72-Hour Emergency Kits

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Well, hello friends!

I’m doing something a little out of the ordinary today, so bear with me. {Tomorrow, I’ll be posting a new recipe, so stay tuned for that!}

Is it just me or are there more and more horrible things happening in the world these days? Like, I can’t believe some of the stuff I read on the news–> natural disasters galore. The leaders from the church I attend encourages it’s members and really anyone anywhere to be prepared for emergencies and practice self reliance. I know it’s not just my church that does this. Lots of people are putting these sorts of emergency kits together so they have a backup ‘just incase’ plan.

It’s pretty much a scientific fact that anything that can go wrong will go wrong and it’s best to just expect the worst…and be prepared for it 🙂 So I got my little family of 4 together and we put these emergency kits together one Monday night. It took me a few days to track everything down that I wanted to include, but once everything was purchased, it only took about 30 minutes to throw it all together. Easy peasy!

So, here’s what I put in mine:1. The Emergency Binder

If you look at the top of this post, you’ll see a white binder tucked into the top of our bag. That is our emergency binder filled with all our important documents we’d need incase of emergency. In my binder you will find:

• cash in small bills {we have $100, but are slowly building up to $200}
• names and phone numbers of relatives, doctors, pediatricians, close friends, insurance agents, bank account numbers, homeowners, auto, personal insurance policy numbers, utility company numbers
• copies of birth certificates
• copy of marriage license
• copy of deed to our home
• copy of passports
• social security numbers
• copy of car insurance ID cards
• medical insurance cards
• copies of military ID’s
• copy of my permanent resident card

All of these copies are in plastic protector sheets and organized by person. All of my documents are in one section, Gord’s are in another, etc. etc.

I also quickly wrote out the expiration dates of the foods in our packs. This is an easier list to check instead of digging through the entire food bags to replace the items.

*I also set an alarm on my phone to check & replace all the food in October 2014 and April 2015…once every 6 months–>because I’m seriously forgetful.*

2. Food Packs

Now, onto the food. This is what you’ll see in our pack if you were to open it up right now. Some food is portioned out into bags, some is not. You’ll see what I mean in a minute.

Also, Brooke had a ball labeling everything with her name.

Brooke + sharpie = heaven.

The name of the game with these food packs is:

1. to last you 72-hours comfortably. That’s probably a given.

2. Calories, calories, calories! This is the one time where fat content and prepackaged foods is a very good thing. You’re trying to survive until help arrives/you find help else where.

3. little to no food preparation needed. I purposely packed foods that were ‘grab-and-go’…meaning you don’t have to do anything to them to eat them, just open and enjoy. I also did pack a few items {like hot chocolate and soup} that require water. But that’s it! ‘Just add water’ is as far as I go.

4. Full tummies = happy families.

I think I packed more than I probably needed, but it’s better to have too much than too little. Plus, I figure if the time comes when we have to use our packs and we do have an excess, we could pass it along and help someone who might need it more than us. 

Our Adult/Child 72-Hour Emergency Kits included:

• 1 pack beef jerky
• 2 packs instant oatmeal
• 2 envelopes hot chocolate
• 2 fruit cups
• 1 pudding cup
• 2 energy bars
• 2 fruit snacks
• 2 cereal bars
• 3 packs peanut butter/cheese sandwich crackers
• plastic utensils

Blake has his own baby version of these 72-hour kits I threw together too because he doesn’t eat exactly what we eat just yet, so here is the modified version.

Baby 72-hour Emergency Kit included:

• 4 packs pureed baby food
• cheerios
• 2 cereal bars
• 2 fruit cups
• 2 fruit snacks
• 1 pudding cup
• 2 instant oatmeal packets
• formula + bottles {not pictured, but packed elsewhere}
• plastic utensils

At the bottom of our bag, we have also included:

• 4 cans soup
• 2 packages powdered soup
• 8 juice boxes {capri suns}
• 8 gatorades
• 8 V8’s

We also have bottled water in a different pack too. Don’t forget lots of water 🙂

I love these powdered soup mixes. You just add water and heat.

So, that’s it for the food. Don’t forget toiletries! 

3. Personal Items

Don’t forget to pack:

• toothbrushes for everyone!
• toothpaste
• shampoo + conditioner
• deodorant
• pain medicine plus any prescription medicine, if necessary
• first aid kit {packed in a different bag}
• wipes
• diapers {in a different bag}
• antibacterial hand sanitizer {not pictured, but in the pack}
• feminine hygiene products

For the baby, I packed:

• extra pacifiers {because you can never have too many!}
• baby lotion
• baby wash + shampoo
• diaper cream
• again, don’t forget the diapers!

In our other bag that has our water and the diapers also includes changes of underwear and clothing for the whole family. I didn’t want to spend money on new clothes initially, but then I thought “duh! Go to a second hand store!” so I headed over to Goodwill and found warmer clothes, pajamas, blankets and t-shirts for all of us for less than $20. Score.

Keep in mind to purchase larger sized clothes for your kids!

4. EXTRAS!

Other extras you could include in your emergency kits if you have room could be things like:

• gum
• games
• cards
• toys
• coloring books and crayons
• matches
• flashlights
• stuffed animals
• disposable camera {to record damage}
• candy

So, yeah. That’s what is in mine. We still would like to add a few more things to it, but for now that is where we stand.

Hope that helps some of you with yours OR even gets you thinking about putting one together. It’s nice to have peace of mind, even if you end up never having to use it 🙂

Do you have a 72-Hour kit? Tell me what is in yours!

Am I missing anything from mine that I missed? Let me know!

Have a great day, friends! {New recipe coming up tomorrow!}