- Enough food for each person in your household for 72 hours. Naturally this is food that is non-perishable. While eating gourmet meals is not the goal, neither is a box of granola bars per person. Also, if you have a baby or two in the family, make sure that you have sufficient formula mix for them
- A manual can opener. Having canned food means nothing if you can't get into it
- Water. Each person should have 2 L of water per day, or 6 L of water total. This will easily become the heaviest part in your kit, so if you have more than one kit, spread the water around in smaller bottles.
- Emergency contact numbers. You may think that your cell phone will be enough for all emergency numbers, but do not count on that being your only source for those numbers. A small pad of paper with emergency numbers on it will be perfect if something happens to your phone. Keeping the pad in a Ziploc bag is a cheap and easy way to water proof it
- A whistle to get people's attention
- An extra set of keys for your house and at least one vehicle
- An emergency reflective blanket
As always, keep your kits in an easy to reach part of your home and make sure that all members of the household know how to access it. For the food and water, make sure you go through and rotate each item. I would suggest that each 6 months take half of what you have in your kits and use them, replacing them with fresh food and water. If you get in the habit of this, you won't find the food has spoiled when you need it the most.
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