Monday, February 2, 2009

What are your emergency supply sources?

If you are new to emergency preparation, or even if you are experienced at getting prepared, it is sometimes helpful to check out different businesses to see what is available and for how much when it comes to emergency supplies. (Seems like one can never underestimate the importance of how much, unfortunately... :) Here are some links that you may find helpful if you are looking for ways to stock up on your food storage or other emergency provisions:

Walton Feed (located right in Montepelier, ID--and with a red announcement across the top of the website currently that says that UPS orders are 4 weeks out)

Emergency Essentials (I have been in their store while visiting relatives in Utah, and have purchased some of their products.) What I like about their shipping is what I just found in their FAQs section, so it is current at this writing:

$0 to $60------ $6 S&H

$60.01 to $120---- $9 S&H

120.01 and above---- $12 S&H

The two above companies I have purchased products from, and the following I have found or heard about on the web and/or elsewhere, but have not yet had the pleasure of purchasing any of their products:

Shelf Reliance

Get Prepared Stuff

Where do you get your supplies? We have a store with an emergency preparedness section locally, and we have bought MREs at an Army Surplus Store as well. We were at a dollar store this past weekend and picked up some shampoo for storage. You can buy in bulk many places, and then put your food in storage-safe containers. At this point you have many options, but some are better than others, so it's good to know what the options are. I supply the links above so that you can have a starting point to work from---you might find some things that would make your life easier in an emergency situation that you never heard of before. Seems to happen to me often enough... :)

If you have a link that you would like to see on this website, send it in as a comment--it would be helpful if you added something about your experience with the products on the website, or put in a recipe of your own, or why you would pick a particular emergency heating source over another, etc. If you do send in something that would work as a post, I will publish it as a post rather than a comment, and give you credit.

An example of something that I bought from Emergency Essentials would be the usually not-mentioned-in-polite-company-yet-essential-emergency item called a portable toilet kit. I need to make sure that I actually did this--but the plan was to put a few boxes of trash bags for liners in the kit and then leave it very much alone. Just one of those things that you really hope that you never need to use. An emergency radio may be a source of entertainment outside an emergency, but this, not so much.... Just like with the shampoo, preparation is about more than just food, though food does usually take one of the highest slots in terms of priorities.

You never know who you might help by sharing your information--just because it's second nature to you, doesn't mean that it isn't breaking news to someone else....

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Suprisingly, I found a case of new MRE's on EBAY for $40 and free shipping. Since than, checking EBAY every few days is part of my preparedness plan.

Doug in Burley

P.S.
Have you ever been to the big Suplus Store in Idaho Falls? I heard that it was a good store but I haven't justified the drive yet....

Marie said...

Doug--Ebay is a great idea--one that I hadn't thought of. Thanks for pointing it out! I have been through a lot of area in the state in traveling, and so it is a maybe on the Surplus Store...thanks for your comment!

DaggerD said...

Check out Azure Standard.
http://www.azurestandard.com/

They are great for bulk and natural foods. Very cheap delivery as well.


I put a post explaining their delivery routes and other information about them at Idaho Survival Homesteading.

http://idahosurvivalhomesteading.blogspot.com/2009/02/source-of-quality-bulk-and-natural.html

Marie said...

DaggerD--Thanks for the link--I'll mention it in my next post. Thanks for letting me know your site is there--I'm going to add your link to my sidebar, and if you ever want to post something here, just send it in a comment, and I'll post it under your name instead of as a comment. I'm looking forward to reading your other posts, and thanks for your comment!