Family Emergency Kit
We live in a part of the country that has a lot of tornadoes, and three years ago a massive tornado tore through our area. I've always been taught to have emergency kits for my family, but that tornado really solidified that need for me. Now, I try to be really vigilant about going through our kits every year to make sure they're up to date and we don't have anything needing to be replaced. This year we have a new little person in our house, so I figured I'd take you along in the process of changing out our old ones while also making a new one. Let's get started!
Family Emergency Kits | What’s in Our Bags - Adults
I use ready.org as a baseline for creating our emergency kits and the kits vary for each person, but we all have a pillow, a change of clothes and water. I tried to coordinate colors for our kits so we can easily find things for each person. So I got the purples and blues, Jackie has all pink, and my husband got green and black. We each have a pillow and a sleeping bag that we can take with us. I found pillows that are still real pillows (not inflatable ones) but really compact. The sleeping bags I found are really awesome because they have a hood thing that is adjustable and a super cozy inside and they are rated for negative temperatures. All the sleeping bags unzip all the way, and you can actually zip them to each other so you can create like a giant bed if you want to do that. They easily roll back up and are stored compactly in the bag that comes with them.
In my kit, I have a water and fireproof document holder, which holds all of our important documents we need in case of emergency. I also have a really awesome first aid kit that is really compact and tiny, but still stocked with everything I need. I found some gluten free shelf stable meals (which are hard to find) in my pack as well as all of the utensils for the family. I just wanted to be able to keep them all in one place so we don't have to go searching for everybody's individual fork and spoon if we need them. There's also a Life Straw, which has a built in filter that allows you to drink any water from any source. I also have a multitool in mine to finish off my kit. It has a knife, scissors, a serrated blade. It can be a hammer and a pair of pliers, basically anything you need in an emergency.
Inside my husband's kit, there is an all-weather radio so we can hear things if we need to in case of an emergency and it can be powered by solar, crank, battery or it can be plugged in. He also has a folding shovel that gets really compact and can be taken apart to go nicely back into its case. In addition to these things, we both have some small towels, a blanket tarp, face masks, walkie talkies, toilet paper, ponchos, and portable phone chargers.
Husband’s bag
Water bottles
Towel
2 changes of clothes
Family Emergency Kits | What’s in Our Bags - Kids
Daughter’s bag
2 changes of clothes
Trash bags
Towel
Water bottles
Family Emergency Kits | Assembly
The bags I got are amazing. They can hold a TON of stuff and also fold up nicely when not in use. I put our extra changes of clothes in the very front pocket, and everything else goes in the main pocket, with the pillow at the very bottom. Anything needing to be protected from moisture like our documents, the chargers, flashlight, walkie-talkies etc. goes in the waterproof pocket. I put all of the water bottles and hand sanitizer in the outside pockets. The bags also allow us to clip our sleeping bags to them in case of emergency.
I'm now keeping all of our emergency stuff in our closet under the stairs because it is our go-to place in the case of a tornado. I thought it would be the best idea to have all that stuff with us in this space so we wouldn't have to go hunting for it. It gives me such a sense of peace to know I have what we need in case of an emergency in an easily accessible place. Hopefully you can get one made up for your family too! You can shop everything I put in our bags below. Be safe out there!
Family Emergency Kits | Shop
