What To Put In Your 72 Hour Kit

2020 has given us a run for our money! With fires, wind storms, earthquakes, and of course COVID-19, making sure your family is prepared for anything has probably been at the forefront of your mind. 

On March 18th of this year, my husband and I woke up to shaking. At first we thought our upstairs neighbors had their music on super loud but then we quickly realized what we were actually experiencing was an earthquake! Luckily we were far enough away from the epicenter that we didn’t experience more than that short shaking. However, it made me realize that it was high time to get my family’s 72 hour kits organized for if anything more serious did come our way. 

The next day I printed out this list and got to work! Below are some tips I learned from putting together a 72 hour kit for each of my family members.

• Have your 72 hour kit list printed out so you can check things off as you go (I love how this list is divided into categories such as food, clothing, equipment etc.)
• Find a bag for each family member that will be big enough to hold everything but not too large that they won’t be able to carry it- for little kids you might be the one carrying their bag, so keep that in mind!
• Clear a large space, such as your dining room table, to lay everything out
• As you begin gathering items, create a pile for each family member so you can make sure everyone has what they need
• If there are things that you don’t have on the list, add them to your shopping list so you can get them next time you are at the store
• Once you have gathered everything, put it in each person’s bag
• Designate a specific space in your home to store your 72 hour kits. Make sure it is somewhere that will be easily accessible in case you have to grab it and go. In my home, each person’s kit is under their bed.

If putting together a 72 hour kit for every member in your family in one day feels overwhelming, break it down! Maybe you work on one family member a day or even a week. You could spend a week gathering all the supplies and another week you put everything together. Another approach you can take is to put together only the bare minimum for each family member in a drawstring bag until you can gradually build it over time. 

Another thing to keep in mind is because you have clothes and food in your kits, you will want to update them every 6 months to a year. You definitely don’t want to end up having onesies in a 10 year old’s kit!