Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the 2012 doomsday prophecy. Ironically if you do believe it, you might choose to hide under a rock come December 21, 2012. Rather on the news, television, Internet or people chatting about it at their work, you’ve likely heard about this prophecy. There are people who are strongly for or against the likelihood of such a calamity with the rest cautiously concerned or pessimistic. Emergency Plans are often brought into conversations, rather on a national level or personal level for your home. Regardless of your own stance, how is your emergency plan coming along in the event of a disaster-apocalyptic or not? Do you have your water and food supply ready along with other plans to take into action?

To shed some light on the origins of this special date, the Mesoamerican Calendar comes into play. While we are accustomed to organizing our own days by months and years, Mayans had a similar, but varied approach. In addition to their standard years, they have a long count calendar year that spans several of our centuries. Their last long-count calendar year ended on September 18, 1618; the next one ends December 21, 2012. From all historical evidence found, reaching an end of a long-count calendar year was a great event that that they celebrated. There is no actual evidence found that indicates that the Mayan culture believed the world was going to end on this day. Nevertheless, this hasn’t stopped many believers from thinking this gives reason to dread.

Believers of the doomsday prophecy gather their own support from one of many (or a combination of) predictions coming from science, pseudo-science, and self-proclaimed prophets. A few years ago, NASA predicted the likelihood of larger solar flare activity in late 2012, which if hit at the right angle against our planet’s atmosphere could potentially cause harm. Skeptics point out that the prediction is unreliable and recent ones now expect lower solar flare activity. As far as pseudo-science, time loops to alien invasions are among the many random beliefs, potentially holding less traction than that of prophets’ claims. One such prophet is Nostradamus, who believers claim has predicted other world events such as Napoleon, World War II and the JFK assassination; they claim he is alluding to world-wide disaster in 2012. Skeptics say most of his words aren’t analyzed until after the events have taken place, only to find vague similarities to prove he was right.

Despite the various viewpoints, some are concerned a self-fulfilling prophecy may manifest itself by man-made actions-be they small and localized, or possibly worse such as crashing our current economy. If enough people stop going about their daily routine and pull cash and sell stocks, another recession could occur. Others, however, expect the day to pass with nothing more than some heightened anxiety and a lot of fresh comedy material for late-night talk shows. They also point out that an increase in sales has gone towards emergency preparedness, 72 hour kits, freeze dried and dehydrated meals including pre-made gourmet meals.

Rather your stance lies with one end or the other, natural disasters can and do strike every year around the world. Some people are prepared while others not so much. An Emergency plan should be set in place for your home in such an event, what actions to do or where to go, and having in your house emergency food and water storage.

In today’s world, the Internet gives consumers so many more options to stock up your emergency food storage. Most people rarely have time to bottle their own food, let alone more costly and time-consuming methods like dehydrating foods. To answer that dilemma, many companies sell freeze-dried and dehydrated pre-made meals. While canned food is always a good resource for food storage, freeze-dried meals tend to provide more variety, better taste due to the preparation involved, and take up less space with more amounts of food.

So rather you expect the world to end this year, or get a good chuckle at those who do, emergency food storage can bring a peace of mind no matter what may happen in the year 2012.