I have personally been through four hurricanes, three of which hit during a two-month period during 2004. I have stayed in my home for all four hurricanes and have learned a thing or two about the best supplies to have on hand.



Bar none, the best food supplies to have on hand are MREs. MRE stands for Meal Ready to Eat. They are United States military rations that have become available on the civilian market.

MREs are an all in one meal kit. Packaged in a waterproof bag, they contain items such as an entree, side dish, snack item, beverage base, and dessert.

They contain a food heater that is activated by a very small amount of water, and even have an accessory pack with condiments and utensils. Heck, they even have toilet paper in them!

MREs have a shelf life of up to 10 years when stored properly. They are a great item to have on hand for any sort of emergency.

They certainly came in handy for us when we had them in 2004. The first hurricane, Hurricane Charley, caused our electricity to go out for 5 days. We did not suffer any structural damage, luckily, but we lost all the contents of our fridge and freezer.

We had actually forgotten all about our MREs at the time. We did not properly prepare for Hurricane Charley. We had that "it won't happen to us" mentality.

After the hurricane, we spent two days eating cold spaghetti-o's before we remembered the box of MREs we had purchased for camping. Out they came!

The whole family ate much better those last three days without electricity than the first two! Between the hurricanes, we did have the sense to restock our Meals Ready to Eat and have always made it a point to keep them on hand since then.

The second hurricane that hit us that year did some structural damage, but we retained power. The third hurricane left us without power again, this time for over a week.

With two small children at home, I can tell you that hurricane season that year was not fun. In Central Florida, you need air conditioning to survive. Going a few weeks without air conditioning was trying to say the least.

Couple that with being holed up in a dark apartment with no TV, little light, and nothing to do. The only thing to break the monotony of those days was the fun we had when we ate our MRE meals.

The kids (and adults) had a blast opening up each bag, cooking the entrees over the flameless heater, and devouring the interesting snacks provided. It was the only source of amusement during this trying time.

In short, every hurricane preparedness pantry needs to have a case of Meals Ready to Eat available, not just for food, but to break up the boredom.