How to Build an Emergency Kit | Start With These Basics

Building an emergency kit from scratch can feel overwhelming, but the smart way to approach it is to start small and add over time. The goal is a portable stash that keeps your household fed, hydrated, informed, and safe for at least 72 hours after a disaster. You likely already own several of the key items — a flashlight, extra batteries, and nonperishable food — so the task is more about gathering and organizing than shopping for everything at once.

What Goes In A Basic Emergency Kit

Ready.gov, the official U.S. preparedness resource, lists the core items every household kit should hold. Start with these essentials and you will cover the vast majority of scenarios.

• Water: one gallon per person per day for at least three days
• Food: a three-day supply of non-perishable items plus a manual can opener
• Light: flashlight with extra batteries
• Communication: battery-powered or hand-crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert
• First aid: a stocked kit with nonlatex gloves
• Sanitation: moist towelettes, garbage bags, and plastic ties
• Tools: wrench or pliers, duct tape, plastic sheeting, and scissors
• Miscellaneous: whistle, dust masks, local maps, and a cell phone with chargers and a backup battery

Beyond the basics, tailor your kit to your household. Add soap, hand sanitizer, and disinfecting wipes, plus a sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. If you have a baby, include formula, bottles, diapers, wipes, and diaper rash cream. Set aside a small stash of cash in small bills — ATMs and card readers often fail during outages.

Water And Food: How Much Is Enough

Water is the single most common oversight in emergency kits. Ready.gov’s guidance is clear: store one gallon per person per day for drinking and basic sanitation. A family of four needs 12 gallons for a three-day kit, which is heavier than it sounds — one reason to keep your kit in a container with wheels or in a duffel bag you can actually carry.

For food, choose shelf-stable items your family already eats so nothing goes to waste when you rotate it. Canned goods, peanut butter, granola bars, and dried fruit all work. Pair your food supply with a manual can opener — an electric one is useless when the power is out.

The First Aid Kit And Medicine Checklist

Round it out with gauze pads, triangular bandages, tweezers, and a thermometer.

Prescription medications deserve special attention. Check them every six months and rotate any that expire. Keep copies of prescriptions and insurance documents in a waterproof bag so you can refill them quickly if you evacuate.

Storage, Maintenance, And Common Mistakes

Pack everything in airtight plastic bags inside one or two easy-to-carry containers — plastic bins with lids or a sturdy duffel bag both work. Store the kit somewhere cool and dry where everyone in the household knows to find it. If you have pets, add their food and any medications to the kit as well.

A good maintenance rhythm keeps your kit functional. Rotate canned food and water every six to twelve months, refresh batteries, and re-check medications on the same schedule. Mark a calendar reminder so the task does not slip.

The most common mistakes are easy to avoid once you know them: storing only a single day of supplies, forgetting water entirely, skipping the manual can opener, lacking backup power for your phone, and failing to include medications, documents, and cash. If you want a ready-made option instead of assembling one piece by piece, our roundup of the best family emergency kits compares tested pre-built kits that cover most of these essentials out of the box.

Documents are another frequent gap. Keep copies of IDs, insurance policies, and your emergency plan in a waterproof pouch inside the kit, not loose in a drawer. Ready.gov’s official checklist at Ready.gov/kit is the reference to follow when you want to verify your stash against the full federal guidance.