72 Hour Kits

Last night I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

We finally have 72 Hour Kits!

It feels so good knowing we are prepared to get up and go in case of an emergency. 

As you may recall, it was one of our top three things to do with the money made from my paper route. This is something that we've been aiming to accomplish since . . . we were first married, as it is something that our church leaders have advised us to do on many occasions. The prophets and apostles have been telling us since 1936 to get food stocked and now the 72-hour kit for emergency evacuations.

Now was/is the time to get 'er done!

For us we used a couple of blogs (here , here, and here) to help us know what and how to pack all the things we needed for our family.

First off, we tackled our Emergency Food Supply.

We decided it would be easiest if we divided up the food for whole family into three separate bags - one for each day. Each days worth of food contains roughly the same thing:

8 boxes of raisins

2 snack bags of trail mix

4 oatmeal cookies

4 granola bars

4 fruit bars

6 juice boxes

3 milk boxes

3 oz. peanut butter
1 sleeve of Ritz crackers

 (2 Eatmore chocolate bars)

3 - 30 oz. packages of beef jerky
1 can of tuna

We weren't able to fit in the cans of tuna or a sleeve of crackers in each separate bag, so they were loosely added into the backpacks. Water is also VERY important (but can be quite heavy!), and we packed 4 bottles for our family. I know it's not enough, but I'm hoping we will be able to access water. Maybe I'll just go out and buy some water purification tablets to be safe? Oh, and because Lily still is a little babe, we also needed to add jars of baby food and infant formula for three days.

(NOTE: It is recommended that the food be replaced every 6 months to maintain freshness. To help us remember to do this, we plan to update our kits each General Conference weekend.)

(NOTE: Most infant formula expires 3 months after being opened. We are aware that in 3 months we will need to switch out the formula for some more milk boxes, as Lily will be off bottles by then.)

 Now onto Emergency Supplies:

2 Flashlights

2 Whistles

Compass

Radio/Batteries

Utility knife

Waterproof matches

2 Candles

Utensils

Permanent marker, paper and tape

2 Dust Masks

 Map of Calgary (or local map)

Extra pair of prescription glasses (for myself)

Glow sticks

Emergency blanket (you know...the one that looks like tin foil)

Emergency shelter (also looks like tin foil)

Basic first-aid kit (to which I added children's tylenol)

Extra keys to house and vehicle

Warm change of clothes for each member of the family
Bottle and Pacifier (for Lily)

This morning, Tanner left with every piece of identification/information that belongs to our family, so that he could get photocopies of everything. I was so nervous sending him out with all theose documents (I'll be mentioning below). Tanner's never been mugged on the train, but if his backpack get's stolen today someone could walk away with the identities of our entire family!

(Guess what I prayed for this morning?)

Important documents:

Passports

Driver's Licenses

Social Insurance Numbers

Alberta Health Care Cards

Birth Certificates

Blue Cross - Insurance Card

Record of any other insurance (Life/Home/Car)

Vehicle Registration

Current Photos of each family member (still need to do this!)
Bank Account Numbers

List of emergency meeting points

List of important contacts/phone numbers

Hygiene:

Toothbrushes

Toothpaste

Soap/Washcloth

Diapers

Wipes

Hand Sanitizer

Sunscreen

Insect Repellant

Chap-stick

Feminine Hygiene Products

 and now, CA$H:

However much emergency money you think you need in your pack, is up to you. But remember to have it in small bills or coins. If there is no electricity, there are no credit card machines.  A lot of the blogs I have read say to be sure and have cash and in small bills because people won’t be able to make change, necessarily.

So that's it folks!
It's amazing that all this can fit into two packs!

Oh, and you may be wondering "What's up with Elmo?"

Well, Elmo is actually a backpack!
If we are every in an emergency shelter or who knows where, keeping our girls calm and happy is more important to me than having a toothbrush or chap-stick. So, in Gwen's little Elmo backpack, we have packed her crayons, books, little farm animals, mini stuffy, a card game, a mini magni-doodle, flashlight, and snacks.

Gwen loves it!

And we love the feeling of being prepared.