your emergency supplies. Get sanitary supplies for your womenfolk, and toilet paper for everyone in the home. You will also want to have some sort of large bucket to use as a toilet, should the water be off for a while, and plastic bags with twist-ties to use as liners for the bucket. Keep the gas tanks in your cars filled, and keep your cell phone battery charged. Better yet, get an extra battery, and keep it charged, too.

Think Beyond The Essentials

If the electricity is not on, the TV and the computer games your children are used to will not be available. Collect a few board games, decks of cards, drawing materials, and other ‘low tech’ amusements. Buy a few bags of pork rinds, beef jerky, canned nuts, or other foods you and your family consider to be treats. These kinds of things help keep up morale and stave off boredom.

Your emergency supplies should be stored together in the same place, but not hidden away, because you’ll need to rotate some items. Where to put these things, you ask? In the garage, under a sheet along the wall in the back hallway, between the couch and the wall, behind the headboard of your son’s bed, under the dining room table. Be creative.

It’s Not Just About Supplies

After you have collected all your supplies, have a family meeting and insist that everyone attend. At this meeting, make certain that your family members understand the purpose of the emergency foods and make sure they know they are not to take ANYTHING from those supplies.

Make sure everyone knows what to do if an emergency should happen when some members of the family aren’t home. This could easily happen. for instance, a serious earthquake is the emergency. If the roads are impassable, it may be difficult for everyone to get home. Make certain everyone knows the plan. Who goes looking? Who stays put and waits to be found? Where will you all meet, if you are separated? At home? At Grandma’s house? What if your house is destroyed, such as in a forest fire that wipes out a whole neighborhood? These things happen, and it simply does not work for everyone to go out trying to find everyone else!

Find out where the nearest hospital and the nearest doctor’s office are located. Keep their phone numbers posted beside every phone in the house. If your child were to fall out of a tree during a time when you are using your emergency supplies, you won’t want to be traveling across town to your preferred doctor or usual choice of hospital. And get some first aid supplies. You could cut yourself in a crisis as well as any other time.

More Vital Information articles by Dr. Beth Gruber.