I grew up in Earth Quake country and we always had bottled water and some food with our camping supplies. Moving to Texas I've learned about tornadoes and hurricanes. When Katrina and then Rita hit, the forecast was for as much as 20 inches of rain where I'm at. It never happened, but if it had, I don't know what I would have done since I wasn't prepared at all. Last year two tornado's hit fairly close to where I'm at. The worse one was in Van Texas, about 20 miles away. It was an EF3. Driving by there and seeing the damage is just surreal. There is path through the woods where every tree is snapped in half. It's over a hundred yards wide and as far as you can see!!!! The second one was only a EF1, but it shut down the city of Henderson for a week in some places and clean up took a few months. That was 30 miles away.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Van...X&ved=0CCgQsARqFQoTCOT05s6mjcgCFY0viAodaSABGA
That really was a wake up call for us. While I still keep camping supplies and water stored in my shop, and a generator with fuel ready for our normal ice storms or severe rains, a tornado is a different story. Our new goal is to create a storm shelter/underground storage room. Having supplies is only good if you have them in a safe place. It will have a bathroom too. Size will be 16x16 with the stairs going down into it inside that space and the half bath under the stairs. This will require a bunch of digging and trenching to get the drain line to go far enough away to where I can get it to a new septic tank, but when done, it will be our safe place.
We are also in the process of creating a canning/processing room. The garden gets better every year, but storing what we grow and having space to work with it is lacking. The room is framed, but still lacks utilities and finishing. It's 12ft x 24ft.
Natural disasters are only part of our concern. We are also very worried about the economy and reducing our dependence on walmart or other stores for food. We have begun clearing our fence line around the property and improving the pastures for grazing. Having cattle will provide an addition source of income, and food for us through out the year. Same thing with raising chickens. We have 11 layers that are providing more eggs then we can eat. Karen is selling them for $3 a dozen at work, which pays for their food. We have another 24 chicks that we are raising for more layers and also butchering for us to eat. Which is another reason for the processing room.
Unlike Soundguy, I like Mountain House freeze dried food. I've found that some of them are rather bland, but others are fantastic tasting. I've been on week long hunting trips where that is all we had to eat, and I enjoyed every meal. You just don't buy the bad tasting ones once you figure out what you like and what you don't like.
These are all long term goals. In the short term, we will continue with having a weeks supply of food and water on hand and hope for the best.
) ask for some brand names they prefer...
