If you only prepare for one thing, prepare this. It answers most of the other guides at once.
Emergency services plan around roughly three days: that is how long you may need to look after yourself before normal supply and support catches up. A 72-hour kit is simply that period, packed.
Build it once, keep it by the door, and check it twice a year when the clocks change. Everything in it is ordinary — the value is entirely in it already being together.
Water and food
0 of 5
Three days per person, and a way to make more water safe.
Stored drinking water
Water is the first thing to run short and the hardest to improvise. Three litres per person per day covers drinking and basic cooking, and having it already in the house means you never join the queue for it.
Why you need it. Water is the first thing to run short and the hardest to improvise. Three litres per person per day covers drinking and basic cooking, and having it already in the house means you never join the queue for it.
What to look for. Sealed bottles or food-grade containers holding three days' worth per person, kept somewhere cool and dark. Write the date on them and swap the stock out twice a year.
Water filter
If the tap runs but the supply is no longer trusted, a filter turns questionable water into water you can drink without boiling fuel you may not have.
Why you need it. If the tap runs but the supply is no longer trusted, a filter turns questionable water into water you can drink without boiling fuel you may not have.
What to look for. A gravity or squeeze filter rated for bacteria and protozoa, with a spare cartridge. Hollow-fibre filters are compact; ceramic ones are slower but very hard to break.
Purification tablets
Tablets weigh nothing, never clog and work as the backup to a filter — which matters because filters are exactly the thing that breaks when you need one.
Why you need it. Tablets weigh nothing, never clog and work as the backup to a filter — which matters because filters are exactly the thing that breaks when you need one.
What to look for. Chlorine dioxide or chlorine tablets with a clear dose per litre and a long shelf life. Check the expiry date whenever you check your smoke alarms.
Shelf-stable food
Three days of food that needs no fridge and little or no cooking removes the pressure to shop during exactly the week everyone else is shopping.
Why you need it. Three days of food that needs no fridge and little or no cooking removes the pressure to shop during exactly the week everyone else is shopping.
What to look for. Tins, dried pasta, rice, nut butter and long-life milk you actually like eating, so the stock quietly rotates through normal meals instead of expiring in a cupboard.
Manual can opener
A cupboard of tins and no way into them is the most avoidable failure on this list, and electric openers are useless the moment the power goes.
Why you need it. A cupboard of tins and no way into them is the most avoidable failure on this list, and electric openers are useless the moment the power goes.
What to look for. A simple metal opener with a comfortable handle. Keep it in the same place as the emergency food, not in the general kitchen drawer where it wanders off.
The bag itself
0 of 6
Everything below lives in one rucksack per person.
Go bag
Almost every evacuation warning gives you minutes, not hours. A packed bag turns a panic into simply picking something up on the way out.
Why you need it. Almost every evacuation warning gives you minutes, not hours. A packed bag turns a panic into simply picking something up on the way out.
What to look for. A rucksack per person holding water, snacks, a torch, a charger, medication, spare clothes and copies of documents. Repack it when the seasons change.
Headlamp
Hands-free light for a pre-dawn start, an unexpected late finish, or finding anything at all inside a tent.
Why you need it. Hands-free light for a pre-dawn start, an unexpected late finish, or finding anything at all inside a tent.
What to look for. A small lamp with a low mode for camp and a bright mode for walking, plus spare batteries or a charged battery pack.
First aid kit
Blisters, grazes and headaches are the everyday injuries, and all of them are far more manageable with a small kit in the bag.
Why you need it. Blisters, grazes and headaches are the everyday injuries, and all of them are far more manageable with a small kit in the bag.
What to look for. Blister plasters, adhesive dressings, antiseptic wipes, painkillers and a bandage. Restock it after every trip rather than before the next one.
Medication buffer
For anyone on regular medication this is the most important item here, and it is the one that takes planning rather than shopping.
Why you need it. For anyone on regular medication this is the most important item here, and it is the one that takes planning rather than shopping.
What to look for. A few extra days of any prescription, arranged with your pharmacy in advance, plus a written list of doses in your document pack.
Wet wipes and sanitiser
When water is limited or the drains stop working, basic hygiene is the difference between an inconvenience and an illness.
Why you need it. When water is limited or the drains stop working, basic hygiene is the difference between an inconvenience and an illness.
What to look for. Large packs of wipes, alcohol gel and a few heavy-duty bin bags. Unscented is more useful than scented.
Whistle
Shouting for help lasts a few minutes; a whistle carries much further and lasts as long as you do.
Why you need it. Shouting for help lasts a few minutes; a whistle carries much further and lasts as long as you do.
What to look for. A pealess plastic whistle on a lanyard, attached to a bag or kept with your keys so it is on you rather than in a cupboard.
Paperwork and plan
0 of 5
The part that takes an afternoon and no money at all.
Document pack
Insurance, identity and medical paperwork are what make the recovery possible, and they are exactly what nobody remembers while leaving in a hurry.
Why you need it. Insurance, identity and medical paperwork are what make the recovery possible, and they are exactly what nobody remembers while leaving in a hurry.
What to look for. Copies of ID, insurance, prescriptions and property documents in a waterproof wallet, plus the same set encrypted somewhere online.
Small cash reserve
Card terminals and cash machines are the first things to stop working in a power cut, and small notes still buy fuel, food and a taxi.
Why you need it. Card terminals and cash machines are the first things to stop working in a power cut, and small notes still buy fuel, food and a taxi.
What to look for. Enough small notes and coins for a couple of days of essentials, stored with your documents rather than in a wallet you carry.
Written household plan
The part people skip and later wish they had not: who collects whom, where you meet if you cannot get home, and which out-of-area contact everyone calls.
Why you need it. The part people skip and later wish they had not: who collects whom, where you meet if you cannot get home, and which out-of-area contact everyone calls.
What to look for. One page, printed, in every bag and on the fridge. Agree it out loud with everyone, including the children, and revisit it once a year.
Paper map
Navigation apps assume signal, battery and working servers. A folded local map assumes nothing and never reboots.
Why you need it. Navigation apps assume signal, battery and working servers. A folded local map assumes nothing and never reboots.
What to look for. A current road or topographic map covering your area and your likely route out, with your meeting points marked in pen.
One good manual
Every plan eventually meets a problem you did not plan for. A single practical reference — first aid, repairs, food safety — is the item that keeps working when the internet does not.
Why you need it. Every plan eventually meets a problem you did not plan for. A single practical reference — first aid, repairs, food safety — is the item that keeps working when the internet does not.
What to look for. A printed first aid or general preparedness handbook, kept with the kit and read once while it is still a calm afternoon.
