A car emergency kit does not need to be elaborate. It needs to cover the most likely scenarios, fit in the boot without taking over the space, and be there when you need it rather than sitting at home.

Why the car is a gap in most emergency plans

A household 72-hour emergency kit covers what you need when you are at home. A go-bag covers what you carry when evacuating on foot or by vehicle. Neither of those directly addresses what happens when you are already in the vehicle and something goes wrong away from home.

The scenarios worth preparing for fall into two categories. The first is vehicle-specific: a breakdown, a flat tyre, a dead battery, running out of fuel, or a minor accident. These are the most common reasons people need help with a car and most of them are manageable with the right equipment without waiting for roadside assistance. The second is being caught in a broader disruption while driving: severe weather that forces you to stop, a road closure that leaves you stationary for hours, or an evacuation scenario where you are moving between two points and need supplies for the journey.

A well-stocked car kit handles both categories without carrying unnecessary weight.

Vehicle recovery and roadside essentials

The foundation of a car emergency kit is the equipment that handles the most common vehicle failures.

A jump starter is the single most useful item in most car kits. A dead battery is one of the most common breakdown causes, and a portable lithium jump starter means you can restart the vehicle yourself without needing another car or waiting for roadside assistance. Modern lithium jump starters are compact enough to fit in a glove box, hold charge for months between uses, and double as a power bank for charging devices. A jump starter with at least 1000 peak amps handles most passenger vehicles including larger engines.

A tyre inflator or portable air compressor handles slow punctures and underinflated tyres without needing a garage. Many breakdowns that appear to be flat tyres are actually slow leaks that can be reinflated and driven to a repair shop rather than requiring a full tyre change on the roadside. A 12V compressor that connects to the cigarette lighter socket is the standard format and takes up minimal space.

A tow rope or tow strap covers the scenario where a vehicle needs to be pulled from mud, snow, or a ditch. Recovery straps with looped ends are safer and more practical than chain-style tow ropes for most situations. A 4-metre strap with a 4-tonne minimum breaking strength is appropriate for most passenger vehicles.

Warning triangles or LED road flares are essential for marking a broken-down vehicle on a road or motorway. In many countries warning triangles are legally required. LED magnetic flares are a practical upgrade: they are visible in daylight, do not require open flame, and attach to the vehicle body rather than needing to be positioned on the road surface.

A seatbelt cutter and window punch combination tool belongs in every car, stored within reach of every passenger rather than in the boot. In a collision where the vehicle is submerged or the door cannot be opened, these are the tools that allow exit. A compact two-in-one tool stored in the door pocket or attached to the visor takes seconds to deploy and has a clear and specific purpose.

First aid

A car-specific first aid kit covers the injuries most likely to occur in a road incident: lacerations, impact injuries, and burns. The key items beyond a standard kit are trauma dressings for controlling serious bleeding, a tourniquet, and burn dressings sized for the type of injuries a road accident produces. The what should be in a first aid kit article covers the items most often missing from pre-assembled kits, many of which apply directly to a vehicle kit.

Store the first aid kit where it can be reached from inside the vehicle, not buried under other items in the boot. In an accident the boot may be inaccessible or the vehicle may be in a position where opening it is not practical.

Warmth and shelter

Being stranded in a vehicle in cold weather is a more serious situation than most people anticipate. A car that has stopped running loses its heat relatively quickly, and waiting hours for recovery in winter without adequate clothing is very dangerous.

A space blanket takes up almost no space and retains body heat effectively. Keep two or three in the kit, one per regular occupant of the vehicle. A compact emergency sleeping bag is a step up from a space blanket for extended cold waits and is worth including if you regularly drive in winter or in rural areas where recovery times can be long.

A change of warm clothing, particularly gloves, a hat, and an extra layer, stored in a dry bag in the boot covers the scenario where you leave the house in mild conditions and conditions change. This is especially relevant for longer journeys.

Light and power

A head torch stored in the car handles everything from changing a tyre in the dark to signalling your position. Keep spare batteries with it or use a rechargeable model charged on the same schedule as your other emergency equipment.

A power bank ensures your phone stays charged during a long wait or a disruption that depletes the vehicle battery. If your jump starter includes a USB charging port, which most modern ones do, it doubles as a power bank and covers both functions in one item.

A 12V car charger for phones is worth having as a backup but should not be your primary power solution since it depends on the vehicle battery being functional.

Water and food

Keep at least two litres of water per regular occupant in the vehicle at all times, rotated every six months. In summer heat, vehicles reach temperatures that make standard plastic bottles unsuitable for long-term storage. A stainless steel water bottle or a dedicated emergency water pouch designed for high-temperature storage handles this better than a standard bottle left in a hot boot.

A small supply of shelf-stable, high-calorie food covers extended waits and disruptions that stretch beyond a few hours. Energy bars, nuts, and compact emergency rations store well in vehicle temperatures and require no preparation. These do not need to be elaborate. Enough to sustain one meal per occupant is a reasonable target.

Documents and cash

Keep a physical copy of your insurance documents, roadside assistance membership details, and emergency contact numbers in the glovebox. These are the documents you need quickly in an incident and should not be stored only on a phone that may be locked, damaged, or dead.

A small amount of cash in mixed denominations covers fuel, tolls, and basic purchases in scenarios where card payments are unavailable. This is the same principle as the household emergency kit: physical currency removes a dependency on functioning infrastructure.

Seasonal adjustments

A car kit is not a static thing. Certain items are more important at different times of year and it is worth adjusting the kit at seasonal transitions.

In winter, prioritise warmth and recovery: extra layers, a shovel for snow, a bag of sand or cat litter for traction on ice, and an ice scraper. In summer, prioritise heat management: additional water, sun protection, and a reflective windscreen cover that keeps the car cooler when parked. If you travel with children or pets, their needs should be reflected in the kit regardless of season.

Where to store it and how to maintain it

Everything in the kit needs to be accessible without completely unloading the boot. A dedicated soft bag or hard case that sits in one corner of the boot keeps the kit together and makes it retrievable quickly. Label it clearly so any driver using the vehicle knows where it is.

Check the kit twice a year at the same time as your home emergency supplies. Replace any expired food, water, or medications. Test the jump starter charge and top it up if needed. Check that the tyre inflator hose and connections are intact. Confirm the first aid kit has not been raided for household use and not restocked.

If you have a family emergency plan, include the car kit location and contents in it. Anyone who drives the vehicle should know what is in it and where it is stored.

A practical starting point

The items that give the most return for the least cost and space are a jump starter, a seatbelt cutter and window punch, a space blanket, a small first aid kit, a head torch, and two litres of water. That combination fits in a small bag, costs under a hundred dollars assembled, and covers the large majority of situations where you will actually need something from the kit.

Build from there at your own pace. A tow strap, a tyre inflator, and a power bank add meaningful capability at modest additional cost. Seasonal items come in and out as needed. The important thing is that the kit exists, is in the vehicle, and is checked often enough to be reliable.

The difference between a household that handles a multi-day outage calmly and one that does not is almost never what they did during the outage. It is what they did before it started. This article covers that preparation: what to have ready, what to sort out in advance, and how to structure it so that when the power does go out you are not making decisions under pressure.

Understand what actually stops working

The first step in preparing is being accurate about what a power outage affects. Most people underestimate the list.

The obvious ones are lighting, cooking on electric hobs, and charging devices. The less obvious ones add up quickly. Central heating systems with electric controls or pumps stop working even if you have a gas boiler. Refrigerators and freezers begin warming within a few hours. Electric garage doors will not open manually unless you know how to disengage them. Door entry systems, lifts, and alarm systems in flats and apartments may fail. Medical equipment that depends on electricity, including sleep apnea machines, home oxygen concentrators, and electric wheelchairs, becomes immediately critical.

Water pressure is a separate issue that many households do not anticipate. In most outages it holds for several hours, but an extended or large-scale outage can cause it to fail as pumping stations exhaust their backup fuel. The full explanation of why this happens and what to do when it does is covered in the water pressure during a blackout guide.

Going through your home mentally and listing everything that runs on electricity gives you an honest picture of what you are actually preparing for. That list is different for every household.

Light

Lighting is the most immediate need and the easiest to solve in advance. The problem is not that people do not own torches. It is that the torches have dead batteries, are in an unknown location, or are a phone flashlight that drains the battery needed for communication.

A dedicated emergency torch or lantern kept in a known location with fresh batteries is the minimum. A battery-powered or rechargeable lantern that illuminates a room rather than just a single beam is more practical for extended use, particularly if you have children. Headtorches free your hands for other tasks.

The things worth deciding in advance are where the light sources are stored, whether everyone in the household knows where they are, and whether the batteries are actually charged or fresh. A torch discovered dead during an outage is no use. Check batteries twice a year on the same schedule as your other emergency supplies.

Candles work but introduce fire risk, particularly in households with children or pets. If you use them, keep them in stable holders and never leave them unattended. They are a supplement, not a primary light source.

Power for devices and critical equipment

Your phone is your primary communication tool during an outage and the thing most likely to run out of charge at the wrong moment. A fully charged power bank kept at home and charged regularly is the simplest mitigation. Keep it topped up as part of your normal routine rather than as emergency preparation, and it will be ready without any additional effort.

For households with medical equipment that cannot run on battery, a portable power station is worth serious consideration. These are large-capacity battery units that can run CPAP machines, small medical devices, routers, and basic lighting for one to several days depending on capacity. They are not cheap but for households with genuine medical dependencies they are not optional. The best portable power stations guide covers the main options in detail.

For most households without medical dependencies, a power station is still a meaningful upgrade from candles and a power bank. Being able to keep a router running, charge phones properly, and run a lamp for several days changes an outage from a significant disruption to a manageable inconvenience.

Food and the fridge problem

Refrigerators maintain safe temperatures for roughly four hours once the power goes out, assuming the door stays closed. Freezers hold for twenty-four to forty-eight hours depending on how full they are. A full freezer holds temperature better than a half-empty one.

The practical preparation steps are simple. Keep a thermometer in the fridge and freezer so you can check temperatures accurately rather than guessing. Know the safe temperature ranges: below four degrees Celsius for the fridge and below minus eighteen for the freezer. Food held above four degrees for more than two hours should be treated as unsafe. When in doubt, discard it. The cost of throwing away food is much lower than the cost of food poisoning during an already stressful situation.

Resist opening the fridge and freezer during an outage unless necessary. Every time you open them you lose cold air and shorten the safe window.

Your emergency food storage handles meals beyond that window. Shelf-stable food that requires no refrigeration and minimal cooking is what you want for an extended outage. If your cooking depends on electricity, a camping stove with spare gas canisters becomes your primary cooking method. Keep at least two spare canisters with your emergency supplies.

Water

Fill containers as early as possible if you have reason to expect an extended outage. The water storage guide covers how much to store and in what. The short version for an outage scenario is to fill every available container at the first sign of pressure loss rather than waiting until the taps stop entirely.

If you already have a stored water supply, an outage is the moment to use it in order from oldest to newest and replenish it when normal supply returns. If you do not have one, building it is a preparation step to take before the next outage rather than during it.

Heating and staying warm

In most short outages heating is not a serious concern. In a winter outage that extends beyond a day, it becomes one quickly, particularly for elderly household members, young children, and anyone with health conditions that make them vulnerable to cold.

The practical preparation is knowing your heating system well enough to understand what stops working and what does not. A gas boiler with electronic controls typically stops functioning without power even though the fuel supply continues. Underfloor heating is almost always electric. A wood-burning stove or log burner is one of the few heating options that functions independently of the grid.

For households without a wood burner, the preparation is about insulation rather than generation. Know which rooms in your home retain heat best and plan to consolidate there during an extended cold outage. Sleeping bags rated for low temperatures, thermal underlayers, and space blankets are all worth having. They weigh almost nothing and take up minimal storage space.

Do not use gas camping stoves, barbecues, or any fuel-burning equipment indoors for heating. Carbon monoxide poisoning from this cause is a documented hazard during power outages. Cooking on a camping stove briefly with good ventilation is a different situation from using combustion equipment to heat a sealed room.

Communication and information

During a significant outage, normal information channels become unreliable. Social media requires data. Websites go down. Local radio is often the most reliable source of official information once cell networks are congested.

A battery or hand-crank emergency radio that does not depend on mains power or data is the tool that keeps you connected to official updates when everything else is degraded. Keep it charged and stored with your emergency supplies. One per household is sufficient.

The communication plan from your family emergency plan becomes operational during an extended outage. The key elements are knowing your two meeting points, having an out-of-area contact everyone can reach, and having critical phone numbers written on paper rather than stored only in a device that may be dead.

Medical and special needs

If anyone in your household depends on electricity for medical reasons, preparation is not optional and it needs to be specific rather than general.

Contact your energy supplier and ask about their Priority Services Register or equivalent. Most suppliers maintain a list of customers with medical dependencies and have protocols for prioritising restoration and proactive contact during outages. Being on that list costs nothing and can make a material difference.

Identify the battery life and power requirements of any medical equipment in the household and make sure your backup power capacity covers at least forty-eight hours of operation. Keep a manual or non-electric alternative for any device that has one. Keep a list of the equipment, its power requirements, and the name and number of the medical supplier or prescribing clinician with your emergency documents.

If anyone in the household uses refrigerated medication such as insulin, know how long it remains viable at room temperature. Most insulin manufacturers publish this information and the window is longer than most people expect, typically twenty-eight days at room temperature for open vials, but the specifics vary by product. Know the details for your household’s specific medication rather than relying on a general figure.

The preparation that compounds

Each of the steps above is straightforward individually. The value comes from doing them in advance rather than during an outage, and from the way they compound. A household with stored water, a charged power bank, a camping stove, a working torch, a radio, and a food supply handles the first 24 hours of a major blackout without significant difficulty. A household without any of those things faces the same event as a genuine crisis.

The 72-hour emergency kit checklist consolidates many of these items into a single list and is a useful place to start if you want to work through your household’s preparation systematically rather than item by item.

None of this requires significant expense or effort. It requires doing it before it is needed rather than after.

Preparing your pets for an emergency takes less effort than most people expect and makes a meaningful difference to how your household handles a disruption. This article covers what to prepare, how to plan for both shelter-in-place and evacuation scenarios, and how to manage the specific challenges that come with different types of animals.

Why pets complicate emergencies

The complications are practical rather than sentimental. Evacuation shelters, hotels, and temporary accommodation frequently do not accept animals. If your emergency plan involves leaving your home, and you have not thought through where your pets will go, you may arrive somewhere you cannot stay with them. People who have not planned for this often face a choice between leaving an animal behind or staying somewhere unsafe. Neither is a good option.

Pets also respond to stress in ways that make them harder to manage during an emergency. Animals that are calm and obedient at home can become frightened, unpredictable, and difficult to handle when the environment changes suddenly, when there are loud noises, or when their routine is disrupted. A cat that normally comes when called may hide under furniture and refuse to move. A dog that walks calmly on a lead may pull, bark, and resist in ways that are genuinely difficult to manage in a high-pressure situation.

Planning for this in advance, having the right equipment, knowing where your animals are going, and having practised handling them in stressful conditions, removes most of these problems before they occur.

The emergency kit for pets

Your pet needs its own emergency supplies, separate from your household kit. These do not need to be elaborate, but they need to exist and be ready.

Food and water are the foundation. Store at least three days of your pet’s normal food in a sealed, waterproof container alongside a collapsible water bowl and a supply of water. If your pet is on a prescription diet or specialist food, this matters more than for animals on standard food, since specialist products may not be available in a disruption. Rotate the food stock regularly so it does not expire unused. A can opener if you use canned pet food belongs in the kit too.

Medications and health records are frequently overlooked and can be genuinely difficult to replace during an emergency. If your pet takes regular medication, keep a two-week supply in the emergency kit and refresh it on the same schedule as your own household medications. A copy of vaccination records, microchip details, and your vet’s contact information should be stored with the kit, either in a waterproof folder or photographed and stored in cloud backup so you can access them from your phone.

A pet first aid kit handles minor injuries during a situation where normal veterinary access may be delayed. The contents overlap with a standard first aid kit but include gauze, bandaging material sized for animals, antiseptic solution, tweezers for removing debris, and a rectal thermometer for checking temperature. Basic pet first aid is worth reading about once so you know what you are looking at if something goes wrong.

Containment is the practical item most people underestimate. For cats and small animals, a sturdy carrier or crate is essential. For dogs, a lead, harness, and a secondary lead as a backup belong in the kit. Animals that are normally free to roam at home need to be safely contained in an evacuation or shelter scenario, and the time to discover that your carrier is broken, too small, or missing is not when you are trying to leave quickly.

Comfort items reduce stress meaningfully for many animals. A familiar blanket, a toy, or a worn item of clothing from a household member can help a stressed animal settle in an unfamiliar environment. They take up little room and are worth including.

Identification should be current. Make sure your pet’s microchip details are registered and up to date with your current address and contact number. A collar tag with a mobile number is the fastest way for someone who finds your pet to contact you. Take a recent photograph of each pet and store it with your emergency documents so you have something to use if you need to report a lost animal or prove ownership.

Shelter in place with pets

Most disruptions do not require evacuation. A power outage, a period of severe weather, or a short-term supply disruption is more likely to mean staying home with limited normal services than leaving. For shelter-in-place scenarios, the main considerations are food, temperature, and routine.

Maintain your pet’s feeding schedule as closely as possible. Animals are sensitive to routine disruption and maintaining normal feeding times reduces stress significantly. If the power is out and you normally feed a raw or refrigerated diet, you will need an alternative plan for anything beyond the first day. A stock of shelf-stable food in your emergency kit handles this without improvisation.

Temperature management matters for some animals more than others. Dogs and cats in a temperate household are generally tolerant of a range of temperatures. Small animals, reptiles, fish, and birds are often much more sensitive. If your power outage extends into cold weather, keeping these animals warm without electricity requires planning: insulated enclosures, hand warmers placed outside cages rather than inside where animals could contact them directly, or relocating animals to a warmer part of the home.

Keep cats and indoor animals confined during the disruption. The instinct when a situation is stressful is sometimes to let animals roam freely. An emergency is exactly the wrong time for this. Unfamiliar noises, open doors, activity from emergency services, and disrupted household routines are all triggers that can cause an animal to bolt and become lost.

Evacuation with pets

Evacuating with pets requires specific preparation that a general household emergency plan does not cover.

Know where you can go. This is the most important thing to establish before an emergency happens. Identify at least two destinations that will accept your animals: a pet-friendly hotel within a reasonable distance, a family member or friend with space for your animals, or a boarding facility that has a clear policy on emergency intake. Call them in advance and confirm their policy. Do not assume that pet-friendly means what you think it means. Some accommodation accepts small dogs but not large breeds, accepts cats but not dogs, or has a limit on the number of animals.

If local emergency shelters are involved, separate facilities for pets are increasingly common but not universal. Know what your local authority’s policy is before you need to use it.

Practise getting your animals into their carriers before an emergency requires it. A cat that has never been in a carrier will resist in a way that costs you time you may not have. Making the carrier a familiar, non-threatening object by leaving it out with bedding inside it and occasionally feeding near or inside it means the carrier is associated with normal life rather than exclusively with stressful events like vet visits.

For dogs, practise loading and unloading from your vehicle under different conditions. A dog that is normally calm about car travel may react differently if you are stressed, it is late at night, or there is unfamiliar activity around the vehicle.

Never leave your pet in a vehicle during an evacuation beyond the time it takes to find suitable shelter. Vehicles heat to dangerous temperatures quickly and a parked car during an emergency situation is not a safe waiting place for an animal.

Specific considerations by animal type

Dogs are generally the most manageable pets in an emergency because they are mobile, bond closely to their owners, and can be contained with a lead. The main challenges are stress behaviour, the logistics of feeding a large animal in a disrupted situation, and finding accommodation that accepts them. Large breeds have fewer accommodation options than small ones, which makes pre-planning more important.

Cats are more challenging to evacuate than dogs because they resist containment strongly when stressed. The carrier preparation approach described above is the most practical mitigation. An escaped cat in an unfamiliar environment is extremely difficult to recover. Keep them in their carrier until you are in a secure, closed space and do not open it until all exits are closed.

Small animals including rabbits, guinea pigs, and hamsters are temperature-sensitive and can go into shock from stress alone. Covering the carrier with a blanket reduces visual stimulation and noise, which meaningfully reduces the stress response. They also have less tolerance for disrupted feeding schedules than dogs or cats.

Birds are highly stressed by sudden environmental changes, loud noise, and unfamiliar handling. Keep cages covered to reduce stimulation. Avoid exposing birds to smoke, fumes, or strong chemical smells, as their respiratory systems are significantly more sensitive than mammals. If you are using any kind of fuel burning equipment indoors during a power outage, birds need to be in a well-ventilated area away from the source.

Fish and reptiles are the most difficult animals to evacuate because their survival depends on maintaining specific environmental conditions. A battery-powered aerator for fish tanks extends the window before water quality becomes critical. Reptiles need temperature maintenance that is difficult without power. If evacuation is genuinely necessary, specialist advice from a vet in advance is the most practical approach, as the right solution depends entirely on the species.

Adding pets to your household emergency plan

Pets should be included explicitly in your family emergency plan rather than assumed. Assign one person responsibility for the animals in the same way you assign responsibility for grabbing the go-bags or checking on neighbours. If you have multiple pets, think through the logistics of moving all of them simultaneously. Two adults managing three animals while also carrying go-bags and helping children is a situation worth rehearsing mentally before it happens in reality.

Your 72-hour emergency kit checklist should include a note that pet supplies are stored separately and where they are located. Anyone helping your household evacuate should be able to find the pet kit without asking.

What to do right now

If you have pets and have not yet prepared for an emergency, the highest-value steps in order are: update your microchip registration if it is not current, buy or identify a suitable carrier and make sure it is accessible, put together a three-day supply of food and any medications in a sealed container, and identify at least one pet-friendly destination you could go to if you needed to leave home.

None of those steps takes more than an hour in total. The gap between a household that has done them and one that has not is significant when it actually matters.

Emergency food storage is not complicated, but it is different from everyday shopping. The principles are simple once you understand what you are preparing for and why certain foods work better than others in a storage context.

What you are actually preparing for

The scenarios that make emergency food storage relevant are not dramatic. They are a week-long power outage that spoils everything in the fridge and freezer, a severe weather event that makes leaving the house impractical for several days, a supply disruption that empties local shelves temporarily, or an illness that keeps your household housebound for longer than your normal shopping cycle allows.

For most households in the context of a 72-hour emergency kit or a short-term disruption, three days of food is the minimum baseline. Two weeks is a more realistic buffer that covers the large majority of real-world disruption scenarios without requiring you to commit to long-term prepper-style storage. One month is meaningful additional resilience if your living situation makes it practical.

The goal is not to prepare for civilisational collapse. It is to reach a point where a week-long disruption is an inconvenience rather than a crisis.

The four categories of emergency food storage

Not all food works equally well in an emergency context. The most practical approach organises your storage around four categories with different shelf lives and use cases.

Everyday pantry items with long shelf lives form the backbone of most practical emergency food plans. Canned goods, dried pasta, rice, oats, lentils, dried beans, nut butters, crackers, and shelf-stable UHT milk are all foods most households already buy. The key shift is buying slightly more than you use and rotating stock so nothing expires. This approach costs nothing beyond your normal grocery budget and requires no special equipment or dedicated storage space.

Dedicated long-shelf-life emergency food covers freeze-dried meals, emergency food bars, and purpose-built ration packs with shelf lives of five to twenty-five years. These belong in a go-bag or a dedicated emergency kit where you want food that requires minimal preparation, takes up little space, and will still be edible years from now without rotation. They are a supplement to pantry-based storage, not a replacement for it. If you want a tested starting point for this category, the best emergency food kits guide compares the main options.

Comfort and morale foods are underestimated in most emergency food plans. Coffee, tea, chocolate, biscuits, and familiar snacks have real value in a stressful situation, particularly for children. They cost little, store well, and make a difficult situation more manageable. Include a modest amount alongside your practical supplies.

Special dietary needs should be planned for explicitly. If anyone in the household has allergies, intolerances, or medical dietary requirements, their needs must be reflected in your stored food rather than left as a problem to solve during the emergency. The same applies to infant formula and baby food if there are young children in the household.

How many calories you actually need

The standard emergency planning figure is roughly 2,000 calories per adult per day for a sedentary situation. Active adults and growing children need more. During a stressful emergency that involves physical activity, caloric needs rise further.

For planning purposes, 2,000 calories per adult per day is a reasonable baseline. A three-day supply for two adults requires around 12,000 calories total. A two-week supply for a family of four works out to roughly 112,000 calories, which sounds like a lot until you recognise that it is the equivalent of about 55 kilograms of dried pasta and rice combined, or a combination of canned goods that would fill perhaps four to six moderate-sized storage boxes.

The practical implication is that calorie density matters when you are thinking about storage space. Dried grains, legumes, and nut butters store many more calories per litre of space than canned soups or ready meals. A useful approach is to keep calorie-dense staples as the bulk of your storage and use canned goods and ready meals to add variety and reduce preparation effort.

What to stock: a practical starting point

The most sustainable emergency food supply is built from foods your household already eats, bought in slightly larger quantities and rotated regularly. This avoids the common failure mode of storing foods nobody actually wants to eat during an already stressful situation.

Dried staples keep well and provide substantial calories per unit of storage space. Rice, pasta, oats, lentils, dried beans, and couscous all have shelf lives of one to several years when stored in sealed containers away from moisture, heat, and light. Buying an extra kilogram of each on your normal shopping cycle builds a meaningful supply within a few weeks.

Canned goods cover protein, vegetables, and fruit with minimal preparation required. Canned fish, meat, legumes, tomatoes, and fruit all store for one to five years and can be eaten cold if necessary. They are heavier and bulkier than dried goods but require no cooking equipment to use safely.

Nut butters and nuts provide concentrated calories, protein, and fat in a shelf-stable format. They require no preparation and are genuinely useful for both children and adults during periods of stress. Shelf life is typically six months to a year once opened, considerably longer sealed.

Shelf-stable UHT milk and plant-based alternatives extend your options for hot drinks, porridge, and basic nutrition without refrigeration. Cartons typically last six to twelve months unopened.

Cooking without power

An emergency food supply is only as useful as your ability to prepare it. Many standard emergency foods, including dried pasta, rice, and dried beans, require cooking. If the power is out and you do not have an alternative heat source, a significant portion of your stored food becomes inaccessible.

A camping stove with a butane or propane canister is the simplest and most practical solution for most households. A single canister typically provides several hours of cooking time, enough for days of simple meal preparation. Keep at least two spare canisters with your emergency supplies and store them in a cool location away from direct heat.

A portable power station can run a small induction hob, though this depends on the station’s output capacity and the hob’s wattage requirements. It is a viable option for short outages but a camping stove is more reliable for extended periods.

Canned goods and foods that can be eaten cold or at room temperature are worth including specifically to reduce your dependence on cooking. If the stove fails or fuel runs out, you should still have options.

Storage principles

Where and how you store food matters as much as what you store. The main enemies of stored food are heat, moisture, light, and pests.

Temperature stability is the most important factor for shelf life. A cool, consistently dry location away from windows and external walls is ideal. Garages and garden sheds are poor storage locations unless they maintain a stable temperature year-round. A kitchen cupboard, a dedicated indoor shelf, or a cool interior room are better choices.

Sealed containers protect against moisture and pests. Dried goods transferred from their original packaging into airtight containers last significantly longer and are protected from insects and rodents. Glass jars and food-grade plastic containers with tight-fitting lids both work well.

Rotation is what keeps your supply fresh and prevents waste. The principle is simple: use from the front, add to the back. When you use something from your emergency stock, replace it on your next shopping trip. Mark the purchase or fill date on each item so you can see at a glance what needs to be used first. A once-yearly check through your entire supply, the same date each year works well, catches anything approaching its expiry date before it becomes a problem.

The rotation method versus dedicated storage

There are two main philosophies for building an emergency food supply, and the right approach depends on your household.

The rotation method builds your emergency supply from everyday foods bought in larger quantities and rotated regularly. You eat from your emergency supply as part of normal life and replenish it continuously. This approach requires no special foods or dedicated storage beyond slightly more shelf space, and it means your emergency supply is always fresh because it is always in use. It works best for households that cook regularly from scratch and have the pantry space to stock larger quantities.

Dedicated long-term storage uses foods specifically chosen for their extended shelf life, stored separately from everyday supplies and drawn on only in an emergency. Freeze-dried meals, emergency food bars, and sealed long-life ration packs fall into this category. This approach requires less ongoing management but costs more upfront, and the food may be less familiar or appealing than everyday meals. It works best as a supplement to a pantry-based supply rather than as a standalone strategy.

Most practical household setups combine both: a well-stocked pantry of everyday foods rotated regularly, with a smaller dedicated supply of long-life emergency foods in a go-bag or sealed storage box that requires minimal maintenance.

Building your supply gradually

The most common reason households do not have an adequate emergency food supply is that starting feels overwhelming. A two-week supply for a family of four sounds like a large project, but it is achievable incrementally without a meaningful budget impact.

Adding one or two extra items to each weekly shop builds a substantial supply within a few months. A spare bag of rice this week, an extra tin of beans next week, a few extra pasta portions the week after. Within two months at this pace most households have a solid three-day supply. Within six months, a two-week supply is within reach.

The family emergency plan is a useful place to record where your food supply is stored, what it contains, and when it was last checked, so that everyone in the household knows where things are and nothing sits forgotten until it expires.

What emergency food storage is not

It is worth being direct about what this kind of preparation is and is not. Storing two weeks of food for your household is a sensible, low-cost form of resilience that most households can achieve without any particular effort or expense. It is not survivalism, it is not preparing for catastrophe, and it does not require a dedicated bunker or a year’s worth of freeze-dried rations.

The disruptions it protects against are ordinary: a bad storm, a grid failure, an illness, a supply chain hiccup. The cost of being unprepared for those events is real inconvenience at best and genuine hardship at worst. The cost of being prepared is a few extra shelves of food that you eat anyway and replenish as you go.

This article compares the three most practical options for household emergency preparedness: gravity filters, pump filters, and purification tablets. It covers how each one works, what it is good for, where it falls short, and which situation it suits best.

What all three have in common

Before comparing them, it helps to understand what they share. All three methods make water safer to drink by removing or neutralising pathogens. None of them require electricity. All three are practical for home storage and emergency kit use. And none of them are a substitute for stored water. Filtration is the layer you rely on when your stored supply runs out or becomes unreliable, not the first line of defence.

If you have not sorted your water storage yet, that belongs before filtration in the priority order.

Gravity filters

A gravity filter uses two containers connected by a filter element. You fill the upper container with untreated water, hang it above the lower container, and gravity does the work. No pumping, no squeezing, no electricity. You set it up and come back to clean water.

The practical advantage for households is volume. A 4-litre gravity system like the Platypus GravityWorks can process its full capacity in under three minutes and run continuously as long as you keep refilling the upper bag. For a family of four during a multi-day outage, that is the most realistic way to keep a meaningful supply of clean water moving through your setup without constant manual effort.

The tradeoff is that gravity filters are slower than pump filters when you need water immediately, and they require something to hang from. In a home setting neither of those is a serious constraint. In an evacuation or a scenario where you are moving around, it becomes more relevant.

Gravity filters use hollow fibre membranes that remove bacteria, protozoa, sediment, and microplastics down to 0.2 microns. They do not remove viruses. For emergency home use in countries with treated municipal water, that is sufficient for almost all realistic scenarios. If you are treating flood water or water from an unknown source with possible sewage contamination, a purifier that also covers viruses is the more appropriate choice.

Gravity filters are the right choice for home base use during extended outages, families who need to process larger quantities, and situations where you have time to let the filter run without supervision.

Pump filters

A pump filter uses a manual pump to push water through a filter cartridge. You place the intake hose in the water source, pump the handle, and filtered water comes out the other end into your container.

The key advantage over gravity is control and speed. You are not dependent on finding something to hang a bag from, and you can direct filtered water precisely where you want it. Pump filters also work well from shallow sources like puddles or small pools where you cannot submerge a gravity bag.

The Sawyer Squeeze is not a pump filter in the traditional sense but functions similarly in squeeze mode, and its 0.1 micron membrane is finer than most gravity options. For a dedicated pump with full purification including viruses, the MSR Guardian is the professional standard, though it sits at a significantly higher price point than the other options in this comparison.

The tradeoff with pump filters is effort. Pumping water for a family of four through several days of an outage is physically tiring. They also have more moving parts than gravity or straw systems, which means more potential failure points over time.

Pump filters are the right choice for collecting water from shallow or awkward sources, situations where you need water quickly, and single or two-person use where the volume demands are lower.

Purification tablets

Purification tablets work differently from both filter types. Rather than physically removing pathogens through a membrane, they use chemistry to neutralise them. Chlorine dioxide tablets, such as Potable Aqua, kill bacteria and viruses on contact and are effective against most protozoa given sufficient wait time. You drop a tablet into the water, wait 30 minutes, and it is safe to drink.

The advantages are significant for an emergency kit: tablets are weightless, inexpensive, have a shelf life of up to four years unopened, and work regardless of what else has failed or gone missing. If your filter is broken, lost, or impractical to use, tablets are your backup.

The limitations are also real. Tablets do not remove sediment, microplastics, or chemical contaminants. The 30-minute wait time is not a problem in most home scenarios but becomes frustrating when you are thirsty and the situation is stressful. The taste is noticeable, though neutralising tablets that you add after treatment reduce it considerably. And chlorine dioxide tablets do not reliably cover Cryptosporidium at standard doses, which matters if your source water could be contaminated with that specific pathogen.

Purification tablets are the right choice for a backup in every emergency kit, situations where a filter is unavailable, and treating water from municipal sources where the main concern is bacterial contamination rather than sediment or parasites.

How to combine them

The most practical household approach is not to choose one method but to layer them.

A gravity filter at home handles the volume demands of daily use during an extended outage. A squeeze filter or personal straw filter in each household member’s go-bag covers individual needs if you are evacuating or separated. Purification tablets in every kit provide a zero-weight backup that works when everything else is unavailable or impractical.

This layered approach mirrors what the water purification methods article covers in more detail. The three methods are not competing options but complementary tools that cover different scenarios in the same preparedness plan.

The decision in plain terms

If you are buying one thing for home use during an extended outage and you have a household of more than two people, a gravity filter is the most practical choice. The Platypus GravityWorks 4L is the benchmark for this use case.

If you are building out individual emergency kits or go-bags, a squeeze filter gives you the most versatility in the smallest package. The Sawyer Squeeze or Sawyer Mini are the standard recommendations at this level.

If you want a backup that adds no meaningful weight or cost, purification tablets belong in every kit regardless of what filter you also carry.

For a full breakdown of specific products in each category including ratings, specifications, and price comparisons, the best emergency water filters guide covers all the options in detail.

This article covers what a properly stocked first aid kit actually contains, what is commonly missing from pre-assembled kits, and how to think about the difference between a home kit, a car kit, and a go-bag kit.

The difference between a basic kit and a useful one

Pre-assembled first aid kits sold in pharmacies and online are not bad starting points. The problem is that they are assembled to a price point, not to a realistic injury scenario. They tend to include many small plasters, a few wipes, and not much else. For a minor cut or a splinter, that is sufficient. For anything more serious, they fall short almost immediately.

A useful first aid kit is built around the injuries and emergencies most likely to happen to the specific people in your household. A family with young children needs different things than a couple in their sixties. A household with a member on prescription medication needs to think about that too. The starting point is not a product listing. It is an honest assessment of your own situation.

That said, there is a reliable core that belongs in almost every well-stocked kit.

Wound care

Wound care is the most common reason anyone opens a first aid kit, and it is where most off-the-shelf kits are thinnest.

Plasters in multiple sizes are essential, including knuckle-shaped and fingertip versions, which cover a surprising proportion of real household injuries. Sterile gauze pads in several sizes allow you to cover injuries that plasters cannot. Rolled bandages, both conforming and crepe, hold dressings in place and support sprains. Medical tape, the kind that actually sticks but does not tear skin on removal, holds dressings when plasters are not the right choice.

For cleaning before dressing, sterile saline solution or wound irrigation syringes are more effective than cotton wool and antiseptic wipes, which can leave fibres in the wound and are not always appropriate for deep cuts. Antiseptic solution remains useful for surface cleaning, but saline should be the first step for anything that needs flushing.

Closure strips or steri-strips are worth including for cuts that are too deep for a plaster but not severe enough to warrant medical attention. They hold wound edges together and allow healing without stitches in many minor to moderate lacerations.

Medications

A first aid kit without any medications in it is limited in what it can do. The core medications that belong in a home kit are simple and widely available.

Paracetamol and ibuprofen cover pain relief and fever management for adults. If children are in the household, include age-appropriate formulations and check dosing guidelines on the packaging rather than relying on memory. Antihistamine tablets handle allergic reactions, insect stings, and hay fever symptoms that can escalate if left untreated. Oral rehydration sachets are underrated. They are more effective than water alone for dehydration from illness, vomiting, or diarrhoea, and they have a long shelf life.

If anyone in the household has a known severe allergy, an auto-injector prescribed by their GP belongs in the kit, and everyone in the household should know how and when to use it. This is not optional.

Indigestion tablets, anti-diarrhoeal medication, and a small supply of any regular prescription medications the household depends on round out this section. Keep prescriptions current and rotate stock before expiry dates arrive.

Tools and instruments

A digital thermometer is the single most useful instrument in a first aid kit. Being able to accurately measure temperature is relevant across a wide range of situations, from childhood illness to post-injury monitoring.

Blunt-ended scissors allow you to cut clothing away from a wound without risk. Medical tweezers handle splinters and embedded debris. A torch or penlight is useful for examining injuries in poor light and for checking pupils after a head injury. Disposable nitrile gloves, rather than latex to avoid allergy issues, should be included in quantity. Not just one or two pairs. You will typically use two or three pairs in any proper first aid situation, and most pre-assembled kits include far too few.

A CPR face shield or pocket mask costs little and allows mouth-to-mouth resuscitation without direct contact. Most people never need it. The people who do are very glad it was there.

What is commonly left out of pre-assembled kits

The items most often missing from pharmacy kits are the ones that matter most when an injury is more than minor.

A tourniquet is the most important item for managing severe limb bleeding and the most consistently absent item from consumer kits. The CAT tourniquet is the standard used by emergency services worldwide and takes about ten minutes to learn to apply correctly. A triangular bandage is essential for arm slings and improvised splints, and many pre-assembled kits omit it entirely or include a version too thin to be structurally useful.

An Israeli bandage, also called a pressure bandage, is a sterile dressing with an integrated pressure bar that allows single-handed application. Standard gauze pads cannot generate the sustained pressure needed to control serious bleeding. One per household kit and one in the car is the right approach.

A SAM splint is a thin aluminium strip with foam padding that moulds to any limb and immobilises sprains, fractures, and dislocations. It weighs almost nothing, folds flat, and is absent from virtually every consumer kit.

Trauma shears cut through denim, leather, and seatbelts. The scissors in most consumer kits cut tape and not much else. A single pair costs a few dollars and lasts years.

An instant cold pack, the kind that activates by squeezing, handles sprains and impact injuries without needing access to a freezer. A space blanket manages shock and heat loss and takes up almost no room. Burn gel or a hydrogel burn dressing is important for kitchen burns, which are among the most common household injuries and are poorly served by standard plasters.

A first aid reference card or small manual matters more than most people expect. In an actual emergency, even people with basic training can blank on the correct sequence for burns, choking, or head injuries. A laminated quick-reference card removes that uncertainty.

Home kit, car kit, and go-bag kit

These three kits serve different purposes and should not be identical.

A home kit can be larger and more comprehensive because weight and size are not constraints. It is the right place for the full wound care range, a complete medication selection, multiple glove pairs, and the less common items like a CPR mask and a detailed manual.

A car kit prioritises items relevant to road incidents: larger bandages for trauma wounds, a reflective blanket, a seatbelt cutter, and a window punch. Medications that degrade in high temperatures should be stored at home rather than in the car boot year-round.

A go-bag kit is limited by weight and space. It should cover the most likely scenarios for the first 72 hours away from home: wound care, pain relief, antihistamine, oral rehydration, a thermometer, gloves, and a reference card. If you have a 72-hour emergency kit, the first aid component belongs inside it rather than as a separate bag.

How to maintain a kit once it is stocked

A first aid kit that has never been checked since you assembled it is not really a first aid kit. It is a box of things that might have expired.

Set a reminder once a year, the same date each year works well, to go through the entire kit. Check expiry dates on medications, wound dressings, and sealed sterile items. Replace anything used after every incident rather than waiting for the annual check. Keep a small handwritten list inside the lid showing the contents and the next check date. This takes ten minutes a year and is the difference between a kit that works and one that fails you when you need it.

If you are looking for a pre-assembled kit to use as a base, the best first aid kits guide compares six ready-made options across home, car, and go-bag use cases and covers what to add to each one after purchase.

A note on training

Equipment without knowledge has limits. A well-stocked first aid kit is significantly more useful in the hands of someone who has completed a basic first aid course. Most community centres, workplaces, and Red Cross organisations offer half-day and full-day courses that cover CPR, choking, wound care, burns, and fractures. It is worth doing once and refreshing every few years.

If you have children, paediatric first aid training covers scenarios specific to infants and young children that a standard adult course does not. It is one of the more practical things a parent can do.

A family emergency plan that records who in the household has first aid training, where the kit is kept, and when it was last checked removes a significant amount of confusion in the moments when confusion is most costly.

This guide covers every practical purification method in plain terms: what it removes, what it misses, and when to use it. If you are looking for specific product recommendations, see our emergency water filter comparison after reading this. Understanding the water purification methods first means you will know exactly what you are buying and why.

Quick comparison

No single method removes everything. The right choice depends on your water source and what contaminants are likely present.

Boiling

Boiling is the most reliable emergency water treatment method available and requires no equipment beyond a heat source and a container. It kills all biological contaminants: bacteria, viruses, and protozoa including Giardia and Cryptosporidium. It does not remove chemicals, heavy metals, or sediment.

How to do it correctly: bring water to a rolling boil for one minute. At elevations above 2,000 metres, boil for three minutes because water boils at a lower temperature at altitude and pathogens survive longer. Allow to cool naturally before drinking. Do not add ice unless you are certain the ice is made from safe water.

When boiling is the right choice: whenever you have a heat source and time. During a power outage, a camping stove, a gas hob, or a wood fire all work. Boiling is the fallback when you have no other treatment method and the most trustworthy option when the contamination source is unknown.

Limitation: it does nothing for chemical contamination. If your water source may have been contaminated by fuel, agricultural runoff, or industrial chemicals, boiling makes the biological situation safe but does not address the chemical one. Chemically contaminated water requires activated carbon filtration or a fresh source.

Chemical treatment

Chemical purification uses tablets or liquid drops to kill biological contaminants. It is lightweight, compact, requires no equipment beyond the chemical itself, and is a sensible addition to any emergency kit or go-bag.

Chlorine tablets

Chlorine tablets (sodium dichloroisocyanurate, or NaDCC) are the most widely available and easy to use. One tablet typically treats one litre of water. Add the tablet, wait 30 minutes, and the water is safe to drink. In cold water below 10°C or very cloudy water, extend the wait to 60 minutes.

Chlorine is effective against bacteria and viruses. It is less effective against Cryptosporidium, a protozoan parasite that is resistant to standard chlorine concentrations. For water from known clean municipal sources during a boil alert, chlorine tablets are sufficient. For water from rivers, streams, or flood-affected sources, add filtration.

Aquatabs are the most widely distributed brand and meet WHO standards. They are available in sizes from 1-litre to 1,000-litre treatment tablets. For household emergency use, the 1-litre tablets are the most practical.

Iodine tablets

Iodine tablets work similarly to chlorine and are effective against bacteria and viruses. They are not recommended for regular long-term use due to thyroid effects, should not be used by pregnant women or people with thyroid conditions, and leave a noticeable taste. They are a reasonable backup option but chlorine tablets are preferable for most household preparedness purposes.

Bleach (sodium hypochlorite)

Unscented household bleach at 6-8% sodium hypochlorite concentration can be used to treat water in an emergency. Add 8 drops per litre of clear water, or 16 drops per litre of cloudy water. Wait 30 minutes before drinking. This is a last-resort option when tablets are unavailable. Do not use scented bleach, colour-safe bleach, or bleach with added cleaners.

Filtration

Filtration removes contaminants by forcing water through a physical membrane with pores small enough to trap pathogens and particles. The pore size determines what gets removed. A 0.1-micron filter removes bacteria and protozoa but not viruses. A 0.02-micron filter removes bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. For a detailed breakdown of specific filter products and which situations each suits best, see our emergency water filter comparison.

Hollow fibre filters (straw and squeeze filters)

Hollow fibre filters like the LifeStraw and Sawyer Squeeze work by passing water through thousands of tiny hollow fibres with 0.1-micron pores. They remove bacteria and protozoa to a very high standard (99.9999% for bacteria) and most are rated for hundreds of litres before replacement.

Their limitation is viruses. In most home emergency scenarios in developed countries, where the water source is municipal supply or a known clean groundwater source, viruses are not the primary concern. For flood water, river water, or any source that may have been contaminated with sewage, a virus-rated purifier is the safer choice.

Gravity filters

Gravity filters pass water from an upper container through a filter element into a lower container without any pumping. They are slower than straw or squeeze filters but require no effort once set up and can process larger volumes. The Platypus GravityWorks and similar systems are practical for household use during extended outages when you need to treat several litres at a time. Most gravity filters use 0.1-micron hollow fibre elements with the same virus limitation.

Activated carbon filters

Activated carbon reduces chlorine taste, some heavy metals, and certain organic chemicals. It does not remove bacteria, viruses, or protozoa reliably on its own. Carbon filtration is often combined with hollow fibre or UV treatment in multi-stage filters to address both biological and chemical contamination. If your concern is chemical contamination from industrial sources or agricultural runoff, activated carbon is part of the solution but not the whole answer.

UV treatment

Ultraviolet light treatment destroys the DNA of bacteria, viruses, and protozoa, preventing them from reproducing and rendering them harmless. Devices like the SteriPen use a UV bulb immersed directly in water and treat one litre in about 60 to 90 seconds.

What it removes: all biological contaminants including viruses and Cryptosporidium. It does not remove sediment, chemicals, or heavy metals, and it does not work effectively in very cloudy water because particles shield pathogens from the UV light.

Practical considerations: UV devices require batteries or USB charging, which means they depend on having backup power. They also require clear water to work effectively. For cloudy water, filter first to remove sediment, then treat with UV. The SteriPen is a practical addition to a go-bag but less suited to extended home use without a reliable power source.

Combining methods for complete protection

The most thorough approach combines two methods to cover the gaps of each. For most emergency preparedness purposes, one of these two combinations covers all realistic scenarios:

Filter plus chemical treatment

Filter first to remove sediment, bacteria, and protozoa, then add a chlorine tablet to kill any viruses that passed through. This combination works with any 0.1-micron filter and is effective for flood water, river water, or any unknown source. It is slower than UV treatment but does not require a power source.

Filter plus UV treatment

Filter first to clear sediment and remove bacteria and protozoa, then treat with UV to kill viruses. This is faster than chemical treatment and leaves no chemical taste. It requires batteries or a charged device. Suitable for go-bags and shorter-term use where power is available.

Boiling as the reliable fallback

When no filter or treatment chemicals are available and you have a heat source, boiling remains the most dependable single-step method for biological safety. It is the right choice in any situation where the contamination source is unknown and you cannot combine methods.

What purification does not fix

Every method described above addresses biological contamination. None of them reliably removes:

• Heavy metals such as lead or arsenic
• Industrial chemicals or fuel contamination
• Agricultural chemicals including pesticides and herbicides
• Salt (desalination requires distillation or specialist equipment)

If your water source may contain chemical contamination, the safest approach is to find a different source. Activated carbon filtration reduces some organic chemicals and chlorine taste but is not a comprehensive solution for chemical contamination. When in doubt about the source, use stored water.

Practical recommendations by scenario

Boil alert from your water utility: chlorine tablets or boiling. The source is treated municipal water with a specific biological concern. Chemical or heat treatment is sufficient.

Extended power outage, tap water still flowing but uncertain: a 0.1-micron filter like the Sawyer Squeeze handles bacteria and protozoa. Add chlorine tablets for virus coverage if concerned about sewage contamination.

Flood-affected area, unknown water sources: filter first to remove sediment, then treat with chlorine tablets or UV. Assume the worst about the source and use full-spectrum treatment.

Go-bag or evacuation: a straw filter or squeeze filter plus a small supply of Aquatabs. Compact, lightweight, and covers most realistic scenarios.

Extended home storage running low: a gravity filter for throughput plus Aquatabs as backup. This combination treats larger volumes without requiring a power source.

What to have at home

For most households, a modest water treatment kit covers all realistic scenarios. Our recommendation is to have at least one of: a quality hollow fibre filter like the Sawyer Squeeze or LifeStraw Peak Series, a supply of 100 Aquatabs, and a backup of unscented bleach stored with your emergency supplies. Together these cover biological contamination from any available water source without depending on a power supply.

Pair your treatment capability with adequate water storage and the right storage containers. Purification and storage are two different layers of water preparedness and both matter.

The gap between a basic kit and a useful one is not that large. A few specific items make the difference between being able to handle a serious cut, burn, or sprain and having to improvise with what is on hand. This guide compares six ready-made kits across three use cases, and covers the items worth adding to any kit straight after purchase.

A first aid kit belongs in every 72-hour emergency kit and as a fixed item in your family emergency plan.

Quick comparison

The best first aid kits in 2026

First Aid Only 299-Piece All-Purpose First Aid Kit

Best overall: everyday home use

With 4.8 stars from over 76,000 reviews, the First Aid Only 299-piece kit is the most consistently recommended home first aid kit on Amazon. The verified contents cover the full range of everyday injuries: 195 adhesive bandages in seven sizes including knuckle, fingertip, and standard; six sterile gauze pads in two sizes; a 5×9 inch trauma pad; butterfly wound closures; a conforming gauze roll; antibiotic ointment packets; antiseptic towelettes; burn gel; a cold pack; aspirin, ibuprofen, and non-aspirin pain relief; alcohol wipes; nitrile gloves; scissors; and a first aid guide. Everything is housed in a soft-sided zippered case with clear pockets and two separate layers. At roughly the size of a thick paperback, it fits in a kitchen drawer, bathroom cabinet, or backpack side pocket.

• 299 pieces including 195 bandages in seven sizes, gauze, trauma pad, and wound closures
• Burn gel, cold pack, and three types of over-the-counter pain relief included
• Soft case with clear pockets organised across two layers
• Dimensions: 9.25 x 7 x 2.875 inches
• 4.8 stars, over 76,000 reviews

Bottom line: The right starting point for most households. Add a tourniquet and Israeli bandage to fill the main gaps.

Be Smart Get Prepared 326-Piece First Aid Kit

Best large home kit: hard case, wall-mountable

The Be Smart Get Prepared 326-piece kit takes a different approach to storage. The rigid red hard case folds flat for wall-mounting with easy-slide latches, making it suitable for a kitchen, garage, or workshop where a soft bag would get damaged. The verified contents include 195 adhesive bandages in multiple sizes, a 5×9 inch trauma pad, two gauze rolls, four gauze pads in two sizes, five finger splints, a triangular bandage, wound closure strips, butterfly closures, antiseptic towelettes, alcohol pads, sting relief pads, antibiotic ointment, burn cream, a cold compress, aspirin, non-aspirin, antacid tablets, metal scissors, tweezers, four nitrile gloves, and both English and Spanish first aid guides. The case dimensions are 13 x 12 x 4 inches and it includes a refill order form.

• 326 pieces in a wall-mountable rigid hard case
• Finger splints and triangular bandage included
• Bilingual first aid guide (English and Spanish)
• Easy-slide latches, stores flat against a wall
• Case dimensions: 13 x 12 x 4 inches

Bottom line: The best choice for a fixed home location. Mount it in the kitchen or garage where it is visible and accessible without searching.

Swiss Safe 2-in-1 First Aid Kit, 348 Pieces

Best premium kit: hard case with dual-access design

The Swiss Safe 348-piece kit is housed in a rigid impact-absorbing hard case with a unique two-way opening: the front and back both open independently, giving access to different sections of the kit without unpacking everything. The contents are organised into five labelled zones: wound care and bandage, cleaning and treatment, gauze and dressings, emergency items, and an all-in section. The case is compact at 7.36 x 6.34 x 3.23 inches and weighs 1.15 pounds. The bonus mini kit included in the package is a small secondary kit suitable for a car glove box or travel bag. Note that the 348 pieces includes individual items counted separately, such as single bandages and alcohol pads, rather than 348 distinct product types.

• 348 pieces across five labelled zones
• Dual-access hard case opens from front and back independently
• Includes bonus mini kit for car or travel bag
• Dimensions: 7.36 x 6.34 x 3.23 inches, weight 1.15 pounds
• FSA and HSA eligible

Bottom line: Good choice if you want a rigid case that protects contents and gives fast access. The dual-opening design genuinely speeds up finding items under stress.

Surviveware 238-Piece Comprehensive Premium First Aid Kit

Best go-bag kit: organised by injury type

The Surviveware 238-piece kit organises by injury scenario rather than item type. Separate labelled compartments cover bleeding, burns, medications, tools, and wound care. Under stress, with poor lighting, this matters. You go straight to the right compartment without sorting through the entire kit. The contents include trauma shears, a tourniquet, a wide elastic pressure bandage, and wound closure strips alongside standard bandage and gauze supplies. The outer pouch is MOLLE-compatible, attaching to a backpack via standard webbing. The water-resistant nylon case weighs approximately one pound.

• Organised by injury scenario: bleeding, burns, medications, tools, wound care
• Includes trauma shears and tourniquet
• MOLLE-compatible outer pouch attaches to packs via standard webbing
• Water-resistant nylon case
• Weight: approximately 1 pound

Bottom line: The better choice for a go-bag or anywhere you need to find items fast under pressure. The injury-type organisation is a meaningful advantage.

Surviveware Small 119-Piece First Aid Kit

Best compact kit: car and travel

The Surviveware 119-piece kit is the same quality and labelled-compartment organisation as the 238-piece, scaled down for situations where space matters. It covers core injury scenarios with fewer quantities of each item, making it better suited to a car kit or single-person go-bag than a household with multiple people. Trauma shears are included. If you want one kit at home and one in the car, the 238-piece and the 119-piece as a pair is a practical combination.

• Same labelled-compartment organisation as the 238-piece version
• Trauma shears included
• Lighter and more compact than the 238-piece
• Suited to car, travel bag, or single-person go-bag

Bottom line: The compact option for the car or a second kit. Works well paired with the 238-piece at home.

Johnson & Johnson All-Purpose First Aid Kit

Best budget starter kit

The Johnson & Johnson All-Purpose kit is the lowest-cost option worth recommending in this comparison. It uses name-brand J&J bandages and includes antiseptic wipes, antibiotic ointment, and basic first aid essentials in a durable plastic case with an oversized carry handle. The item count is lower than the other kits on this list and there are no spacers or organisation elements inside, essentially a well-stocked box rather than a structured kit. For households who want something functional immediately without spending much, it does the job. The quality of the included bandages is noticeably better than generic alternatives.

• Name-brand Johnson & Johnson bandages
• Antiseptic wipes and antibiotic ointment included
• Durable plastic case with carry handle
• No internal organiser: contents sit loose in the case
• Lowest price in this comparison

Bottom line: The right choice if budget is the priority. It works. Upgrade to the First Aid Only 299-piece when your budget allows.

What every ready-made kit is missing

No pre-packed kit is complete for a real emergency. The items below are consistently absent or present in insufficient quantities and are worth adding to any kit immediately after purchase.

A tourniquet

The Surviveware kits include one. The others do not. A tourniquet is the most important item for managing severe limb bleeding and the most commonly missing item from consumer kits. The CAT (Combat Application Tourniquet) is the standard used by emergency services worldwide. It takes about ten minutes to learn to apply correctly.

Israeli bandage (pressure bandage)

A sterile dressing with an integrated pressure bar that allows single-handed application. Standard gauze pads cannot generate the sustained pressure needed to control serious bleeding. An Israeli bandage can. One per household kit, one in the car.

SAM splint

A thin aluminium strip with foam padding that moulds to any limb and immobilises sprains, fractures, and dislocations. Weighs almost nothing, folds flat, and is absent from virtually every consumer kit.

Trauma shears

The scissors in most consumer kits cut tape but not clothing. Trauma shears cut through denim, leather, and seatbelts. Included in the Surviveware kits, absent from the others. A single pair costs a few dollars and lasts years.

Extra nitrile gloves

Most kits include one or two pairs. For a household kit keep at least six pairs in two sizes. Gloves get used up quickly and cross-contamination matters in any first aid scenario.

Burn dressing

The burn gel packets in most kits cover minor burns. For anything larger, a hydrogel burn dressing provides proper sustained cooling and wound coverage.

Which kit for which situation

At home: First Aid Only 299-piece or Be Smart Get Prepared 326-piece as the base, with a tourniquet, Israeli bandage, and SAM splint added. The Be Smart hard case is better for a fixed mounted location; the First Aid Only soft case is easier to grab and carry.

In the car: Surviveware 119-piece. The injury-scenario organisation works well in a high-stress roadside situation, and the tourniquet is already included.

In a go-bag: Surviveware 238-piece. The larger quantities and MOLLE attachment matter if you are away from home for an extended period.

Budget: Johnson & Johnson All-Purpose gets the basics covered. Upgrade when you can.

Maintaining your kit

A first aid kit that has been slowly used for plasters over three years is not a first aid kit. Check it once a year alongside your other emergency supplies. Replace anything used, check expiry dates on medications and sterile items, and replace gloves that have become brittle. To check you have everything you need: What actually should be in a First Aid kit

If you have not sorted the rest of your emergency setup yet, the 72-hour emergency kit checklist covers everything your household should have ready.

A family emergency plan is not a binder full of laminated documents. It is a shared understanding of what your household will do, where you will go, and how you will reach each other when normal communication fails. It takes about an hour to put together and needs revisiting once a year.

This guide walks through the two things that matter most: building a communication plan and deciding on meeting points. For the physical supplies side, the 72-hour emergency kit checklist covers what you need to have packed and ready.

Why most households are not ready

The assumption is that in an emergency you will be together, at home, with your phone working. None of those things are guaranteed.

A storm hits while one person is at work and another is picking up kids from school. A power outage takes down cell towers in your area. A fire or flood means you cannot return to your home. These are not extreme scenarios.

The first 24 hours of a major blackout are the highest-pressure window. Decisions get made fast, often without full information, and the households that have talked through a plan ahead of time navigate those hours with significantly less stress than those who haven’t.

Step 1: Decide on two meeting points

The single most useful thing you can do is agree on two locations before anything happens.

Meeting point 1: near your home. This is for scenarios where you need to evacuate the building quickly but can stay in the neighbourhood. The end of your street, a neighbour’s house, a nearby park. Somewhere everyone in your household can reach on foot in under five minutes.

Meeting point 2: further away. This is for scenarios where your neighbourhood is inaccessible: flood, fire, or extended evacuation. Choose somewhere familiar that everyone can reach independently: a family member’s home in another part of town, a specific public building, a town centre landmark.

Write both locations down with a full address. Do not rely on everyone remembering a vague description. If you have children, make sure they know both locations and can explain them to another adult.

The meeting point system serves one purpose: if you cannot reach each other by phone, everyone still knows where to go. It removes the need for real-time coordination in a situation where real-time coordination may not be possible.

Step 2: Build a communication plan

Phone networks are often the first thing to degrade during a large-scale emergency. Calls fail before texts do. Texts fail before messaging apps do. Messaging apps fail when data networks go down entirely.

A communication plan accounts for this degradation by giving your household options at every level.

Designate an out-of-area contact

Choose one person outside your region, a family member or close friend in another city, who everyone in your household will check in with if local communication fails. This person acts as a central relay: if two household members cannot reach each other directly, they can both contact this person and leave a message.

This works because long-distance calls are often more reliable than local ones during a regional emergency. Cell towers in the affected area may be overwhelmed, but towers elsewhere are functioning normally.

Make sure every household member has this person’s number memorised or written down somewhere they can access without their phone.

Write down the numbers that matter

Phones store hundreds of contacts. In an emergency, your phone may be dead, broken, or inaccessible. The numbers that matter most should be written on paper and kept somewhere accessible.

The list should include:

• Each household member’s mobile number
• The out-of-area contact
• Close neighbours
• Local emergency services number
• Your doctor or pharmacy
• Your insurance company

Keep a copy in each person’s go-bag and one posted at home, on the fridge or inside a kitchen cupboard.

Agree on a check-in window

If communication is difficult but not impossible, agree that everyone will attempt to make contact at a specific time, say, every two hours starting from when the disruption begins. This prevents household members from spending hours trying to reach each other continuously and conserves phone battery.

Step 3: Know your evacuation routes

Most households have one route they use for everything. During an emergency that route may be blocked, flooded, or congested.

Walk or drive two alternative routes from your home to each meeting point. Not just plan them on a map, actually use them once so everyone knows what they look like. Note any bottlenecks: bridges, tunnels, low-lying roads that flood.

If you live in an area at risk of flooding, this matters more than anywhere else. Our article on what to do during a flood is a good next read.

Step 4: Assign household roles

In a high-stress situation, unclear responsibility leads to inaction. Assigning roles in advance prevents the paralysis of everyone waiting for someone else to act.

Keep it simple:

• Who grabs the go-bags: One person is responsible for grabbing the pre-packed emergency bags on the way out.
• Who checks on neighbours: If you have elderly neighbours or anyone who might need help, assign someone to knock on their door.
• Who makes the first call: One person tries to reach the out-of-area contact and relays information.
• Who is responsible for pets: If you have animals, someone owns this task explicitly.

If you have children old enough to understand, involve them in the plan. Knowing what to do reduces fear significantly. Practise the route to the first meeting point with them at least once.

Step 5: Review the plan once a year

Phone numbers change. People move. Children grow up and get their own phones. A plan that was accurate two years ago may have gaps today.

Pick a fixed date each year, the start of autumn storm season is a natural moment to do this, and go through the plan together. Update contact numbers, confirm the meeting points still make sense, and check that the go-bags have not expired or been raided for camping trips.

What to have packed: go-bags and emergency radios

A communication plan and meeting points are worth nothing if you cannot act on them when the time comes. The two physical items that make the biggest practical difference are go-bags and an emergency radio.

Ready America 72-Hour Emergency Kit: 2 Person

Best pre-packed go-bag for most households

Ready America’s 2-person kit covers the basics without requiring you to research and assemble everything yourself. Inside: two 2,400-calorie food bars with a 5-year shelf life, 12 water pouches, two survival blankets, a 33-piece first aid kit, two 12-hour lightsticks, dust masks, nitrile gloves, a whistle, and ponchos, all packed in a backpack. It is not a premium kit and you will want to add your own prescription medication, phone charger, and copies of documents. But as a starting point for households who want something functional quickly, it covers the core bases.

• Two 2,400-calorie food bars, 12 water pouches, and survival blankets for 2 people
• Pre-packed backpack: no assembly required
• Add your own medications, phone charger, and document copies

Bottom line: The fastest way to get two people covered. Add your personal items and it is genuinely usable.

Ready America 72-Hour Deluxe Emergency Kit: 4 Person

Best for larger households

The 4-person deluxe version scales up for larger households and includes a portable power station alongside the food rations, water pouches, first aid kit, and survival blankets. For a household of three or four people this is more practical than buying two separate 2-person kits.

• Covers 4 people for 72 hours with food, water, first aid, and shelter basics
• More practical than two separate 2-person kits for larger households

Bottom line: The logical choice for households of three or four.

Midland ER210 Emergency Radio

Good emergency radio for home preparedness

When cell networks go down, an emergency radio is one of the few ways to receive official broadcast updates. The Midland ER210 is consistently the top recommendation among emergency preparedness reviewers. It receives AM/FM radio, charges via USB, solar panel, or hand crank, and has a built-in LED flashlight with SOS beacon mode. The 2,200 mAh battery provides up to 25 hours of radio operation. Solar charging is slow and best used to top up the battery rather than fully recharge it. Keep it charged via USB and treat the solar and hand crank as backups.

• AM/FM radio with weather alert channels
• Three power sources: USB, solar, hand crank
• Built-in USB output port to charge phones and devices
• LED flashlight with SOS Morse code beacon mode

Bottom line: One per household, kept charged, stored with your go-bags. Buy it once and it will outlast most of the emergencies you will ever face.

FosPower A1 Emergency Weather Radio

Best budget emergency radio

If the Midland is more than you want to spend, the FosPower A1 is the most reliable budget option. It covers AM/FM radio, charges via USB, solar, and hand crank, and includes a flashlight and SOS alarm. The battery capacity is smaller than the Midland and the build quality is a step down, but for households who want a functioning emergency radio at a lower price it does the job.

• AM/FM radio reception
• Three power sources: USB, solar, hand crank
• Flashlight and SOS alarm included
• Significantly lower price than the Midland

Bottom line: Solid choice if budget is the deciding factor. It works when you need it to.

The one-page household emergency plan

Everything above can fit on a single sheet of paper. Print it, fill it in, and keep it somewhere accessible, inside a kitchen cupboard, taped to the inside of your front door, or tucked into your go-bag.

What to do right now

The plan does not need to be perfect to be useful. A rough plan that everyone in your household knows about is worth more than a detailed plan that exists only in your head.

Start with the two meeting points. Agree on them tonight. Write them down. That one step means that if something happens tomorrow, your household has a place to go.

From there, work through the 72-hour emergency kit checklist to make sure the physical supplies match the plan. A communication plan without water, food, and a working radio is still incomplete.

If you have read our guide on how much water to store for emergencies, you already know the baseline: one gallon per person per day, minimum three days, ideally two weeks.

But stored water has a limitation. It runs out. In an extended emergency, a grid failure lasting more than a week, a prolonged boil alert, or an evacuation, you may need to collect and treat water from sources you would not normally drink from.

That is where emergency water filters come in. They are not a replacement for stored water. They are the next layer when your stored supply is not enough.

A filter also gives you a practical option if your stored water develops an off-taste over time, or if a pipe failure contaminates your tap supply before the water reaches your containers.

Filter vs purifier: what the difference means in practice

The two terms are often used interchangeably but they mean different things.

A filter removes bacteria, protozoa, sediment, and microplastics through a physical membrane. It does not remove viruses. For most home emergency use in developed countries, where municipal water is the starting point, a filter is sufficient.

A purifier removes bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. Purifiers use finer membranes (0.02 microns vs 0.1–0.2 microns for filters), UV light, or chemical treatment. They are the correct choice if you are treating water from unknown sources, rainwater, or any situation involving potential sewage contamination. Read this article next to choose the right purifier.

For household preparedness in North America or Western Europe, a quality filter handles most realistic emergency scenarios. If you live in an area prone to flooding that could contaminate groundwater, or if you are building a kit for travel to regions with different water safety standards, a purifier is the better investment.

The four types of emergency water filtration

Straw and squeeze filters

The simplest personal option. You drink directly through the filter from a water source, or squeeze water through it into a container. Lightweight, no moving parts, no electricity required.

Best for: individual use, emergency kits, evacuation bags. Limitation: slow output, designed for one person.

Gravity filters

A two-bag system: you fill the dirty-water bag, hang it, and let gravity pull water through the filter into a clean reservoir below. No effort required once set up, and output is high enough for a household.

Best for: home base use, families, situations where you have time to wait. Limitation: slower than pump or squeeze systems, requires something to hang from.

Pump filters

Manual pumps that push water through a filter cartridge. Fast output and precise control over where water goes. The MSR Guardian is the benchmark in this category and is also a full purifier.

Best for: collecting water from shallow sources like puddles or shallow streams. Limitation: requires physical effort, more moving parts.

Chemical purification tablets

Chlorine dioxide tablets kill bacteria, viruses, and most protozoa. Lightweight, long shelf life, and inexpensive. The tradeoff is wait time (30 minutes minimum) and a slight chemical taste.

Best for: backup option in an emergency kit, situations where a filter is unavailable. Limitation: does not remove sediment or microplastics, taste is noticeable.

Recommended products by use case

Best overall personal filter: LifeStraw Peak Series

Check price on Amazon

Type: Straw filter Filtration: 0.2 microns, removes bacteria, protozoa, and microplastics Capacity: 4,000 liters (approximately 5 years of personal use) Weight: 57g

The LifeStraw Peak is the updated version of one of the most recognized emergency filters on the market. It screws onto standard water bottles, works as a straw directly from a source, or can be used inline with a gravity setup. No moving parts. Nothing to replace until you have filtered over a thousand gallons.

It does not remove viruses, which is worth noting for travel but is rarely a concern for emergency home use in countries with treated municipal water supplies. The filter meets EPA and NSF standards.

Good for: every household emergency kit and evacuation bag.

Best value personal filter: LifeStraw Original

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Type: Straw filter Filtration: 0.2 microns Capacity: 4,000 liters Weight: 45g

The original LifeStraw is one of the most affordable emergency filters available. It works only as a straw (not a bottle attachment), which limits its versatility compared to the Peak series. For a basic emergency kit or a second filter to keep in a go-bag, it is hard to beat on price.

Best squeeze filter: Sawyer Squeeze

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Type: Squeeze / inline filter Filtration: 0.1 microns, removes bacteria, protozoa, and microplastics Capacity: 100,000 gallons (effectively unlimited) Weight: 85g

The Sawyer Squeeze is widely regarded as the most versatile personal filter available. The 0.1 micron membrane is finer than most comparable products. It attaches to any standard threaded water bottle, comes with collapsible pouches, and can be configured as a gravity filter by hanging the pouch above a container.

The backwash function restores flow rate when the filter slows down, which extends its useful life significantly. The Sawyer Squeeze is the better choice if you want one filter that can handle personal use, group use as a gravity setup, and long-term storage without degradation.

Best compact backup: Sawyer Mini

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Type: Straw / inline filter Filtration: 0.1 microns Capacity: 100,000 gallons Weight: 56g

Same filtration performance as the Squeeze in a smaller format. The tradeoff is a slightly slower flow rate. For an emergency kit where space and weight matter, the Mini is the right call.

Best purifier (removes viruses): Grayl UltraPress

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Type: Press bottle purifier Filtration: 0.02 microns, removes bacteria, protozoa, viruses, chemicals, and heavy metals Capacity: 300 liters per cartridge Weight: 350g

The Grayl UltraPress is in a different category from the filters above. It removes viruses, chlorine, heavy metals, and chemical contaminants in addition to bacteria and protozoa. You fill the outer bottle, press the inner vessel down, and filtered water collects in the bottom in about 10 seconds.

It is more expensive to run than a hollow fiber filter because cartridges need replacing every 300 liters. But it is the most thorough point-of-use purifier available at this price point, and the press-bottle design is faster and easier to use than straw filters.

Best for: households in flood-prone areas, anyone preparing for scenarios involving sewage contamination, or use alongside tap water during a prolonged boil alert.

Best gravity filter for households: Platypus GravityWorks 4L

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Type: Gravity filter Filtration: 0.2 microns Capacity: 1,500 liters per filter element Output: Approximately 1.75 liters per minute

The Platypus GravityWorks is a two-bag gravity system designed for groups. You fill the 4-liter dirty bag, hang it, and filtered water flows into the clean reservoir below with no effort. It can process its entire capacity in under three minutes, which makes it practical for household use when you need to filter large quantities.

It is bulkier than personal filters but significantly more practical for a family situation during a multi-day outage. Pair it with your water storage containers to keep a clean supply cycling through.

Best chemical backup: Potable Aqua Purification Tablets

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Type: Chlorine dioxide tablets Treats: Bacteria and viruses (not Cryptosporidium) Shelf life: 4 years unopened Weight: negligible

Potable Aqua tablets should be in every emergency kit as a backup. They add no weight, cost very little, have a long shelf life, and work when a filter is broken, lost, or unavailable. The 30-minute wait time and slight taste are the main drawbacks.

Note: chlorine dioxide tablets do not remove Cryptosporidium. For full protozoa coverage, pair tablets with a hollow fiber filter or use them only for water from treated municipal sources.

What to look for when choosing

Filtration level. For home emergency use in developed countries, 0.1 or 0.2 micron hollow fiber is sufficient for tap water, rain collection, and most freshwater sources. For flood water or unknown sources, look for a purifier that also covers viruses.

Flow rate. Personal straws and squeeze filters are fine for one or two people. For a family of four during a multi-day outage, a gravity filter with a 4-liter capacity is far more practical.

No electricity required. Every filter recommended in this guide works without power. That is a design requirement for emergency use. Avoid UV purifiers unless you can guarantee battery availability.

Shelf life when not in use. All hollow fiber filters degrade if stored wet. Dry your filter before long-term storage and store it as directed by the manufacturer. Most have an indefinite shelf life when stored dry.

Running cost. Hollow fiber filters like the Sawyer and LifeStraw have no replaceable cartridges and can last for the life of the product. The Grayl UltraPress requires cartridge replacement every 300 liters, which adds ongoing cost.

How to build a layered water strategy

The most practical household setup combines stored water with filtration capacity:

Layer 1 : Stored water. Follow the guidance in our water storage guide and store a minimum of one gallon per person per day for at least three days in proper food-grade containers.

Layer 2 : Personal filter per person. A Sawyer Mini or LifeStraw in each household member’s emergency kit or evacuation bag covers individual needs if you are separated or evacuating.

Layer 3 : Household gravity filter. A Platypus GravityWorks or similar system at home allows you to process large quantities from any freshwater source without effort.

Layer 4 : Chemical backup. A pack of Potable Aqua tablets in your kit covers the situation where your filter is unavailable, damaged, or impractical to use.

Combined, this setup covers a household through any realistic disruption scenario without depending on bottled water, municipal supply, or electricity.

Bottom line

For most households, the Sawyer Squeeze is the best single investment: versatile, affordable, near-unlimited capacity, and usable as both a personal and group filter. The LifeStraw Peak is the better choice if simplicity and minimal weight are the priority.

Add a Platypus GravityWorks for family-scale home use, and keep a pack of purification tablets in every kit as a no-weight backup.

Water filtration is not a standalone solution. It works best as part of a broader preparedness plan that includes stored water, reliable lighting, and backup power. If you have not read our guide on how much water to store or our 72-hour emergency kit checklist, those are the logical next steps.