Let's talk about 72-Hour Kits

Preparedness was my major goal for 2009. I'm am continuing to work on my food storage. I don't think that will ever be finished. Especially when we keep eating it and having to replace it, but I sure am glad to have it :)! But lately, we've been working on our 72-hour kits. Just rethinking them and making adjustments, where needed.

Whenever I heard the phrase, 72-hour kits, I felt OVERWHELMED!! My husband and I put ours together several years ago and I felt an immense amount of relief over having them together. It is a monumental task to acquire everything that you need. That is why you should do this in baby steps! Most of the items that you need, you probably have in your home. When we put our kits together we budgeted money out of our tax returns to do it in one big mass project. Was it worth it? Yes! It's a great way to budget the money needed and acquire some peace of mind.

When we originally started out, I bought 4 sturdy matching back packs from one of our local outdoor store. They were expensive back packs that I happened to find on clearance for $15.00 a piece. With the growth of our family, we have realized that they just don't provide enough room. So we upgraded my husbands pack to his full-sized hiking pack. Hopefully he doesn't get put back into scouts!! It's nice though because he can carry much more and it makes it easier for us to take along some extra items that will certainly provide an added measure of comfort, such as sleeping bags and a full size tent. We are going to upgrade my backpack also. We have tried to have the same items in each of our packs, in the instance that we may get separated. That way we would each be just as well prepared. Each of the kids has there own backpacks, which will basically have there clothes and food in them, I think. I am rethinking the logistics of all of this. However, I know that it's ultimately up to my husband and I to carry what we can.

I saw a great idea, where a family purchased rolling luggage, in which to pack their 72-hour kits. I love it! Easy and portable. However, what if you had to travel over rough terrain, where you would have to manually pick up and carry that heavy luggage? I've seen 72-hour kits in buckets and in sweatshirts. Which I think is the strangest idea yet. A sweater for warmth, but then how do you carry everything once you've taken it apart?

Am I over thinking this? Hopefully we never really need to use these. For us backpacks work. There are tons of idea's out there on how to make 72-hour kits and what to pack in them. I think that 72-hour kits have to personalized to each individual family and what works for them. I wanted to make our kits, because then I would be aware of what was in each kit. I will share with you what we have in our kits, but that is for another day. For now concentrating on finding a suitable backpack or means of conveyance. And then we'll talk......

Or if you do not have the patience for putting together your own kit, click here and here for premade, ready to buy kits.

How Prepared Are You?

Let's talk about Preparedness. For those of you who don't know me, I am a food storage junkie, but only for about the last 1 and 1/2 years. I've been fortunate to acquire quite a bit of food storage in that time, but nowhere close to what I need.

My sister recently shared an experience with me that she said I could share on this blog. I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants when she was telling it to me. Hysterical!! I love my sweet brother-in-law, and here in a moment, you'll understand why!

For family home evening they decided to do an emergency drill. My sister told them that they had just found out they had 3 minutes to grab everything they could and get out of the house. My sister has her 72-hour kits ready to go. She's also a preparedness junkie. So she's thinking this will be easy.

So she grabs her stopwatch and yells go. She takes off running for the 72-hour kits, but only after a moments hesitation. She said she wasn't sure if she should grab the scrapbooks first or come back for them is she had time. So she's getting the 72-hour kits and she comes flying back into the living room where my brother-in-law is still sitting on the couch. "That means you to," she yells. So he jumps up and runs for his GUNS. Just like a man, but my nephew is in his room shoving toys in his backpack and my 4-year-old niece is crying hysterically clutching at my sisters leg. And the baby is just sitting in the middle of the floor wondering, "What the heck is going on?"

So 3 minutes go by and they stop to see what they have managed to get out of the house. My sister grabbed the most. She had to have been flying all over the place. She had the 72-hour kits, 2 of the 4 sleeping bags, the kids blessing outfits, their temple bags, their small fireproof box, and the diaper bag. The diaper bag had no formula and no diapers. My brother-in-law who is in his pajama pants, grabbed all his guns and ammunition, his coveralls and two left boots. My nephew has his toys and a sweatshirt. He also grabbed his mom's scripture case, which was empty because they were on the table. They also discovered that they had no car seats in the car. No one had grabbed coats or shoes, and it turned out that the car battery was dead. What a night to do a preparedness drill!! My sister said it was really a bit unfair, because she had planned the activity and had had a chance to really think about it or they might not of even had what they did.

So the moral of this post is BE PREPARED!

And it leaves me asking you, my friends, how interested would you be in emergency preparedness and food storage posts? Is that something that you would like to see us do here on the blog, amidst all the other things we post about?