How to Make a Home Emergency Kit

Having emergency supplies ready may save your life one day. These essentials are easy to assemble, largely inexpensive and readily available. When planning what you need, evaluate your current requirements. Do you have children? Do you have an elderly person you need to care for? Do you have pets? Answering these questions will help you plan what types of food, medication and supplies you may need. Taking a few moments to plan now will help you take action sooner if an emergency does occur.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Canned goods
• Bottled water
• Clothes
• First aid items
• Medication
• Tools
• Rubber containers with tight-fitting lids
• Blankets and outer wear

1. Prepare a list of items specific to each person in your household. You should also include spare clothing, consumables like diapers, and a couple of grooming items.

2. Prepare a list of canned or dried food items that your family will eat. These items need to have a long shelf life. Where possible, consider your family's likes and dislikes. Add bottled drinking water to the list as well. Your food stores should contain enough food and water to feed everyone in your family for a week. Include paper plates, plastic trash bags, a can opener and other food related items in the list. If you have pets, include pet food too.

3. Prepare a list of tools, like a hammer, utility tool (like a Swiss army knife) and assorted screwdrivers. These should all be manual tools as there's no guarantee that there will be available electricity.

4. Add other general items to the list as well, like matches, flashlights, a radio and spare batteries.

5. Prepare a list of first aid items, like bandages, aspirin, any prescriptions your family members are taking, antibacterial ointment, hydrogen peroxide, cotton balls, rubbing alcohol and other general first aid items.

6. Prepare a list of car items, like road flares and jumper cables.

7. Fill rubber bins with items from your lists. Separate each container according to its use. Once full, the containers will need to be updated periodically. Some containers will only need to be updated yearly, others, like food containers, will have to be rotated every few months. For prescriptions, highlight important items that you want to have available in case of emergency but are too expensive or perishable to pack.

8. Place items in an area where they are accessible and tell everyone in your family where they are. Label each container and include an inventory of its contents on top.

9. Keep a master list in an accessible spot with last minute items prominently displayed. These will be the items, like prescriptions, that can't be included until an emergency is imminent.

Tips & Warnings

• The area in which you live will give you some good clues about the types of emergencies you might face. This will help you make more specific selections for your emergency kit.
• For an emergency strategy to be effective, it will need to be updated as your household changes. This includes your supplies, exit strategies, ways you might find assistance and other important steps you'll need to take to keep your family safe.