What's in the bucket?

Well someone was prepared!

It was back during Bush II, January 2007, when a friend of the family put together a well-provisioned emergency supply kit. I'm not sure what the complete provisions were, but there were at least two large white buckets, sealed, full of staple foods in case of some apocalyptic incident.

These buckets are now 4 years old, and it's high time to "rotate the stock." This is a key part of emergency preparedness! It's not enough to put together a supply kit. You also need to make sure the stuff is fresh and usable should The Day ever come. Because our friend just moved to another state, we inherited one of the buckets to unpack and use up.

It feels a little like opening Al Capone's vault! What's in there?? Actually there's a list with checkmarks on the side & top of the bucket so I'm pretty sure it will be beans & peas, quinoa, sushi rice and couscous.




An exciting amount of sushi rice! It was poured over the top of everything to fill every little crack and crevice.



I was inspired to break out the scoop. The bucket contained some 15 pounds total of rice when I got it all scooped out and bagged up.



Everything that wasn't rice was tied up in small cloth bags. What could this one be?



Yep, split pea soup will be on the menu soon.



I've already made up a big batch of Texas-style black-eyed peas from this bag below (jalapenos, bacon, and chili powder were involved). They're good hot or cold.



Interested in learning about preparedness? Try the CDC or ready.gov for all kinds of info and lists.
One note: Dried beans and peas and grains are great staples to have packed away, but this would be for a real long-term disaster, once you've established a water supply and cooking methods. For short-term preparedness (like for a power outage), pack yourself stuff that doesn't require a lot of cooking or extra water. (It's best to save water for drinking & washing.) So that means pack a lot of canned stuff that could be eaten straight from the can, or dried items like cereal bars, crackers, pbj. And plenty of sealed drinking water.