Whether or not you or your family members can survive a nuclear attack depends on a number of things. It depends on the amount of radiation you were exposed to, the length of time you were exposed to it, your age and your overall health.

Gamma rays give off fall out particles that can cause radiation sickness. When radiation hits us it causes a chemical change in the cells in our bodies.  If you get a large dose of radiation you will die. Small doses will help your body repair itself and get well. You are also more at risk of getting if you get a large dose over a short time. The same large dose of radiation over a long time is less damaging.

If you receive 0 to 50 radiation exposure then there are no visible effects.  If you receive 0 – 200 units then fifty percent of people experience might experience nausea from radiation sickness.  If you are exposed to between 200 and 450 then half the people exposed will be dead within two to four weeks.  At exposure rates between 450 and 6000 more than 50% of people will be dead within one to three weeks.  At amounts over 600  all exposed will be dead in two weeks.

There is not clothing or special drugs that can prevent exposure to radiation. However to prevent radioactive particles from reaching the thyroid many people prepare by stocking up on potassium iodide. When taken as directed potassium iodide floods the thyroid with stabilized iodine. This prevents the radioactive particle from making their way into the body and encourages them to be expelled out body waste channels. Taking potassium iodide tablets can prevent up to 99% of the damage that can be caused to the body through radioactive nuclear fallout.

The best protection against fall out radiation is staying inside a fallout shelter. It is recommended that you stay inside the shelter for at last two weeks and after that leave the shelter for necessities for only a minute or two. A shelter can be the basement or an inside hallway in a large building if you’re at the office. It can be the basement in your home, a subway or tunnel, or even trench that is lined with shielding material.

The federal government determined food would be edible as long as the radiation did not pass through it. The danger would be swallowing fall out particles that happened to fall on the food itself.

If the power goes out and there is no more natural gas or electricity available to use as cooking power then you still have lots of other ways to make your family hot meals.

One way is to use a propane barbecue or a barbecue that uses charcoal briquets.  The key here is to keep the barbecue and briquets dry. If your barbecue is not in a covered area you may have to make a bit of a roof or a windbreak to use it.  You can protect it by putting up a heavy tarp overhead but make sure it is high enough that it does not catch fire.

Liquid fuel camping stoves use either propane or liquid fuel such as white gas or Coleman fuel. These are handy and not too expensive. Be sure that you do not use them indoors either because there is risk of explosion.

Many people have invested in a wood burning stove. These can be practical, economical and wonderful to have in an emergency. You can use the top of the stove as a cook-top for boiling water and making hot meals in an emergency.

If your home has a fireplace then you can use it for cooking. Keep a grill or rack on hand so that you can cook any perishables in there if you have to. You can purchase a camp grill that can be set inside a fireplace at most outdoor stores.

You can also buy “pocket stoves”. These are sterno canned heat or cans with solid heat tabs.  You can also buy little cooing tables that use white gas or Coleman fuel. You need to be very cautious when using solid heat tabs or sterno as the flame cannot always be seen.

You can also get something called a JetBoil Flash Cooking system. This is a unit that boils two cups of liquid quickly.  It comes with a pot you insert inside so that you can boil or fry a small meal inside it.  It runs on compressed gas.

It is also helpful to have thermoses on hand. Sometimes in emergency situations you do not always have enough fuel to keep a heat source for cooking going on forever. One way to conserve fuel is to store food in thermoses so that it keeps warm for many hours. This way you can keep beverages and meals warm enough to enjoy over the course of a day and save your fuel for other needs.