Doomsday Pack: how to use it

Print this and keep it with the pack. When the power, water or phones go out, you won't be able to look it up.

Your dates

• Downloaded: __________
• Check the pack: __________, then once a year. Crank the radio and lantern, look over the first aid kit, and check the dates on the pill bottles.
• Replace the medicine: __________, or sooner if a bottle's date says so.
• Replace the rice and lentils: __________. They're still fine to about a year after that.

Before anything happens

• Put everything under the bed. Keep this page on top.
• Write today's date on the rice and lentil bags.
• Ask your doctor to write your prescriptions as 90-day refills. Then you always have extra at home.
• Keep a paper copy of your IDs, insurance cards and a list of phone numbers in a zip bag with this page.
• Keep some cash in small bills. Card readers stop when the power does.
• Charge the radio and the lantern once a year by turning the crank. Make sure they still work.

The first hour

1. Fill the bathtub bladder (waterBOB) right away. Put it in the empty tub, screw it to the faucet and fill it. Taps can stop working within hours. It holds 100 gallons.
2. Fill every pot, kettle and bottle you have with tap water too.
3. Charge your phone with the crank radio. Turn the radio to a NOAA weather station or local news.
4. Turn your phone to low power mode. Text instead of calling; texts get through when calls don't.
5. Don't open the fridge or freezer. Eat what's in the fridge first, in the first day or two, before you touch the pack.

Water

• Each person needs about 1 gallon a day: half to drink, half for cooking and washing.
• Drink from the bathtub bladder first. Use its pump to fill a pot or bottle. Don't dip your hands in.
• When the bladder runs out, filter everything else with the Sawyer filter. Fill the pouch with water, screw the filter on and squeeze it into a clean pot. It works on tap water, rain or any water that isn't salty or full of chemicals.
• If the water is cloudy, let it sit and pour off the top first. Then filter it.
• Back-flush the filter with the syringe when it gets slow.
• If you have gas for it, boiling water for 1 minute also makes it safe.

Food and cooking

Each person, each day:

• About ½ lb rice (1⅓ cups, dry)
• About 1 cup lentils, dry
• 1 glass of milk (from the powder, mixed with filtered water)
• A pinch of salt

That's about 1,600 calories. It's a ration: you won't be full, but it's enough.

The stove: use the butane burner near a cracked window, never in a closed room. Don't put anything over it that is bigger than its grate. Click a can in, turn the knob, and it lights.

Rice: 1 cup rice to 1½ cups water. Bring it to a boil, cover, turn to low for 15 minutes. Turn it off and leave the lid on for 5 more.

Lentils: no soaking. 1 cup lentils to 3 cups water. Boil, then simmer 20–25 minutes until soft. Add salt at the end.

Save gas: cook rice and lentils together in one pot (1 cup each, 4½ cups water, 25 minutes). Cook once a day, eat half hot and half later. Put the lid on, always.

Each 12-pack of butane is about a month of one 30-minute meal a day for up to four people.

Toilet

When the toilet stops flushing:

1. Close the lid and put a toilet bag over the seat, like a trash bag over a can.
2. Use it. Sprinkle in the gel powder; it turns waste into a solid and stops the smell.
3. Tie it shut, put it in a second bag if you have one, and keep it outside or in a closed trash bin until pickup starts again.

Use the squeeze bidet and soap instead of most of the toilet paper. Wash your hands with filtered water and soap every time, and before you cook. Stomach bugs are the biggest danger when water is short.

Light, news and cold

• Lantern: charge it in a sunny window during the day, or crank it. Use it instead of candles; candles start fires.
• Radio: check the news twice a day, morning and night. Crank it to charge your phone.
• Cold: if the heat goes, everyone sleeps in one small room with the door shut. Wear layers and a hat. Put the emergency blankets inside your blankets, shiny side toward you.

Medicine

• The first aid kit covers cuts, burns and sprains. Clean a cut with filtered water and soap before you cover it.
• Use your own prescriptions first. Your 90-day refills are your backup.
• Pain or fever: ibuprofen or acetaminophen. Follow the dose on the bottle. Don't take more than it says, and don't take ibuprofen on an empty stomach.
• Diarrhea or vomiting: the danger is losing water. Mix one rehydration packet into 1 liter of filtered water and keep them sipping it all day. Loperamide stops diarrhea, but don't use it if there is a fever or blood.
• Allergies, itching or hives: cetirizine, once a day.
• Kids, pregnancy, other medicines: read the label first. Some of these are adults only, and some don't mix with prescriptions.
• Get help for: trouble breathing, chest pain, a wound that won't stop bleeding, a high fever that won't come down, or someone who can't keep any water down.

When to replace things

• Every year (__________ first): crank the radio and lantern, check the first aid kit and your cash and papers.
• Every 2–3 years (__________ first): replace the medicine.
• Every 4–5 years (__________ first): buy fresh rice and lentils. Eat the old ones; they are still fine to cook.
• Everything else in the pack doesn't expire.

From apartmentdoomsdaykit.com. This is a general guide, not medical advice.