If you have been around for a few years–you may have heard about our house fire (if not–you can read about it here) My son had pulled out our 72 hour back packs when he was leaving the house–(we had literally put them together ONLY ONE MONTH before)! When we were packing them-we talked about when and why we would need them–but house fire never came up! When I found out he had pulled 4 backpacks out–I didn’t really think we would use them–but oh man! They came in so handy! It was nice to have some of our OWN stuff–toothbrushes, underwear, we even ate some snacks while we sat in the car waiting for the firemen to give us permission to go inside! My kids even ended up dumping out the stuff and using the backpacks when they went to school the next day! I can’t tell you how many random things we used them for! So I thought I would give you a quick rundown of what we packed in ours!
Remember–these are YOUR emergency kits- only pack food and snacks YOU will eat-medicine you need (allergies) etc! Make it custom to you!
Also: These need to be updated probably yearly. We put ours together when our church does a big conference. We listen to it at home and switch out the things-food, clothes etc!
Okay–first up!
Medical!
- bandaids
- gauze
- wraps
- hand sanitizer
- alcohol pads
- tweezers
- neosporin
- scissors
- Visine
- gloves
- burn cream
- sunscreen
- bug spray (depending on where you live)
- epi pen if needed
- first aid book
- medicine (we got a weekly pill divider and just put all the ibuproen in monday, allergy medicine in Tuesday, kids tylenol in Wednesday etc (just make sure to label!)
Most of these supplies can be purchased in little packets and you can divide it up evenly. Almost all of our supplies fit in a quart ziplock bag. I know you can buy cute first aid little kits–but for 5 bags–it was cheaper to buy it all separately and divide it out.
Food
Next up–food! I didn’t want to throw in a bunch of stuff we would never eat–so I made it pretty specifics to what we liked. I tried to stay away from anything that would melt or would expire before a year.
- gum
- granola bars
- jerky
- cup of noodles (I have a little emergency stove down lower to cook this with)
- canned food (make to get the pull tab ones or pack a can opener)
- jolly ranchers or suckers–
- Water bottles
We also have a couple of these food packs that are with our backpacks- So we hopefully will be able to grab these in an emergency.
Emergency items:
- waterproof strike on box matches
- flashlights
- emergency blanket
- portable stove
- hand warmers
- ponchos
- water purifier
Personal Items:
- Toothbrush
- toothpaste
- floss
- shampoo/conditioner (travel size)
- chapstick
- underwear
- socks
- hair ties
- q-tips
- extra clothes
- hair brush
Odds and ends
These were some odds and ends that my kids decided we needed –and me too!)
- games-dice cards
- paper and pen
- mini sewing kit
- kleenex
- toilet paper
- paracord bracelet (you can untie these and use them as rope
- we also had a pack of baby wipes–we used these a ton to clean us up after the fire!
- portable charger
- $$$$
and of course–
the backpacks! We found some really cheap ones when it was back to school time-but your kid’s old backpacks from school would be great for this! I know my kids always want new backpacks even though their old ones are still in good condition!
Each backpack holds something different. We split up the items so each backpack wasn’t crazy overflowing. Someone had the water purifer. Someone had the emergency stove. Someone had the first aid book. Someone had the games.
I know if you are doing this from scratch it can be pricy the first time putting it together. I tried to do a lot of things on the cheap (toothbrushes/toothpaste/floss from when we go to dentist visits, medicine from our cupboard etc)
but I suggest that if money is a concernt–you purchse one thing every week or two or three. One pack of hand warmers one week. Then the next week-purchase a back of Neosporin etc. It will be a little less stressful and then when you have enough items I just dumped everything out in from my kiddos and they filled their own bags!
Remember–these are YOUR emergency kits- only pack food and snacks YOU will eat-medicine you need (allergies) etc! Make it custom to you! Hope this was helpful! If there is something I overlooked–or something you put in yours that I didn’t’ mention–leave me a comment!
Also–something I didn’t touch on- Important documents! We never got around to it-and thankfully they were all safe in our gun safe- but you should go make copies of all your important documents and put them in your pack!
Sharlyn says
How about tampons/sanitary supplies? Because Aunt Flow’s timing sucks ?