all set for three days

Anyone who’s anyone knows September is National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security. I took this as a sign that I desperately need to update our family’s 72-hour kit. To motivate myself even more, I said, “I think I’ll blog about it! Before and after! This should help the world!”

For anyone unaware, a 72-hour kit is what you can take with you in an emergency, and you should be able to live off of its contents for 3 days.


I was most proud of myself when I put our existing 72-hour kit together when Shane and I were first married – back in 2003. Indeed, the Top Ramens placed into the kit at that time are the same Top Ramens that were just rotated out of the kit. (I tried to cook with them; dear heavens, it was awful. Just toss them if you wait 5 years like I did.)

Our first kit was in an Igloo cooler, kept on the floor of our pantry. It contained:

• Two mugs
• 2 plastic bags
• 4 hot chocolate envelopes
• 4 packages of peanut butter crackers
• 4 granola bars
• 3 cans of Dole tropical fruit
• 2 cans of mixed fruit
• 4 top ramens
• 2 bags of Bear Creek “just add water” soups
• Shampoo
• Dish soap
• Hand soap
• bar of soap
• an Ensign
• a book of Jumbles
• a pen
• a list of all of our household items and their worth
• two freebie packets of tylenol
• two freebie packets of gum
• two freebie packets of breath mints
• Emergency radio (added just recently, actually)

Tada! And not just me, but Shane and I were both supposed to live for 72 hours on that.

Since I am older and wiser and our family is bigger and better, our kits needed revamping.

I love love love love love (LOVE!) this Web site, which really makes this emergency-preparedness-food-storage-stuff seems oh-so-manageable. By way of improvement, I already had a pretty good idea of some items our kits were lacking, and awhile ago I had heard the “backpack” concept and decided it was brilliant. Instead of one huge 72-hour kit, each family member has a backpack, just for him or her. Once a year, for family night or something, everyone goes through his or her personal backpack and updates the clothes, rotates the food, etc. Genius! I have a bunch of backpacks around the house that we aren’t using regularly, so this was completely feasible. I even have a teeny little backpack for Wesley (courtesy the Boeing 787 program).

So, after much gathering and organizing and buying (on sale, of course), I present our new 72-hour kits:


(note, this picture doesn’t even INCLUDE all of it since there were some other things I wanted to grab but Wesley was napping, and I was ready to stuff the backpacks.)

• 6 oatmeal packets (x3)
• 4 individual applesauce cups (x3)
• 2 packages of peanut butter crackers (x2)
• 3 Top Ramens (x2)
• 6 granola bars (x3)
• 3 bags of Bear Creek “just add water” hearty soup (x2)
• 2 cans of mixed fruit (x2)
• 2 hot chocolate envelopes (x2)
• change of pants, long-sleeved shirt, short-sleeved shirt, and underwear (x3, except for Wesley, who has diapers instead)
• blanket (x3)
• 6 plastic bags
• 2 travel-sized packages of tissues (x3)
• new toothbrush (x2)
• new travel-sized toothpaste (x2)
• teeny little dental floss!! (x2)
• body soap, face soap (from a hotel! x2)
• container of shampoo
• container of dish soap
• container of hand soap
• Travel-sized set of baby wash, baby shampoo, baby lotion
• deck of cards
• a paperback Book of Mormon
• an old Ensign
• a book of Jumbles
• pens
• Emergency hand radio
• “The Family Emergency Handbook”
• small sewing kit (again, from a hotel)
• ziploc full of cat food
• little cat toy
• Thumb drive of important documents

Some things I still want to add:

• A (plastic?) bowl, plate, and set of silverware for everyone
• Those “emergency” blankets that are waterproof, lightweight, and rolled super tight to be space savers
• Crayons and coloring books? Or maybe some other books or baby toys for Wesley
• Little deodorants
• A bag of hard candies
• Couple packs of gum?
• Bag of kitty treats

I don’t know where I’d put these things, though, since the bags look like this:


WOWSERS. Jam packed to the rims.

Some things to note:

• These kits should include water. Our water is located in another place in the house. I’m not entirely sure what to do about that… in an emergency, I wonder if I’ll remember to grab water? But we have it. We have at least 3 gallons for each of us.
• Wesley didn’t get his own soups and stuff, since right now he really only shares with us. I think I should put a box of cheerios in his kit, actually.
• All of our important documents (social security cards, marriage license, birth certificates, plus that list of all of our possessions and their value) are contained in a fireproof safe, which is next to the backpacks. I guess in a perfect situation we’d grab that, too. The safe also includes an undisclosed amount of emergency moolah. I recommend this to everyone!
• Additionally, most of these documents – as well as the Excel spreadsheet of all of our possessions and their worth – can be found electronically on a thumb drive. Pretty important to have!
• I didn’t include a can opener – because all of the cans contain pop tops! I’m brilliant!
• We have first aid kits in both of our cars. If we had to leave, in our cars presumably, we’d have a full first aid kit if needed.

Could I add more stuff? Oh sure. Prescription drugs (luckily we don’t have many of those to worry about), candles or light sticks, disinfectant, bleach… the list cold go on. I guess there’s always room to improve. Maybe in another 5 years when I do this again. No, seriously, I think my goal is to revisit the kit every September – rotate the food, check the clothing sizes (diapers!), add anything else we may need, etc.

Another Web site I like is this one that goes over preparedness for all over the house. The 72-hour kit is just the beginning! There is also:

• Food storage (my goal: a 3-month supply of meals easy to cook, similar to daily life as we know it, and an additional 9-month supply of sustenance-only foods to prevent death, such as wheat, rice, beans, etc., to equal a 12-month supply for each family member)
• Car emergency kits (first aid, kitty litter for getting out of snow, more blankets, etc.)
• Household emergency procedures (where to go in case of fire, how to shut off our home breaker box, etc.)

I am 100% serious when I say Shane has told me I’ll have really mastered this preparedness mumbo jumbo when I can cook bread without electricity. I’m thinking, a dutch oven made of aluminum foil and cardboard on the balcony? Any thoughts? I have seen peach cobbler made in a dutch oven. Um, yum. I could live off peach cobbler.

So, that's what I've been up to lately. I feel a sense of accomplishment but also worry, since they COULD be better, they COULD be more complete, they COULD have flashlights and matches and bleach and Coleman stoves! But I just have to be happy with what I was able to collect.

And the truth is -- I hope I never have to use 'em.