Ready To Get Prepared For Any Emergency?
If you’re looking for a complete guide for assembling an emergency supply kit, look no further than this handy article. These 20 items are everything you need to sustain you and your family for up to 72 hours and respond to natural disasters, severe weather, power outages, home accidents, and will even help you survive in the wilderness for a few days. Since a majority of Americans don’t have an emergency plan or the resources they need when a crisis hits, making your own plan and stocking up on what you need is doing your part to actively change the statistics. Keep reading to learn everything you need to build your own emergency kit and keep you and your family safe if the worst happens!
1. Multi-Tool
A multi-tool equips you with all the functionality of a fully-stocked toolbox in a convenient and easy-to-use format. It’s small enough to stash in your emergency kit and grab when you need pliers, a saw, a knife, a screwdriver, or other tools that might come in handy in an emergency.
2. Multi-Purpose Bag
As a versatile item to store in your emergency kit, a multi-purpose bag can act as a place to quickly throw the necessities when you need to evacuate your home. Or, if you need a trash bag, it doubles as one of those, too. It’s an extremely helpful resource to keep handy for any kind of emergency.
3. Spare Batteries
Extra batteries can be used to power the tools and utilities in your emergency kit like a flashlight or radio. They’re sure to come in handy at some point.
4. Work Gloves
When a natural disaster or other emergency produces dangerous debris that you need to move, you’ll need protection for your hands. Durable, heavy-duty work gloves are the perfect option.
5. Glow Sticks
Glow sticks act as a long-lasting, battery-free source of light to use as an alternative to a flashlight or candles. They’ll provide you with light for up to twelve hours if the power goes out.
6. Hand-Crank Radio
A hand-crank radio has multiple uses in an emergency. It helps you to stay updated on weather information and get updates on an event as it unfolds. In addition, a hand-crank radio has a built-in flashlight and even a USB port for charging your phone.
7. Candles (And Matches)
When the power goes out, candles can provide both light and warmth until you can use your lights again. Make sure your emergency kit also is stocked with matches – it would be a major bummer to have candles but nothing to light them!
8. Whistles
A whistle can be used to signal the others in your household that there’s an emergency. Keep your whistle by your bedside table to use in the event of a home invasion, fire, or any other crisis where you need to notify the rest of your house that something is wrong.
9. Wet Wipes
Wet wipes are a great way to clean your hands when you don’t have access to running water. They can also be used to clean up small messes in a pinch.
10. Hand Sanitizer
Like wet wipes, hand sanitizer is a reliable hand-cleaning option when water isn’t available. It’s ideal to use to clean your hands before treating an injury.
11. Hand Warmers
Hand warmers are made to keep your hands from getting too cold when a power outage or other emergency leaves you without heat.
12. Duct Tape
When you need to make a quick fix to a leak or broken window, duct tape is your best friend, hands down. With its extreme strength and durability, duct tape is always a great option for making temporary repairs to your home when it’s damaged by bad weather, a natural disaster, or other emergencies.
14. Tissues
Stocking your emergency kit with tissues guarantees that you and your family will have them available if you can’t leave your house to access resources. In addition, if you end up in an emergency and are somewhere outside your home, having tissues available provides extra convenience and comfort – you don’t want to blow your nose on your shirt!
15. Emergency Food And Water
When you’re cut off from resources, you need reliable food and water that will keep you sustained for as long as possible. The best choice for non-perishable food for your emergency kit is something high-calorie that is as nutrient-dense as possible. For this reason, our pick for emergency food is meal replacement bars. Designed to keep you full for as long as a complete meal would, meal replacement bars are packed with carbs, fat, and protein to meet your nutritional needs when you don’t have access to groceries.
16. First Aid Kit
A first aid kit gives you all the resources you need to take care of minor injuries when they happen. Keep your first aid kit readily available in your emergency supplies, stocked with everything you’d need to treat scrapes, cuts, burns, and other smaller injuries that you can get from fires, earthquakes, or other natural disasters.
17. Emergency Blankets
Emergency blankets are lightweight, portable, and capable of keeping you warm for hours. They’re a much better option for your emergency kit than full-sized blankets, which are much too big and bulky to carry around with the rest of your emergency supplies. Emergency blankets are made from heat-reflecting foil that reflects your expended body heat back at you.
18. Dust Masks
Perfect for protecting your nose and mouth from smoke, debris, and airborne viruses and bacteria, masks are another must-have item to pack in your emergency preparedness kit. Opt for N95-style masks, which provide comprehensive protection from anything you wouldn’t want to breathe in.
19. Flashlight
A trusty flashlight is another item you’ll definitely want at your side in an emergency. If the power goes out, a flashlight is one of the most reliable battery-powered light sources out there. Alternative sources of light like glow sticks, candles, and, as a last resort, the flashlight on your smartphone, can be extremely helpful as well.
20. Biohazard Bag
When you need to handle hazardous materials in the midst of an emergency, you’ll be much better off with a biohazard bag handy. Any time you’re dealing with medical emergencies where blood or other bodily fluids are present, you’ll want to make sure to use your emergency kit’s biohazard bag to store anything that is contaminated during the process of treating an injury.
Making the Most of Your Emergency Preparedness Kit
Store your emergency kit somewhere in your home where it is readily available in case you need it. If you live with others, make sure everyone in your household knows how to use the items in the kit. In addition, make sure to formulate an evacuation plan to put into place if you end up needing to leave your home in a hurry. The items in your emergency preparedness kit have numerous uses for dealing with a wide variety of crises, and they’re sure to be a huge help if you need to leave your home in a hurry and can only take a few essentials with you.
Sources:
https://www.nsc.org/home-safety/safety-topics/emergency-preparedness
If you have additional questions, send them our way!
*By signing up via text, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages at the phone number provided. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Reply STOP to unsubscribe. Msg & data rates may apply. View our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
