Wrapping up our 72 Hour Emergency Car Kits

You may recall this blog post I did back in February regarding the 72 hour emergency kits that I decided to make.  I got a good start, but failed to remember that putting these things together takes time and money.  The kits for our main vehicle (the minivan) and the Cobbler's Taurus then proceeded to sleep for six months on the floor of the laundry room.  

Around April, our laundry room flooded and I got to see how resilient our kits really were --- not very.  Of course, a lot of the stuff that was in boxes (granola bars, medicine, etc.) was soaked so I had to go through and toss all the boxes and put everything in Ziploc bags instead.  My intention was to put it all back in the duffle bag it started in once it dried.  Fast forward to September --- all of the stuff for the kit was in a clear plastic bin under the sofa table in our living room, the long since dry duffle bag was still in the laundry room, and the Ziploc bags had been gnawed on by the cats.  It was not a good scene.  Inspired by all the mayhem brought by Hurricane Irene and all the terrible storms and power outages we've experienced this summer, I finally bought the remaining items for the kit last week and was ready to finally finish.  

In the time that I had from when I started until now, I realized a duffle bag probably isn't a good choice for the main kit.  First of all, this stuff is HEAVY.  I eliminated a lot of the canned goods for weight reasons and replaced them with dry mixes, but even with the canned goods out it all adds up.  I had an extra rolling carry on bag in our upstairs closet that I never use so I brought that downstairs.  It makes so much more sense to have it roll instead of carrying it.  If we have to abandon our vehicle for some reason, we can still take the stuff with us without too much trouble.

Here is my final list of what's in our emergency kits.  If the Cobbler's kit has a different amount (or nothing, e.g. no kids' medicine is in his car) that is noted in the parentheses after the list item for those of you interested in what the husband's vehicle got.  The Cobbler has a slightly smaller kit because his car for the most part only gets driven to the office which is two miles from our house.  His kit is more for the chance that he gets separated from me and the kids in an emergency situation.  I still need to add a separate bag filled with a change of clothes for each person and some small bills and change.

Food/Cooking---All cans have pop tops so we don't need a can opener.
4 canned pasta and meatballs (1)
4 small canned fruit in heavy syrup (1)
16 packets of Gatorade powder to mix with water (8)
12 granola bars (4)

18 individual packages of raisins (0)

4 packets of tuna (0 - Cobbler hates fish.  He has 1 package of beef jerky instead.)

10 packets of instant oatmeal (2)

10 envelopes of dried instant noodle soup mix (2)

8 packets of hot cocoa mix (2)

4 packages of gum (1)

1 Ziploc bag full of individually wrapped Lifesavers

3 - 1 gallon jugs of water (1) - these are outside the actual kit and on the trunk floor.

reusable silverware for each person

Magic Stove and refills

Sanitation

1 full size Clorox disinfecting wipes (1 trial size)
3 rolls of toilet paper squished flat to fit in a gallon Ziploc (1)
1 box of tissues (1 small box)
1 roll of paper towels
pads and tampons enough for 1 cycle (0)

hand sanitizer

toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss

hair brush

1 full size package of wipes (1 trial size)
1 bar of soap

10 pack of water purification tablets

First Aid
First Aid Kit (bought at Target for around $10)
Thermometer
Super Glue
Ibuprofen
Benadryl
Children's Benadryl (0)
Children's Ibuprofen (0)

Sunscreen

Nail Clippers

Shelter/Survival
8x10 tarp
5 pack of dust masks
Duct tape
4 rain ponchos (1)
waterproof matches
2 flashlights (1)
extra batteries for flashlights
4 glowsticks (1)
Leatherman 
hand and toe warmers (a couple per person)
4 emergency blankets (1)

1 pair of work gloves

1 package of bungee cords

nylon rope

whistle

rubberbands

safety pins

2 heavy duty trash bags

sewing kit

paper and pencils

folding shovel (0)
binoculars (0)
emergency radio (0)

Other stuff

tire repair kit

1 deck of playing cards

1 deck of Uno cards

read aloud books (I packed Charlotte's Web and Little House on the Prairie)

After getting the rest of the stuff into the cars, I'm moving on to making a binder with all our essential paperwork we would need to take with us in an emergency.  Hopefully that won't take me another six months to get finished!


The cars are loaded.  Did I get it right this time?  How have you prepared your family for an emergency?

The Big Storm of 2011

We spent the last three days without power after a huge storm on Saturday.  Two giant limbs came off the tree with that rope swing that's in the common area behind our house.  They landed on some wires and took out two telephone poles, one of which just missed one of our neighbor's houses.  All the debris, poles and wires landed in the four yards that are immediately behind our house.  

The Cobbler and I were unfortunately on a date when all this happened.  When we noticed how bad the storm was getting, we started driving home.  On the way, our babysitter called and said the power was out.  The entrance to the neighborhood was blocked by a downed tree when we arrived, but we were able to get into the neighborhood going the wrong way.  The street leading to our street was blocked by downed power lines too so we backed up on to the street and went a different way.  Going that direction, there was a telephone pole snapped in half and more power lines across the road there.  We finally had to exit the neighborhood and come in on an entirely different street before we were able to get to our house.  Fortunately, we had no damage to our house and there were no injuries that we know of in the neighborhood.  Our next door neighbor's tree in their front yard lost a huge limb that missed everything and landed on their front lawn.  The worst damage was to a house five doors down that had a tree crush their garage and the car in it.  Here's the playscape the kids normally play on in the common area.

 Here are some shots of our neighbor's yard who lives immediately behind us.  Notice all the power lines mixed in with the tree branches.

 Here's the tree that caused all the damage.

Notice how close the telephone pole is to their house.  That's where it landed!

 More downed wires.

The power finally came back on last night, but it's going to be a few days to get this mess all cleaned up.  I was able to save most of what was in our refrigerator by taking it to my uncle's house Sunday night and my parents let us stay at their house for a couple of nights since it was so hot out.  We're all just thankful that the damage wasn't any worse.  


In the end, the lesson I got from this is that we need to be better equipped for emergencies.  Despite the fact that I started on an emergency kit earlier in the year, it isn't finished and the kids had gotten into the flashlights and used up all the batteries playing with them.  Luckily, we had lots of candles.  What we really needed though was a big cooler, which we didn't have.  I need to add that to my list and get my kits finished up---and definitely restocked with WORKING flashlights!


What have you done at your house to prepare for emergencies?

Emergency Preparation Step #1: 72 Hour Survival Kit

Pumpkin checks out the main 72 hour kit.  I think she wants to get in!

One of my goals this year is to get my family prepared for emergencies.  I'm not talking about the apocalypse or total economic collapse.  I'm talking about stuff like:

• What if we lose power?
• What if we can't drink the water out of the tap?
• What if we can't get groceries?
• What if we got stuck on the highway for hours because of an accident down the road?

In recent memory, I think of the Northeast Blackout of 2003.  There was no power.  You couldn't buy gas.  There were no deliveries to the grocery stores for a few days because gas couldn't be pumped to fuel the trucks that transported the food.  This is the type of thing that I want to be prepared for.

I used to make fun of my mother for all the stockpiling she did.  When the preparation for Y2K was going on in 1999, she had their basement stuffed to the gills with provisions.  I thought it was funny.  I feel a little different now that I have children myself.  Right now we are absolutely not prepared for anything and that concerns me.  I started doing some research about emergency preparedness.  The general consensus on where to start is to assemble a 72 hour emergency kit.  This kit is supposed to cover the basic needs for all the people in your house for that time period if you need to evacuate.  There are lots of places to go to on the web for suggestions of what to put in your kit and how to do it.  I based mine predominately on suggestions found at the Survival Mom blog and was also helped by the ladies over at Food Storage Made Easy, but modified it somewhat because my family would never eat stuff like freeze dried food and beef jerky or drink Tang unless literally starving.

I made a kit for our minivan (this is the vehicle we use for most of our transportation) and a more pared down version for the Cobbler's car that he drives to work.  His car isn't the most road worthy so I don't imagine we would want to use that for evacuation purposes.  I figured his kit should just cover the bare minimum just in case we were to get separated.  This is not a likely scenario since he works less than a mile from our house, but I guess you never know.  I got out two duffel bags that we already had and filled them with the following list (Items that are starred are ones that made the cut to get put in the Cobbler's bag as well, but only enough for him. The kid provisions are only in the main bag):

Food---All cans have pop tops so we don't need a can opener
*4 Canned pasta and meatballs (1 for Cobbler)
4 Canned soup (not condensed)
*7 Canned fruit in heavy syrup (1 for Cobbler)
*16 Packets of Gatorade powder to mix with water (8 for the Cobbler)
*12 Granola bars (4 for the Cobbler)
*20 individual packages of raisins
4 packets of tuna (none for the Cobbler who hates fish)

Sanitation
*Clorox disinfecting wipes
*Rolls of toilet paper squished flat to fit in a gallon Ziploc (we got 3 rolls.  Cobbler got 1.)
*Small box of tissues
*Paper towels
Pads and tampons (enough for 1 cycle...I would need them with my luck.  And I hear tampons are good for bullet wounds too.  Not like I'm planning on getting shot or anything)
*Hand sanitizer
*Toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss
Diapers (I will celebrate the day I can take these out of the kit)
*Wipes
bar of soap
20 pack of water purification tablets

First Aid
*First Aid Kit (bought at Target for around $10)
*Thermometer (added to kit)
*Super Glue (added to kit)
*Ibuprofen
*Benadryl
Children's Benadryl
Children's Ibuprofen
*Sunscreen

Shelter/Survival
*8x10 tarp
*5 pack of dust masks
*Duct tape
*Rain ponchos (Cobbler gets 1)
*Waterproof matches
*2 flashlights (Cobbler gets 1)
*Extra batteries for flashlights
*4 glowsticks (Cobbler gets 1)
*Leatherman (it's like an extra fancy Swiss Army knife but with pliers.  Makes a good manly gift.  My husband has 3 of them at least)
*hand and toe warmers
Folding shovel
binoculars
emergency radio
2 heavy duty trash bags
*3 - 1 gallon jugs of water (1 jug for Cobbler)

Other stuff
Read aloud books (I packed Charlotte's Web and Little House on the Prairie)

There are some other items that I still need to purchase and put in.  Here's my "to buy or to find around the house" list:
*10 packets of instant oatmeal
*5 packages of gum
*8 packets of hot cocoa mix
1 package of Triscuits
*Hard candy
12 fruit rollups
*10 envelopes of Lipton noodles
1 package of beef jerky (The Cobbler decided he would rather have that than the tuna)
*5 sets of reusable silverware (1 set for Cobbler)
A campstove or some wingstoves with fuel pellets to heat the cans
A deck of cards and some Uno cards
*Rope
*Whistles
*Rubberbands
*Comb or hairbrush
Trial size disinfecting wipes and regular wipes for the Cobbler (the full size containers were too big for his smaller bag)
*4 emergency blankets
*work gloves
*umbrellas
*bungee cords
*safety pins
sewing kit
*paper and pencils
nail clippers
*tire repair kit
*change of clothes for each person
*$20 in small bills and some change

Then, you're supposed to rotate and check expirations on everything in the kit annually.  I'll have to mark my calendar for Valentine's Day next year.  I love you all enough to keep our car stocked for emergencies.  It's my Valentine's Day gift to you.  Just kidding...

Are you already prepared for an emergency?  Or if you're not prepared, do it together with me! You'll see some other blog posts down the road about what we're doing as a family to get ready for emergencies.