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A practical emergency kit keeps a household supplied when utilities, communications, stores, or medical access are disrupted. Start with water, food, alerts, light, first aid, sanitation, and basic tools, then add the medicines, medical items, infant supplies, pet provisions, documents, and hazard-specific protection your household actually needs.
“Everyone should have some basic supplies on hand to survive for at least three days if an emergency occurs.” — FEMA Ready Campaign, Recommended Items to Include in a Basic Emergency Supply Kit
What a public-health emergency kit is—and is not
A public-health crisis can mean an infectious-disease outbreak, a biological incident, a radiation emergency, or another event that limits access to care and supplies. Those hazards do not call for one universal medicine, mask, or medical device. The dependable approach is a general household kit for several days, plus instructions and equipment specific to the hazard officials identify.
FEMA describes its checklist as a starting point. The goal is to remain safe and functional while you wait for assistance, shelter in place, evacuate, or follow a local health order. A kit does not replace emergency services, prescribed treatment, evacuation instructions, or advice from public-health authorities.
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- 72 HOUR EMERGENCY KIT FOR 2 PEOPLE WITH FOOD AND WATER: Includes 2 emergency food bars totaling 4800 calories and 12 sealed drinking water pouches to support hydration and energy during disasters. Designed for emergency preparedness, survival kits, earthquake kits, and evacuation planning.
- COMPLETE DISASTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH SHELTER AND WARMTH: Equipped with 2 emergency ponchos and 2 survival blankets to help protect against rain, wind, and cold conditions. Critical gear for outdoor emergencies, power outages, and shelter in place situations.
- FIRST AID KIT AND SAFETY PROTECTION SUPPLIES: Features a 33 piece first aid kit, dust masks, and nitrile gloves to support basic medical care and protection from debris and airborne particles. Essential for emergency response, injury care, and disaster safety.
- EMERGENCY LIGHTING AND SIGNALING TOOLS INCLUDED: Comes with 2 long lasting 12 hour lightsticks and a safety whistle for visibility and communication in low light or rescue situations. Ideal for blackout emergencies, nighttime evacuation, and search scenarios.
- COMPACT BACKPACK FOR GRAB AND GO EVACUATION: Lightweight emergency backpack keeps all survival supplies organized and ready for fast response. Perfect for home emergency kits, car emergency kits, office preparedness, and bug out bags.
Build the core kit first
Water: calculate the household requirement
FEMA’s in-depth preparedness guide uses one gallon of drinking water per person per day as a baseline. It gives three, seven, or fourteen days as examples that may fit different locations and circumstances; those durations are planning examples, not a single mandatory national rule.
| People | Three days | Seven days | Fourteen days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 gallons | 7 gallons | 14 gallons |
| 2 | 6 gallons | 14 gallons | 28 gallons |
| 4 | 12 gallons | 28 gallons | 56 gallons |
These totals apply the one-gallon baseline to the example durations. Decide the duration with local conditions, household health needs, climate, storage space, and official guidance in mind. Store water in containers you can move safely and check the container manufacturer’s storage instructions. If a household member has a condition that changes fluid needs, ask a clinician how to plan.
Food that works without normal utilities
Keep non-perishable food for every person and tailor it to allergies, medical diets, age, and cultural preferences. Choose items that can be eaten with little or no cooking when electricity or gas may be unavailable. If you pack canned food, include a manual can opener. Rotate food before it reaches its use-by date and keep a simple inventory so you know which items need replacement.
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Include a battery-powered or hand-crank radio that receives NOAA Weather Radio alerts, along with spare batteries. FEMA also lists a flashlight and extra batteries. A radio can continue receiving official broadcasts when internet service or mobile networks are unreliable; a flashlight reduces the need to use candles or navigate in darkness.
A phone power bank or spare battery and charging cable are useful additions. Keep local maps because a navigation app may not load if data service is interrupted. FEMA’s broader preparedness material also identifies cash and important household documents as useful additions.
First aid and signaling
Pack a first aid kit whose contents match the people in your household and that can be replenished. Add a whistle to signal for help. Check the kit periodically for expired or used items rather than assuming a sealed commercial kit remains complete indefinitely.
Sanitation and shelter-in-place materials
FEMA’s checklist includes moist towelettes, garbage bags, and plastic ties for personal sanitation and waste handling. Add soap or hand sanitizer as appropriate for your household and the event. Plastic sheeting and duct tape are listed for shelter-in-place needs when relevant; they are not a guarantee that a room is safe from every airborne or biological hazard.
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- [Preparedness for the Unknown]: While no one can predict when or how severe a disaster or unexpected event will be, our 262pcs survival kit helps your family stay prepared during the critical first 72 hours. Designed for family use, it was developed in collaboration with survival experts, outdoor professionals, special forces operators, and mountain guides. Whether you're preparing for earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, or hurricanes, our survival kit provides peace of mind.
- [Comprehensive Emergency Supply Kit]: The included emergency supplies are stored in a bright red pouch, containing tweezers, scissors and pins, non-woven pad, triangular cotton cloth, cotton swabs, cotton balls, a generous supply of adhesive strips etc., meeting your general emergency and outdoor needs. It also includes an emergency information card to record your basic information, helping others quickly access important information when needed.
- [Safety Companion for Journey]: Our emergency kit includes many survival gear and supplies to ensure access to food, water, warmth, and light in a crisis. The fishing kit and multi-usage spoon help you catch and prepare food, while the collapsible water container bag helps store water. Fire starter and stick make it easy to build a fire. A flashlight, camping lamp, and glow sticks provide up to 72 hours of lighting, crucial for signaling for help and safe navigation.
- [Essential Survival Gear]: Additionally, this survival kit includes a detachable multifunctional axe with hammer and a 2-in-1 shovel with pick, made of sturdy carbon steel. Combined with wire saw, emergency tent and blanket, rope, and compass, you can quickly set up an emergency shelter while helping retain warmth. Unlike other mini axes, our axe and shovel are 17 inches long, providing effective protection in the wild against animals or in other emergencies.
- [Convenient Packaging]: The survival gear and supplies are packed in a crossbody bag, making it easy to carry and access in emergencies. The bag features multiple compartments and molle compatible straps and D-rings, allowing you to attach extra pouches or survival tools. The crossbody strap is also detachable, making it easy to connect to a tactical survival backpack using carabiners or the molle system.
Tools and practical items
- A wrench or pliers for utility shutoff, if your home uses shutoff valves you can identify and you know how to operate them safely.
- A manual can opener if your food includes cans.
- Local maps for routes and nearby services.
- Spare batteries for every battery-dependent device in the kit.
Do not operate a utility shutoff you do not understand. If you smell gas, see damaged wiring, or face another immediate danger, leave the area and follow emergency instructions instead of experimenting with tools.
Add supplies for the people, animals, and places you support
Medications, glasses, and medical equipment
Include essential prescription medicines, glasses, contact-lens supplies if used, and personal medical supplies. Keep medication advice specific to the medicine: ask a pharmacist or clinician about storage temperature, refills, safe quantities, and what to do if a dose is missed. Do not substitute a generic medicine from an emergency kit for a prescribed treatment.
Infants and children
Plan for infant formula, diapers, wipes, and any feeding equipment. Include child-appropriate food and comfort items so that a disruption does not turn a basic supply problem into a care emergency. Children who take regular medicines need those medicines and written dosing information managed by their caregiver.
Pets and service animals
FEMA specifically calls out pet food and water. Add medications, a leash or carrier, identification information, and waste supplies appropriate to the animal. Service animals may need equipment that is not part of a general pet kit.
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Home, work, school, and vehicles
Keep a full kit at home, then consider smaller portable kits where household members spend time. A person who is at work, school, or in a vehicle when an alert arrives may not be able to reach the home supply. Portable kits should contain the essentials that location requires, while avoiding unsafe storage of temperature-sensitive medicines.
Tailor protection to the identified health hazard
Infectious-disease outbreaks
For a general outbreak, prioritize hand hygiene, waste handling, prescribed medicines, personal medical items, and reliable ways to receive official instructions. The right protective equipment depends on how the disease spreads and on current local guidance. A dust mask, a respirator, gloves, disinfectant, or another item may be useful in one setting and inadequate or inappropriate in another.
Do not treat a single mask model as universal protection. If authorities recommend a respirator, follow the stated hazard and fit requirements. FEMA’s detailed guide names N95 respirators and says to ensure fit; that information does not establish that an N95 is appropriate or sufficient for every public-health threat.
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- 72-HOUR EMERGENCY KIT FOR 2: Built for disaster preparedness at home, work or on the road, this 2-person survival backpack includes food, water, first aid, lighting, hygiene and shelter essentials for up to 3 days.
- FOOD, WATER & PURIFICATION: Includes two 2,400-calorie emergency food bars, six 4.225 oz water pouches, water purification tablets and a 32 oz BPA-free bottle to help support hydration and nutrition during outages or evacuations.
- FIRST AID & PERSONAL PROTECTION: Packed with a 33-piece first aid kit, 2 N95 dust masks, nitrile gloves, hygiene kits, ponchos, survival blankets and tissues for added protection, sanitation and comfort during emergencies.
- POWER, LIGHTING & COMMUNICATION: Includes a hand-crank emergency power station with flashlight, AM/FM radio, siren and cell phone charging, plus 2 emergency lightsticks and a 3-in-1 whistle, compass and thermometer.
- DELUXE SURVIVAL TOOLS IN ONE BACKPACK: Adds a multi-function tool, duct tape, bio-hazard bag and emergency contact card in a portable backpack. Ideal for earthquakes, hurricanes, blackouts, wildfire evacuation, cars and workplaces.
Radiation emergencies
Ready.gov’s radiation material is hazard-specific. It recommends multiple alert channels, a battery or hand-crank radio, sealed food, water and medication, a change of clothes, and a bag for potentially contaminated clothing. These items belong in a radiation response plan, not as a claim that every infectious-disease event requires them.
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Biological or other specialized incidents
The surfaced Ready.gov biohazard material advises having an emergency kit and family plan and checking with a physician about vaccinations. It also discusses a HEPA filter in a specific ventilation context. That context does not prove that a HEPA filter makes a home safe from every biological hazard. Use only the controls recommended for the identified event by public-health or emergency-management officials.
Set up the kit in a repeatable process
- List the people and animals. Record household size, ages, allergies, medical conditions, prescriptions, mobility needs, infant requirements, pet needs, and the places where people spend time.
- Choose a planning duration. Use FEMA’s one-gallon-per-person-per-day drinking-water baseline and select a three-, seven-, or fourteen-day example—or another duration directed by local authorities.
- Buy or gather the core categories. Assemble water, non-perishable food, radio, batteries, flashlight, first aid, whistle, sanitation supplies, and the tools appropriate to your home.
- Add personal supplies. Put in medicines, glasses, medical equipment, infant supplies, pet food and water, documents, cash, maps, phone charging equipment, and any other essential item identified in the household list.
- Prepare portable versions. Place smaller supplies where household members work, study, travel, or sleep if reaching the main kit could be difficult.
- Label and store safely. Keep the kit where adults can reach it quickly, protect supplies from damaging heat or moisture, and make sure everyone knows its location.
- Write the communication plan. Record alert sources, emergency contacts, meeting places, medication information, and instructions for pets or dependents. Keep a paper copy with the kit.
How to compare items without chasing a “best” brand
FEMA names product categories, not brands or specific models. Compare an item against the job it must perform and your household’s constraints.
| Category | Useful comparison points |
|---|---|
| Emergency radio | NOAA alert reception, battery and hand-crank power options, and availability of replaceable batteries |
| First aid kit | Whether contents match household needs and whether individual supplies can be replenished |
| Respirator | Suitability for the identified hazard and fit; product labeling alone is not proof of protection in every setting |
| Food and water | Quantity for the household and planned duration, storage requirements, and whether food can be opened or prepared without electricity |
A low-cost item that cannot be powered, opened, fitted, or used by the intended person is not a practical choice. Test the actual radio, flashlight, can opener, and charging equipment before storing them.
Maintain and test the kit
- Check batteries and power banks on a schedule and replace batteries that leak, swell, or no longer hold a charge.
- Rotate food and water according to container and product instructions.
- Review prescriptions, glasses, medical supplies, infant items, and pet food whenever a need or dosage changes.
- Replace used first-aid and sanitation items immediately after an incident or practice drill.
- Verify that documents, maps, contact numbers, and local alert instructions are still current.
- Reconsider the kit after moving, a new household member, a new pet, a major medical diagnosis, or a change in local hazards.
Practice retrieving the kit in darkness and identifying the radio, flashlight, water, medicines, and documents. A short drill can expose a missing cable, dead battery, inaccessible storage location, or food package no one can open.
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Buying only a prepacked box
A generic box may omit prescription medicines, glasses, infant supplies, pet provisions, or culturally suitable food. Use any prepacked supplies as a starting point, then complete the household-specific list.
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- COMPLETE 4-PERSON DISASTER SUPPLY KIT: Built to support four people for up to 72 hours with emergency food, drinking water, first aid, shelter, lighting, hygiene and survival gear packed together in one portable backpack for fast access at home or work.
- FOOD & WATER FOR 3-DAY PREPAREDNESS: Includes four 2,400-calorie emergency food bars and four 1-liter Aqua Literz cartons, plus survival blankets, ponchos and lightsticks to help support your household during outages, evacuations and major disasters.
- FIRST AID & SAFETY ESSENTIALS: Includes a 107-piece first aid kit, safety goggles, nitrile gloves, leather work gloves, biohazard bags, hygiene supplies and an emergency whistle to help support personal protection and comfort when conditions turn chaotic.
- POWER, LIGHTING & SURVIVAL TOOLS: Hand-crank emergency power station combines flashlight, AM/FM radio, siren and cell phone charging, while a multi-function tool, duct tape and emergency lightsticks add practical support for blackouts and evacuations.
- BUILT FOR HOME, WORK & EVACUATION: Grab-and-go 4-person emergency backpack is ideal for earthquake kits, hurricane supplies, wildfire evacuation, blackout preparedness, offices, vehicles and family disaster planning when critical supplies must move fast.
Planning water by container count
Count drinking-water volume against the one-gallon-per-person-per-day baseline and the duration you selected. A convenient number of bottles is not evidence that the household has enough.
Assuming a mask solves a public-health emergency
Respiratory protection is hazard- and fit-dependent. Wait for current official instructions about whether a respirator is needed, which type is suitable, and how it must fit.
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Relying on a phone as the only alert channel
Keep the radio and spare batteries even if you use a phone app. FEMA’s app can provide real-time National Weather Service alerts for up to five locations and help find shelters, but it is an alert option, not a substitute for an emergency radio.
Storing tools without knowing how to use them
A wrench or pliers can support a safe utility shutoff only when the person knows the home’s system and the correct procedure. Otherwise, follow utility and emergency-service instructions instead of attempting an unfamiliar action.
What to do when an alert arrives
Turn to official local instructions first. Confirm whether the order is to shelter, evacuate, avoid a specific area, conserve water, or seek medical care. Take the kit, prescribed medicines, identification, and essential documents if evacuation is ordered. If sheltering, use only the protective measures authorities specify for the hazard; plastic sheeting, duct tape, respirators, or filters should not be treated as interchangeable solutions.
For a household that has planned its water, food, information, light, first aid, sanitation, personal medical needs, and hazard-specific actions, the kit is a practical buffer—not a replacement for public-health guidance. Keep it current, keep it reachable, and update it whenever the people or risks in your household change.
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