Just as heat and electricity are convenient during a disaster, so is ice. You may want a cube or two for when the times get really stressful and you decide to open that bottle in the back of your kitchen cupboard, but what you’ll really need ice for is keeping what cold foods you do have fresh. Your food will only stay fresh so long in a refrigerator that stops running. The best way to handle this situation is to fill clean two-liter plastic pop bottles or plastic milk jugs with fresh water and freeze them. A large storage freezer is the best place to store them until an emergency hits. You can remove the frozen bottles and place them in a large cooler with your food to keep it fresh. Once the water in the bottles melts, you can use it as additional drinking water. Two things to keep in mind when preparing these bottles:
1. Make sure they are absolutely clean before putting fresh water into them. Washing them with bleach and water will kill any germs inside. Use 1 tablespoon Clorox bleach to 1 gallon of water. Be sure to rinse thoroughly with fresh clean water after cleaning with the bleach solution.
2. Water swells when it freezes, so unless you want a bunch of broken, leaky bottles when the ice melts, remember to fill your bottles with water only to the three-quarters point and do not secure the cap until after the water is completely frozen. (If you secure the cap, the water will swell into ice and there will be nowhere for that one-quarter bottle of air to go but out. The bottle will split open.)
As soon as you know you’ll be sheltering in place, be sure to clean and rinse all of your sinks and bathtubs thoroughly. You’ll want to fill them all with water so that you’ll have a large supply of drinking water. Many people forget that dehydration can play havoc with the human mind and body. You’ll want to stay hydrated in order to keep your energy level up and your thought processes clear.
Do you store all of your important documents in a fireproof/waterproof box? If not, you should consider purchasing on to store to store personal identification such as birth certificates and social security cards, deeds to property, insurance policies, your will, living will and powers of attorney.