Hurricane Prep! MY top 10

Hurricane Irma came, and she went. Well..... she is still lingering around here with power outages,  trees down, and a horrible smell from sewage back ups! Ewww. We were lucky. We lost power, but had it back within 2 days, and lots of debris, but no trees down. We DID lose our air conditioning which was challenging, but we are alive and life is going back to normal. I know that's not the case for many who lost their lives, or their homes, and with Hurricane Maria who came right behind Irma devastating Puerto Rico, I pray that they will eventually recover.

I moved to Orlando 11 years ago, and Irma was my first big Hurricane experience and she was scary. Mostly the anticipation and waiting for what seems to be your impending DOOM! 
 There was lots of prep. Water, batteries, ice, gas, and snacks, lots of snacks. Now that I've been through it, I have a better idea of what's really valuable and whats not. If I were to do it again, I would have 1 more large cooler, and as much ice as possible. When it's HOT and you have no power or AC, anything COLD becomes a luxury. Here is my own personal list of what would be the essentials in the future. 

#1 BATTERY OPERATED LANTERNS  By far, the BEST purchase I made for Hurricane Irma's arrival were LED battery operated camping lanterns. These lanterns packed a punch as far as light. One lantern lit up a whole room, and they had three different settings. One for bright, one for dim (to save battery life), and a flashing setting in case you needed to alert someone for danger. Each lantern has a hook on top for hanging, as well as a magnet to stick on a magnetic surface. I always stuck one on the side of the fridge to light up the kitchen. They come in 4 colors. Tommy got to have the red one (his favorite color) which made it fun for him. 

















#2 BATTERIES. We had plenty of batteries, but it's always good to have extra. By the way, buying batteries online is far cheaper than any store. Something I JUST found out.
#3 BACK UP PHONE BATTERIES. When the power goes out, and you are trying to track the storm, or just talk to someone, the phone is your lifeline so to speak! 
#4 SNACKS  Snacks are obviously an essential, although I was so sick of snacks after about 1 day and just wanted a real meal. I think a good list is....
~Granola bars
~Nuts
~Cheese sticks. Throw them in your cooler for a quick grab snack. 
~Dried fruit Apples and bananas. I grabbed the most unripe bananas I could find so they were plenty ripe when the time came to eat them.
~Cereal
~Canned chicken! I know getting canned tuna seemed to be all the rage, but I thought that canned tuna cans would stink in the Florida  heat. Especially when garbage pick up was at a halt. Chicken was a much better choice! Other good canned good choices are any kind of beans, corn, or fruit.
~Boxed milk I bought THESE for Tommy. They were a little pricey, but something for him to drink in the morning with a pop tart.
~Creamers I made a big pot of coffee before Irma arrived and bought little creamers because there was no way I would make it through without coffee. I'd grab a little ice from the cooler to make ice coffee in the morning. 
~Boxed juices
#5 WIPES. I know. Strange right? But when you are in hot, sticky weather, a pack of wipes is great for cleaning your hands, or other parts. You know what I mean. Thankfully we never lost water, but there are plenty of people who did, and having a few packs of wipes really will make a difference. 
#6 WATER for obvious reasons. 
#7 ICE  I cannot stress enough how valuable ice becomes!
#8 PAPER PLATES, bowls, for eating. You may not be able to wash dishes. 
#9 FANS Thankfully I have ceiling fans in most rooms of my house, but it would be nice to have a small battery operated fan if you lose power, or a corded fan if you just lose AC. Having a fan on yourself when you're trying to sleep and the AC is out is a must! 
#10 A PACKED SUITCASE with 3 days worth of clothes.

So there's my list.
I am hoping we won't have to deal with another hurricane anytime soon, but I have a feeling we will. Mother Nature seems particularly angry this year. With devastating earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding and raging fires, she is trying to tell us something. Global warming is REAL, and if we don't take care of this beautiful planet it WILL take care of itself.

Thanks for reading, and have a nice weekend.

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