I think your CDs, while more of a PITA, are a better emergency option as at least they'll fit.
The problem with relying on CDs is that water can be the most valuable item in an emergency, so washing is going to be out of the question. I have enough CD's to get me through about 3 days.. after that. SOL.
I would just plan on buying a case of each size diaper. If you never use it, then great, and you can donate.
As we're going to CD, we will not have many disposables in the house at all. Maybe just enough for a few days. Again, not having power for a week I would rather shell out a few bucks on cheapies vs. drive myself crazy trying to wash my CDs in time for daycare when power is back on, or rush out to the store if I can get there.
But your baby isn't even here yet, much less in size 3 diapers. What's so magic about size 3? DD spent more time in some sizes than others. There's really no way to know until your child is actually here. You could have a kid who is still in size 1 when you have an emergency or has grown to size 4 or 5 by that point. Diapers that are too big or too small will leak. Better to shell out the money on 1 box each time your child is in a certain size, I think.
To answer your question, as long as you are thinking as far ahead as size 3 diapers, you may as well have jarred baby food on hand. Other foods that are kid friendly and have a longish shelf life: - peanut butter (the cheap kind, like Skippy, as the more natural kind lasts less time) - canned chick peas - canned Ravioli/Chef Boyardee - Dole fruit cups - canned Goya black beans (the kind that come seasoned already and say "listos para comer")
CloudeBee, it's great that you're prepared, we are too. I would add three 100% wool blankets to your list. It's hard to keep baby warm in a freezing house.
Hmmm. I am going to disagree that bigger sized diapers wont work. We have some size six diapers hanging around from DS1, I have put them on DS2 by accident a few times and they never leaked. He was in size 2 or 3 diapers the times I have done it. They never leaked.
Do you have a generator? If not I would get some of those water bottles that have the battery powered fans on them. When out power went out it was 100+ degrees and the kids were wiper cranky from the heat. Luckily our basement is a lot cooler than the rest of our house and we were able to sleep there. But we have one of those little fans and it works great in a pinch to get a little relief from the heat. They do sell just the fan too, with foam blades.
Yep, we have a generator. It won't power much, but can keep our fridge or chest freezer going in addition to giving us power for a few other items.
anna - my thought with size 3 diapers was that I buy things for our "stash", and then don't think about it for MONTHS. Nothing is magic about them, come on, lol. I figured that if were were out of luck with no power, snow covered roads, or some extreme emergency, bigger would be better than something too small. And I could get away with not having to replacing them with a different size for a long while.
I really just wanted to know if size 3 would be a good emergency size that could fit with adjustments if we had nothing else, and if Amazon had a formula as cheap as Target's.
We would be so fucked in an emergency. The four of us would be sharing one bottle of water and a piece of fruit leather.
I think in a true emergency situation you probably could get by with size three diapers on a newborn and live to tell the tale.
I'm with you. And nothing in this post is making me want to become more prepared. To be honest, if we're all going to die, I'd rather die quickly. And if we're not, we can walk to at least 10 different stores (which will presumably, eventually have supplies). We can also walk to an airport.
Oh, I know you are going to CD. I just said that I wouldn't just buy like one large size. I would buy the size the baby needs at the time and just keep re-stocking.
We have no emergency stuff for our kid, granted I BF. But if we are in dire straits re: diapers I will just wrap a shirt around his waist or let him go diaperless in the kitchen
What if you are separated from your H and child in an emergency and can't get back home for several days? I know your feeling about formula, but an emergency stash is a good idea.
Post by hannamaren on Oct 25, 2012 18:19:29 GMT -5
Question. Where do you live? You probably wont tell me, but is this place just as risky every day of the year? Is winter worse than summer? I would think about that for sizes. And I would not keep peanut butter as an emegency supply until you have introduced it.
To be honest, if we're all going to die, I'd rather die quickly. And if we're not, we can walk to at least 10 different stores (which will presumably, eventually have supplies). We can also walk to an airport.
Your response has me scratching my head, lol.
None of our emergency supplies would save us from a "quick death" or a disaster that would take us out that fast. What we have would just keep us happily fed for a little while if we lose power and all the food in our fridge/freezer.
Stores usually close when power it out. Not one store within walking distance that is on our power grid stays open with the power goes out. They can't operate checkout and handle security measures. That includes chain drugstores and the like. Grocery stores that have generators close and use that power reserve to keep food cold.
I also doubt the airport would get you somewhere in an emergency. It would either be closed due to the weather, or whatever freak episode happened local to you.
Post by badtzmaru22 on Oct 25, 2012 19:10:35 GMT -5
This post is making me feel inadequate, both in my emergency planning (or lack thereof) and for the fact that I completely lost my shit when formula samples (I had not signed up for!!) showed up in the mail when I was having a really shitty day with the BFing. Wah wah.
To be honest, if we're all going to die, I'd rather die quickly. And if we're not, we can walk to at least 10 different stores (which will presumably, eventually have supplies). We can also walk to an airport.
Your response has me scratching my head, lol.
None of our emergency supplies would save us from a "quick death" or a disaster that would take us out that fast. What we have would just keep us happily fed for a little while if we lose power and all the food in our fridge/freezer.
Stores usually close when power it out. Not one store within walking distance that is on our power grid stays open with the power goes out. They can't operate checkout and handle security measures. That includes chain drugstores and the like. Grocery stores that have generators close and use that power reserve to keep food cold.
I also doubt the airport would get you somewhere in an emergency. It would either be closed due to the weather, or whatever freak episode happened local to you.
But why would the store have to be walking distance? I think it is fairly unlikely that my power and the power at every store I could drive to would go out for days at a time. But I live in an area that doesn't get snow or earthquakes and rarely gets ice, and we haven't lost power for more than 30 seconds or so in the 9 years I have lived here, so that may contribute to my feeling of complacency.
I guess a thunder storm or some sort of issue with the grid could cause the power to go out, but in that situation I am betting I would be able to drive to a store with power before too much time passed.
With a more far-reaching emergency--nuclear holocaust, zombie apocalypse, etc.--then I figure we are hosed anyway, so who cares?
Post by rootbeerfloat on Oct 25, 2012 19:14:23 GMT -5
I'm not at all prepared for an emergency, but I wanted to weigh in on the size 3 diapers. I actually think that's a useful size because kids tend to spend awhile in that size, and even if they're smaller, you can always pull them tighter.
Oh, I know you are going to CD. I just said that I wouldn't just buy like one large size. I would buy the size the baby needs at the time and just keep re-stocking.
We have no emergency stuff for our kid, granted I BF. But if we are in dire straits re: diapers I will just wrap a shirt around his waist or let him go diaperless in the kitchen
What if you are separated from your H and child in an emergency and can't get back home for several days? I know your feeling about formula, but an emergency stash is a good idea.
I guess I can't imagine the type of emergency where somehow I was separated from DS and DH wouldn't be able to walk to the 6 places w/in easy walking distance to our house to get formula. I mean they even sell formula at the gas station.
ETA: The grocery stores here run on gigantic generators (like semi sized) when the power goes out. They don't want to loose all their goods! Even when we had a power outage for like 5 days here the grocery store stopped selling all perishables but still sold dry goods (like formula and diapers).
One consideration if washing bottles may be difficult is to get some Playtex dropins and some Medela wipes. If it comes to down to it you can clean the nipple with the wipe and swap out a liner. When the power goes out we don't have hot water and along with other frustrations I don't want to heat water on a grill to wash things.
I'm not at all prepared for an emergency, but I wanted to weigh in on the size 3 diapers. I actually think that's a useful size because kids tend to spend awhile in that size, and even if they're smaller, you can always pull them tighter.
Awesome, thanks. It seemed like a safe middle number. I have no idea what the actual range is for diapers which is why I asked.
1. Distilled bottle water 2. Ready to feed formula in nursettes sizes with disposable nipples - no bottle washing required. 3. Commercial baby food 4. Variety of diaper sizes 5. Pack or 2 of wipes 6. A few bottles of wine 7. Corkscrew 8. A few blankets
If you're going to buy formula, you might as well buy a hypoallergenic kind. DS2 could never have regular formula, even in an emergency -- it would have to have been Nutramigen. This, however, is not inexpensive.
1. Distilled bottle water 2. Ready to feed formula in nursettes sizes with disposable nipples - no bottle washing required. 3. Commercial baby food 4. Variety of diaper sizes 5. Pack or 2 of wipes 6. A few bottles of wine 7. Corkscrew 8. A few blankets
Correction to the above - we are totally set in case of emergency.
We would be so fucked in an emergency. The four of us would be sharing one bottle of water and a piece of fruit leather.
I think in a true emergency situation you probably could get by with size three diapers on a newborn and live to tell the tale.
I'm with you. And nothing in this post is making me want to become more prepared. To be honest, if we're all going to die, I'd rather die quickly. And if we're not, we can walk to at least 10 different stores (which will presumably, eventually have supplies). We can also walk to an airport.
Those are great, assuming you have cash on hand to purchase supplies or airline tickets. No guarantee that debit/credit cards will work depending on the type of emergency and resulting damage.
What if you are separated from your H and child in an emergency and can't get back home for several days? I know your feeling about formula, but an emergency stash is a good idea.
I guess I can't imagine the type of emergency where somehow I was separated from DS and DH wouldn't be able to walk to the 6 places w/in easy walking distance to our house to get formula. I mean they even sell formula at the gas station.
ETA: The grocery stores here run on gigantic generators (like semi sized) when the power goes out. They don't want to loose all their goods! Even when we had a power outage for like 5 days here the grocery store stopped selling all perishables but still sold dry goods (like formula and diapers).
I guess it's because I live in earthquake country, but I can imagine a lot of scenarios where families can get separated for a while due to rubble, lack of transportation options, blocked roads, collapsed bridges, etc.
And like I mentioned in a pp, all emergency kits need to include cash, because there's no guarantee stores will be able to process transactions on cards.
If I'm trapped in my office and H is trapped in our condo after The Big One, it doesn't really matter that there's a mini- market across the street.
I guess I can't imagine the type of emergency where somehow I was separated from DS and DH wouldn't be able to walk to the 6 places w/in easy walking distance to our house to get formula. I mean they even sell formula at the gas station.
ETA: The grocery stores here run on gigantic generators (like semi sized) when the power goes out. They don't want to loose all their goods! Even when we had a power outage for like 5 days here the grocery store stopped selling all perishables but still sold dry goods (like formula and diapers).
I guess it's because I live in earthquake country, but I can imagine a lot of scenarios where families can get separated for a while due to rubble, lack of transportation options, blocked roads, collapsed bridges, etc.
And like I mentioned in a pp, all emergency kits need to include cash, because there's no guarantee stores will be able to process transactions on cards.
If I'm trapped in my office and H is trapped in our condo after The Big One, it doesn't really matter that there's a mini- market across the street.
Oh, yeah I don't think that is an issue here. DS is at the daycare nextdoor to my office so I could walk over and pick him up I guess DH could get stuck in DC if somehow all the bridges collapsed, but the good thing is that assuming the bridges are still there he could walk home (I guess w/out bridge he could swim!). We aren't ever really anywhere that we couldn't walk to each other.
To be fair, I don't think anyone is crazy to prepare, it is just hard for me to think of a scenario where the stores wouldn't be open or all roads were untravelable.
FWIW, we lost power for 4 days earlier this year and I washed all her CDs by hand during that time. Filled pots of water and boiled them on the grill (electric stove) and then used my wash basin to scrub the heck out of them with detergent. It worked great.
I would say buy extra water for drinking, but otherwise you'll probably have everything you need.
If you're going to buy formula, you might as well buy a hypoallergenic kind. DS2 could never have regular formula, even in an emergency -- it would have to have been Nutramigen. This, however, is not inexpensive.
I would not buy nutramigen unless you knew that your kid had allergies. It tastes awful. My babies refused to drink it.
Post by Willis Jackson on Oct 26, 2012 9:54:52 GMT -5
We lost power for a week over the summer. We stayed at home for the 1st night, went to a hotel for the second (I don't do 100 degrees), and then drove 7 hours to my parents' house once we realized that our power wasn't going to come back on for awhile.
We actually had to go an hour away to find a hotel that had power and wasn't booked solid.
We had no emergency supplies other than our regular stuff and we did just fine. The closest grocery store and gas station were operating on generators and accepted credit cards.
We CD and I have disposables on hand. Mostly, they were gifts from people after LO was born, but I see the value in having some around. We've used them when traveling, when dealing with a bleeding diaper rash that covered her whole bottom, and if we were going to be out for a long time. I'd definitely use them if we had no power, like we did for the first week we brought LO home. (Seriously, we were home from the hospital for 6 hours when the derecho blew through and we lost power for a week. It sucked.)
I wouldn't buy a box of a big size, though. At least where I live, you generally have enough warning of a major weather event that might result in power loss, so you could get the size they needed at the time.