Recently, my husband and I went through our 72-hour kit of food that we had’?t touched for probably two years. Not surprisingly, all of the food was pretty much inedible. I mean, I know beef jerky is suppose to be tough, but I don’t think it’s suppose to shatter into hundreds of pieces when you hit it against a hard surface. We realized that we should have been more responsible and replaced the food regularly. Had we experienced an emergency where we needed to use our kits, we would at least have had something, but it would have been pretty disgusting to have to survive on it.
Make sure that once you have a 72-hour kit for your family you maintain it. You should replace the food and water every six months. In addition, specifics regarding your own family will change over time. You will need to update what you have contained in your kits in order to keep up with changes. If you keep a change of clothing in your kits, clothing for children will also need to be changed out approximately every six months. Also check your other supplies to make sure that they are all functioning well.
If you have an infant you will have special considerations when completing and maintaining your kit. If you only expect to update your kit every six months, you should make sure to look ahead to how old your baby will be at every step between now and then and be prepared for every age. For instance, even if your infant is not eating solid foods yet, you should still store enough for three days so you are prepared ahead of time and don’t have to update your kit every couple of months.
Making certain to update and check your emergency kit every so often will ensure that it is up-to-date and useful to you when you really need it.
Related Articles:
What to Put in a Basic 72-Hour Kit
Planning for your Baby’s Needs During an Emergency