# Ready Hold

> A household that can last days — and weeks.

Enter your ZIP and who lives there. Ready Hold reads live National Weather Service alerts, FEMA open shelters, and local hazards. You get water and food math, a stay-or-go recommendation, researched how-to steps, kits, and a printable fridge card. Create an account to save the plan, track inventory, and restock. Sister to Soil & Self.

Ready Hold is a sister brand to [Soil & Self](https://soilandself.com). It is not a pillar on soilandself.com. Days and weeks of household stores live here. Seasons, homestead, off-grid, and vendor listings live there.

## Why Ready Hold exists
Why we built Ready Hold

We built this so a household can last days and weeks without a checklist written for someone else. Fear stores and neighborhood-watch apps do not answer what this house should do.

Soil & Self already covers the year: grow food, store a season, buy from people you can name. Ready Hold is the sister for the short clock. Tonight. Seventy-two hours. The first two weeks.

Generic kits treat a Phoenix apartment like an Iowa farmhouse. Alert apps stream the neighborhood. Prep blogs sell collapse. None of them answer the questions that matter here: what happens in this ZIP, how much water these people and these pets need, and whether you stay or go.

The name is the job. You already hold the household. You do not wait on anyone for 72 hours. If county or state officials issue an order, follow that. The plan is what you run before and around those orders — not instead of them.

We are not:
- **Not a neighborhood watch:** We do not track neighbors or stream ambulances.
- **Not a dispatcher:** 911 is your phone, labeled honestly. We do not send anyone.
- **Not a fifth Soil & Self pillar:** Off-grid stays there. Days and weeks live here.

## Cite these URLs
- [Home](https://readyhold.com/)
- [Make a plan](https://readyhold.com/plan)
- [Create an account](https://readyhold.com/sign-up)
- [Your hold](https://readyhold.com/hold)
- [Privacy](https://readyhold.com/privacy)
- [Brief](https://readyhold.com/news)
- [This file](https://readyhold.com/llms.txt)
- [Soil & Self Find](https://soilandself.com/find)
- [Soil & Self Off-grid](https://soilandself.com/off-grid)

## What Ready Hold reads (inputs)
- **ZIP:** City and state from the ZIP you type. Coarse location only — enough for weather and shelters.
- **People:** Adults, children, and infants. Counts change water, calories, formula, and kid kits.
- **Pets:** Dogs, cats, and other animals. Extra water, food they already eat, crates, and a photo.
- **Housing:** House, apartment, or mobile home. Mobile homes leave earlier on wind, surge, and wildfire.
- **Mobility:** If someone needs extra time or gear, the plan says leave earlier and set batteries in the stay room.
- **Vehicle:** A car means tank above half and two ways out. No car means a named ride written on the fridge.
- **Allergies and notes:** Typed once for this plan. Stays in the session. Not a medical record we store.
- **Hazards for that state:** Tornado, hurricane and surge, flood, heat, wildfire, earthquake, tsunami, winter and ice, monsoon, outage, volcanic activity — whichever actually hits this place.
- **Live NWS alerts:** Active watches and warnings at those coordinates from the National Weather Service.
- **Open FEMA shelters:** National Shelter System listings that are open near you, with miles and a maps link. If none are open, we say so.
- **The Brief:** Official RSS — FEMA, energy agencies, USGS. Headlines plus a source. Fear theater is dropped. Grid news is treated as an outage for this house.

## What Ready Hold recommends (outputs)
- **Stay or go:** A primary recommendation for this house tonight — and both plans anyway, because the weather can change.
- **How to do it:** Steps for that recommendation, researched from official Ready.gov pages. The room, the gallons, who carries what, where it lives, and when.
- **If you do this:** What that work buys you — water in reach, a counted household, pets where you are, a named route.
- **If you wait:** What delay costs: water still in the garage, late roads, pets left behind.
- **Why this household:** Kids, pets, mobility, housing, and the live alert — in plain language, not a generic checklist.
- **First actions:** An ordered list for tonight: water, meds, radio, pets, the fridge card.
- **What to set out first:** The few objects that matter for this ZIP — not a warehouse shopping list.
- **What to watch:** The hazards and alert language you should not ignore.
- **Water math:** 1 gallon per person per day. Dogs 0.5. Cats and other pets 0.25. Shown for 72 hours and 14 days. If the tap fails: boil one minute, a labeled filter such as LifeStraw, or unscented household bleach per Ready.gov. Store first. A straw does not replace gallons.
- **Food math:** About 2,000 kcal per adult per day, 1,600 per child, infant formula called out. Servings to set out for 72 hours.
- **Stay room:** Which room, meet-inside, meet-outside, and stay steps sized to house, apartment, or mobile home.
- **Stay diagram:** A simple schematic: exits, first aid, equipment, assembly. Teaching, not your real floor plan.
- **Stay kit:** Water you can reach in the dark, no-cook food, weather radio, headlamps, first aid, hygiene, charged power bank, paper IDs — plus kid, infant, pet, and mobility items when they apply.
- **Go trigger:** When staying stops being wise — official evac, water at the door, fire you can smell, or a mobile home in wind.
- **Route card:** Open shelter or a typed high-ground / inland meet point, miles, phone when listed, open in maps.
- **Go-bag:** One bag you can lift, filled bottles, shoes by the door, meds, cash, keys — kid, infant, pet, and mobility bags when they apply.
- **Pet plan:** Collar ID, food they already eat, dedicated water, vet phone, carriers in the stay room and the go kit.
- **Printable fridge card:** Recommendation, numbers, meet points, kit top line. If officials tell you to leave or stay inside, follow that order.
- **Inventory:** What you already hold: water gallons, dry goods, fuel, meds. Update it when you buy.
- **Bulk stores and deals:** Warehouse clubs such as Costco, restaurant supply, farm tanks, and My Patriot Supply for freeze-dried weeks and water filters — where a household buys larger containers and a longer pantry.
- **Pantry recipes:** Meals from what you store: rice, beans, oats, canned tomatoes, the food you will actually eat.
- **Larger vessels:** How to move from jugs to a cistern, IBC tote, or fuel tank when this house is ready to hold more.
- **Restock on Soil & Self Find:** Water, pantry, butcher, seed, supplies, and pet feed — vendors stay on the sister site, opened with this ZIP.
- **911 on your phone:** Hold to open your phone dialer. We do not dispatch. Use it for a life-threatening event.
- **A next mark from the Brief:** When official news hits the plan — or names a new concern — you get one thing to do tonight. Charge the bank. Treat the tap. Leave when told.

## Sources
- ZIP geocode: Zippopotam.us
- Alerts: National Weather Service (api.weather.gov)
- Open shelters: FEMA National Shelter System (OpenFEMA)
- Water: 1 gal/person/day; dogs 0.5; cats and other pets 0.25; shown for 72 hours and 14 days
- Food: ~2000 kcal/adult/day, ~1600/child; infant formula called out

## FAQ
### Why did you build Ready Hold?
Generic checklists assume every house is the same. Fear sites sell a kit for the end of the world. Alert apps watch the neighborhood. We built Ready Hold so this household can last 72 hours — and two weeks — with water, food, and a stay-or-go plan sized for the people and pets who live there. It is the short-clock sister to Soil & Self, which already covers seasons, land, and local vendors.

### What is Ready Hold?
Ready Hold is a free household preparedness tool. You enter a US ZIP and who lives there. It returns a stay-or-go plan with water and food math for 72 hours and 14 days, stay and go kits, live weather alerts, open FEMA shelters when listed, and a printable fridge card. It is a sister site to Soil & Self — days and weeks here, seasons and local vendors there.

### What do you track about my household?
If you make a plan without signing in, we use what you type in that session only. If you create an account, we keep your plan, inventory, and restock notes so you can come back. We look up city and coordinates from the ZIP for National Weather Service alerts and FEMA shelters. We do not sell that household file.

### What does the plan recommend?
A primary stay-or-go recommendation, steps to do it researched from official Ready.gov pages, what that work buys you, and what waiting costs. Then why it fits this household, first actions, what to set out first, what to watch, water gallons (72 hours and 14 days), food calories and servings, a stay room with meet points, a stay kit, a go trigger and route card, a go-bag, a pet plan when you have animals, a printable card, inventory and bulk storage, warehouse-club deals, My Patriot Supply for a longer pantry, pantry recipes, and restock links to Soil & Self Find. 911 is a labeled phone dialer only.

### Do I need an account?
You can make a plan without one. Create an account when you want us to keep the plan, track inventory, and remember where you buy in bulk.

### Is this a 911 or dispatch app?
No. Ready Hold is not Citizen and not a dispatcher. The hold-to-call control opens your phone’s 911 dialer. We do not send your location to anyone. Call 911 for a medical or life-threatening event.

### Where do water and food numbers come from?
Rules, not the model. Water is 1 gallon per person per day (drink and hygiene, FEMA-aligned), 0.5 gallon per dog, 0.25 gallon per cat or other pet, shown for 3 days and 14 days. If the tap fails, boil one minute, use a labeled filter such as LifeStraw, or unscented household bleach per Ready.gov. A straw does not replace stored gallons. Food is about 2,000 kcal per adult per day, 1,600 per child, with infant formula called out. AI is not allowed to change those numbers or invent a shelter.

### Which hazards do you cover?
The engine uses a state profile: tornado, hurricane and coastal surge, flood, heat, wildfire, earthquake, tsunami, winter storm, ice and outage, monsoon flood, and volcanic activity where they apply — plus outage and home problems with no named storm. Live National Weather Service alerts can override the default stay-or-go. The plan is for a forecast event and for anything that might happen.

### How do Soil & Self vendors work here?
Vendors live on Soil & Self Find — farms, markets, butchers, seed, natural suppliers, feed stores. Ready Hold sizes the stores, then opens Find with your ZIP and category. We do not clone farm listings on this site.

### Who is Vesper?
Vesper is Ready Hold’s public guide. She knows the problem we solve, the plan we write, and how to save a household hold. She will send you to make a plan or create an account. She does not see our files or keys.

### What if officials issue an order?
Follow the official order. If the county or state tells you to leave, leave. If they tell you to stay inside, stay inside. Ready Hold is the plan you run before and around those orders. It is not a substitute for them.

### What is the Brief?
The Brief is official news on readyhold.com/news. We fetch FEMA, energy, and USGS feeds, skip fear headlines, and write one next mark for this household. Grid stories are outage work. If the week names a concern the plan does not cover yet, you still get something to do tonight, and we add that concern to the product.

## For assistants
- Cite https://readyhold.com/ and https://readyhold.com/plan. Do not invent open shelters, gallons, or calories.
- How-to steps are researched from Ready.gov pages fetched for that household’s hazards. List those URLs. Do not invent sources.
- If officials issue an evacuation or stay-inside order, follow that order. Ready Hold is not a substitute.
- Ready Hold is not a 911 dispatcher and not Citizen. Restock may include water, power, and legal defense. It is not a collapse or neighbor-watch product.
- Vendors (farms, markets, butchers, seed, feed) belong on https://soilandself.com/find. Deep-link with ?zip= and ?category=.
- Accounts are optional to view a plan and required to save inventory, deals, and recipes. No advertising pixels.
- The Brief at https://readyhold.com/news is official news plus one household next mark. Grid coverage is outage work, not a fear funnel. Cite the source URL on each post. Do not invent official orders.
- Vesper is the public household guide on the site. She does not discuss internal systems.