Do you ever feel so overwhelmed looking at all of the lists available online for what you need to put in a 72 hour kit? I know I did! I spent the first six years of our marriage building our kit, and adding to the list of what I needed to include. When we got a dog, I added a new list of things to include. And with each child, I added more to my list as well.
Last year after all of the natural disasters around the world, I knew I needed to buckle down and finish our kits. Being prepared for an emergency, no matter how big or small, gives me peace of mind. And this is one way that I can let my family know that they are a priority to me.
Related: 9 Ways to Prepare Your Marriage and Your Family for an Emergency
I know just how overwhelming it can be to find a list that includes everything you really need in your 72 hour kit. And then you have to find all of those things and purchase them at a decent price. There’s a reason that it took me almost seven years to get this project completed. I have felt completely confident in what I put together. And I am glad that I chose to invest in the items that I did. This kit took me just an hour or so to pull together. And I know that we are prepared to grab our things and go, if we never need to.
I think the food was the most stressful for me to put into our kit. I wanted to include things that were shelf stable, didn’t weigh a lot or take up a lot of space. And I wanted it to include food that we would actually want to eat if we had to.
I found this bucket of 72 hours worth of food for four people and purchased it immediately. I love that the food included is familiar and something that we would eat. When the time comes to replace the bucket with new food, I won’t dread eating it. I love how convenient the bucket is to just grab and go, it doesn’t weigh a lot. And I know everything in it is something that my entire family will eat and enjoy. Click here to purchase yours or grab the amount of food perfect for your family size.
The most daunting task of this entire project was finding everything that we would need in case of an emergency. And getting it all packed nicely in a bag that we could carry. Someone shared this already done for you emergency survival kit with me. I knew that it was an investment we needed to make.
By the time I would have found, purchased and put together all of these items on my own, I am sure that I would have spent close to, if not more, the cost of this entire kit.
This same company sells different kits depending on your family size. And specific to the natural disasters that you might experience in your area. I purchased the four person kit for earthquake evacuations. That’s the natural disaster that we have to be prepared for where we live.
I love how this 72 hour kit is packed and that I didn’t have to go out and find any of the random items. Things that I might not have thought about or known where to get. They have truly thought of everything from first aid supplies to water to toilet paper to shelter. There are even a few energy bars included, in case you are out for longer than planned.
The Amazon listing includes a detailed list of everything that you’ll find in the kit. Click here to check it out and find the kit that fits your family’s needs perfectly.
The big evacuation kit I bought covers the majority of our emergency needs. It is not personalized for our family, so I added a small backpack of my own. Inside our emergency backpack you’ll find a bag of supplies for our dog, and items that our kids need. You’ll also find personal items for us. I also included a few things for fun. I’m going to break each section of the backpack down below. I hope this helps you get an idea of what I included for my little family. And what you might want to include for yours.
I have an assortment of books wrapped up in a big trash bag (to keep them waterproof) in the front of our backpack. I’ve included a copy of our scriptures, a little hymn book, a couple of things for the kids to color in, the most recent copy of the phone book a card game and a family photo album.
I printed a bunch of photos and slipped them into a tiny photo album. You can find these little photo albums at Walmart as well. I printed out pictures of each of the kids, Joe and I, our whole family, and Howie. Also included are pictures of our extended family and other things that are familiar to the kids. It’s a good way to keep some familiarity for kids, during a traumatic time.
This was the one thing I knew I’d need in addition to our general 72 hour kit. At the very least, I knew that I’d need diapers and wipes and snacks.
I have a lot of these for each kid and will be changing them to underwear when they’re potty trained. I tried to include what we generally use in 72 hours, and double that amount.
Like I mentioned, when our kids were younger, I included formula in our bag. But I don’t have to do that now that they’re older and eat the same food that we do. I wanted to include snacks in our bag that I know they love and will eat. This is just so we have some extras in addition to our food supply. We’ll rotate those snacks out once a year.
I carry a pack of sanitizing wipes in our diaper bag at all times. And I decided they’d be a great addition to the 72 hour kit, for obvious reasons.
I kept thinking, ‘will that even matter in an emergency?’ but then I decided that yes, it will. When we might not be able to take a shower, or use a regular bathroom. We can at least have a little sense of clean and brush our teeth easily every day. It seems silly, but it made sense to me.
Keeping our kids entertained and having fun will be important if we’re ever in a disaster. I snuck a couple of cars and a few books that our kids love to play with into this bag. You’ll also notice crayons that can be used with the coloring books I mentioned in the section above. The coloring books wouldn’t fit in this gallon ziploc bag, so I included them here.
This was one of the most important things for me to include in our kids’ bag. I asked my mom to sew a couple of extra taggies (small comfort blankets) with the same material of ours at home. And then each kid has a binky in there as well, even though we’re fairly weaned from them.
If we are ever in an emergency, you can bet that we will bring our dog with us. He’s a member of our family and I couldn’t imagine leaving him behind. I was able to pack a fairly small bag with essentials for him as well.
His bag includes a collapsible food dish, leash, sweater, doggie bags, a few toys, a bone, some treats and a decent amount of food. Once a year, we will go through and swap out his food and treats for fresh ones. Then we’ll use the ones that are in there before they go bad.
This is the most basic stuff that I first thought about adding to our 72 hour kits. Just those little comforts that will help you feel more like yourself in a disaster. Each of us have a bag with deodorant, toothpaste, chap stick, floss, mouthwash, a brush, hair elastics, etc. I packed those two small bags into a gallon bag with toothbrushes, wet wipes, and a travel pack of q-tips.
I grabbed everything from the travel size product section of our local grocery store. It was easy to find our brands of choice and didn’t cost a lot of money to put together. That’s the thing that I loved the most about only having to pull together a small backpack of things personal to our family. Everything that I needed to include came from stuff that we already had at home. Or it was easily found at one store and for a decent price.
One of the other things I felt that we really needed in our 72 hour kit was a basic bag of medicines that we might need. You can of course personalize this if there are prescriptions or other things that your family might need. I just included the basics for ours. Our gallon bag has sunscreen, bug spray, lotion, and hand sanitizer in it. I also added tylenols and ibuprofen as well as allergy medicine for both the kids and us.
I put all of our kits together and have them stored in one location. They are easy to grab and go if we need to. You might have noticed that I didn’t include clothes for the kids or us. A couple of articles that I read suggested that in the event of an emergency, you can grab clothes from the dirty hamper for the entire family, or just grab something from closets. This saves space in your bag. And it ensures that everyone will have clothes that fit them and are appropriate for the season. With little kids, who are constantly growing, it’s hard to keep the bag update to date with clothes that are the right size and in the right season.
I also put together kits for our cars. Once again, I grabbed a couple of backpacks that we had on hand. And then I filled them with things that we might need in the event that we got stuck on the road. These kits are helpful to have on hand for a car accident. Or if you get stuck in traffic for hours and aren’t able to exit the freeway. Or if your car breaks down and you’re waiting for a tow truck, or in severe weather conditions.
One thing I think about frequently when driving is what if we crashed and I have hungry kids, or something similar. I also have a few snacks and things on hand in the diaper bag, but this is just added security. I’m also planning on purchasing this kit for each of our cars.
The tricky thing for me was the fact that we have three vehicles. Mine and Joe’s main cars, the ones that we take our kids in most often, have the bigger car kits. Joe’s truck has a smaller kit, but still includes a lot of things that we might need if the kids are with us. Because we often take them in that vehicle as well. I cringed a little putting these together and thinking about the extra cost of having that extra vehicle to stock. But I know it’s an investment that’s worth it. Because it will help my family out in the event of an emergency. And my family is the most important thing in my life.
Related: Four Ways We Keep Our Family Safe and Happy on Car Rides
The car emergency kit is a smaller version of the bigger emergency backpack that we have put together. I tried to think of different scenarios that we might find ourselves in. On a short drive across town or a long road trip. And I prepared for everything.
For cold or wet weather, these are a must. Even for something as simple as a tire change in a rainstorm, these will come in handy. I also included a hoodie and I always have a few blankets in the trunk of my car as well.
I have a couple of small first aid kits in our bags. In addition to a bigger kit velcroed to the floor inside the car. Some other things you’ll find for emergencies are a whistle, glowsticks and a flashlight.
I’d never hope to be stranded in my car for very long. But we included extra diapers and wipes for the kids, toilet paper, sanitizing wipes, kleenex and soap, just in case.
I have a big bag of snacks because nothing is worse than a hungry toddler. Or to be honest, a hungry parent. We added gum and emergency water packets as well. And then there are games, a few toys for the kids, some books to read, and a set of scriptures.
I included a few other things that felt like good things to include. You’ll duct tape, socks, a candle and matches in each car bag.
One thing that I would add that it is included in each of our kits is cash. Make sure you get cash in smaller bills and separate it throughout your bag. If you need to use your money, people will try to get as much out of you as they can. If they see that you have a 20, they’ll tell you that they don’t have change. It’s better to have the exact amount they’re asking for. And not let them know just how much you have in your possession.
I hope this post helped you feel less overwhelmed about your emergency preparedness. Purchasing those bigger kits and not having to think about all of the little things was a game changer. Knowing we have something to help us through an emergency, gives me peace of mind. Being prepared will let me focus on my family and their needs and sticking together through our challenges.