EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS KIT
Well, given recent months (and the fact that a lot of these items were impossible to find again until recently), I thought a list of what should be in an emergency preparedness kit could be very helpful. This post is about an emergency kit for your home, I will put an emergency car kit in a separate post later. Also, I should note— this is a basic emergency preparedness kit. You can get as crazy as you want from here with generators, food storage, seeds and plants, etc. But I’m talking about basics in this post, not doomsday prepping.
To determine what you need, first ask who is this kit for… How many people (and pets) do you need to prepare for? Babies? Children? Elderly? Medical conditions? Next, what kind of emergency/emergencies are you preparing for? Hurricane? Tornado? Earthquake? Pandemic? Shelter in place? Evacuation? These questions will help determine the amount of supplies and some specific supplies needed. For example, if you need to prepare for a hurricane, you may need rain/water gear in addition to the basics. But you may also need to evacuate in a hurricane, which would mean a more portable kit.
There are three approaches to building your emergency kit:
Buy one.
Collect everything all at once.
Collect items over time, starting with the basics, or what you can find, and continue to add from there.
For the first option, there a few links below. This is the easiest option but also can get pretty pricey and might require additional customization to your specific needs. And full disclosure, I have never purchased one of these, but here are some options I did research to see if they had most of the items listed below.
Amazon Emergency Survival Kit ($99-$299).
Red Cross 4-Person, 3-Day Emergency Preparedness Kit ($286.18).
Costco usually has A LOT of options (seriously, everything ranging up to a $4,000+ food kit) but most are not available at this time. But check their website and your local store just in case.
To build your own, here is a checklist (I have also included a downloadable PDF checklist below). This is a good option if you already have some of these items and do not want to purchase a whole kit, or if you want to be able to customize the items in your kit. Please note, this is not an exhaustive list of what could be need in an emergency, but a general list of ideas to assist in an emergency:
Water (Department of Homeland Security recommends 1 gallon per person per day for 3 days)
Non-perishable food (again, Department of Homeland Security suggests enough food for 3 days)
Battery-powered or hand-crank radio or weather radio (one with a phone charger included linked here)
Flashlight(s)
First aid kit (Red Cross recommends a 7-day supply of first aid) (simple one linked here)
Batteries
Masks (preferably a N95, but those are hard to come by these days)
Duct tape
Garbage bags
Manual can opener (linked here)
Fire extinguisher (smaller one linked here)
Matches and/or fire starter (linked here )
Toilet paper (but let’s not go crazy with this. I’m sure some people are still working on the supply they bought in March…)
Towelettes (such as Kandoo Flushable Wipes )
Simple toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, sunscreen, etc.)
Blanket(s)
Cash (smaller bills would be better)
Prescriptions (Red Cross recommends a 7-day supply) (here is a good additional resource for individuals with disabilities from Department of Homeland Security- Individuals with Disabilities)
Baby supplies, if applicable (formula, food, diapers, wipes, medications, etc.)
Feminine hygiene products
Hand sanitizer
Swiss army knife/utility knife
Water purification (filters, purification tablets, etc.)
Whistle (linked here)
COPIES of important documents (such as deed/lease, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies)
Weather-appropriate clothes (boots, hats, gloves, ponchos,
Phone chargers
Rubbing alcohol (probably included in the first aid kit, but it might be smart to include a full bottle of this in addition to the first aid kit)
Now, where to store all of this stuff? Best option is a water tight container (Plano storage trunks come in all sizes and are pretty affordable, linked here) in a basement, garage, or somewhere accessible. If an evacuation is a high possibility, I would also suggest having a backpack available (Emergency backpack kits linked here and another one here, or a lightweight backpack to fill with your own items linked here).
Again, this is not an exhaustive list of what you could need in an emergency. But these items could give you a good base, and as we have seen these could be the items that disappear quickly from shelves should a disaster strike. Another thing to note- check your supplies at least once a year for expiration dates and replenish as needed.
Some of these sites are linked above, but here is a list of some excellent resources for emergency preparedness:
