72-Hour Kits for Your Family

Natural disasters, catastrophes, and emergencies can happen anytime. A 72-hour kit is most especially crucial to states that always gets hit with hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires. I live in Socal, wildfires, tsunami, flooding, and the anticipation of the next big earthquake are the major disaster that we may face. I need you to think about self-sufficiency in those emergency situations where assistance in the next 72-hour may not reach you. Being prepared is indispensable to survival.

NEXT READ: How to Frugally Prep

It is also important that you involve the whole family with emergency discussions. While I have heard several stories where a husband or wife, a relative is not supportive of the concept of prepping, don't give up. Do not underestimate the power of planting a seed. Talk about your emergency plan as a family. Do you have a meeting place or a regroup location when you get separated? Brainstorm as a family. Each family member will have an input and you will be surprised at how valuable their input is. Include your children too! At school, children may have an earthquake shakeout drill to prepare them when it strikes. So why not involve them? I understand that some parents worried about their kids getting scared. But you also have to remember that the purpose is to empower them and giving them the knowledge of being prepared.

Water Storage and Treatment: How Much Water do you Need to Store?

Being prepared will look like having water, food, medical supply, and emergency gear that will last you for at least 3 days. Every 72-hour kit will be different for each family, depending on each family's needs. If one of your family members needs medical attention or medication, the more that I highly encourage you to build an emergency kit that you can grab when you need to leave your home. I am sharing a FREE PRINTABLE of 72-hour kit list for families with a shop and inventory list so you can be organized and be on top of expiration dates. As always add and adjust as needed. I will also share some resources for you and your family so you can expand your knowledge with preparedness.

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1.Backpacks for each family member or a container- You need a good size backpack or container to store your supplies. If you are preparing a kit for your kids, make sure that it is a pack that they can actually carry.

2.Water- Ready.gov suggests stocking up a gallon of water per person for 3 days. I understand that water can be heavy and can occupy your pack. Consider purchasing a LifeStraw or hydration multiplier that you can add to your water bottle.

3. Flashlights/headlamps- I purchased several headlamps for all of our backpacks. Walmart has some good headlamps that you can purchase at a really low price and the quality is not that bad! As for the flashlights, my husband and I have the quality LED tactical flashlight and pack of batteries stored in a ziplock in each of our packs. We purchase these small flashlights for the kiddos:

4. Emergency Thermal Blanket- This is not only important to have with your camping gear (for camping gone wrong situations) but it is essential in your survival kit as well. Thermal blankets retain the body's heat needed for survival and waterproof to keep you dry in rainy and cold conditions. Other uses for this blanket includes emergency shelter, as a ground cover, wind blocker, tent footprint, solar oven, and a shade cover.

5. Food- You can buy a high-calorie bar like this 3,600 calorie bar or you can personalize this category.

What I did for our family is that each backpack has its own 1gallon-size Ziploc bag with a pouch of tuna, Bumble Bee Snack on the Run, Chef Boyardee for the kids, Vienna Sausage, dehydrated fruits for the kids, and granola bars. It is not complete yet as I want to add the following: Jerky, healthier granola bars, more tuna pouches, and some crackers. You can also use a two-gallon Ziploc bags. I have found them at Target and Amazon. Think about food that have longer expiration date and the ones that does not need any cooking. I have also included disposable spoon and fork inside the bag but I think I will invest on a set of sporks (usually found along camping aisles in stores).

6. Important Documents- Make extra copies of your important documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, last will and testament, insurance, and medical records. Pretty much documents that seem important to your family. I have added copies of contacts and addresses of family and friends. Store them in Ziploc bag to keep them from getting wet. If you want to go the extra mile, you can scan all of your documents and save them in a memory bank or a portable memory hard drive. I have a 1 TB hard drive and I always...diligently...save all of my photos and documents in it. You just never know when will my laptop break down.

7. Clothing and Hygiene- As for clothing, I know the space is limited so I only packed two sets of clothing for each of my kids and just a set of clothing for me and my husband. When I say set, it means Jeans, shirt, bra, underpants, and socks for me- clothing from top to bottom. I also packed beanie and gloves. For the hygiene, each pack has a sandwich size Ziploc with travel size toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a small bottle of castile soap. You can also include a washcloth and a small hairbrush.

8. First-Aid Kit and Medications- This is also very important especially if you are in need of medication or in need of special medical attention. You can purchase a first-aid kit or make a kit on your own. Dollar Tree is a perfect place to start if you are on a tight budget. Extra medication might be hard to purchase if you need a prescription, so discuss your plan and be honest with your primary care doctor. If it is not feasible, I suggest that you stay organized and have your prescription meds accessible to you when you have a situation that requires you to leave your house.

9. Cash- I know during these hard times, it's hard to put away cash when you can use it to pay bills or buy necessities. Having cash on hand is handy for situations that you are not able to go to a bank during an emergency. Every payday, you can start putting away $5 to $10 and add to it until you reach a comfortable amount to have.

10. Entertainment Pack- You might be thinking, how in the world will you be able to think of entertaining yourself in times of an emergency. Hear me out. If you have little kids, will you share calmness or worry in times of emergency? Will you not choose to divert their attention to something fun to protect them from fear? When I say entertainment pack, think of small toys, coloring books, a book, a small set of crayons, small pocket games, or a crossword. You can pack entertainment for you too! Have a small and extra Bible, pack that one too. In times of uncertainty, nothing will calm like the word of God. He is our Sovereign Lord and nothing will ever surpass what He can do for us.

11. Tools- If you are an outdoorsy person or an avid camper, you know how important it is to have a certain set of tools and gear. For your emergency kit, think about having an AM/FM/NOAA battery-operated radio for important weather conditions, small lighter or a waterproof matches, a paracord, ponchos, whistle, and a multi-tool like this: