Welcome!
Welcome to week #4 in the “72 Hour Kit Ideas: A week by week approach” series.
This series is all about making it simple and do-able 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 6 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 an e-book. Purchasing the e-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.
Download “Your Own 72 Hour Kit Plan” E-Book Now!
Last Week:
I hope all of you were able to plan the food you will include in your kit last week.
Week #5: Purchase & Organize Food
Your food will need to be well organized so that you know what to eat when. If you pack it today, you won’t remember tomorrow! So this week, purchase and then find a way to organize your food in your packs.
Ideas / Options:
Consider the pros and cons of the following options as you decide which will work best for your family.
Milk Jug / Other Gallon Container Method
- All your food for your entire 3 days is in one place together with a label for what to eat when.
Bag Per Day Method
- Put each person’s food in one bag or each day’s food in one bag.
What We Have Done In Our Family:
We use the bag method. I found it easier that way. I like having each day’s food together with a label on the bag telling us exactly what to eat for each meal. Each bag also has someone’s name on it, hopefully making it simple to find food when needed.
I did not include anything that is too easy to smash (no Ritz or Saltine crackers, etc.), so I’m not overly concerned about that, but I do pack our food at the very top of our kits for that reason.
If you bought the same food I did, you can download and print the labels here:
- Download in pdf format here (you will be able to print only, not edit).
- Download in Microsoft Word format here (you will be able to make changes as needed and then print).
How about you?
Leave me a comment and tell me how you’ve decided to add food to your kit. What are you adding? Why? What will you be doing this week?
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| Week #3: Plan Your Food | Week #5: Food Prep | Week #1: Water to Carry | 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 have a several Thrive Express packs and some MREs. I like the suggestion of vacuum sealing everything to make it last longer. I know they have a ton of vacuum seal machines at the thrift stores and that is going to be my next goody to pick up.
Great ideas! I am ordering some of the Thrive Express meals and freeze dried fruit this week. I am also going to get some of the tuna pouches and peanut butter and crackers. I will also include a can of formula for our infant.
Great plan Lauren!
We bought a box of Mountain House freeze dried meals from costco at one point. We would like to add some tuna pouches and a couple of canned items to the stash as well. 🙂
We are just getting started, so we plan to add some cheap, easy to get items like tuna pouches and canned beans. Can’t wait to get it all together!
Sounds smart Rebekah. That is just how I started!
Great tips. I currently have freeze dried foods, but plan to broaden with some of your suggestions. I need to start considering nutritious content rather than just calories alone.
Makes it a bit tougher, but I think considering that is worth it!
I just realized that I made a huge miscalculation on the number of lunches I packed in each of our backpacks. I had three dinners and breakfasts in each, but only one lunch in each pack. I don’t know what I was thinking!!!! So glad I am going through this series again and double checking things. Thank you! We have both Thrive express and Mountain House meals in our packs. I hope to get more Thrive Express meals to replace the Mountain House eventually.
Glad you caught that Vicki!
I have decided to put my flip top lidded cans of pork & beans in a sealed plastic bag within each backpack’s plastic bag of food to make certain there are no unexpected explosions 🙂
Good idea Diane! From personal experience….
I plan on adding the little tuna/chicken salad meals to our stock. I also am adding things that I know my family likes. I don’t want them to be completely miserable if we are in a miserable situation.
Does anyone do any couponing to help add to your kit?
I actually do a lot of couponing Libby but mostly for my general food storage, not really for my kit. (-:
I am using this as my time to rotate my items in my packs. I have had the opportunity to use some of the items from my 72 hour kits in my vehicles and my camper and boy did they come in handy! I was able to get some of the Thrive express meals and I am gradually replacing the food in the kits to include the Thrive Express meals.
After seeing Katrina and then Hurricane Sandy, I want to be a bit longer on my food so that I can go longer than 3 days as in truly big disasters it seems like 3 days might be a bit tight to be able to get to more food sources and the Thrive express meals are very light weight and don’t take up much space so I can add more food.
I am also making up some meals that I vacuum seal using Thrive food that I order on the Q each month. I ordered my first new sauce mix. That will really help in making up the meals! 🙂 I use Thrive food all of the time in my regular cooking and find it great! We truly can’t tell the difference between Thrive freeze dried foods and frozen or canned foods and since we travel in a RV, we can keep quite a nice pantry without the weight associated with canned foods or the space needed for frozen foods. Great stuff!
Enjoying the series as usual!
Glad you are enjoying it!
I am packing dehydrated fruits too and I like your idea about oatmeal. Only concern with the oatmeal is having enough water to cook it. If water supply is limited, not sure what else I could do with the oatmeal to make it edible, other than just eat it dry (if that would even be possible).
Yes, that is why I’ve got lots of ways to purify / filter water in my pack too!
Just discovered your site. I have been looking for something like this since Y2K 😉 Thanks for all your hard work. I do have a question about food. Our family on a strict gluten, dairy and sugar free diet. I noticed that all of the Thrive meals are things we cannot eat. In fact, it looks like all we would be able to eat would be tuna pouches, jerky, freeze dried fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds. Have you ever found meals like the Thrive brand that are not so heavy in the sugar/carb/dairy category?
Most premade meals will have at least one of your restricted items…
However, most THRIVE is actually sold as individual ingredients which allows you to use it to make your own recipes that fit your needs. THRIVE actually has an entire gluten free grain line. (-:
Thrive’s new sauces are also gluten free so you can use the sauce mixes with other ingredients and vacuum seal them to make your own meals. 🙂
I think for us, I am going to focus on food for our bugout bags first. I think we are going to stick with dried foods for our packs because they are so lightweight and have a long shelf life. Then once we get the bugout bags finished, I will have more piece of mind and be able to focus on stocking up on items for our pantry.
I am so glad to have found your website! I have been trying to create a survival stockpile for my family but the task has been very overwhelming! I love how your site breaks this huge process down into a manageable weekly process! I will be following you weekly. I also really like how you give lots of options and then tell what you and your family have decided to go with. Thanks for all of the great info!
YOu are welcome Jennifer. I’m so glad you’ve found it helpful! And I think your plan of focusing on bug out bags first is a smart one!
This is my first time to your website – nice! Had no idea about the THRIVE Express – so I will check them out. I don’t know if others worry about this – but I’ve begun adding a crate of canned cat food – not for the family of course – but the furry members – I want to make sure I have them covered too!
Yes! Many others worry about it! Check out week #22 which is all about preparing for you pet!
i am packaging rice and dry beans in vacuum package then putting them in a five gallon bucket with those o2 packets
Great! That will be fabulous is you are able to stay at home. Anything you can fit in a 72 hr kit though?
I’m hoping to pick up several packages of Thrive Express during Shelf Reliance’s Black Friday Sale. What are your kid’s favorite Thrive Express Meals?
They like the chili, the chicken noodle soup, the scalloped potatoes and the pasta carbonara the best.
Misty,
This has been such a wonderful series. I’m putting together our emergency preparedness kit and binder for my husband for Christmas. These have been most helpful. He’s a former Marine and he likes to be prepared, but not organized, and I’m more organized. So thanks for getting us on point.
Sounds like you are a good match for each other Laura!
As always I am loving it, Thank you!!
Does anyone have any suggestions for lightweight high protein vegetarian foods?
Peanut butter is about the only thing we have in our kit but it’s not real light weight.
We have lots of options for good carbs but are definitely lacking in protein. Probably not a major concern for short term but I’d love suggestions.
You might consider freeze dried beans? They are lightweight and take a lot less water than regular beans. You can read more about them here:
https://simplefamilypreparedness.com/product-highlight-instant-beans/
Kale is high in protein, you can dehydrate them and make chips out of them. Chia seeds are really good for protein and omega 3. Plus they are light weight. They are a really good “survival” food. Which reminds me, I need to get some soon.
I went to Big Lots and picked up various pouch meals like couscous and instant potatoes to find out what my 2yo will eat. We already have a bunch of Mountain House meals but would like to add some “normal” food to our kit.
Comfort food, or foods we know we like is very important!
I just rotated out old MRE’s that had expired and am replacing them with freeze dried meals. We also have some cliff bars in each back pack as a quick ready to eat option.
Those cliff bars probably pack a lot more punch than the little granola bars I’ve got Vicki. Good idea!
right now I’ve got canned goods, tuna, granola bars, and peanut butter crackers. I plan to eventually get freeze dried food, but I’ll have to slowly by it because of the cost of it! the thrive meals sound great too, but not sure if they are worth the money. anyone out there try the thrive meals? thoughts? freeze dried seems to be the best and light weight! also formula and rice cereal for my 4 month old!
The THRIVE meals are great, but definitely a bit on the pricier side (although much less than a trip for fast food!). I would recommend adding more affordable things and then maybe switching out in a year or two…
I just got a vacuum sealer for an early Christmas present. We are going to buy dry components from Sam’s or Costco and make pre-made meals. We have some Thrive meat that is open, so we will add that to make hamburger helpers and other mock box meals. They will be good for a few years and all we will have to do is add water. They also make an easy fast meal during the week to cycle threw them.
Fabulous idea! Similar to the THRIVE Express, but probably less expensive and more personalized!
I just added some ramen oodles and some canned beans and veges and fruit and of course spaghettios!! 🙂 I never thought of the tuna packets or the canned tuna/chicken/ham.
We JUST started making our 72 hour kits, we homeschool and we are using this as an opportunity to talk about emergency preparedness. Love your blog! Would love to win!!! Thanks!
Smart! Good for you for involving your kids!
Nice idea with the freeze dried & tuna pouches. We had packed our kits from a boy scout list and there’s canned food in there. But since it will be heavier, I’m going to switch out to pouches. It includes meat sticks & jerky, as well, so we’ll keep those. Also, found that the pouch applesauce (with the straw mouthpiece) is a lil more sturdy that the cups. Plus I do like dried fruit. Thanks for the tips!
Yes, the applesauce pouch is better!
We have a lot of tuna/salmon packets that can be used for lunch or dinner. We also have a number of dried meals, like potatoes and soups. I would like to add some Thrive meals as well, since I tried them at a party and thought they were delicious.
I do have a question, though, I can’t seem to add the packets to my Q, is there a trick to doing that?
What packets are you talking about Katie?