Why Every Movie Star (and Regular Person) Should Follow Ashton Kutcher’s Lead

If an earthquake hit Southern California and knocked out power for a couple of weeks, how long could you live in your home – two days, three days, a week? The simple fact is, in the event of a major man-made or natural disaster, riot, or any number of worse case scenarios, survival doesn’t favor the wealthy or the famous or the good looking, survival favors the prepared.

 When we think of people being prepared, we typically think of wild, bearded survivalists, living in bunkers, eating bark off trees. That is no longer the case. Even the government strongly recommends a minimum level of preparedness for every single American.

If the store has no food, or the roads are gridlocked, a truckload of money won’t help, so what’s on your shelves is going to be the fare for the duration.  For those that shop day-to-day, or only have refrigerated, microwaveable items on hand, it is going to be a long hungry waiting period. Don’t bank on your neighbor or the kindness of strangers, it might happen, but when you have hoards of people in the same boat, the onus is yours for taking care of your loved ones needs.

 Ashton Kutcher has become a proponent of preparedness, and his family is better off for it. Knowing your family won’t go hungry or thirsty in the event of a disaster should be a priority on everyone’s to do list.

 With a little common sense and some simple preparation, a week without power could be turned from a hungry, terrifying, nightmarish ordeal into a survivable inconvenience.

Without power, a water and sewer shut down aren’t far behind. Right now, you could go purchase four or five cases of drinking water and stick it on the shelf out of the way where it doesn’t get too hot or too cold. Depending on who you talk to, it is good for 2 years or indefinitely. I go with the latter. Put it there and forget it and you have your emergency drinking water supply. Add a dozen one gallon jugs and your sanitation and washing needs are met. Pretty simple, highly effective, extremely inexpensive.

 Food is a little different, however you can buy freeze dried and powdered items and stash them away in away in a plastic container and check on them in a year or two if you wish. Backpacker meals are available in sporting goods departments of major stores, have a long shelf life and are easy to prepare. Cans of beans, soups and other items all have long shelf lives as well and surely beat going hungry. Without food even for a day or two, life becomes incredibly miserable. Throw in some hard candy as a treat. You need to play your best game during a disaster, your loved ones are counting on it, and food and water are the make or break items.

 Get some LED flashlights and spare batteries. Worth their weight in gold as they have long run times, put out good light and allow you to read or play games to pass the time.

 Prescription Meds and a good first aid kit with OTC meds like aspirin, acetaminophen and an emergency radio with batteries so you can monitor the situation.

 The aforementioned items aren’t expensive, and will go a long way in helping you get through a disaster. They don’t include however, cooking and shelter, because hopefully you will be able to stay in your house and “shelter in place”.

 There are numerous other items that you could have on hand like a generator, emergency solar panel, water filter, camp stove, hygiene buckets, self defense items and much more, depending on how concerned you are with the future and how prepared you want to be. I would much rather be prepared and never have to use my supplies, than to find myself in the dark, hungry and thirsty because I decided to play the odds.

 Prepare now – not next week, survival favors the prepared.

 Dennis Evers is a former police chief, best selling author and preparedness consultant. His newest book is “How to Handle a Crisis” He can be reached at [email protected]