Prepping – The Rule of Threes

The Rule of Threes is pretty simple.

• Three minutes without air.
• Three hours without shelter.
• Three days without water.
• Three weeks without food.
• Three months without hope.

I’ve heard that this was designed by FEMA, but I have no idea. My family has been using it for close to two decades, and maybe longer. It’s not meant to be a “complete list” of what is needed to prepare for emergencies. Instead, it’s more of a mnemonic. It reminds you of what’s most important in your preps. There are lots of mnemonics you can learn.

This is a longish one, folks, so check out what’s behind the cut…

Three Minutes Without Air

At least in my own family, we use this rule to refer to all things to do with first aid. ABC is another mnemonic for first aid, and it stands for either Airway/Breathing/Circulation or Alert/Bleeding/Compression. When there’s a first aid emergency, you need to stop and think before you do anything. Never move someone unless they are in immanent danger (car exploding, helicopter blades chopping them up, that sort of thing) or you are 100% sure they are not suffering from neck, head, or spinal injuries. Deal with any airway obstructions first, because breathing is necessary to life. Once the airway is clear, you can work on getting someone breathing using CPR, ambi bags, or intubating them (only with training, I might add… doing any of these things without training could end up being worse than not doing anything at all). After breathing is dealt with, you can then move on to looking at injuries. Look for neck, head, and spinal injuries first, as these can be immediately life threatening if someone is moved. After that, worry about wounds that are gushing or spurting (arterial wounds must be dealt with quickly). Compression over any wound, but especially gushing or spurting ones, is important. If it’s on an extremity and you can’t get it under control, a tourniquet can be used (now available in easy to use, inexpensive packs). After bleeding is under control, you can assess for any other damage.

Having basic first aid training is ridiculously important for all human beings. You don’t have to qualify as a paramedic or anything, but you should know the basics of CPR and wound control, and what to do with broken bones and open wounds (from projectiles, for instance). This one thing could be responsible for you saving someone’s life… including your own.

In my family, we each have Individual First Aid Kits (IFAKs) and know how to use them. My IFAK also has CPR masks and intubating materials, because I know how to do that. I have a mini kit that goes into my purse, a “boo boo kit” as it were, with daily use things. When I’m out and about I carry an official IFAK. And if I’m acting as medic at an event (I have basic first aid training), I carry a medic bag which contains airways, splints, and a suture kit, among other things. Carry what you know how to use, and what you could reasonably figure out in an emergency, but not things that could cause more harm than good (intubating someone, for instance, is NOT EASY, even for doctors… don’t try it unless you’ve had training).

Three Hours Without Shelter

Shelter has a ton of meanings. It can refer to the clothing you’re wearing, or clean underwear, a tent, a pavilion, a home, a vehicle, a tarp, or anything else that provides you with cover from the elements. Look at things in levels. What do you, personally, need? What does your family need? What does your community need? Build your way from the individual outward, not the other way around. In my personal pack, I have a change of clothes, an extra set of clean underwear and socks, a military poncho (German in my case, because theirs are smaller and the American ones make me look like I’m a three year old dressing up in my mom’s clothing… being 5’1″ sucks at times) and woobie (the quilted lining for the poncho), a small and tightly rolled tarp, an emergency blanket (the foil type), and a bunch of rope. I also have these tarp clip things that you can attach to items that don’t have grommets, to hang them up, which allows me to use any item as a sun shade or rain shade.

In a pinch, a military poncho makes a decent single person tent. Paired with the other items in my pack, I’m well situated to be relatively warm, dry, and fairly comfortable. And how do I know this? Because I’ve tried it out. Testing your preps, ALL OF THEM, is of vital importance. If you don’t know how to use something, it’s absolutely useless and taking up valuable space in your pack.

I have a backpacker’s tent for if I need light, portable shelter. We own hammock tents as well, and several medium to large modern tents. I like the pop up tents for car camping, because of the ease of set up, but you definitely would not be hauling them around in the woods in a stealthy manner. They are *fantastic* for when you’re trying to keep your house warm without electricity, though (set up a tent in a room, gather everyone into it, and it’ll raise the temperature quite a bit). My large modern tents accommodate all the things I enjoy when I’m working a ren faire or modern event, and just want to be comfortable with my glamping set up.

Eventually, I aim to have a trailer with my camping stuff already packed onto it. That way, whether it’s an emergency or my favorite ren faire, all I need to do is hook up the trailer and go. Until then, I have various packs I put together for different types of events, depending on the infrastructure I need for that event. Emergencies are the same way. Having multiple ways of providing yourself shelter allows you to use only what is required.

Remember, shelter is everything you need to keep yourself safe from the elements. A summer shelter kit should be very different from a winter one. In summer, I have a light bedroll, a wool blanket (because even some summer nights get cold), and a set of light jammies. In winter, I have a huge military sleep system (which by itself is a shelter, as it has a bivy exterior), thermal underthings, many layers of wool, and sheepskins to lay on top of. Prepare for the situation you’re going to be in, and rotate for the seasons in your area.

Three Days Without Water

Water is absolutely necessary to life. When you’re at home, it might seem like a no-brainer. Turn on the tap, and there it is. But what if you’re in a place where the water doesn’t reach when there’s a power failure? Do you know how to get enough water to sustain yourself and your family? Don’t forget about animals as well, because they also need water. The minimum requirement of water for each adult person per day is one gallon. Even our government suggests having three days of water on hand for your family. I have five in my home, plus two pets. That means I need to have a MINIMUM of 17 gallons of water on hand at any given moment.

Luckily, I live in a water rich area of the world, and I live near a relatively potable body of water, and there are many rivers and ponds nearby as well. I store the means to clean and carry water, but not much actual water reserves. If you’re in a water poor area (inner city Boston, for instance, or in some of the Southern states), you need to consider actual storage of potable water, and how to replace it when it’s gone.

Planning for water gathering, cleaning, and storage is incredibly important. One of the major things that makes us a first world country and not a third world shit hole, is that we have clean water for most of our people. Water in a power-out situation will become problematic very quickly. Local bodies of standing water will deplete rapidly, as everyone will assume they can just take what they need. Be patient… most of those people won’t even think to boil, never mind bleach the water, and they’ll die of dysentery before too long, and will no longer be a strain on the community. That may seem harsh, but in a SHTF scenario, harsh is going to be the reality.

Three Weeks Without Food

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can actually go three weeks without eating, and still be functional. We’ve got plenty of information about what happens to the human body and mind after just a couple of days, never mind a week or three. You may *live* for three weeks, but you definitely won’t thrive. And yes, that applies to fat people too. Once your body begins to cannibalize your organs, you will not be much of a functioning human.

So how do you prep for food? Some people like to buy freeze dried stuff, such as what Mountain House makes. It’s handy if you have to carry the food anywhere, because freeze dried stuff is very light. Canned goods are usually good for a very long time (long LONG past their expiry dates, by the by), but are wickedly heavy and bulky. MREs are tasty, but don’t plan on them being your main food source (ask a soldier about how MREs allow them to go for long hikes without having to poop). For me, the best food preparations are the ones that account not only for the emergency, but after the emergency.

We store canned protein, such as chicken, turkey, ham, salmon, and tuna. I even have quite a bit of spam on hand, because I happen to like it, and it contains a goodly amount of fat, which will be necessary in any long-term emergency. Make sure your proteins are packed in oil rather than water, because that fat is vital to your health, and to your brain working correctly. Consider other ways of storing protein: salt pork, dried fish, frozen foods in winter, and the like.

Learn how to “put up” food, like grandma used to do. I love making my own salt pork, and I generally do a whole loin once a year or so. Done correctly, it doesn’t even need refrigeration (though a cool, dark place is best). Practice dehydrating vegetables, canning things, making jam, pickling, and other homestead skills. Use the foods you put up, so that your body is used to them.

Do not just store 200 bags of beans in a bucket and assume that’ll do it. While beans do contain a fairly good spread of protein, fat, and carbs, the human body is just not meant to run on them indefinitely. If you’re not used to eating beans on the regular, you WILL get sick. This is one reason I make beans for my family fairly often. We’re not huge bean lovers, but it keeps our body producing the gut enzymes that process the beans. During an emergency, we will be able to digest without too much gut disturbance.

Most importantly, prep what you eat, and eat what you prep. It’s good to have two years of food on hand, but not if you won’t eat it. Don’t go into your preps thinking that hunger will allow you to eat something you don’t like. The brain and body can and will refuse food that is the same all the time, or that causes discomfort (dislike of taste, texture, etc.). You stop gaining the nutrients you need, and that’s bad. Consider allowing yourself more calories per day than you would usually eat in a non-emergency, because you will be working physically harder, and will need the energy.

Have a few comfort foods like mac’n’cheese on hand, and enjoy them on nights when you just don’t have the energy to cook. But don’t live on comfort food. Make sure you have a good mix of proteins, good carbohydrates, and good fats. Consider addictions such as coffee, and plan to feed those as well. Think about all the little things you don’t normally consider, too, such as salt and pepper, sugar, honey, peanut butter, ketchup, etc. Check your spices and keep those up to date, too.

Look into macro nutrients and how they affect your body. Rice and beans are, indeed, a whole meal from a nutrient perspective. But you can’t live on it, well. Your brain will suffer from not getting enough of the right kind of fats, and you will eventually get very bored of the flavor. Have a variety, and be prepared to learn different ways to make and serve the same thing. Today, make plain rice and beans. Tomorrow, add Mexican spices and toss it on a tortilla or a bit of bread and call it tacos. The day after, you can press it into a loaf and use Italian spices and make a fake meatloaf. Curry flavoring makes it Asian. You get the general idea.

Three Months Without Hope

This isn’t one that FEMA coined. I’m not sure if it was AWA who did it, or if someone else suggested it, but it’s important enough to be a significant part of my “rule of threes” preparations.  Hope is what keeps us going. Hope is what lets us continue trying, when things look bad. Hope is what allows us to get up every morning and continue living. Without hope, all is lost.

One of the things that makes us modern humans is that we have time to play. Therefore, a good part of my emergency preps is “stuff to do” when we have down time. We have several packs of cards, and a copy of The New Complete Hoyle, which contains 600+ pages of many card games. Whether you want bridge, gin rummy, or solitaire, there are rules here for all and more. I can make cards out of leaves, if I have to, and that means I always have something to do during the down times.

This article only covers the basic necessities, the things I consider most important to have on hand all the time. But there’s so much more to it. The Rule of Threes allows you to survive, but the goal is not survival, or even “just” living… The goal is to thrive! That takes dedication, perseverance, and skill. Planning in advance allows you to move much more rapidly toward thriving, after an emergency.