Building our Emergency Kits

We had three earthquakes in one week here! Yikes!  They were all small, but they got a friend of ours thinking about emergency kits.  And that friend got us thinking it was time to do some emergency preparation.

We looked online, and thought that this website had the best ideas.  We agreed that we needed about 3 days worth of food and water, plus some general gear and first aid supplies.  We ended up making seven, yes SEVEN kits.  We made one for each car, one for home, and one for each person as a "go kit."  

This is half of the home kit.  It is stored in a waterproof file box.  This half contains food (bars, fruit leathers, canned food, and a can opener), plates and utensils, an emergency radio, batteries, flashlight, lantern, water purification tablets, a lighter, a Sharpie, neosporin, and baby wipes.  Three 5 gallon jugs of water are in the garage, as well as a flat of water in plastic bottles.  The emergency radio is also a cell phone charger and flashlight.

This is the other half of the home kit.  It is more for the house itself.  It contains two pairs of work gloves, four dust masks, two sets of eye protectors, a hammer, a crowbar, duct tape, plastic sheeting, heavy duty garbage bags, a staple gun and staples, and a utility knife.


We put both boxes in the front hall closet.  The logic for this is that our garage contains many of the same items, and if access to the garage (or front closet) were blocked, it would be nice to have the supplies in another location.

We also put our four "go kit" backpacks in the front hall closet.  We put them up high so that the kids wouldn't get into them.  We made two adult packs and two kid packs.  The mom pack and dad pack differ only in that the mom pack has hair ties and feminine products, and each has our own spare eyeglasses/ prescription medications in them (a week's supply).

All packs have a whistle, glow stick/ LED flashlight, baby wipes, soap, toilet paper, a warm hat, Swiss Army Knife (the adult ones are larger), one water bottle, bags of extra water, bars, fruit leathers, a Sharpie, tape, a disposable camera, toothbrush, toothpaste, ponchos, hand warmers, emergency blankets, waterproof matches, a bandanna, and water purification tablets.  Each also contains a baggie with family photos and a piece of paper with our address, health insurance info, and emergency and family phone numbers. The adult kits also have a first aid kit, and one has sunscreen. One of the kid packs is for a baby, so he has all the other items plus a half dozen disposable diapers and some tubes of formula and a bottle.

The cars are now stocked with water, a fire extinguisher, a first aid kit, an emergency radio, prescription medications, some bars, and toilet paper.

We are going to need to remember to change out the water and food in 3 to 5 years.

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