While those of us with food allergies may be able to use the non-food emergency preparedness kits, they can cost hundreds of dollars. Both stainless steel and soy/soy lecithin are high in nickel. Many of the commercially created emergency food kits use stainless steel cans or contain soy or soy lecithin to preserve the food for longer periods. Various US governmental agencies recommend having at least a 72 hour kit that includes sufficient food, water, clothing and first aid. When diagnosed with my own nickel food allergy as an adult, I had to modify my emergency preparedness kit to meet my new allergy needs. Growing up in Utah along the Wasatch Mountains where multiple faults exist, I’ve been conditioned to be prepared for the forecasted 7+ magnitude earthquake. Yet, when you “train your brain” by already having a family communication plan and your custom allergy friendly preparedness kit, you don’t have to come up with spur of the moment solutions. Maralin Hoff, aka the “Earthquake Lady,” conducts emergency preparedness presentations throughout the state of Utah and encourages attendees to “train your brain.” As humans, our primal reaction to a stressful situation is fight or flight. Mindfully creating your own allergy friendly emergency preparedness kit, overtime, will better equip you to be prepared and not have to worry about making special preparations or forgetting something should you need to quickly evaluate your home because of a disaster. If our food allergy has taught us anything, it is how to strategically think ahead. Just imagine the food allergy challenges you could experience if you had to evacuate your home for a minimum of 3 days! We never know when we may be in harm’s way as the result of a natural or man-made disaster. Constantly we are in the mindset of making special preparations for our day at work or school and when we go out of town. This can be a challenge even when we’re in our own home. Every day we strive to be prepared to prevent allergic reactions.

Allergy friendly lipstick