What food should I carry for an evacuation?
“There are many kinds of emergency food…
Which ones are best??”
“There are 5 people in my family.
How much food do we need?”
“I have my emergency bag in my home.
I can not carry it all the time.”
Evacuation? If and when it happens, it will be an out-of-the-blue occurrence. We might easily panic and have no idea how to quickly evacuate from our home. Just in case that emergency does happen, most people have already set up their emergency bags (or kits) in their home and are ready to bring them during an evacuation. Just think for a moment. Do earthquakes always happen when you are home? No no no… you might be in the shopping mall, on the bus, or even out riding your bicycle. If that is the case, then how are you supposed to get the emergency bag you prepared? The one that’s sitting at home?
In reality, you might have nothing except your own body and the clothes you’re wearing, when the time comes to evacuate. The highest priority is your life. Your top priority is not to grab your emergency bag. I know, you spent a lot of your valuable time preparing your emergency supplies, but always, always, always, your life comes first. Please don’t forget that.
When you first make your emergency bag (or kit), the natural tendency is to put a lot of things in it. Then when you put it on (or pick it up), you realize your bag is too heavy. There’s no way you can run while carrying your emergency bag. You must set up your emergency bag so that its weight is appropriate for you. You need to be able to carry it and run with it. I know you are worried, and you want to set up lots of supplies, just in case. But if you can not carry the emergency bag, all your hard work will be for naught.
Nowadays, emergency bags come in two types. One is the compact (portable) emergency bag to help you get back home during a crisis, and another one is the emergency evacuation bag to carrying during an evacuation from your home. Today, I will talk about the compact (portable) emergency bag.
The compact emergency bag will be inside your shoulder bag, backpack, tote bag, crossbody bag, or the like, which you carry whenever you go somewhere, like school, work, shopping, etc. Mainly, you need the compact emergency bag to help you get back home. If a big earthquake hits your office, and it’s a 3 hour walk back home, you might need water and little snack for energy. It’s a good idea to have water and some food in your bag, at all times. I usually carry one small water bottle, one youkan (see post #50), a few candy tablets, and salt in my shoulder bag. Even when it’s not an emergency, if I am hungry, I eat them (see “lucky food”, post #43 ). After I eat them, I replace them (see “first in, first out”, post #42).
Point
• Pick foods, which are shock-resistant and won’t melt, to keep in your bag, all the time.
• Use a small bag, which is easy to swap out with another small bag.
• Choose food that is easy to eat.
It’s the best if each family member has their own compact emergency bag in their backpack or purse. They’ll have it all the time, whenever they go out.
How about water? Please get used to bringing your own thermos or bottle of water, all the time. It will become a habit. If you have small kids, they might drink all of their water, quickly, especially when it’s hot out. In an emergency, you can ration your kids’ water with a very small cup or bottle cap. Set limits on your kids’ water consumption so that whatever little water you have will last until you get home.
It’s easy to buy an emergency supply bag over the internet, that’s pre-loaded with supplies. But the bags that are pre-stocked with emergency supplies are set up for everybody, and it’s not just for you. The food might not be to your taste. If you buy one of the emergency kits online, please sample the food, and if you don’t like it, swap the edibles out with food that’s more to your liking. You likely already know by now… what size bag you carry, and under what circumstances? When I use a small shoulder bag (cellphone size), I start to become uneasy. Usually, when I go out, the size of the bag I choose depends on how far away from home I’m going. Recently, my small bag is less and less in my closet.
I will talk about food for the emergency evacuation bag in my next post.
See you next time.
Remember, “Protect your life by yourself” （自分の命は自分で守る). You need to survive first, and then you need your emergency supply. No matter how well you prepared your emergency supplies, if you die, then all of your preparations will have been for nothing. First and foremost, keep your health up all the time. Build your stamina so that if you need to, you can evacuate as quickly as possible. Stay healthy.