Pantries and Preparedness. A printed copy.

We are in spring and just starting to think about preparing for summer. Many parts of Australia have had really high temperatures already which is very early.  So I am starting to worry this could be a hot summer.   Last summer featured quite a few blackouts.  No air-conditioning on days that are 44 (111) and nights that often stay above 30 (86) is not my idea of fun.   We have a generator and have practised a lot of things so that we can hopefully keep our fridge and freezer cold and at least one room in the house reasonable.  Something I have been working on now is having the information I need printed.  I realised, for instance,  that my recipe for homemade electrolytes was on the computer. mmm....  so this was the first thing I printed out so it is on hand, along with the ingredients I need.

Jess has a series in which important information is printed and goes into a folder so I began with this...

The Time to Come Preparedness Series.  I printed out my cover page and started a folder.

My electrolytes recipe was the first thing to go in!

Now I am working on printing anything else that is information I might need when the power is out. It is worth thinking about first aid instructions,  recipes, heatstroke and medial information and anything that you might reach for only to realise it is on the internet! 

The last power outages made me realise that I needed to increase my reading matter and things to do.  I often now print things that I think "I must read this when I get time" and have quite a few of these.

Years ago I experienced serious "not printing it" regrets  when Laine's Letters disappeared from the internet. Many times I had thought I must make copies and I didn't!  I was really upset.  So anything you truly treasure do copy!  Eventually I found the wayback machine copies and now have each and every letter in print.  This is great reading when the power is out.

Most of my recipes are in books and folders.  I have been trying to write out any that are not and also put the most used ones on the inside of my cupboard doors...

I need to get some more of these done.

Also I have my emergency plans written up and a heatwave plan that is written and also inside a cupboard door.   

Other things to always keep a copy of are all documents, licence and account numbers, phone numbers etc.  It is amazing how many people don't know phone numbers if they lose their mobile phone!  

I keep photos printed to as "the cloud" is not my idea of secure and memory sticks should be called "short term memory sticks" as they only last a few years!  

When we are busy and everything is ok it is really easy not to notice that if the power was out we can't consult our first aid app and Google what we might need!   Our battery charge is only going to last so long.  Even in a simple computer glitch or virus all our medical records could be lost.  I noticed at the Doctors and the Chemist is it all on the computer. Unless you have written down the drugs and dosages that your family takes all this information could be lost.  

I have some notebooks I keep with all the kind of information. 

On that note, in a power outage or without printed copies you cannot even prove you have a bank account let alone access it.   So physical money is all you have at these times. This is IF you can find a shop still open as most of ours just shut once the power went out. 

Once the power is gone for even a couple of hours what you have in the house is all you have!  There is nothing to buy.  It all sold out in the first few minutes before the shops shut their doors.   

So you can see why I am trying to think ahead! 

Our state suffered fairly severe electricity shortages last summer and we did not have a heatwave. WITH a heatwave I am not sure what to expect.  They knocked down power stations and now in a panic they are installing a large lithium battery that is not functioning yet.  But it is only big enough to power a few thousand homes.   They are also setting up a line of giant diesel generators for emergencies.  We don't know if these things will fix the situation or not!  I'm not counting on it!  To add further worry we used to import power from our neighbour state Victoria.  But they also knocked down one of their larger power stations and now they are unlikely to have spare power and now face the same issues themselves. 

We all have to assess what we need to be ready for in our own locations.  Having things you need printed is one thing to keep up on as so many things can cause a blackout or an internet glitch! 

What are your more immediate reasons to be well prepared and how do you go about it?  

Do you have information that really should be printed out so it is available when your devises are not working?

Have a good new week!  Today is a public holiday for us and is sunny and lovely! xxx