An important component of emergency preparedness is building a comprehensive emergency preparedness kit. Feel free to use this emergency preparedness checklist as a start to your kit.
I’m so excited to be giving away a $25 gift card to someone so they can make their own emergency preparedness kit! Just leave a comment below to enter to win.
Emergency Preparedness Check List
- Water (minimum three day supply for evacuations, two week supply for home)washing and drinking)
- Non-perishable foods (minimum three day supply for evacuations, two week supply for home)
- Assorted battery pack (purchase the pack that provides a variety of battery sizes so that you’re prepared no matter the need)
- Flashlight
- Multipurpose tool
- First aid kit
- Medications (at least a 7 day supply)
- Battery-powered or hand-crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio if possible)
- Extra clothing
- Sanitation and personal hygiene items
- Cell phone with chargers
- Family and emergency contact information
- Extra cash
- Emergency blanket
- Map(s) of the area
- Household liquid bleach
- Copies of important documents – In case of emergency, you’ll need copies of birth records, household lease or deed, medications list, passports and insurance policies
Emergency Preparedness Kit
Don’t forget the household liquid bleach. Did you know bleach, like Clorox Liquid Bleach, can not only disinfect surfaces but also can be used to create drinkable water? Here’s how:
- To Disinfect Surfaces: Use 1/4 cup bleach to 1 gallon of water, or as directed on the label, to disinfect hard, non-porous surfaces in your home.
- To Disinfect Water: If you need to purify water during an emergency, (and do not have the means to boil it for 3-5 minutes), you may disinfect your water using bleach. If water is clear, add 8 drops (1/8 tsp.) of bleach per gallon of water. If water is cloudy, add 16 drops (1/4 tsp.) of bleach per gallon of water. Mix the solution thoroughly and let it stand for about 30 minutes before using it. Properly treated water should have a slight chlorine odor. If it doesn’t, repeat dosage and allow water to stand an additional 15 minutes. The treated water can be made drinkable by pouring it between clean containers several times.
Check out your local home supply store. Many of them sell pre-assembled emergency preparedness supplies that provide a great foundation for the full kit you will need to build.
When disaster strikes you could be ANYWHERE, so make sure you have either a full or abbreviated emergency preparedness kit (i.e. food, water and change of clothes) at work and in your vehicles.
Make sure the members of you household are aware of each kit, its content and its location. In the event of an emergency, it’s essential to make sure everyone, even the children, are prepared.
Are your pets included in your preparedness plan? If not, they should be! See next week’s blog post to create a plan for your pets.
For more information please visit
www.clorox.com/redcross and download the preparedness guide:
Prepare Yourself Now for Peace of Mind Later
You also might like these emergency preparedness articles:
Enter to Win!
Each week I’ll be giving away a $25 gift card so that you can create your own emergency preparedness kit. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post, or re-tweet this post with hashtag #preparedness and leave a comment.
Example Tweet: How to Create an Emergency Preparedness Plan http://bit.ly/czeLKZ Enter to win a $25 GC from @Clorox #Preparedness Please RT
Disclosure:Â As a blog tour participant, I received information and giveaways from The Clorox Company and Consumer Queen at no cost to me. I was compensated for my time by The Clorox Company for participating in this project. All views are my own.
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Comments
I tweeted:
http://twitter.com/MoneywiseMoms/status/25043186469
Thank you for the reminder about emergency kits! I don’t think enough people realize how important they really are!
Tahnks for the great tips!
Great tips! Thanks!
thanks for the reminder to make an emergency kit for the car too! When I lived in SoCal my kid came in handy one day when the water main broke and we were out of water for a day. My room mate at the time, who had scoffed at my kit humbly asked for some water that day. It was not life or death…but you never know!. It is ALWAYS a good idea to have water on hand. I live in a condo and they like to turn off our water for maintence without warning with two little ones, this can be DISASTER! Gallon jugs of water saved the daY!
My emergency preparedness kit needs gutting.
At least I have one, though! Thanks for the great giveaway.
I’m working on my emergency kit right now actually. I have part of it done already & just need to finish up!
Great giveaway!
Thanks for the chance to win!
Thanks Laurie! According to my kids, no kit (of any sort) is complete without princess and spiderman band aids!
Great tips and reminder to be prepared!
Oh that’s a great giveaway! I need to do this!
Thanks for the information. I really need to work on this!
Sounds great!
thanks for reminding us to get prepared incase of an emergency!
It’s something most of us never think about! Hope to win!
Great Information! Thanks!
Nice list! I need to get started!!!!
I need to get on this asap!
Have been going to do this forever. Now I have list in hand & will start it tomorrow. Thanks
What a great giveaway. Yesterday I was at a friends house and she has been canning food and storing dried fruits. She has enough for a year for all 7 of her family members. Then this morning I read this post. I think someone is telling me to get ready!! We have 3 small children, and need to do this! Thank you for the motivation to get prepared.
You mention having emergency documents and its importance. I would emphasize that this be in the form of a Grab ‘n Go bag for personal, family and necessary business documents. It needs to be organized and kept up to date so that it can be quickly accessed when needed. There are times when an “emergency” can last for a week or two and you may need to have some of this vital information for insurance purposes, etc.
Thanks.
Richard Hoppers
safes360.com
Would bleaching your water make you sick. I realize that its better than not having clean water at all, but drinking bleach does not sound good for you.
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such a great idea in the light of all that is happening in the world now. thanks so much.
Thank you for the articles and guidelines. It’s good to be aware and reminded that disaster can strike anytime.
I learned many preparedness tips from my grandmother and mother, but had not put a lot of them in to practice. That changed several years ago. I thought I had the Grab & Go bag ready for anything. I find that there are many ideas out there that I had not thought about. Several popped up in the comments you made. Thank you for the tidbits that I found tonight. They are a work in progress. One thing I have done about our G & G bags, I have packed food, etc. in a backpack and other items that might take up too much space in the backpack I put in a small rectangular carry on bag that fits just right in the corner of our trunk. This cannot have anything that might be destroyed by the heat of AZ. Our personal bags are located near the door so we can get them as we leave. Now that we are fairly well set up, I am putting together backpacks for our 2 children and the grandkids who live in town. I find that the 10 year and 8 year old are very interested in helping with this task. Not all our adult children feel the same urgency that we do about this situation. Thanks for all the help you give us when we do not have time to do the research and finding all the things we need.
Please don’t forget about your pets and farm animals. They too, require food, water and shelter. Each of my dogs has thier own little doggie backpack with water, food, blankets, etc. and medication for the dog who has medical problems. I leave bottled water, food, litter and a bed in my cat carrier. I have stored water for my outside animals.
Good stuff
Although my family thinks I might be certifiable, I have taken preparedness seriously for the past 12 years (Y2K anyone?) and hope I never have to use what I’ve learned from great posts like yours!
Great advice! My wife and I have been “preparing ” for about 1 1/2 yrs. Food (freeze dried, mre’s, canned,) water (with a water purifier,) clothing, Gold, Silver, Copper, gasoline (stabilized with “Sta-bil,) propane, advanced first aid kit (surgical supplies, 90 days of meds, blood clotting gauze, etc,) long range walkie-talkies, CB base station, auto parts (belts, oil, filters, etc,) generators, rechargeable batteries w/ AC + solar charges, food vacuum sealer, non hybrid seeds, alternate heat (wood stove +firewood-can also be used for cooking, ) extra cash, and various other supplies.
A couple of notes on your list -
- bleach is great for purifying water, but has a short shelf life, should be replaced every 3-6 months
- important documents (birth, marriage licenses, medical + dental records , titles, deeds, etc can be scanned and loaded on to a zip-drive (some even have rings attached so they can be put on key chains )
- Vitamins should also be included in case a nutritional diet is not possible for an extended period of time.
Thanks for a great blog, and as the Boy Scouts say : BE PREPARED! !
GOD BLESS! !
Thanks for the great check list—I’m going to get working on it right away!
Thanks!
Thanks for reminding me of the importance of this. I will get right on it!!!
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