72 Hour Kit

After Hurricane Katrina hit NO a few years ago, and watching the horrors there unfold, Al and I decided to get serious about our 72 hour kit. This weekend we are rotating the contents out of it (we do this every 6 months at general conference time). So I thought I'd list what we have in our kit for anyone who is working to put theirs together.

Non Food items:
First Aid Kit - include children's/infant pain reliever and any prescription meds you take
Extra contacts/solution/case or eyeglasses
Hand sanitizer
tooth brushes and paste
Sunscreen
Bug Spray
Diapers - disposables and cloth with pins and plastic pants
Wipes - 2 packs - 1 for diaper changes one for everything else
Chapstick
Poncho for every member of family
Space blanket for every member of family
Hand warmers
Radio and extra batteries
Flashlight and extra batteries
Feminine hygiene supplies
Trash bags
Ziploc bags
foil
plates/cups/plastic ware
Clorox wipes
hand soap (do NOT include bar soap as it will stink up your kit and make all the food taste like soap - we speak from experience)
Calling card/change/cell phone charger
Cash in small bills (we think we need about $200 to cover most needs)
Can opener
Small pot
leatherman tool
Plastic tarp
zip drive with important documents scanned and saved onto it
Scriptures
Paper/pen/crayons
Card games

Food Items:
Baked beans
Tuna
Beef Jerky
Granola bars
Trail mix
Crackers
Ramen noodles
Hot chocolate/cider packets
Hard Candy
Gum
Juice Boxes
Water
Salt & Pepper

We have all of this is stored in a large plastic tote on wheels. Double check to make sure your container will fit in your car (also speaking from experience). This works better for us than backpacks since our kids are too little to carry their own stuff. We also have a large tote with our camping supplies including sleeping bags, our coleman stove, another flashlight, tent and fuel for the stove that we could grab and put in our car. Our kit doesn't include everything but would probably get us by in most emergencies.

It was an eye opening experience to be without power for 3 days last year while we lived in Seattle. We got a great idea about how well we were or weren't prepared and how much we depend on power. None of the gas stations could even operate without power. There were no working ATM machines. Grocery stores could not operate. It was a good trial run for us!

Hope this helps someone!