As you might have gathered from Part 1, for a long time I avoided putting together an emergency kit. I found it completely overwhelming. Too many things to keep track of! Too many things to think about! It seemed so complicated that I wanted nothing to do with the whole idea.
Now I’m a little more comfortable with the idea. We finally have an emergency kit for our family, one for each person in fact. So here’s a look at what I’ve done. I hope you find it useful!
Our kits are in backpacks, one for each member of the family. I’ve taken into account what each family member can carry; the packs for the two youngest members of the family contain little more than coloring books and stuffed toys. I keep them all on the floor of a large closet near the front door, right now. Other places I could keep them would include behind the couch, under the computer desk, or tucked in an unused corner of a bedroom. As long as they’re all in one place, that is easily and quickly accessible.
For clothes I have items I bought at yard sales and thrift stores. For the little ones I made sure the clothes were a little large, to allow for growing.
Food is mostly convenience food picked up from the grocery store. I have things like breakfast bars, tuna and cracker packages, single serving pop-top cans of fruit, jerky, etc. Water is just bottled water. There is plastic cutlery and the kind of drink mix that is made to be used with bottled water.
Personal hygiene and the first aid kit are heavily stocked with free samples and travel size items. I have baby wipes for cleaning up when there’s no running water.
Once a year I go through everything. I make sure clothes that don’t fit are exchanged for larger outfits. Food getting close to its expiration date is replaced with newer items. (The old food tends to make its way into lunches and snack times, which makes the family very happy.)
I still need to get a few things in there. I need to make copies of our important family papers. A solar-powered radio would also be a good thing (and this is a good time of year to get one, since they tend to go on sale for use at the beach.)
This is an ongoing project. I currently have enough of the basics that, if something happened, we’d be alright. Making it better is always good, but I’m not going to panic about it. It’s like the old joke about eating an elephant. Just take it one bite at a time, and before you know it, you’ll have a great emergency kit put together!
Other resources:
Do I Need a Home Survival Kit?
Evacuation – What would you bring?
Creating an Emergency Kit
Red Cross disaster supplies kit