Guides · Preparedness

Building a 72-hour emergency kit on a real budget

6 min read · Updated September 2026

Most pre-made emergency kits are overpriced and full of items you will never use, while missing the ones that matter most: your medication list, your documents, and cash.

Build your own over four weeks, a few items per grocery run. The target is 72 hours of self-sufficiency for everyone in the household, which is roughly how long it takes outside help to arrive at scale after a major event.

The short version

Three gallons of water and three days of no-cook food per person.
Documents, medication list, and cash matter more than gear.
Review it twice a year or it quietly expires.

Water and food

One gallon of water per person per day, so three gallons each. Double it in hot climates.
Three days of food that needs no cooking, no refrigeration, and little water: canned beans and fish, peanut butter, crackers, dried fruit, nuts, shelf-stable milk.
A manual can opener. The most commonly forgotten item in any kit.
Food for pets, plus a bowl and a spare leash.
Formula, baby food, and diapers if relevant, in the sizes you use right now, not last year's.

Light, power, and information

One LED flashlight or headlamp per person, plus spare batteries. Headlamps are better because they leave hands free.
A battery or hand-crank radio that receives NOAA Weather Radio. When cell networks fail, this still works.
A power bank of at least 20,000 mAh and the correct cables, charged and re-checked twice a year.
Skip candles. Fire risk after a disaster is high enough already.

Health and documents

A seven-day supply of prescriptions where your pharmacy allows it, plus a written list of every medication, dose, and prescriber.
A basic first aid kit, plus any device-specific supplies: inhaler spacers, test strips, spare glasses.
Copies of ID, insurance policies, deeds or lease, and the birth certificates of children, in a sealed bag and also uploaded to an email account you can reach from any device.
Cash in small bills. When power is out, card readers and ATMs are out.

Tools and comfort

Work gloves, duct tape, a multi-tool, and a whistle.
A wrench or shutoff tool if your gas or water requires one, stored where the valve is.
Garbage bags and wet wipes, which cover sanitation when water is off.
A change of clothes, sturdy shoes, and an emergency blanket per person.
For children: one small familiar toy or book. It does more for a bad night than anything else in the bag.

Keeping it real

Store the kit where you can grab it in ten seconds, not in an attic. Keep a smaller version in the car, since disasters do not wait for you to be home.

Twice a year, on the same days you change smoke alarm batteries, rotate the food and water, recharge the power bank, refresh medications, and update the children's clothing sizes. A kit you never review is a kit that fails on the one day it matters.