72 Hour Emergency Kit Checklist: What to Pack for Your Household

A 72 hour emergency kit is a stock of supplies that lets your household manage on its own for three days if power, water or shops stop working. The core is water (about one gallon, or 3.8 litres, per person per day), non-perishable food, medicine, light, a radio, cash, documents and first aid.

What a 72 hour emergency kit is and why three days

Most of the official guidance agrees on the length even when the item lists differ. Here is what each source actually says, so you can see where the numbers on this page come from:

Two things stand out. First, the UK's 3 litres covers drinking only, while the US gallon (3.8 litres) also covers basic washing, so the gallon is the safer planning number. Second, the Red Cross treats 72 hours as the minimum for a bag you carry out of the house and two weeks as the target for supplies you keep at home. Start with three days, then extend.

How to build a 72 hour kit in one weekend

You do not need to buy a ready-made kit. Ready.gov, the Red Cross and the UK guidance all suggest the same low-cost approach: check what you already have, list what is missing, and fill the gaps over a few shopping trips.

1. Count your household. Write down every adult, child, baby and pet who depends on you. This is the number the checklist multiplies by.
2. Shop your own cupboards. Tinned food, a torch, spare batteries, a first aid box and blankets are often already in the house. Tick them off first.
3. Buy water and food last but buy them in bulk. These are the heaviest and the most important. Choose food you already eat so it gets rotated rather than wasted.
4. Pack one carry bag and one home stash. The bag holds what you would grab if you had to leave. The home stash holds the extra water and food you cannot carry.
5. Set a six-month reminder. The UK checklist recommends checking expiry dates every six months and updating the kit when your household changes.

Breaking the job into small tasks is what gets it finished. If you like a single place for this kind of list, the Daily Planning & Priority OS lets you dump every missing item into an inbox, sort it into this week's priorities and see what is still open. It is the same method we use in our guide to the 1-3-5 rule for daily planning: one big task (water), three medium tasks, five small ones.

What should be in a 72 hour emergency kit

A complete 72 hour kit covers six groups of supplies drawn from Ready.gov, Red Cross and GOV.UK guidance: water and food, health, light and power, money and documents, warmth, and family needs. The checklist tool on this page turns them into quantities for your household.

Water and food

• Water: 1 gallon (3.8 L) per person per day, so 3 gallons (about 11 L) per person for 72 hours
• Non-perishable food for 3 days: tins, dried fruit, nuts, crackers, energy bars
• A manual can opener and simple utensils

Health and hygiene

• First aid kit
• Prescription medicine and medical supplies. The Red Cross suggests a 7-day supply of medication
• A written list of medicines and doses
• Hand sanitiser, wet wipes, toilet paper and rubbish bags

Light, power and information

• Torch or flashlight with spare batteries (safer than candles)
• Battery or hand-crank radio
• A charged power bank and phone cables

Money and documents

• Some cash in small notes, in case card payments and ATMs are down
• Copies of IDs, insurance details and a list of emergency phone numbers in a waterproof bag

Warmth and shelter

• Blankets or sleeping bags, warm clothes and sturdy shoes
• An emergency blanket, a whistle and work gloves

Adjusting the kit for children, babies and pets

The basic list assumes healthy adults. Every guide adds the same reminder: plan for the people and animals who rely on you.

• Children need the same water as adults on the official per-person rule, plus any child medicines, a change of clothes and something familiar to do, such as a book or a card game.
• Babies need formula, nappies and wipes. The UK guidance points out that ready-to-feed formula is best, because you may not be able to boil water safely.
• Pets need food, water, a lead or carrier, and copies of any vet records. Ask your vet how much water your animal drinks in a day and pack three days of it.
• Anyone with a medical device needs a written copy of its instructions and a way to charge it.

Best 72 hour emergency kits: buy ready-made or build your own?

Searches for the "best 72 hour survival kit" are common, and there is nothing wrong with buying one. The trade-offs are worth knowing before you do.

Whichever you choose, check two items that pre-packed kits often skimp on: water (most hold a few pouches, not 3 gallons per person) and medicine (no kit can include your prescriptions).

Cash, documents and the money side of preparedness

The UK list puts cash and copies of documents beside water and torches, because in a power cut card payments and ATMs may stop. Keep enough small notes for a few days of essentials, kept somewhere dry and private.

Preparedness also has a longer horizon than 72 hours. A job loss or a big repair is an emergency too, just a slower one. The Career & Money Runway OS lets you enter savings against monthly spending to see how many months you could cover if income stopped, which is the money version of this checklist. We walk through that calculation in how to survive a layoff and plan your emergency runway, and if you are setting up a household budget for the first time, start with 50/30/20 vs zero-based budgeting. You can browse more planners in our business and money systems and productivity and habits collections.

Keeping your kit ready all year

A kit that expired two years ago is not a kit. Put a date on the bag and follow the six-month rhythm from the UK checklist:

• Swap out food and bottled water before the date on the label, and eat the old stock.
• Replace batteries and recharge the power bank.
• Update medicine, baby items and clothes sizes as your household changes.
• Re-read your emergency phone list and meeting point with everyone in the house.

Gathering supplies can feel stressful when the news is full of warnings. Treat it like any other household routine rather than a reaction to fear. If you notice that worry is building, a few minutes of slow breathing helps; our Wim Hof breathing guide explains the basics, though gentle, slow breathing is the better choice when you simply want to calm down.

This guide is general information drawn from public preparedness advice. It is not a substitute for instructions from your local emergency services, which should always come first in a real emergency.