The 72-hour plan
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Water, light, medical, warmth, food, communication. The math for your household, in the order I'd buy it.
Most emergencies that hit a family are over in three days. A hurricane passes. The grid comes back. The road reopens. The question is not whether you can survive a month in the woods. It is whether your house can run for 72 hours with no power, no water pressure, and no store.
Here is the math. Do it for your own household and you have a plan.
Water
One gallon per person per day. That covers drinking and a little for cooking and washing. A family of four needs 12 gallons for three days. Pets need water too.
Stored water comes first. A collapsible bladder folds flat in a closet and fills from the tap when a storm is on the forecast. A filter is the second layer, for when stored water runs out. Every filter I sell is a 0.01 micron hollow-fiber filter rated for bacteria and protozoa. None of them are independently NSF/ANSI certified, and each page says so.
Light and power
A light for every person. Not one flashlight for the house. Children get separated from a shared flashlight, and stairwells are dark at noon. Headlamps keep hands free. Lanterns light a room. A power bank keeps one phone alive for calls and the weather feed.
Medical
Write your medication list today. Names, doses, the pharmacy, and the prescribing doctor. Put a copy in the kit and a photo on your phone. Then get a real bleeding-control kit. The drugstore first-aid box handles cuts. It does not handle the injury that kills someone in five minutes. A genuine tourniquet and wound-packing gauze do.
Warmth and shelter
When the heat is off, the house loses warmth fast. A mylar bivvy holds body heat and weighs nothing. Wool blankets, dry socks, and a way to stay off a cold floor are the rest of it.
Food
Three days of food nobody has to cook. MRE entrees, canned meat, crackers, peanut butter. Buy what your family already eats. A long-term pantry comes later. Three days comes first.
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Communication
Cell towers have battery backup for a few hours. After that, you need a plan. Pick one out-of-state contact everyone texts. Buy a hand-crank NOAA weather radio at the hardware store. If you want to reach family across town with no towers at all, off-grid mesh radios are the next step.
Where to begin
If you own nothing, buy the Starter Kit and fill a water bladder. That is warmth, light, fire, cordage, and water for under $110 (the $54.99 Starter Kit plus a $49.99 30-gallon bladder). Add a bleeding-control kit next. Then food and a power bank.
Download the free 72-Hour Family Checklist and check off what you already have. Most people are closer than they think.
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