We encourage all households to create a family disaster plan to make sure you are ready for the next emergency or disaster.

Plans should include designating a meeting place right outside the home (in case of a sudden emergency like a fire), an out-of-area emergency contact person and a location where everyone should meet if they can't go home. All members of the household should work together on the emergency plan and each person should know how to reach other family members.

The Red Cross offers free tools that make it easier to get prepared and make or update emergency plans. The American Red Cross Hurricane App for iPhone or Android smart phones has a section that helps people create a plan and then share it with household members and over social networks. If you don't have a smart phone, use our document template to create a Household Emergency Communication Plan.

The Emergency Kit Cook-Off challenges chefs and members of the public to create recipes utilizing ingredients that might be found in a 72-hour emergency kit. Everyone who submits a recipe will receive a free “Recipe for Preparedness” packet from the Red Cross, with information on making an emergency plan and what to put in a 72-hour kit.

Additionally, celebrity chefs from the Four Corners – Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona – will each prepare an Emergency Kit Cook-Off concoction utilizing the ingredients that members of the public voted on in August. The chefs will also champion the importance of emergency preparedness, and may be available for in-studio demos of their recipes. Visit www.EmergencyKitCookoff.blogspot.com for the list of ingredients, rules, celebrity chef bios and to submit your recipe.