7 Day Preparedness Challenge 2021

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Grimm

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It is that time of year again where I take the 7 Day Challenge. Join me or use this thread to help find and fill holes in your own preparedness preps.

It's SEPTEMBER! That means it's National Preparedness Month!

If you have followed Food Storage Made Easy for a while you'll know that every year in September we do a 7 day mock emergency challenge to help our readers practice different emergency scenarios to look for holes in their preparedness plans. Each day you are given a series of tasks you must perform as well as a number of limitations.

Your goal is to actually live through each proposed scenario and see how you "survive". You are welcome to follow along even if you don't actually participate but I promise you will gain so much more by actually going through the motions!
 
DAY 1

Welcome to the 7 Day Challenge. For 7 days, we are testing our Emergency Preparedness and Food Storage Plans. Each day will bring a NEW mock emergency or situation that will test at least one of the reasons “WHY” we strive to be prepared!

In order to receive each day’s emergency scenario in your email please sign up for the 7 Day Challenge email list.

REMEMBER: No going to a store, gas station, or spending any money for the entire 7 days! And please feel free to adapt the scenarios to fit your own family and situation.

DAY 1: Gas Leak

THERE IS A GAS LEAK IN YOUR HOME. You have 5 minutes to evacuate! You cannot turn any electronics on or off (including lights and opening your garage door) for fear of starting a fire. Grab what you can carry, make sure your kids and pets are safe, and make a plan for what you will do next. Since there is a serious risk of fire you do not know if your house will be there when you get back.
Daily Tasks and Limitations
Today’s Tasks:

  • If you don’t already have a written evacuation list, your first task is to MAKE ONE!
    (Click here to download a cute evacuation list printable you can use if you’d like)
  • Pick a surprise time sometime today when all your family will be home to evacuate (don’t tell them).
  • At your chosen time, start your timer and announce the evacuation, see how far down your list you can get in 5 minutes. (Remember you will not be able to use your car to evacuate so plan accordingly)
  • Evacuate at least a few blocks away with all of your belongings and stay away for at least 1 hour until it is “safe” to return to your home.
  • While gone, go over your insurance documents (you grabbed those didn’t you?) and make sure you have things properly documented in case of a house fire and total loss of your home.
 
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We will evacuate when K gets home.

Because we had to evacuate last September due to fire danger I have my list and know where everything on the list is and it is easy to get to. I spent the winter setting up evac totes that hold the basics for our pets (and us) and even convert to covert anti-dog litter boxes! I even have our important docs in one of the totes ready to go! The totes have wheels and a pull handle!

The only changes that need to be made is to incorporate the rabbits. I need to add a bag of pellets, water bottles and a foldable playpen (2). I have soft carriers for the cats but none for the rabbits. I need one per rabbit and maybe a large soft crate should we have kits that are not of fryer weight/age. I intend to plan our breeding around the hot and freezing months so there should be no need to evac with kits/fryers.
 
I will read along out of interest, but not participate for real. There is no way that I would want to delay my getting ready for 'winter and other stuff ' for a week, at this point in time. It's getting too down to the wire.

The scenario says no car which doesn't make sense if you own one. You can load that up with people and rabbits faster than you can load the kiddie wagon and pull or drag your stuff several blocks.

This scenario wouldn't apply in my case. An evac due to a forest fire, possibly, in which case, I am taking the truck, telling the dogs to get in, and leaving Dodge. The rest is already off site or nothing I can do about it.

In the past, we all had a travel bag, passports and $2000.00 cash per family member ready to go for those occasions where a fast exit might be needed.
 
I will read along out of interest, but not participate for real. There is no way that I would want to delay my getting ready for 'winter and other stuff ' for a week, at this point in time. It's getting too down to the wire.

The scenario says no car which doesn't make sense if you own one. You can load that up with people and rabbits faster than you can load the kiddie wagon and pull or drag your stuff several blocks.

This scenario wouldn't apply in my case. An evac due to a forest fire, possibly, in which case, I am taking the truck, telling the dogs to get in, and leaving Dodge. The rest is already off site or nothing I can do about it.

In the past, we all had a travel bag, passports and $2000.00 cash per family member ready to go for those occasions where a fast exit might be needed.

The no car bit I think implies you store it in the garage which we don't. They make mention that you don't want to cause a spark that could start a fire. My thought would be to turn off the gas going into the house and open all the windows to air it out.
 
We don't have gas either. I won't be participating, but will follow along. It did get me thinking though. I would use the large laundry basket to grab photo albums, and small basket for personal valuables & papers. There are other sentimental items, but those two are not as easy to store/pack around. I wouldn't want them in a tote in the garage etc. Paper files are relatively well organized so could essentially grab and go. Critter food is in another building so not in the house. (We don't have any critters in the house unless it's extremely vile weather.)
 
DAY 2

DAY 2: Food Shortages

NO FRESH FOOD IS AVAILABLE! Hurricanes, wild fires, ice storms, etc. have ravished farms and crops around the world leading to a global food shortage. For over a month you have not been able to buy any fresh produce, meats, or dairy from the grocery store. You must survive today cooking only out of your pantry and long term food storage!
Daily Tasks and Limitations
Today’s Tasks:

  • Cook all your meals and snacks using only pantry foods or long term storage items
  • One of your family members is having a birthday, make a dessert from scratch tonight!
  • Do an inventory of your food storage to find out how long your storage will last
    (This inventory calculator incorporates long term basics along with fruits, veggies, and meats)
  • Create a meal plan for 7 days of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners using your food storage food
 
I didn't realize this thing was already running, haven't broken the rules yet, kind of fun....

The Day 1 was a surprise, we got lucky had 72hr kits, no garage and we always have the makings for a "Go Bag" with medical supplies and fake Ice... We happened to have a beauty shop appointment for the wife, So I grabbed my "BIG" back pack, the go bag, and off we went....

Day 2, they must have read my posts... Honestly, me do a food storage inventory? I'll just read mine off the list...

Looking forward to Day 3...
 
I didn't realize this thing was already running, haven't broken the rules yet, kind of fun....

The Day 1 was a surprise, we got lucky had 72hr kits, no garage and we always have the makings for a "Go Bag" with medical supplies and fake Ice... We happened to have a beauty shop appointment for the wife, So I grabbed my "BIG" back pack, the go bag, and off we went....

Day 2, they must have read my posts... Honestly, me do a food storage inventory? I'll just read mine off the list...

Looking forward to Day 3...
Awesome!
I'm still working on my inventory list. Made good progress last weekend. I just need "time" - where can I buy that. We are short on meat at the moment due to the one freezer dying earlier this year, but our beef goes to butcher this week and hog next month. Even with our low stock in that dept. we would survive a month with no fresh foods - just might be interesting meals. Anyone up for peanutbutter and greenbeans with a side of coffee 😂
 
I already cook with what's in the pantry. The grocery store is a two hour round trip, driving only.

I would make an angel food cake from scratch. It's what we do for birthdays.

The pantry has a very long draw down time. Eg. I just put 74 meat bird chickens in the freezer @ an average of 10 lbs dressed.

7 day meal plan ....2 squares a day

Breaky=something to do with eggs and bacon, or keto quiche with cheese, veggies, bacon, fish or flavor du jour
Dinner= meat and veggies

I can do carb city as well if needed or wanted.

Inventory already in place, as much as it ever will be. I grew up this way and I know by looking, just where I am. My stock is basics and never changes except to grow or replace. I don't have much for store bought convenience foods other than building blocks like sugar, salt etc. Plain Jane old school.
 
  • Does food from the freezers count? 90% of our meals are from the pantry or freezer already. Tonight is pizza night and the dough was scratch made, sauce was made and canned last week and the cheese and pepperoni was in the freezer.
  • Juju had her birthday last week and her cake was made from scratch.
  • I have an on going inventory of our long term and pantry food storage. Every time I add LTFS I add it to the list. The pantry is not written down but you can open it and see everything.
  • Most breakfasts would be either oatmeal, dry cereal with shelf stable milk, pancakes or muffins. Lunches can be soup (canned or dry mix) or chili. Dinner can be a casserole or meat from the freezer with instant potatos/rice and frozen/canned veggies.
EC944BD8-80CE-4102-9236-E463D98D1609_1_201_a.jpeg
 
Awesome!
I'm still working on my inventory list. Made good progress last weekend. I just need "time" - where can I buy that. We are short on meat at the moment due to the one freezer dying earlier this year, but our beef goes to butcher this week and hog next month. Even with our low stock in that dept. we would survive a month with no fresh foods - just might be interesting meals. Anyone up for peanutbutter and greenbeans with a side of coffee 😂
There is a recipe for noodles with peanut butter. I think I posted it somewhere. We originally had them at a pot luck, made by a lawyer that we know from a Chinese cookbook, maybe 1001 Chinese recipes.
 
Grimm, thank you for this thread. I have been really busy lately, but I am signed up to get the emails from these two women who have been doing this for a few years. I have yet to read their emails this week, or to really look at all of this. I believe it is excellent to do, like a fire drill.
 
I want to thank @Grimm for posting this, I traced it back to the site and started looking around, it is a nice little site with lots of things like their 3 month food storage spreadsheet and their "Baby Steps" postings. It may be a little basic to some here, but it is a good resource for someone trying to get started. I also noted that they are into selling products, so there may be some things that are limited to the public free loaders (like me)...

But I think the 7 day challenge is a great idea, we all need to consider how different scenarios will impact us.
 
I want to thank @Grimm for posting this, I traced it back to the site and started looking around, it is a nice little site with lots of things like their 3 month food storage spreadsheet and their "Baby Steps" postings. It may be a little basic to some here, but it is a good resource for someone trying to get started. I also noted that they are into selling products, so there may be some things that are limited to the public free loaders (like me)...

But I think the 7 day challenge is a great idea, we all need to consider how different scenarios will impact us.

Sorry for not mentioning the site (I did link it in the above posts). I forget that this isn't PS where I posted this challenge every year. I had a whole mess of sites I would link for the newbies that joined over there that asked for advice.

Here are the previous years posts...

https://www.preparedsociety.com/threads/the-7-day-challenge-2012.12848/#post-155311
https://www.preparedsociety.com/thr...nge-food-storage-made-easy.21571/#post-291185
https://www.preparedsociety.com/thr...014-food-storage-made-easy.25551/#post-363130
https://www.preparedsociety.com/thr...015-food-storage-made-easy.28201/#post-402536
https://www.preparedsociety.com/thr...016-food-storage-made-easy.29659/#post-427396
Juju was born in September of 2016 so I didn't get to post like I did before. Then we had the exodus in 2017-ish.
 
DAY 3

DAY 3: Natural Disaster
7-Day-Challenge-2019-16.png

A NATURAL DISASTER HAS STRUCK YOUR AREA! For today’s challenge, it’s choose your own adventure. Choose a natural disaster that is common to your area and play out that scenario. Your power, water, and gas lines have all been disrupted so today we get to live a true emergency situation. How well will you “survive”?
Daily Tasks and Limitations
Today’s Tasks:

  • Come up with a list of all the common “disaster” situations that may occur in your area. For each scenario decide whether you will shelter-in-place or evacuate. Take note of any special preparations needed for that particular scenario.
  • Keep your family warm or cool with depending on temperatures where you live
  • You must cook at least two meals today using your powerless cooking tools (not just eating no-cook meals)
  • Your fridge food has gone bad without electricity, but your freezer food is still ok to use!
  • Do a fuel inventory. How many meals can you cook with the fuel you have on hand?
  • You must wash your dishes, your clothes, and yourself without using running water. If you don’t have good tools to make this convenient consider adding them to your “need to buy” list.
  • Entertain your kids (and yourself) with no electronics. If you have a way to charge devices you can use them sparingly, especially to report on your day’s challenge.
Today’s Limitations:

  • For this day, and ALL days of the challenge: no spending money, no going to stores or gas stations, and no restaurants.
  • Do not use any electricity today (a generator or solar battery charger is fine, but still try to conserve energy!)
  • Do not use running water today, even if you have well water (you can flush toilets but only with stored water, so use them sparingly)
  • No furnace, air conditioner, or swamp coolers as they require utilities
  • No cooking with gas!
Advanced Tasks:

  • Pretend your phone, laptop, ipad, etc. are all dead and you have no way to charge them. Can you live for a day without your phone? (You can report back tomorrow on your experiment)
  • Your sewage lines are backed up and you can’t use indoor toilets at all
 
To be fair, these these exercises are designed for urban folk so they are dead easy for me and I also think they are easier for us dinosaurs who knew life before the electronic age.

The only natural disaster that I have to contend with is fire. My school is out in the middle of the neighbors cow pastures and should be fine, but I would leave while the leaving is good.

The grid going down is a minor inconvenience. I spent the first 18 years of my life without it, and it is no biggy for me where I am now.

If I still had kids in the house, they would be told the time honored "find something to do, or I will find something for you to do".
I guarantee, they will go ride a bike or something before that happens. I have 50 cords of firewood that needs stacking. Oh wait, if I still had kids in the house, that firewood would already be stacked.

I will simply use the outhouse or the great outdoors. I do have a portable loo and pop up tent for road trips ect.. which will work for a town setting. I am not sure why we can't use well water if we have a way to get it out of there. I can just dip or pump water from the deep dugout in the backyard as well. I have a trash pump and fuel for it.

My work clothes/coveralls can stay unwashed till they stand up by themselves then I will just stomp on them in the old bath tub out there, and hang them on the clothesline. In the kitchen, I use aprons which serve the same purpose. I do not do laundry every day. Town clothes stay pretty clean unless a wet dog has something to say about it.

I already ignore the existence of my phone. The computer is for short work breaks, I can read a book or sew or do a puzzle.

I can cook meals for the rest of my life on the fuel that is stored or laying around. I can heat the house for five years and I don't use air conditioning.
 
I've been following along, and must admit I am thinking much like @ClemKadiddlehopper . These are really great excercises for suburban mid level preppers. The whole thing really shows the huge gulf of differences between urban preparedness and just living off grid in the middle of no where.

As examples, day 1, the gas leak. I would just go out to the tank and turn it off. Done, no evacuation anywhere. Should such a thing happen in real life and I ran off down the road as suggested, with all my stuff and dogs, and what? call the local fire department - which I am part of - and have my chief ask me if I have suddenly gone all incompetent lol. A five minute evacuation would entail, the dogs, myself and the document bag. Everything else from food to spare clothing is In the vehicle permanently. All other animals are far enough away that if there was a house fire they would be perfectly safe.

Day 2 was food. I always cook from scratch. Desserts included. I definitely do not go shopping every week let alone every day. No restaurants or take out here. I already know and have written down exactly how long my food will last and it's a lot more than the 7 days suggested.

Day 3 - why can't I cook with gas when I have a giant tank of the stuff outside? No matter anyway, over the fire it is, not a problem. And I could cook food like this indefinitely.
I am not connected to the grid for electrical, water or sewage so none of that applies in any way. No well water is also odd, my pump is solar and I have a hand pump. But no matter have a couple thousand liters in storage anyway.
Don't even own a furnace or air conditioner so that's out. Have enough firewood stacked for multiple winters, so won't be freezing. I have no kids to entertain and there is more than enough work that needs doing so boredom is not a problem. Washing of dishes, clothing and myself without running water is also a permanently set up system even though we have added running water now.
 
  • Here in California the only true natural disasters we have to worry about are earthquakes. Unless the house is falling down we could shelter in place. Last year we evaced due to a fire but the fire was started by some idiots doing a gender reveal party with a smoke canister in a dry dead field of a park that had warning signs prohibiting bbqs and camp fires.
  • Last night is got cool considering we have been running the a/c in the girls room all summer at night. We added extra blankets and wore long pjs. If it really got cold we could sleep in the den with a fire in the hearth for warmth.
  • I am a stinker and hooked the microwave to our genny to nuke left overs for lunch and K bbq'ed burgers for dinner.
  • The fridge would be hooked up to the solar genny/battery.
  • I am sure we could last a while since we can cook on the camp stoves, bbq and the hearth if needed.
  • I have a wonder wash and made Roo wash her clothes in it yesterday. She hated it but said she enjoyed washing the dinner dishes by hand.
  • The girls spent the day outside or coloring. They have plenty of toys and books to figure out how to entertain themselves. I did put Roo to work doing chores in the morning.
 
DAY 4

DAY 4: Bread Bash

YOU HAVE BEEN ENTERED INTO A BREAD-MAKING COMPETITION! Your friend entered you into the contest without telling you. At first you were a little bit mad but quickly realized it would be good practice for an emergency so you decided to accept the challenge. Good luck and may the best bread-maker win!
Daily Tasks and Limitations
Today’s Tasks:

  • Make at least one loaf of whole wheat bread.
  • Make at least one loaf of white flour bread
  • Eat your bread! (after you do the next task)
Today’s Limitations:

  • For this day, and ALL days of the challenge: no spending money, no going to stores or gas stations, and no restaurants.
  • NO JUST BUYING A LOAF OF BREAD (or having someone make it for you)
Advanced Tasks:

  • Bake the bread without using electricity
  • Also make a loaf of ezekiel bread!
 
Mmmm

I can make sourdough or yeast. White or whole wheat. For whole wheat, I would have to go out to the barn and raid the wheat stored for chickens. I would then run it through the feed grinder if I wanted a lot of loaves.

Back in the day, I made five loaves at a go. I quit making it because it never lasted long enough for the time it took out of my day.

I would prefer garlic Naan which can be made stove top in a cast iron frying pan, to eat with some Indian food. It would be a treat as I am keto to keep my weight down in my old age and it wouldn't sit there screaming, "eat me" for days.

The ezekiel, I had to look up. That's not happening. It takes some time to sprout stuff, and I am not all that interested in doing it.

People are going to have problems if they are worried about bread in a bad situation unless you are under house arrest with nothing important to do.
 
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I make bread (various types) weekly from scratch. I normally use a bread maker but I sometimes do it by hand if I want a lighter fluffier loaf. I also make our pizza dough and hamburger buns from scratch. I got this one covered.
 
DAY 5

DAY 5: First Aid Update

A NEIGHBOR RECENTLY HAD A MEDICAL SCARE AT HOME THAT CAUSED YOU TO EVALUATE YOUR FIRST AID SUPPLIES IN YOUR OWN HOME. Your task today is to go through all of your supplies and do a complete inventory as well as make a list of what items you may need to replace (expired meds) or add to your kits.
Daily Tasks and Limitations
Today’s Tasks:

  • Do an inventory of your home medical supplies. (View this post for a comprehensive supply list). Write down what you already have, what you want to have, and what you still need to get.
  • Do an inventory of the first aid supplies in your 72 hour kits and your car kits (this may be separate than your regular home medical supplies).
  • Explore some more “holistic” styles of medicine using Your Natural Medicine Cabinet as a starting point.
  • Do some research and find a CPR/first aid class in your area and SIGN UP for it.
  • Add items to your “To Buy” worksheet if there is anything expired or that you are missing
Today’s Limitations:

  • For this day, and ALL days of the challenge: no spending money, no going to stores or gas stations, and no restaurants.
  • No buying your first aid supplies today (unless you shop for them online!)
Advanced Tasks:

  • Purchase some first aid books or manuals to keep on hand as a reference when the internet is not available
 
  • Inventory was done in the Spring and updated as supplies were added since.
  • The first aid kits in the BOBs were checked and updated when the inventory was done in the spring.
  • I already make and use herbal healing in our home. I do need to make a batch of elderberry syrup before Halloween.
  • K and I both are CPR certified but mine is expired. I do watch the Red Cross CPR video once a year.
  • I just added some bigger Costco size bottles of OTC meds to our preps.
  • I have a pretty extensive medical manual collection both new/current copies and vintage/antique guides. What I have would be found in most med students' dorms rooms or in the country doctor's office.
 
I was gone for a couple days but we are along similar lines to what a couple others have mentioned. Natural disaster would be either fire or dust wind - stay home or evac. like they said to do day 1.
Bread baking - we eat very little bread. Yes, I've made bread since I was in middle school, but I would not consider that a friend and would tell her to do it herself (I'm mean like that.)
First aid: I recently went through and restocked. We have no prescripts. so it was ibuprofen and bandaids, etc. Also, I make many of our needs in this dept.
 
I've got bandaids, vet wrap, bloodstop powder and flour, surgical scrub, big bottles of those pesky animal meds a 90 year supply of jabby things, pliers, scalpels and a few other things, ibuprofen, aspirin, allergy meds and some other stuff; a bunch of it for animals, but it's all interchangeable. I should have an epi pen but I have never seen anyone with an allergy other then hay fever so I never get around to it.

Problem is I never use it. I just dump some newer stuff in there every few years and keep the ancient stuff as well. I ain't afeared o that kind ar thing.

My first people sewing gig was back when I was ten or so. My brother ended up with an axe in the front of his thigh. There weren't phones or any way to get to town till an adult showed up.

I cleaned him up and sewed his leg closed and because I once saw a neighbor do it to a wounded horse, I sqirted the wound with pine tar. He still has his leg, so all is well that ends well. Good thing that axe didn't get an artery.
 
DAY 6

DAY 6: Flat Tire

WHILE OUT ON A NICE DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE GETS A FLAT TIRE. You don’t have cell service so you need to change the tire on your own. When you finish changing the tire you discover your car battery has also died! Your kids/friends/spouse are starving, hot/cold, and bored. How will you survive today’s challenge?
Daily Tasks and Limitations
Today’s Tasks:

  • Take a drive out in nature with your family or a few friends.
  • Change your car’s tire out on the side of the road BY YOURSELF (view tutorial)
  • Evaluate your Car Emergency Kit. Do you have enough supplies to keep your passengers entertained, kept warm/cool, and given a snack and a drink? (check out my car kit overview here)
  • You must have jumper cables or an auto-battery charger in your car to charge the battery.
    Don’t have any? BUY SOME NOW!
  • If you have children of driving age, give them a lesson on how to change a tire and make them practice it at least once. If you don’t know how to do it yourself, follow the tutorial or get someone to teach YOU.
Today’s Limitations:

  • For this day, and ALL days of the challenge: no spending money, no going to stores or gas stations, and no restaurants.
  • For women, you must change the tire yourself. No cheating and getting your husband to do it.
  • You can’t call roadside service because you are in a dead cell phone area.
Advanced Tasks:

  • While changing the tire you accidentally locked your keys in the car. Can you pick the lock?
 
  • I live in a rural farming/homesteading town. Driving anywhere is a 'journey'.
  • Just did this a month ago when driving K's car to the bank since he didn't want to get out of bed that Saturday. He had a nail in his tire.
  • Time to put the car blankets in the backseat of my wagon. I have one in the cargo area for the dogs but the girls get blankets for when it is cold.
  • I was taught you don't drive a car without jumper cables and at least a donut.
  • 6 years before Roo will even be thinking of driving a car.
 
OK, I call quits on this one. I should just post under rant of the day. I am not the class clown in charge of entertaining everyone. ( the people along for the ride). Honestly though, I cannot think of anyone who would be in my car that couldn't do any of the above exercises.

And no, I won't be locking the keys in the car and do not admit to any lock picking skills. I have been changing tires since I was knee high to an axle.

Rant over.
 
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