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You wake up and the power is off. You go check the breaker box and everything is fine there, so you go out and check the switch at the pole. Nothing is wrong there either. Why don’t I have power you ask yourself.
No matter the reason or the season, you should always have a home emergency kit put together for whenever you may need it.
This isn’t a get home bag or a bug out bag. This is a kit that you’ll want to keep readily available for when there is an emergency in your house.
What should my home emergency kit consist of?
Lets go over the basics.
Water
We know that our bodies are mostly water and in order to survive, we need to drink plenty of it. The human body can’t go longer than 3 days without water. You should strive for having at least one gallon of water per person in your household per day.
So if you have a family of 5, you’ll want to have around 15 gallons of drinkable water stored away. This will last you around 3 days.
If you have pets though you’ll want to have water for them as well. A good rule of thumb is to have a gallon of water for them per day as well.
You can purchase those gallon jugs of water and store those away but keep in mind they are also able to leak over time.
Bottled water isn’t to bad to stock up on either, they kelp out in a pinch.
The best way to store water would be using HDPE water containers. These are keep your water from leaking out over time.
Food
You should never waste money stocking up on food that you don’t usually eat. You always hear that you should stock up on rice and beans. But if you don’t normally eat them, it wouldn’t do you much good.
You should have snacks and protein bars on hand to help you get by but honestly, you should already have enough food in your cabinets for at least 3 days anyways.
Make sure to have the staple items on hand, things you go through on the daily. Noodles, sauces, protein, spices, canned goods, candy or something else that is sweet just to name a few.
Battery powered or hand crank radio
You need to be able to receive alerts about weather in your area and having a weather alrert radio or even just a regular radio could be crucial depending on the situation.
Plus it’s nice to be able to listen to some music in your down time. It helps boost morale.
Don’t forget to check the battery to make sure it is still in good condition and not corroding.
Whistle
Having a whistle for everyone in your household will be beneficial in the event of having to venture outside the house. Getting lost isn’t to hard to do especially for little ones.
You should already have a plan in place and practice often different signals with the whistles with everyone in your home. You can make your own signals for yor family but here are some that we use.
One long blast – Alert those in your group to check in with two quick blasts
Three short blasts – I need help right away. Send those every 10 seconds until located.
Flashlight
Test your flashlights often to make sure they still work properly. You will want to have one flashlight per person in your household.
Candles are also a good thing to fall back on. Scented candles are nice but not a necessity, you can get a lot of the small unscented ones for fairly cheap. Of course you would want to have a few lighters on hand and out of reach of children.
First Aid Kit
This is most likely going to be your most used home emergency kit item. We all get cuts and scrapes from time to time. You’ll want to keep them clean in order to prevent an infection.
Keep in mind that things like triple antibiotic ointment can cause skin irritation in some individuals. Also you should never suture a wound unless you are confident that it has been thouroughly cleaned out.
First aid kits that you buy from the store that are pre packaged can be helpful don’t get me wrong but you should also learn how to build out your own first aid kits that would work great for your family.
Masks
N95 masks are really good but any dust particulate mask would suffice. I know after tornados go through a town there is a bunch of gunk in the air that you don’t really want to be breathing in.
Not only that but even in the event of a sickness going through your house, wearing a mask can help prevent it from spreading to others.
Local maps
You will want to have maps of your local area on hand (that means physical maps) in the event your GPS no longer works or your batteries have died and you have no way of recharging them.
Contact your local library and see if they have any available, if not you can also try swinging by a truck stop or an information center near you.
If all else fails you can contact your local government office (City or County) they can point you in the right direction.
Cash
Cash is king. In almost all emergency scenarios cash can still be used. Often times card readers won’t work so you can’t rely on plastic.
Additional items that could be helpful
- Toolkits
- Hand warmers
- paper plates
- plastic utensils
- Books, boardgames, coloring books
- Fire Extinguisher
Conclusion
You should go over different emergency procedures with your family on a routine basis. Things like Fire drills, Evacuation points, Meetup points are good things for the whole family to know and familiarize themselves with.
If you have question on how to set up a home emergency kit for your household, leave a comment below or reach out via email.