Emergency kits: what you need and how to build one
Governments across Europe and North America now advise every household to be able to cope on its own for at least 72 hours. Here is what goes in the bag, what to keep at home and how to organize your family.
Guides
- Start here: preparedness in 7 steps You don't need a bunker or a big budget. The seven steps that get any family ready for a few days without power, water or shops.
- Checklist The 72-hour emergency kit What goes in a 72-hour go bag as recommended by FEMA and the European Commission, how heavy it should be and where to keep it. A tickable checklist, explained item by item.
- Checklist Home supplies for 2 weeks What to keep at home to get through two weeks of power cuts, snowstorms, lockdowns or water outages without worry. A complete checklist, by category.
- Family emergency plan Meeting points, an out-of-town contact, who picks up the kids, what happens to pets. A simple one-page plan any family can make in an evening.
- Checklist Car emergency kit Beyond what the law requires in your country, what to keep in your car so you're not stranded for hours in cold, heat or on a closed road.
- 12 beginner mistakes From stockpiles nobody eats to go bags too heavy to carry and generators run in the garage. The mistakes almost every beginner makes, and how to avoid them.
- Maslow's pyramid in a crisis Maslow's hierarchy of needs used as a preparedness plan: from water and warmth to safety, family, skills and helping others. Interactive, level by level.
- Checklist Winter preparedness checklist The checklist to work through before the first hard frost: chimney and heating, alarms, supplies for a multi-day power cut, pipes, roof, car and winter trunk kit. Everything worth doing now, while it's still autumn.