72-Hour Emergency Kit: A Realistic Checklist

This fall, governments from the UK to Japan started asking the same thing of their citizens: keep enough supplies at home to get through a few days on your own. If you have been watching the headlines and wondering whether you should be doing something too, the answer is yes, and it is a lot calmer and cheaper than the news makes it sound.

A 72-hour emergency kit is simply enough water, food, light, medicine, and basic supplies to take care of your household for three days if the power, water, or stores go down. You do not need a bunker, a survival backpack, or a garage stacked with bottled water. Most of what you need is already in your kitchen, and the rest can be built slowly with glass, metal, and reusable picks that will serve you every single day, emergency or not.

Below is the plan I am following for my own home, with every tip pulled from official emergency guidance, plus a free printable checklist so you can tick things off as you go.

Why Governments Are Asking Everyone to Build a Kit

Governments are asking households to keep 3 days to 2 weeks of supplies because storms, power outages, cyberattacks, and earthquakes can disrupt services faster than help can arrive. The advice is about preparation, not an imminent threat.

This October, the UK government launched its Be Ready campaign, asking households to keep enough supplies to manage for three days if severe weather or a cyberattack disrupts the services they rely on. Days later, Japan’s disaster management minister urged people to stock at least three days of supplies, and ideally a week. The European Commission set the tone back in March 2025, when its Preparedness Union Strategy set a goal of helping people across the EU be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours.

Here in the US, the advice is not new. FEMA’s Ready.gov has recommended a basic supply kit for years, and the American Red Cross publishes its own list. What is new is how many countries are saying it at once. The reasons they give are everyday ones: winter storms, wildfires, long power outages, and cyberattacks that can knock out services you rely on.

The goal is not panic. When most households can take care of themselves for a few days, emergency crews can focus on the people who need them most.

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Start With a Plan Before You Buy Anything

The first step in any emergency kit is free: a family communication plan with an out-of-area contact, a meeting place, and everyone’s phone numbers written on paper, not just saved in a phone.

It is tempting to start with a shopping cart, but the most useful thing in your kit costs nothing. During an earthquake or a big storm, your family might be at work, school, and on the road when it hits. Deciding now how you will find each other means everyone knows what to do instead of guessing.

FEMA has a free family emergency communication plan you can fill in as a family. These are the pieces worth deciding together:

• An out-of-area contact everyone checks in with, since long-distance lines often work when local ones are jammed
• A meeting spot near home and a second one outside your neighborhood
• A written list of phone numbers, medications, and doses
• Where your water, gas, and electricity shutoffs are and how to turn them off
• Phone numbers for two neighbors you could check on, or who could check on you

How Much Water You Need in a 72-Hour Emergency Kit

Store at least 1 gallon of water per person per day, for drinking and hygiene. A family of four needs 12 gallons for 3 days, plus extra for pets, children, nursing mothers, and anyone who is sick.

Water is the one part of your kit you cannot skip. The standard from Ready.gov is at least one gallon of water per person per day, and kids, nursing mothers, sick people, and hot weather can all push that number higher. There is also a reassuring rule worth remembering from the same page: never ration drinking water unless authorities tell you to. Drink what you need today and look for more tomorrow.

The easy answer is cases of bottled water, but that means a pile of single-use plastic sitting in a warm garage for months. We have covered what researchers found in nanoplastics in bottled water, and it is the reason I would rather store water another way. Here are the options that work.

Your Water Heater Is Already a Backup Tank

Most homes are already holding dozens of gallons of fresh water inside the water heater, refreshed every day without any effort from you. Washington State Department of Health lists it as a safe source: turn off the electricity or gas to the heater first, then open the drain at the bottom and drain the water into a clean container. Take a few minutes this week to find that drain valve and your home’s main water shutoff, so you are not hunting for them in the dark.

Store the Rest in Glass or Steel

For water you fill yourself, Ready.gov recommends food-grade containers washed with dish soap and sanitized with a teaspoon of unscented bleach per quart of water. Home-filled water should be replaced every six months, which makes a great twice-a-year habit.

Large glass jars work well on a cool pantry shelf, and an insulated steel bottle like the Klean Kanteen Classic (a 2 in our directory) gives everyone a refillable bottle to grab and go.

How to Make Questionable Water Safe

Boiling is the safest way to treat water. If you cannot boil, the EPA’s emergency disinfection guide says to add 8 drops of plain, unscented 6% bleach per gallon of clear water, stir, and wait 30 minutes. Double the drops if the water is cloudy, colored, or very cold. Keep a small bottle of unscented bleach and a dropper with your kit, and tape the EPA chart inside the lid.

A Stainless Gravity Filter for Every Day

If you want one piece of water gear that earns its counter space every day and still works when the power is out, a gravity filter is it. You pour water in the top, and it drips through ceramic filters into the bottom chamber with no electricity or water pressure needed. The one I recommend is the British Berkefeld stainless steel system, because its Doulton Ultra Sterasyl filters are tested and certified by NSF to NSF/ANSI 401 for 99.9% reduction of microplastics. The body is stainless steel, though the filter candles do include some plastic parts. It is not a substitute for boiling water from a stream or a flooded well, so treat anything questionable first.

The Best Emergency Food Is Food You Already Eat

Stock at least 3 days of no-cook, shelf-stable food your family already eats, such as canned fish, beans, soup, nut butter, and dried fruit, plus a manual can opener. Rotate it into regular meals so nothing expires.

One of the most practical lines on Ready.gov’s food page is also the simplest: choose foods your family will eat. A bucket of freeze-dried meals nobody likes is not a plan, but a stocked pantry of the things you already buy is.

Think canned fish, beans, soups, fruit and vegetables, peanut butter, dried fruit, nuts, granola, and shelf-stable milk. Commercially canned food can be eaten straight from the can, so it works even if you cannot cook. Add a manual can opener, and tuck in a few comfort foods, because a hard few days go easier with something you enjoy.

The trick that keeps this from becoming a chore is rotation. Buy one extra of the shelf-stable things you already use, put the newest in the back, and cook from the front. Your emergency supply quietly refreshes itself.

For dry goods like oats, rice, and beans, glass jars keep out moisture and pests far better than the bags they come in, and the classic canning jar is the easiest place to start.

The one catch with Ball jars is the lid. The sealing ring under each one is plastisol, a soft plastic, so if you want to skip plastic entirely, Weck jars are the swap. They seal with glass lids and natural rubber rings instead.

What to Do With the Fridge When the Power Goes Out

Keep the doors closed. According to FoodSafety.gov, an unopened refrigerator keeps food cold for about 4 hours, while a full freezer holds its temperature for about 48 hours, or 24 hours if it is half full. Eat from the fridge first, then the freezer, then the pantry. Toss anything with an unusual odor, color, or texture, and when in doubt, throw it out.

Cooking and Coffee When the Power Is Out

Canned food can be eaten cold, but a cast iron pan and a stovetop coffee maker let you cook on a gas stove, fireplace, or outdoor grill. Never use a grill or camp stove indoors or in a garage.

This is the part of emergency prep nobody talks about, and it matters more than you would think. A warm meal and a cup of coffee make a long, dark day feel manageable. The good news is that the best no-power cookware is also the lowest-plastic cookware you can own.

A bare cast iron skillet like the Field Company No. 8 works on any heat source, from a gas burner to a campfire grate. For coffee, a stovetop brewer needs nothing but heat. The Bialetti Moka Express is the classic, and the percolator below is the one built for rough conditions.

A quick word on where you cook. Ready.gov is clear that charcoal grills and camp stoves are for outdoor use only. A fireplace or gas range inside works for cooking, but anything that burns fuel needs to stay out of closed rooms and garages, which brings us to the most important safety rule in this whole guide.

Power, Light, and the Safety Rule That Saves Lives

Pack a flashlight for each person, a battery or hand-crank radio, extra batteries, and a charged power bank. Never run a generator, grill, or other fuel-burning device indoors, and keep generators at least 20 feet from doors, windows, and vents.

Ready.gov’s basic kit includes a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, a flashlight, extra batteries, a whistle, and a cell phone with chargers and a backup battery. Choose rechargeable batteries where you can, and give everyone their own light so nobody is fumbling in the dark. A headlamp is the most useful version, since it leaves both hands free.

For the radio, choose one that runs on a hand crank or solar power, so it never depends on a stash of spare batteries.

For lighting a whole room, a collapsible lantern is the simplest answer, and these are the ones I keep in my own kit.

For longer outages, I am planning to add the Jackery Solar Generator 1000 v2 to my own kit. It pairs a rechargeable battery station with a folding 200W solar panel, so it can keep phones, lights, a fan, or a fridge going for short stretches and recharge from the sun when the grid is down. It is not a low-plastic product, and I see it as a buy-once piece of gear rather than a swap. The big advantage is safety: a battery station burns no fuel, so unlike a gas generator, it can run indoors.

That leads to the rule worth repeating to everyone in your home. The CDC warns never to use generators, grills, or other gasoline, propane, or charcoal-burning devices inside your home, and to keep generators at least 20 feet from doors, windows, and vents. Carbon monoxide has no smell and no color, and people are hurt by it every year after storms.

Hygiene, First Aid, and Pets

Pack a first aid kit, a refill buffer of prescription medications, soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, and trash bags for sanitation. Add 2 weeks of pet food, pet medications, and extra water for each animal.

Medication is the item people most often forget. Ready.gov points out that about half of all Americans take a prescription medicine every day, and pharmacies may be closed or hard to reach after a disaster. Ask your doctor or pharmacist how to keep a small buffer on hand, and write down every medication and dose on paper.

Hygiene is where low-plastic swaps shine, because solid products last longer and take up less space than liquids. A bar like Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Bar Soap handles hands, body, and even dishes in a pinch, and Bite Toothpaste Bits come in a glass jar that will not leak in a go-bag. For toilet paper, a box of Who Gives A Crap bamboo toilet paper is an easy thing to keep on hand. Each roll is wrapped in paper instead of plastic, the rolls are extra long so a box lasts, and the company donates half of its profits to clean water and sanitation projects.

Pets need their own kit, with two weeks of food, extra water, a leash, a bowl, any medications, and a copy of vaccination records. If your dog takes a daily supplement, pack that too. Finn’s Multivitamin chews come in a recyclable tin instead of a plastic tub, so they stack neatly on a shelf, and you can find them on Grove or Amazon. Washington’s Emergency Management Division also has a helpful pet preparedness page worth a look.

Documents, Cash, and Comfort Items

Keep copies of ID and insurance in a waterproof pouch, cash in small bills, a warm blanket and change of clothes for each person, sturdy shoes, and a few games or books.

When the power is out, card readers and ATMs often are too, which is why cash in small bills belongs in every kit. Copies of your ID, insurance policies, and other key papers should go in a waterproof pouch, ideally with a digital copy saved somewhere you can reach from another device.

Add a warm blanket and a full change of clothes for each person, sturdy shoes, and work gloves. Then pack something for morale. A deck of cards, a few books, or a puzzle can turn a stressful evening into a story your family tells later.

Why 72 Hours May Not Be Enough in Earthquake Country

Washington State asks residents to be “2 Weeks Ready,” because a major Cascadia earthquake could cut off roads, water, and power for far longer than 3 days. Treat 72 hours as the starting point and build from there.

I live in the Seattle area, and our state stopped using the three-day message years ago. After a large earthquake exercise in 2016, the Washington Emergency Management Division changed its guidance and now asks people to be 2 Weeks Ready, with enough supplies to get by on their own for two weeks. If you live anywhere with major earthquake, hurricane, or wildfire risk, that longer goal is worth considering too.

Two weeks sounds like a lot, and that is exactly why the state’s Prepare in a Year guide is my favorite resource in this whole article. It breaks preparedness into one small task a month for twelve months, and the very first task is free: sit down with your family and make a communication plan. Spread the shopping out and it barely touches your budget.

If you live on the West Coast, also download the free MyShake app, which delivers ShakeAlert earthquake warnings across California, Oregon, and Washington. Even a few seconds of warning is enough time to drop, cover, and hold on.

Pre-Packed Kit or Build Your Own

Building your own 72-hour emergency kit costs less over time, uses food you will actually eat, and avoids most of the single-use plastic packed into store-bought survival kits.

Pre-packed survival backpacks are everywhere right now, and they are convenient. They are also usually a bag full of plastic pouches, foil packets, and gear you will never use otherwise. Here is how the two approaches compare.

What Matters	Pre-Packed Kit	Build Your Own
Food	Ration bars and pouches	Food your family already eats
Water	Small plastic pouches	Water heater, glass, and steel
Plastic	Mostly single-use	Mostly reusable
Everyday use	Sits in a closet	Used and rotated weekly
Cost	One large purchase	Spread out month by month

If you would rather start with a ready-made bag, here is the one I have at home. It covers the first 72 hours while you build the rest of your kit at your own pace.

Build Your 72-Hour Emergency Kit in 5 Steps

Make a plan, secure water, stock no-cook food, add light and first aid, then set a twice-a-year reminder to rotate food and water.

Save This Checklist for Your Next Store Run 📌

1. Make your family communication plan this week. It is free and it is the foundation of everything else.
2. Find your water heater drain and main water shutoff, then fill a few clean glass jars for drinking water.
3. Buy one extra of the shelf-stable foods you already eat each time you shop, plus a manual can opener.
4. Gather flashlights, a radio, batteries, a first aid kit, medications, and pet supplies into one spot everyone knows.
5. Put two kit checks on your calendar each year, and eat or replace anything close to expiring.

Free Resources to Help You Prepare

The best free emergency preparedness resources come from FEMA, the American Red Cross, the EPA, the CDC, and your state and county emergency management offices.

You do not have to figure this out alone. These are the official, free resources I used to build this guide, and they are worth bookmarking.

• Ready.gov Build a Kit has FEMA’s full supply list and a printable version for the store.
• FEMA’s Family Emergency Communication Plan walks you through contacts and meeting places.
• The American Red Cross survival kit page covers home kits and go-bags.
• The EPA’s emergency disinfection chart shows how to treat water with bleach or boiling.
• FoodSafety.gov explains what to keep and what to toss after an outage.
• Washington’s Prepare in a Year guide spreads preparedness across 12 easy months, and it works no matter where you live.
• The MyShake app sends free earthquake warnings on the West Coast.
• Your county emergency management office can sign you up for local alerts and connect you with Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training, which many local programs offer free. Washington residents can start at mil.wa.gov/alerts.

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FAQs About 72-Hour Emergency Kits

Final Thoughts About 72-Hour Emergency Kits

A 72-hour emergency kit is a plan, a gallon of water per person per day, and food your family already eats. Start there, then build toward 2 weeks one small step at a time.

All the talk about stockpiling can make preparedness feel like fear, but it really comes down to taking care of the people you love. Begin with the free step this week, fill a few jars, and buy one extra can the next time you shop. When you choose glass jars, a steel water filter, and other reusable gear, you end up using your kit every day instead of letting it sit in a closet, so it is ready when an emergency comes.

📚 References

1. American Red Cross. (n.d.). Is your first aid kit expired? https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/resources/articles/do-first-aid-kits-expire
2. American Red Cross. (n.d.). Survival kit supplies. https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/survival-kit-supplies.html
3. Business Today. (2026, October 27). From food to medicines: Japan and UK urge citizens to keep emergency supplies ready for at least 3 days. https://www.businesstoday.in/world/story/japan-and-uk-urge-citizens-to-keep-emergency-supplies-ready-for-3-days-to-a-week-563963-2026-10-27
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Avoiding carbon monoxide poisoning. https://www.cdc.gov/natural-disasters/psa-toolkit/avoiding-carbon-monoxide-poisoning.html
5. Doulton. (n.d.). British Berkefeld stainless steel gravity systems. https://doulton.com/product-category/gravity-fed-filter
6. Doulton. (n.d.). British Berkefeld Ultra Sterasyl (8674). https://doulton.com/ultra-sterasyl
7. European Commission. (2025, March 26). EU Preparedness Union Strategy to prevent and react to emerging threats and crises. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/document/print/en/ip_25_856/IP_25_856_EN.pdf
8. Federal Emergency Management Agency. (n.d.). Build a kit. Ready.gov. https://www.ready.gov/kit
9. Federal Emergency Management Agency. (n.d.). Create your family emergency communication plan. Ready.gov. https://www.ready.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/family-emergency-communication-planning-document.pdf
10. Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2022). Food. Ready.gov. https://www.ready.gov/food
11. Federal Emergency Management Agency. (n.d.). Water. Ready.gov. https://www.ready.gov/water
12. FoodSafety.gov. (n.d.). Food safety in a disaster or emergency. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep-food-safe/food-safety-in-disaster-or-emergency
13. UC Berkeley Seismology Lab. (n.d.). MyShake. https://myshake.berkeley.edu
14. UK Government. (2026). Be Ready: Are you emergency ready? GOV.UK. https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/
15. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Emergency disinfection of drinking water. https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/emergency-disinfection-drinking-water
16. Washington Military Department, Emergency Management Division. (n.d.). Prepare in a year. https://mil.wa.gov/prepare-in-a-year
17. Washington Military Department. (n.d.). State Guard helps make Washington 2 Weeks Ready. https://mil.wa.gov/news/state-guard-helps-make-washington-2-weeks-ready
18. Washington State Department of Health. (n.d.). Water sources. https://doh.wa.gov/emergencies/be-prepared-be-safe/severe-weather-and-natural-disasters/water-sources
19. Who Gives A Crap. (n.d.). Premium 100% bamboo toilet paper. https://us.whogivesacrap.org/products/premium-100-bamboo-toilet-paper-double-length-rolls

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