Aging and Emergency Preparedness: What It’s Really Like
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Aging and Emergency Preparedness: What It’s Really Like! There’s a chapter in the life of a prepper that nobody talks about enough, and that’s what happens when the prepper gets older. I’ve spent years writing about food storage, water storage, and getting ready for whatever life throws at us, but today I want to talk about something more personal. I want to talk about what it’s like to prep for emergencies when your own body has become one of the emergencies you’re preparing for.
Age changes everything about how we prepare. The stairs that used to be nothing are now a project. The fifty-pound bags of wheat that we used to carry into the pantry without a second thought now require help, or a hand truck, or simply buying smaller bags so we can manage them ourselves. Aging doesn’t mean we stop caring about being ready. It means we have to get smarter and more honest about what our bodies can actually do.
My Aging Story and Emergency Preparedness
I want to share a little of my own story so you understand where I’m coming from. I’ve been on oxygen twenty-four hours a day since April of 2024 because of pulmonary fibrosis. With the tubes hooked up to me from the oxygen concentrator, I often feel like a little dog hooked up to a leash. I also live with balance problems caused by vestibular neuritis, an inner ear virus that left me with eighty-five percent damage on that side. Because of that damage, I haven’t been able to drive or walk without assistance since March of 2017. These aren’t small adjustments.
They touch everything from how I shop for groceries to how quickly I could get out of the house if there were ever a fire or another kind of emergency. My eyes don’t talk to each other. I tire easily; I can’t be in large groups or even go to Costco; it becomes overwhelming. Thankfully, I have Mark who does so much for me. Plus, I’ve made so many wonderful friends like you through my blog. Life is good.
I share this not for sympathy but because I know so many of you reading this are in a similar season of life. Maybe it’s not oxygen or balance issues for you. Maybe it is arthritis, or a heart condition, or simply the slower pace that comes with age. Whatever it is, if you’re nodding in agreement right now, I want you to know you aren’t alone, and you aren’t any less capable of being prepared. You just have to prepare differently than you did at thirty.
We’ve Lived Through Hardships
Here is the good news, and it’s real good news. What we lose in physical strength as we age, we gain back many times over in knowledge. As we’ve aged, we’ve lived through gas shortages, recessions, storms, and years of learning how to stretch a dollar and stock a pantry. We know how to bake bread from scratch, how to store water safely, how to keep a family fed when the store shelves are empty. That knowledge doesn’t expire. If anything, it becomes more valuable every year.
This is exactly why I believe so strongly in teaching our kids and grandkids real self-reliant skills. We may not be able to lift the fifty-pound bags anymore, but we can absolutely teach a twelve-year-old how to can green beans, read a weather warning, shut off the water main, or put together a simple first-aid kit. Passing down these skills isn’t just about tradition. It’s about making sure our families have what they need long after we’re no longer able to do the heavy lifting ourselves.
Budgets When We’re Older
I also want to talk honestly about something that has nothing to do with health, and everything to do with the reality of getting older on a budget. Mark and I recently had a house built, a small one, simple by design, and we were genuinely disappointed to see the final cost come in at nearly twice what we had originally expected. Building costs and material prices have climbed so much that even a modest little house can turn into a financial surprise.
At one point, a family member suggested we save money by finding used kitchen cabinets and installing them ourselves. I understood the intention behind the suggestion, and there was a time in our lives when that project would have been exciting. But we are simply too old for that kind of physical work now. My kitchen isn’t just a room in my house. It’s my workplace. It’s where I test recipes, write posts, and do a huge part of what keeps this blog and our food storage lifestyle running. It needed to be built right the first time, sized and organized in a way that works with my limitations, not against them.
Sometimes life doesn’t happen the way we had hoped. We plan a budget, and the world hands us a different number. We picture ourselves doing certain physical tasks and our bodies remind us that that season has passed. I think one of the most honest and helpful things we can do for each other is admit that out loud instead of pretending everything went according to plan.
Smaller Containers
If you’re aging and trying to stay prepared, here are a few thoughts that have helped me.
Focus on smaller, lighter containers for food storage so lifting and carrying stays manageable. Instead of 5 Gallon Water storage containers or a 5 Gallon Water Bottle Holder for 12 bottles. Here are 5 gallon Bottles. Get Waterbricks, which are 3.5 gallons. Water Preserver
Ask for help without guilt. Asking someone to carry, lift, or install something isn’t weakness. It’s wisdom.
Write down your emergency plan and your pantry inventory so someone else can step in and understand it quickly, if needed.
Teach one skill at a time to your children or grandchildren, rather than trying to pass on everything at once.
Permit yourself to adjust your preparedness plan as your body changes, rather than comparing it to what you used to be able to do.
Aging doesn’t disqualify us from being prepared. It simply changes what preparedness looks like. We may move slower, we may need more help, and yes, sometimes the costs and the plans don’t go the way we hoped. But we still carry decades of hard-earned knowledge, and that knowledge, shared generously with the next generation, may be one of the most important things we ever pass down.
I’m not a medical professional, and nothing in this post should be taken as medical advice. Please talk with your own doctor about your specific health needs and how they affect your ability to live as normal a life as possible, along with being able to prepare for emergencies.
5 Prepping Things You’re Not Doing That You Should Be
How To Store Your Emergency Preparedness Items
Final Word
Growing older doesn’t mean giving up on preparedness. It simply means we prepare with more wisdom and less brute strength, and honestly, that isn’t such a bad trade. Every one of us who has lived long enough to face illness, injury, or a body that no longer does what it used to, has also lived long enough to gather knowledge that younger generations simply haven’t had time to learn yet. That knowledge is a gift, and gifts are meant to be given away, not kept to ourselves.
I think about the years ahead, and I don’t spend much time wishing I could lift what I used to lift or walk the way I used to walk. Instead, I think about who I can teach. A grandchild who learns to can tomatoes this summer will carry that skill for the rest of their life. A son or daughter who understands how to read a storm warning or ration a pantry during hard times will pass a little more security on to their own children someday. That’s how self-reliance survives from one generation to the next, not through any one person doing everything alone, but through all of us sharing what we know while we still can.
Life will keep handing us surprises, whether it’s a diagnosis we didn’t expect, a house that costs more than we planned, or a project we simply aren’t able to do ourselves anymore. None of that means we have failed at preparedness. It means we are living real lives, the same as everyone else, and adjusting as we go. May God bless this world, Linda
Copyright Images: Aging Woman With Caregiver AdobeStock_862871968 By pikselstock, Elderly Woman AdobeStock_862869388 By pikselstock
A wise person knows their limitations and devises work arounds to overcome them. Jobs I used to do myself, now require help or hiring someone to do them. I can still manage the 50 pound bags, but instead of simply throwing them over my shoulder and carrying them I now load them into a wheelbarrow. Let the tool do the work.
Ray,
I am right there with you. While recognizing limitations of aging, it is still frustrating knowing what I did several years ago versus what I can do now without injuring yourself. I do the same as you do with those 50 pound bags. If I tried to throw a 50 pound bag over my shoulder now, it would probably wind up on the ground behind me with me flat on my back inadvertently using that bag as a pillow. LOL!!
Hi Harry, I have the giggles now; I can visualize you lying on the 50-pound pillow! Funny, not funny! Linda
HI Ray, a wheelbarrow is man’s best friend. We used to have one; now we don’t need one. We do use a cart to bring groceries into our house. It’s quite a walk to the backyard. Linda
I noticed my age the last couple years. I also noticed that people are desperate for someone to teach them. I still spend very little on groceries, since I have a garden, but I can see a time I will have to buy from farmers. Getting older is not for the faint-hearted.
Hi Janet, I’m glad I can finally plant a few tomato plants after 5 years without a garden. They are thriving. The squash and one tomato plant got blossom-end rot. I added calcium. We do not eat nearly as much as we used to; our meals are much smaller. I have a bad habit of snacking. Dark chocolate almonds and homemade cookies are my favorite. It is frustrating not to have the strength I used to have. Life is good, Linda
I just said to my husband that I had to make some cookies. I love them too.
Hi Janet, my neighbor calls me the “cookie lady”. I trade for eggs. I love it. Linda
Excellent article, thank you. The fact that the population is aging makes this article both timely and needed.
Please write more articles referring to prepping for those aging and/or facing medical challenges.
Hi Christine, thank you, my sweet friend. I hesitated writing it, but it’s a fact nowadays. We are all getting older. Medical challenges are rampant among my closest friends; it breaks my heart. It’s hard, but it’s a fact of life. Linda
I’ve noticed in the last year that I can’t do everything as easily as I did before. I consider myself fortunate that at 70 I can still do everything I want to do. I’ve had to make some changes especially when I’m canning. I can’t stand for hours on end like I used to, so once the jars are in the pressure canner, I pull a stool closer to the stove to keep an eye on it. Before this summer, I could stand all day and not be bothered by it!
Hi Paula, you are young at 70! I love it! I’m 76, but my mind thinks I’m 56. LOL! I can’t cook at the stove with my oxygen, so Mark has taken over most of the cooking. I get it started, and now he does most of the cooking. He helps me mound the cookies, then I go in another room to hook up to my oxygen, and he bakes them for me. I was always a very strong woman; now I must ask for help, and that’s okay. Life has changed for me. Linda
I’m glad that at 72 I can still do a lot of things myself but this really resonated. Asking for help is not always easy for some of us stubborn old ladies who have always prided ourselves on self reliance but I’m gradually learning. Don’t whine about how you used to be able to do this or that, just be very matter of fact that some things are beyond your current capabilities. I’m lucky that we have a lot of volunteers in our community that can take on heavier tasks and that there are still lots of things I can volunteer for so I don’t feel like I’m only asking for favours.
Hi Alice, I love your comment. I had to “buck up” and ask a grandson to help unload some bags of dirt for my garden planters. He used a wheelbarrow and filled the garden planters for me. He loves to help me, but I hate having to ask. I’m slowly feeling less guilty. Life is good. Linda
May God bless you, Linda L. Your thoughtful advice, lists, and generosity have been so valuable over the years. It’s about time I thank you for all your work on our behalf.
Hi Linda, thank you for your kind words, my sweet friend. You made my day! Hugs, Linda
Great article! I find I now spend time each week trying to keep my arthritic body in the best shape I can – senior fitness classes, chiropractor, gardening, etc. all keep me moving. In the morning moving hurts but then things unlock with exercise and I feel better. The alternative is to spend my days in a chair I have a hard time getting out of. Ugh! So I’m doing all I can for as long as I can.
Along with age is less need to prepare & store as much food as before. Our children are grown and I don’t eat as much now. I share more of my garden as I don’t use cases of bottled fruit and tons of frozen vegetables. I’ve learned the hard way when I’ve had to toss old food I got on the case lot sales.
Right now I can still do a lot with my grandchildren and travel but it is getting harder every year – especially hosting family get togethers when the whole group comes. I’m facing the reality that instead of a potluck dinner, I’ll just be serving dessert. I can see the time in a decade or so when I’ll be the great-grandma who gets visited and tries to have cookies to share. My children have fond memories of my parents in that stage so that will just be the natural rhythm of life and okay too.
Hi Kay, I don’t know how to be a great-grandma. I feel it’s so different than when I was a grandma. It makes me sad, but it is what it is. We don’t have a kitchen table, so we can’t invite anyone over here for dinner. LOL! Our house is too small. We eat on the couch or at the breakfast bar; I should say Mark does. I do not like bar stools. LOL! I live within ten feet of my daughter, who is a grandma, so it’s more fun over there. They do their own thing. I had fun when I was a grandma; a great-grandma, not so much. Such is life. Linda
I am 81 and not in the best physicsl shape. A number of medicsl problems. Loss of strength is one, diminished eyesight another. I live alone in a senior independent living 1 bedroom apartment building. I have limited space to store thins. I’;ve collected used 1 gallon water jugs,(24 of them) and refill them from the the kitchen faucet. I got a tall (6ft) storage cabinet from a neighbor who passed on. I store all my medical supplies in it. I get the medical supplies form my Medicare OTC allowance so its free to me. Food storage is a small 4 shelf 4ft wide 6ft tall pantry. Bedroom looks likr a warehouse with all the shelving. I’m learning how to can and bake from neighbors. I’ll get by.
Hi Larry, you are doing a lot for being 81! I love hearing that you are still stocking food and water in your senior independent apartment! We always order our OTC medications the first day of the quarter! I love it! It’s a blessing to all of us! Linda
Most everything I do is geared towards the grandsons survival.