A 72-hour kit is the single best investment a normal family can make in preparedness. It covers the first three days of any emergency — the window when services are usually slowest to restore. Everything that comes after (14-day plans, whole-house power, etc.) is an extension of this core.
Here's the weekend plan we give to friends who ask "where do I start?"
Saturday morning: water (30 minutes)
Drive to a big-box store, grab 12 gallons of stored water in any food-grade container, bring it home, label each with today's date. Done. If you prefer online, the water storage guide compares four good options.
Saturday afternoon: food (1 hour)
One regular grocery trip. Here's the list:
- 12 cans of hearty soup or chili
- 4 cans of tuna or chicken + crackers
- 1 jar peanut butter
- 2 boxes shelf-stable milk
- 1 box cereal + instant oats
- 1 bag trail mix + 1 box granola bars
- Manual can opener
Box it all into one plastic tote, write the latest expiration date on the top. You're now done with food.
Saturday evening: light & power (20 minutes, online)
Order the following. They'll arrive by Monday, but the order takes minutes:
- A headlamp for every family member
- A 20,000+ mAh USB battery bank
- A hand-crank NOAA weather radio
- An LED puck-light 4-pack for the rooms you use at night
Total: roughly $120. If you want to upgrade later, start looking at Tier 2 power stations.
Sunday morning: first aid (45 minutes)
A pre-built 200-piece first-aid kit is fine as a starting base. Add:
- Adult and children's acetaminophen & ibuprofen
- Benadryl (adult and children's)
- Loperamide + oral rehydration salts
- Any prescription meds your household takes, two weeks extra if possible
Store the kit somewhere central and obvious — not on a high shelf in the garage where only one person knows where it is.
Sunday afternoon: the bag (30 minutes)
Pick a backpack — any sturdy one. Pack one into it for each person:
- Mylar blanket
- Rain poncho
- Change of clothes + sturdy shoes
- Bottle of water + energy bars
- Headlamp + spare batteries
- Copy of ID / insurance card in a ziplock
- $40 in small bills
- Whistle + multi-tool
Put the backpacks near the front door where you'd grab them while leaving. Now you've got a 72-hour "shelter in place" kit AND a go-bag for each person.
Sunday night: ten-minute family meeting
Sit your family down for ten minutes. Cover:
- Where the kit is. Where the bags are.
- The meeting point if you can't meet at home.
- The out-of-state contact for everyone to call.
- "Text first, call second" rule.
Tape a printed copy inside the front door.
You're done. Seriously.
That's the whole 72-hour kit. Print the checklist version to tick off anything you missed, and set a calendar reminder for six months from now to rotate water and check dates.
What's next?
Nothing, for a while. The worst thing you can do after building a kit is go straight into "buy everything" mode. Let it sit for a month. Notice what you actually used. Then upgrade one piece at a time — a bigger power station, a gravity water filter, a second week of food. Preparedness is a habit, not a product.