Mobile 72 hour kits

Striving to be self-reliant is a major goal for our family. I have many like minded friends. But what happens when all that you have done to prepare yourself at home is taken?  No one is exempt from Natural disasters or even fires for that matter.  I personally have not had anything like this happen to me, and I pray that it never does. But these things happen. What do you do?

My solution is to have 72 hour kits that can be taken with you. These kits should only contain the basic needs to sustain you and other family members for a three day period.  Depending on your family's individual needs, you can add items. For example, when my children were babies, we included diapers, wipes, an extra bottle, and formula.The kits should be mobile and accessible at all times. We keep them in our vehicle. Keeping them in the vehicle would also help in the case of  a roadside emergency. It is also good practice to make sure you rotate and update items within your kits to ensure that they are always ready.



What goes into a 72 hour kit?  As I stated, kits should contain basic items to get you through an emergency. Basic items are as follows:

Picture from Emergency Essentials

• Water
• Food
• Warmth
• Light
• Communication
• First Aid

Once you have the basics, think about the specific needs you may need to include. Sit down and make a list of items you may want to have or need.

• Baby supplies
• Sanitary napkins 
• Toilet Tissue
• Prescription medicines (this is tricky due to prescription laws, I recommend talking to your health care provider to see if it is possible to receive "extra" medicine for emergency situations.)
• Extra socks
• Rope
• Garbage bags 
• Food and water for pets
• Copies of important documents. (If you are uncomfortable having these documents in your vehicle, like me, we gave copies of our important information to a relative for safe keeping and keep the original and a copy in a fire safe.)

Now that you have a feel for what goes into your kit, it is time to make your kits. How you do this is depending on your budget and personal preference. Many times you can find items to include in your kit at Dollar stores, Military/Camping stores and what you may have already at home. I have compiled all the items into one large hiking back pack. But now that my children are older, they can carry individual back packs with their items. 

Another option is to purchase kits already made from emergency preparedness companies. My favorite company is Emergency Essentials out of Utah. They provide a ton of products for emergency situations, food storage, and other self sustaining products.