Please delete - Emergency Kit Items RAOK

[sunshiney]

Just read another raok that got me thinking about having an emergency kit in the house...

For this RAOK, please submit a list of items that you think would be necessary to include in an emergency kit. I'm thinking a smaller, portable one since I hopefully have everything I'd need around the house.

I'll have BF randomly pick a post number Saturday - Oct. 1 (that's my version of a random number generator lol). Also, if you want a bonus entry, feel free to enter a second time by listing items for a car emergency kit. Please don't include blankets, gloves, scarves and other winter clothes items since those stay in my car year round - we can get COLD winters so I don't want to ever forget to put them back in.

Thanks in advance for suggestions and to those who posted on the idea raok to get me to think of this! Oh, and btw... the raok is for a potluck envie, which I'll try to match with your wishlist.

[Miki808]

Here is what my family has in our emergency kit (it's portable since it's in bags)
2 Large hiking bags (DH and mine)
-2 flashlights & 2 headlamps with lots of batteries (1 set in ea bag)
-2 First-aid kits with all it's necessities (bandaids, ointment, gauze, wraps) (1 in ea bag)
-Survival book (DH bag)
-Clothing for at least a week (in ea bag)
-2 boxes/bags of tampons/pads (my bag)
-travel size personal hygiene (toothpaste, toothbrush, floss, brush, body wash) (in ea bag)
-Portable mess kit which includes eating utensils, plate, cup (1 set in ea bag)
-Lots of hand sanitizer (split up in ea bag)
-10 cans baby formula (my bag)
-baby bottles (my bag)
-all of our important documents in a ziploc bag (marriage, birth, military papers, SSN cards) (my bag)
-Cash (my bag)
-a lot of non-perishable foods that does not need to be warmed up in case power outage (tuna, cereal, trail mix, crackers, canned veggies) (DH bag)
-about 5 cases of baby wipes (personal hygiene and for our 4 month old) (split up in ea bag)
-can opener to open non-perishable foods (DH bag)
-paper/pencil (in ea bag)
-extra phone charger/battery (in ea bag)
-portable radio with extra batteries (my bag)
-(5) cases of water (24 bottles)~last us 3+ days (next to our bags)
-(10) cases of MREs (meals ready to eat~military related) (next to our bags)
-10 candles all throughout the house in case power outage

since majority of our emergency kit is in our large bags, all we have to do is toss it on our back, load up the vehicle with the water and MREs and go

i know its alot but we can never be too prepared. i'm originally from hawaii where we would get tsunami and hurricane warnings alot. so growing up my parents made sure we were ready when the time came. when the siren would go off all we had to do was go into our closets grab our bag, a case of water and go. now i have a family, i want to make sure we are prepared and not running around trying to get all the necessities.

[healingMD]

I second Miki808

- towels
- water (maybe 5 - 16 oz or a gallon)
- vitamins/meds (just a week's worth)

[blossomed]

WOW Miki - that is READY.

I was thinking more like duct tape, a gallon of water, and a pocket tool! But I live in walking distance to a Walmart.

[cmiller2003]

WOW! Miki has it covered!

I also have a weather radio and a checklist of things to do if a hurricane is coming: refill any prescriptions, get cash from an ATM and fill up the car with gas. Obviously, these are things that you would only be able to do if you had any notice.

Powdered or boxed milk, juice boxes, powerbars and for me the most important supply: chocolate.

If you have a pet, you would want to make sure and have food and enough water for them. I have mine in a large tupperware-type of container up on my fridge and out of the way.

[XUfan]

I can't top Miki's list. But, one thing that I tell people when they're getting an emergency kit together, is to make sure to have some cash on hand. Not a bunch, but something! Three years ago, our area was hit with the tail end of hurricane Ike. We were without power for 8 days. The first couple of days, it was hard to find a store open that had power. Some were open...but could not take debit or credit cards, due to the fact that they didn't have power or working phone lines. We needed ice to keep our refrigerated items cold. Luckily, we had a few dollars. If not, we wouldn't have been able to get ice...or anything else.

[Lori63]

Great ideas! I keep towels and water, snacks and an umbrella, a book and extra shoes in my car. Not necessarily for an emergency; just my everyday "I might need this'. Extra earrings :)

[CW&M Mom]

I can tell you from the Joplin tornado the hardest thing for them to deal with immediately was the tree's and medication.

So if you have a home investing in a chain saw can be extremely helpful and putting it down where your shelter is. If people cannot get into your town to help...help will take longer..if that make sense.

Second try to have some medication on hand..that being said...medication expires so this can be complicated. Sometimes it's not really practical..nor will your insurance actually let you. If that is your situation, what we did..is each time the weather was kind of crappy..we moved our medication near the basement door..so if we had to dash down we grabbed it...but you can also take your script numbers down with you or your boxes with you which will be extremely helpful if they need to refill them. At joplin only 4 of the 10 pharmacies were standing when it was all over. Also if you use a pharmacy that is private owned (not like Target or CVS) I would highly suggest you make a copy of your scripts and then have someone else hold on to them that lives no where near you..because if that pharmacy goes down..it can take them days to get there computer system up and running again (this happened in Joplin).

Things like food were actually not as hard because people could get that easily donated...but getting someone insulin or someone oxygen was much more complicated. Esp since one of the DME was completely destroyed. Think of things that people cannot easily donate.

[rdubin]

Everyone mentioned such great things already but I like to have
duck tape
medicine
water
can tuna
snack bars
towel
scissors

[booklover]

If anyone in the house has allergies or any kind of medical condition, or is taking any medicine, you should have a list of any medications that person takes, the time given and dosages. Likely you have pill bottles in the house, car, purse, etc. that has the person's name and the medicine on the label, but often the doctor will change dosages, even though the medicine is the same.

I always kept extra doses of medications in my purse, in case whatever we were doing took longer than expected.

It's a great idea to try and stock up on medication IF you can. Sometimes doctors will give you free samples, and you could keep those as an emergency stash. Make sure to check the exp. dates on any medication.