72 Hour Kits

Well, my sweet baby girl is almost 3 weeks old now, all of our company has left for home and now I'm trying to figure out life with 3 children all on my own!  So, while I'm re-learning how to juggle my life, please be patient with the slow blog posts!  And, if any of you seasoned mothers have any advice on life with 3 kids versus 2, I'd love to hear it! :)

With this huge storm hitting the east coast this week, I have been reminded exactly how important it is to have 72 hour kits on hand for every member of your family.  We have many friends on the east coast that are telling us how scarce supplies are back there.  Last year, I finally made the leap and put together 72 hours kits for each member of my family.  It took me an entire weekend, and it was a lot of work, but we got them done!

Everything is in little baggies, clearly labeled to make finding things easier.

Obviously, mine and my husband's kits have all of our stuff, plus much of the children's.  I wanted the kid's packs to be light enough for them to carry should we have to go (walk!) somewhere.  Each pack has enough food and water for 3 days, plus a few extra snacks.  The children's packs also have a few brand new games/toys/books for entertainment, plus a change of clothes and extra diapers/pull-ups as needed.

Here are 3 of the finished products. I can't believe how much work it was getting those done!! I now need to put one together for Jessalyn, and it's time for me to update everything in there once again.  But, I definitely feel much more prepared should we have to leave in a hurry.

Our kits have a specific place in our house to be stored.  We can't keep them in the garage, because the summer heat around here would ruin the food and some of the supplies.  We did organize our garage so that all the camping gear is in one spot, right near the garage door so we could easily find it and throw it in the car should we need to leave quickly.

Are you looking for resources to build your own 72 hour kits?  Here's a few ideas...

{Your Own Home Store}  An awesome blog that gives you simple week by week suggestions to slowly start building your own emergency kits.
{Provident Living}  Provides many resources on everything "self-reliant".  From food storage (short and long term), employment needs and ideas, gardening, finances, etc.  You can find it there.
{Food Storage Made Easy}  Also has some good ideas for ways to build your own 72 hour kit, including a {grocery list} for food items and an {itemized list of supplies} to put in your packs.

I wish I had a hard copy of the items I put in my kits.  I took a compilation of different ideas to what would fit my family's needs (and wants!) the best and kind of did my own thing.  There are plenty of ideas and suggestions out there; you just need to spend a little bit of time researching and then just bite the bullet!

Good luck!  I'd love to hear any ideas or suggestions that you've found works well for your family!