With Hurricane Helene coming through the southeast, it was a good reminder to finally build an emergency supply kit in the event of a natural disaster. I wish I’d done this before today but better late than never I guess. With a little bit of luck, we’ll never need to use it, but I’d rather have one just in case! I did some research and came up with the following list of supplies with links to make it easy for you to find what you need. A lot of this comes from the list supplied on ready.gov and they have a ton of additional info for specific situations if you want to take a look. This is just a recommended list but of course, think through what you might need in your specific situation – healthcare needs, geographic challenges, etc.
- A container to keep all this organized – I like the Sterilite 66qt boxes. They have lids with latches which makes it easier to keep it all together Amazon has 6 packs of these but Walmart sells them as singles and usually for a little bit cheaper.
- Water – 1 gallon per person per day is what is recommended – 3 days worth is a good rule to follow so if you’re a family of 4, have 12 gallons. For reference, a 24 pack of 16floz bottles is 3 gallons or you can just buy the gallon jugs.
- Emergency water straw – a back up to your bottles
- Food – non perishable of course – a few ideas: canned fruit, vegetables, and beans; shelf-stable cans of meat or fish; jars of peanut butter and jelly; small packages of cereal, granola bars, and crackers; nonfat dry milk or you can get a kit like this one
- Can opener & bowls
- Battery-powered or hand-crank radio – this one is battery, solar, and hand crank plus it can charge your phone and has a flashlight built in. It has a 15% coupon as of the date of this post
- Flashlights – I really like these high powered rechargeable ones. If you check my stories on the home account, you’ve probably seen similar ones. This solar rechargeable one also looks really good.
- First aid kit – you might also want to add an extra bottle of rubbing alcohol or peroxide for sterilization
- Batteries – check which ones you need for any electronic devices you’ll have with you. You can find all the sizes here and at a good value
- Whistle – in case you need to signal for help
- Dust mask – here’s a pack of 25 with a discount and a coupon as the date of this post
- Plastic sheeting, scissors, & duct tape – in the event you need to shelter in place, cover windows, doors, etc
- Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties – for personal sanitation
- Adjustable wrench – to turn off utilities
- Multi-tool / pocket knife
- Local Maps – make sure whatever you get would be good in a walking situation as well as driving
- Cell phone chargers, back up batteries (or this one) (you can almost always find these on promo in stories or highlights on the home account!
- Back up emergency Rx Medicine – as long as it has a decent shelf life, e.g. albuterol inhalers for asthma
- Emergency blankets
- Survival Medicine Guide
- Disaster Survival Guide
