Welcome!
Welcome to week #9 in the “72 Hour Kit Ideas: A week by week approach” series.
This series is all about making it simple and doable to get a 72 hour kit put together for you and your family.
Creating such a kit can be overwhelming and financially difficult to do all at once. But through this series, I’ve broken it down for you into 26 small steps! You can see all the steps here. Just take one small baby step each week and in six months you will have a well stocked, personalized kit!
You can even go through the series a few times over a year or two adding just the most basic supplies the first six months and then a few more “extra” supplies each time you cycle through it again.
Want Even More Help?
This series is also available as a book. Purchasing the book gives you a few additional benefits over just reading the free series:
- Additional details and tips
- The ability to print the entire book!
- Pictures of my own kit showing just how I pack each week.
Purchase Your “Simple 72 Hour Kits” Book Now!
Last Week
I hope you were able to add items for shelter to your kit last week.
Week #9: Warmth/Heat
So, now you have clothing and protection from the elements. You likely even packed coats/hats (or put them near your kits) if it is chilly where you are. But what if it is really cold where you are at? How will you keep your family warm…especially while they are sleeping?
Often, even if it doesn’t get below freezing, it can get chilly: especially if it is rainy. I know that I will want ways to stay warm: especially for my kids.
If it even gets relatively cold where you are, make sure you add things to your kit this week to keep your family warm.
Suggestions
Fire brings warmth, so having a way to start one is important. Additionally, it will be harder to stay warm while you are sleeping because you won’t be near the fire, and you won’t be generating as much heat. So, consider lightweight ways to stay warm while sleeping as well.
- DIY firestarters
- Storm proof matches
- Lighter
- Heat packs (put inside a sleeping bag, jacket, or under a blanket)
- Emergency blanket or emergency thermal sleeping bag
- Heat Cell (I LOVE these. They are affordable, safe to be used indoors, small, and light.)
- Sparkie Fire Starter
- Fleece sleeping bag
- Blastmatch Fire Starter
- Quickfire Fuel Reserve (start a fire in almost any conditions with this!)
- Survival Sleeping Bag (VERY compact, but as warm as a regular, medium weight sleeping bag)
What We Have Done in Our Family
For starting a fire, we have storm proof matches and the Sparkie fire starter and three Fuel Reserve Packs. We have an emergency sleeping bag for each person and two “Blizzard” bags. We are hoping to squeeze three of us into each one to generate more body heat. We also have two thin blankets. We’d have one blanket covering three of us in each tent.
In addition, we have 18 heat packs (one for each person, each night) and two heat cells (we will burn each for just an hour or two to warm the tents each night).
How about You?
Leave me a comment and tell me what how you will add warmth to your kit. What will you be doing this week?
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| Week #8: Shelter | Week #10: Sanitation | Week #1: Packaging Your Kit | Series Into: 72 Hour Kit Series, A Week by Week Approach |
Becky is a wildlife enthusiast and pet and livestock care expert with a diploma in canine nutrition. With over a decade of experience in animal welfare, Becky lends her expertise to Simple Family Preparedness through insightful info about pets, livestock, bee keeping, and the practicalities of homesteading.
I use dryer lint for a fire starter. Works fantastic! And packs down to about nothing!
Hi! Is there any way you could update the link for the “DIY Firestarters #2” above? Apparently, the page no longer exists and I would love to see what you were talking about. Thanks so much!
By the way, your blog is by far one of the best I’ve seen on 72-hour kits. Thanks so much for sharing!
I’m not sure what happened Crystal. I will look for another tuturial that I can link to. THanks for catching that! For now, here is a picture of what I’m talking about:
https://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/upload/103653228893690727_8Hv3NHS1.jpg
Basically, add old dryer lint to an egg carton, and cover in wax. You just let the wax dry, break them into 12 individual cups, and light the cardboard corner to start your fire. Works great!
A great cheap DIY fire starter: cotton balls coated with petroleum jelly. You don’t need a ton of Vaseline just a layer. I have a zip lock baggy full right next to my flint in my BOB. Super cheap and works amazing. Thank you for all the great suggestions!!
They also have pocket heat packs at or dollar store here in Oregon. I am going there Wednesday to get $20 worth. So cheap and so important specially with kids!! Also a couple coloring books for their packs asking with crayons. Something”normal” and fun in a stressful situation
I have in our kits the hand and feet heat packs, the emergency blankets, wool blankets and sleeping bags for warmth, as well as the emergency fire starter sticks with the wind/ water proof matches, candles and extra lighters. Plus, I also have several cases of presto quick start logs. These are great for a super quick start to a fire, and the “psychological boost” that they provide is worth every penny. We can quickly boil water and warm ourselves before tackling the next problem such as gathering more regular firewood.
I already use a lot of these tried and true techniques. (Zippo type lighters are more reliable in very cold weather than the more common butane lighter.) I like reviewing and regularly discovering new and creative approaches others use.
We have 6 heatpacks in each of our back packs, and my sons has one heat cell, and mine has 4. I have water proof matches and a lighter. I put them in baggies for extra water protection, plus then I have extra plastic bags If needed.
I can’t wait to start playing and creating this week! I’m going to make the dryer lint in toilet paper rolls, the wax soaked cotton circles and Vaseline soaked cotton balls. Then test them out. Can’t wait!
Just a reminder as hubby and I are trying out our fire starters, practice with them. I had no clue how to use anything other than matches or a lighter, so this is a learning experience for me.
We have some of the heat cells and they work awesome. Somehow our natural gas didnt get turned on on schedule, we live in GA and only need it for maybe 2-3 months so we do a seasonal connection, and we have used the heat cells on the cold nights to make the room more tolerable for everyone, so they work great even indoors.
Just found your site today and have been reading through it. Definitely has kicked the ol’ brain cells into gear thinking about what I need to do to get my family ready for an emergency situation. Thanks for a great place to start!
We have waterproof matches and lighters, and I saved up some dryer lint to make the firestarters. I plan to buy some pocket warmers later this week.
Love DIY Firestarters #2 – Have made about 20 of them with scrap candles. After Christmas I’m taking all of my holiday candles and making some more. They are so easy to make!
The link for the Quickfire no longer works. I just came across this, but have been starting to put together emergency kits for our family, so am very excited to have a little more direction and ideas from an actual person that has done it. I look forward to reading more!
This is my first time through the series. I have a magnesium flint/strike for our kit at this point, and have added waterproof matches this week. I am keeping a wishlist on amazon of the other items we’ll be using; to purchase when we can.
I have a blast match and some quick tender in my pack along with a lighter and waterproof matches that I made myself. Everyone has a lighter and matches in their packs as well. I also made some fire starters out of wax, lint, and egg cartons. I also found some hand warmers that you can reuse. Once they get cold you can boil them for about five minutes and then it is ready to reuse. They also come with a lifetime warranty. They are called heliosheaters. Right now they are buy one-get one free with free shipping. I bought two for everyone. We have been looking for a heater that is safe to use indoors, but haven’t decided which one to get. We also have plenty of candles, both homemade and new.
Love the Sparkie Fire starter — it seems to be the most reliable option if the weather turns wet. Will definitely be ordering a few of those. We have been storing dryer lint for some time and have a good collection, along with matches/lighters/candles. We like the hand-held heat packs as an alternative to open flame.
I actually just got 3 sleeping bags off of freecycle and my sisters and I are planning on making the paint can heaters this weekend. I would love to add the first aide kit to my supply.
I have waterproof matches, a lighter and one heat cell in each pack. I made the DIY Firestarter #2, however, I used a scented candle I had on hand and the odor has transferred to my pack so I’ve removed them and need to make some more with unscented candles. They work great, though! I have a flint striker and one set of hand and foot warmers for each person. I like your idea of one set per person per day so I need to pick up a few more of them.
Yay! I’m so happy that I won!! Thank you very much!
Honestly, this is the area we are probably the weakest. We do have flint, but we don’t have much else. I have been meaning to get some waterproof matches!! I’ll need to get on that this week!
I have most of this stuff, thanks to your blog. I’m adding more heat cells & heat packs. I also plan on looking into the emergency tinder kit.
We have put wool blend blankets into our kits. We have also added fire starters and matches. And we rotate out hand warmers. We also have lots of candles. But, on the whole, we are weak in the heat/warmth area. Much work to do.
As of right now, we only have some matches in our kit. I plan to make the second DIY fire starters, and I also hope to purchase some of those little heat cells, which sound pretty fantastic. I think I’ll have to purchase a few extras of those to keep in the car.
Living in Arizona, I put keeping cool a priority especially during the 100 degree summers here. However, if a disaster hits during the cooler months, it can get cold here especially during the night. I really need to think about this category. I have waterproof matches for each of the adults in my household. We also have lighters (I hate using lighters though because I usually burn my thumb). I like the sparkie firestarters, they seem like they can be used easily. I also like the heat cells because they can be used for warming and cooking. My husband and I are not good at starting fires, so I would need to brainstorm with him to see which options would be easiest and best for our family.
I love the sparkie! (-:
And sorry for the late response. I’m on vacation and a bit behind! (-:
Been searching my dollar store for pocketbwarmers, but I guess it’s the wrong time of year… Will be adding those this fall.
If you end up getting the milk separate from your Q, I could add them to that order and you wouldn’t increase your shipping…
I hate being cold so this area is one we haven’t cut any corners. 🙂 We have a ton of waterproof matches, flint and steel, some quickfire packets, tons of heat packs and a couple “Stove in a Can.” Need to look into the heat cells some more…especially at that price they would be worth it! I want a variety of options for a variety of situations.
You sound like you’ve got this covered well! (-: