Frugal Emergency Preparedness

Emergency preparedness can be an overwhelming and expensive, but there are ways around each of those barriers.  I covered the overwhelming feeling of food storage HERE a few weeks ago.  But today I want to cover the expense of emergency preparedness. 

Most of you probably recognize this store front from the Dollar Tree Dollar Store.  I noticed a sign they had in the window advertising their emergency supplies.  They do have quite a few items that work great for emergency preparedness.  I have found duct tape, bungee cords, water, batteries, canned food (they carry canned strawberries that are really great for pureeing and dehydrating into fruit leather), small organizing containers for my storage room, lots of first aid items, baby items, solar yard lights, etc.

Some of the items from the dollar store may have fewer in a box or not as much tape on a roll, but the quality, I feel, is pretty close to other brands.  

Don't shy away from discount stores like Big Lots and the Dollar Stores.  There is nothing to be afraid of shopping at these stores and no one is judging you for it either.  Big Lots even has 20% off days where everything in the store is 20% off.  Read about one of my shopping trips to Big Lots HERE.  Just sign up for email alerts and you'll know when the next sale day will be.  

If you don't have a Dollar Store or Big Lots try your local Army Navy store, or camping store.  In Utah, Recreation Outlet carries a large variety of camping and emergency prep items for a fraction of retail prices.  I purchased all 7 of our sleeping bags from them and they were all under $60 dollars.  The children's bags were only $39.95, and they are quality sleeping bags with a -20 rating.
 
Keep your eyes open wherever you shop for clearance bins and percent off baskets.  Especially check stores the week after a holiday for deeply discounted items.  I found LED small flashlights at Walgreens after Halloween for .50.  They had vampires on them, but they were the same as any other LED flashlight. They had the same metal casing that non-vampire flashlights have and work just as well.  Plus, they are kind of fun to talk about when people give you weird looks :)

After holiday sales are also a great time to stock up on candy.  I store my candy in mason jars and then I seal it with my foodsaver. 

Have an open mind when you are shopping and don't look over something because it may have a vampire picture on it :) Think outside of the box when it comes to prepping and you'll be able to save money.