72 Hour Kits

72 Hour Kits are basically used for any type of emergency situation in which you will not be able to get help within the first day or two... earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, etc.  You may need to evacuate with them or you may need them inside your house.  You will want a kit for each member of your family.

The above picture shows the contents of Caleb's kit. You can see that the kids' kits are a smaller version of the adult and/or car kits. I use smaller water bottles just because water is so heavy. Each kid has a mini first aid kit basically just containing band-aids and wipes .

 Alyssa's also contains allergy medication because she has pretty severe allergy problems. They each have a small fleece blanket (from the dollar store) and a mylar blanket. They have a heavy duty light stick, a flashlight and a liquid candle. Each kid kit has $5 emergency cash, a copy of their birth certificate and shot records, an emergency phone number and social security number list, the phone number of our bank and copies of their parents driver's licenses and military IDs. If my kids had to evacuate when I wasn't home or if we were separated, I'd want them to have all the available info they would need to track me down.

This is the newly purchased food for the kids' kits. The tuna fish and jerky usually have a longer shelf life and I didn't need to replace those this year for the kids. I put everything in ziplock bags. Granola bars were also placed in their kits and they each got a package of gummy worms (comfort food that doesn't melt or make you too thirsty).

This is the hygiene bag from my kit.

Really you just need the basics.

This is the first aid kit from my kit. Pretty simple and yet it has most everything we would need.


Each person has a pair of socks and underwear, a wash cloth, food, water, etc. Check out the list from last time and it pretty much applies here.

72 Hour Kits for Your Car

I wanted to focus on 72 hr kits for your car. This is something often overlooked when putting together 72 hr kits, but how many of us are home all the time? Or even most of the time? In case of a tornado, earthquake, flood or even an emergency evacuation situation wouldn't it be nice to know you are prepared if you're caught in your car or anywhere your car is with you such as work or running errands.

This is what was inside of my kit when I opened it to rotate it this year. I store all of this in a big back pack with wheels. It is a heavy bag and I'm a wimp. I don't know how my 6th grader carries her massive back pack every day, but I'm not that strong so I need to know that I can move it if necessary, so wheels are a must! But I do like the fact it has straps if it needed to be carried. I bought my car 72 hr kit back pack at a thrift store for $5. It's really large and roomy.

You'll want to cater your kit to your own family's size and needs. This is what mine contains:

-water
-food (ready to serve rice w/veggies, tuna fish/salmon packets, peanut butter, pork and beans, spam, energy bars, granola bars, fruit snacks, candy)
-mini first aid kit (I have a larger one in the trunk separate from this kit)
-a rain poncho for each of us
-mylar blankets for each of us
-2 shaking flashlights (if you use battery operated flashlights, don't store the batteries in the flashlights)
-bright colored rope/utility line
-hand warmers (I found awesome reusable ones at the dollar store this winter)
-compass
-copies of mine and my husband's drivers licenses & military IDs
-list of important phone numbers, etc
-baby wipes & antibacterial wipes
-hand sanitzer
-toothbrushes/toothpaste for each of us
-pain & allergy medication
-throat drops & eye drops (both are good in case of flying debris/dust)
-soap & wash cloth
-toilet paper/tissues
-feminine hygiene products
-lighter/matches & candle (in a tin so it won't melt)

I separate like items into ziplock bags. This keep things from leaking on each other and/or making your food taste like soap, etc. If you think something could leak, it probably will, especially in a climate like ours where this thing will be in below freezing and over 100 degree weather during the year. This April we've had snow storms and 70+ degree weather... you just never know in Utah. So... you need to put things in the car that are ok in changing temperatures.

I love using liquid candles in 72 hr kits, but I learned to not use them in my car kit. They leaked everywhere. Thank goodness they were in a bag!

I opted this time for a lovely smelling candle in a tin. That way if it melts it will be contained.


I always put the bottled water and other heavy items in the bottom of the bag for obvious reasons. We have four members of the family that would most likely be in the car, so I have eight water bottles. I also keep a couple of 2 liter soda-pop bottles full of water in the trunk too. It's not quite as fresh as these, but in an emergency situation it'll be appreciated.

The front pocket is where I slide the things I'd probably need first, such as flashlights, rain ponchos, a compass (if I really knew how to use it then it might be more of a benefit to me).

You can see how much you can fit into a ziplock bag. I love using the rice and tuna pouches in 72 hr kits because they are ready to eat, they're relatively cheap and they don't take up much space.

In one gallon sized bag I have six tuna/salmon pouches, two rice pouches and two things of jerky.

Here it is all in it's little home.

When I rotate my regular 72 hr kits, we eat most of the food and drink the water. In my car kit I throw it away because of the temperature changes it's been through. It seems like a waste to throw away so much food each year when I change it, but it goes back to the insurance thing. It's a necessary expense that you don't appreciate until you really need it.

Mini 72 Hour Kits

If you have no other emergency preparedness items in your home, please, please put together 72 hour kits. In any sort of natural disaster or evacuation, these could be life saving! It is said that in an emergency disaster situation it will take 72 hours for help to reach you. I have 72 hour kits in my home. I have one in my car and my kids even belong to a fabulous school where they have them there. We live a mile from a major earthquake fault line and not just a fault line, one that is hundreds of years past due for a huge quake.

We also live in a place where unexpected storms are common. Last year my husband and I were stuck in our car for hours and finally had to hike it in a blizzard to get home to the kids. In that same storm there were people stranded at our school that had to rely on their 72 hour kits. No matter where you live it's a good idea to have at least one. I'd like to show you that they can be simple and actually kind of fun to put together.

Today I want to talk about mini 72 hour kits. These are simple, they're inexpensive and they're a good way to start if you don't have the money to put together full blown kits.

Everything in a mini 72 hour kit fits nicely into a one gallon-sized or two gallon-sized ziplock bag. These are the types of kits we have at our school and if you don't have regular 72 hour kits in your home, they can be a great alternative until you can get your larger ones completed. Think of a 72 hour kit as an insurance policy. It costs you money and sometimes it seems like a waste, but when you need it, boy you're glad it's there! If you were involved in a disaster or if you needed to be evacuated for any reason, wouldn't it be nice to know this was there just waiting for you to grab and go?

One Gallon Kit

tuna fish pouch ($1 at Walmart)
salmon pouch ($1 at Walmart)
beef jerky ($1 at DollarTree)
granola bar
2 20 oz bottles of water
hooded poncho ($1 at Walmart or DollarTree)
mylar blanket ($2 at Walmart)
whistle ($1)
travel roll of toilet paper ($1 at Walmart)
mini first aid kit ($1 at Walmart)
flashlight (the shaking kind is best) (under $5)
hand sanitizer (.50 at Walmart)



2 Gallon Kit

tuna fish pouch ($1 at Walmart)
salmon pouch ($1 at Walmart)
beef jerky ($1 at DollarTree)
3 granola bars
3 20 oz bottles of water
hooded poncho ($1 at Walmart or DollarTree)
mylar blanket ($2 at Walmart)
whistle ($1)
travel roll of toilet paper ($1 at Walmart)
mini first aid kit ($1 at Walmart)
flashlight (the shaking kind is best) (under $5)
hand sanitizer (.50 at Walmart)
emergency glow stick ($1-2 at Walmart)
3 fruit cups ($1.50 at Walmart)
3 veggie cups ($1.50 at Walmart)
3 plastic spoons
fruit snacks
handi wipes
small tissue pack
pack of gum

Everything in a mini kit can be later transferred to a regular-sized kit, so it's not a bad place to start. I check and rotate my kits once a year. Tuna fish and salmon pouches usually last two or more years, so they don't have to be changed as often.