Emergancy Prepardness Challenge Days 3 and 4

Yesterday's challenge was pretty tough. It was a worst case scenario. We had to pretend that our country had just suffered a terrorist attack--a series of bombs were fired off causing an EMP that rendered all electricity and electrical devices useless (no lights, cell phones, generators, water pumps).

Our tasks:
1. cook and clean up all of your meals without power or water. we also had to pretend that all the food in our fridge had gone bad, but the stuff in the freezer was OK.
2. walk or ride a bike anywhere you need to go today. we could only drive if the car has a non-electric ignition.
3. entertain yourself and family without electricity the entire day
4. keep your family warm (or cool)
5. hold a pretend evacuation (on foot to a nearby park for 2 hours)--you have 15 minutes to collect your grab list items.

We didn't do so good on this challenge. I already knew that I failed with my water storage, so I didn't even try that task. I have a gas stove so I pretended that I lit it with a lighter--it didn't say anything about the gas lines being out. I did try to cook something in my solar oven, but it didn't cook--the rice was still crunchy. (PS I want to sell my oven so if you or anyone you know wants to buy one, let me know.) I felt like I ate poorly. Most of my produce was in my fridge and we didn't eat anything that was in the fridge.

We pulled out the flashlights and when it got dark the kids and I read by flashlight. But, I gave up on the no electricity after the kids went to bed. I used a flashlight to get a movie started then sat down to enjoy the power of electricity.

There was NO WAY that I was going to turn off the AC--it's still 100 degrees. But, we turned off the ceiling fans in the bedrooms and didn't use the little fan in the kitchen. We also used the van to go to our PE activity and didn't do a true evacuation. I need to work on my grab list and alternative cooking sources. I also want to look into how people stored foods with out refrigeration.

Today's challenge was a lot easier. We had to pretend that a family of 6 was going through financially hard times and was coming to live with us. Were we prepared to provide for us and them--food, toiletries, bedding, cleaning supplies. Also they were vegetarians so all the food had to be meatless.

Our tasks:
1. cook lunch for your family plus two adults and four kids. plus you've run out of raw milk and eggs.
2. provide sleeping arrangements for two adults and four children in your home.
3. The family did not bring any hygiene items, provide them with toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, etc.
4.evaluate your tp, paper towel, laundry detergent, and dish detergent stores … do you have enough to last with this many extra people for a few days?

Cooking for more is hard for me. I made a vegetarian meal, but only enough for my family. I knew that I had enough food if I really needed to, but I would sure go through it faster. Without being able to go shopping I would run out of fresh stuff quickly. Sleeping would be tight, but we could find the space and there would be enough sleeping bags and blankets. The thing we lack is pillows. As for hygiene items, I wouldn't have had enough toothbrushes, but fingers are OK for short amounts of time. We would have had enough paper products. I probably would have run out of laundry detergent, but I have stuff to make more. This challenge made me think of when we visit my sister and how much bread we go through to make sandwiches for all of the kids. It also made me think about when my kids will be teenagers--they will probably eat that much food just amongst themselves.