Hurricanes

Hurricanes are a fact of life in Louisiana. They are ruining my hot summer days right now and I need my summer picture! Sorry, other than that they are nasty. I am not a worrier though, I try to be prepared and keep informed and think straight.
So rule #1 is make sure you have your 72 hour kits handy. For us this means a backpack full of clothes and food to last three days. Also a few toys and such for the kids or paper and pens, you never know when they come in handy. In there we also put an emergency phone number of someone in another state in case we need to get in touch, we need someone with phone lines. The chances of us losing phone at the same time as Oregon are pretty unlikely.
Rule #2 is fill the water jugs. We have 11 five gallon jugs which means 55 gallons of H2O which is a nice cushion in case the water supply gets compromised. We also have lots of those little bottles of water in the 72 hour kits and a flat to put in the car in case we take off.
Rule #3 is check the generator and fill the gas cans. We have checked the gen but the gas cans are gonna have to wait until it gets a little closer, I hate having all that gas on my patio... When this one's over we'll put it in the cars and just be ready for next time.
Rule #4 is food. Snack food that doesn't take fridge use is essential. If you open that fridge with the power off it loses a lot of "cool" so the fewer times the better. I also borrowed a great book called "Appocalipse cooking" which made me think about things like conserving fuel in a no-electricity environment. We bbq but that does take a lot of gas, so the book got me thinking about things that cook quickly, like risotto (boil water, put it in, turn it off) and minute rice, among other things. Quinoa is something we tried because of this book too, it's amazing but the family still isn't crazy about it. It's a grain that cooks quickly too, great served with rice.
Rule #5OK so here is another must, fill up the cars and be ready to leave town.
Rule #6 (Optional) Lots of people get cash out but I know my bank is accessable in several states so I am ok. If you have credit cards they are very helpful too.
Things to think about - being prepared means not worrying, just staying ready!!