Welcome!
Welcome to week #5 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 you were able to purchase and organize all your food last week.
Week #5: Food Prep
If the foods you added to your 72 hour kit require any sort of preparation, you will want to be sure you have the tools necessary to make use of your food. Much of the food I suggested did not require any prep and it is a great goal to have most of the food in your survival kit meet this ideal. But this isn’t always possible. If necessary, add everything you will need to prepare your food to your kit this week.
Ideas / Options:
Consider the pros and cons of the following options as you decide which will work best for your family.
- Can Opener
- Pocket Knife
- Scissors
- Multi-tool (these could be used to open food).
- Stove in a Can
- Wing Stove
- Mess Kit
- Cook Set
- Aluminum foil (Wrap food in foil and throw it in a fire to cook without needing any cookware! Easy, cheap, light and small!)
What we have done in our family:
Not much! Since the food we included does not require any prep, we did not need to add any of these items! However, in the past I have had a multi-tool and wing stove in my kit because of their light weight.
How About You?
Leave me a comment and tell me how you will cook the food in your kit and what you will include to make that possible. What are you adding? Why? What will you be doing this week?
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| Week #4: Purchase & Organize Food | Week #6: Eating Your Food | 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.
Misty,
I was wondering what the prices for shipping are with Thrive. Also, do they do a Free Shipping Deal for Black Friday that you know of? There are some great prices for a lot of the items you mention but I don’t want to pay a lot in shipping. Thanks!
Sure Sara!
Right now shipping is as follows:
$0 – $80: $7.99
$80.01 – $140: $10.99
$140.01 – $200: $14.99
$200.01 – $400: $20.99
$400.01 +: 6% of order subtotal
They don’t typically offer much shipping discounts. They already supplement a large portion of the shipping cost. And shipping is always based on price, not weight. So, you could have cans of wheat (heavy, but inexpensive) shipped for less than cans of blueberries (light, but expensive) which is actually really nice. One way to maximize your shipping dollar is to purchase just under a shipping bracket. For example, $79 or $139 etc. The best way (if you can afford it) is to always order over $400 b/c then shipping is 6% (instead of 7%-10% when you order less than that) of the total cost of the items. So, if you can order less often, but place larger orders, you will save on shipping. (-:
And, since shipping is based on price, you will pay less to ship the exact same items during a sale (like Black Friday) simply b/c the price of the products will be less.
I hope that helps!
I just found your great series here and was wondering what week you are currently on. I would like to be able to enter into the contests that you have (if you still do them). But anyway, I’ve been reading through them and really like them, it is going to be very helpful.
Have you tried out the pans in the Mess Kit yet? If so, did you have problems with sticking or burning? I’m really curious about how such light-weight pans would work. They look like a great deal! I’m also really excited about the Heat Cells. I think they would be great to keep on hand here in Missouri for when the power goes out during an ice storm!
Currently, none of our food requires heating, but it may in the future. We have 3 cans of sterno, a small folding stove, and a small mess kit.
We’ve got some foil for a solar stove, and I’ll be whipping up a backup for us tonight: cotton balls impregnated with petroleum jelly to use as firestarters. Thankfully, we have a good deal of dried wood if we have to bug-in, courtesy of a storm knocking down branches from one of our backyard trees.
I am excited to win the stove in a can – it looks pretty cool! Thanks Misty! I am also getting a wing stove for the other adult bag and a few heat cells and a small mess kit for each adult bag. I also already have some waterproof matches and magnesium firestarter in each adult bag.
LOVE heat cells!
Just found your site through Pinterest! I’ve been prepping for over a year but find that it is a little haphazard as I get distracted easily. Thank you so much for the time you have put into this weekly breakdown and for re-running it WITH the giveaways!:) I am reorganizing our BOBs but I am ADDING $ to each this week! Bless you!
So glad it has been helpful Katjo!
I have a multi-tool in each of our bags, and a can opener in the two adult bags. Hope to get a small cook-stove in each bag this week.
My hubby just got a bunch of nifty gadgets from his best friend that we are going to put in our kits. A solar powered charger, a leatherman, a pocket knife. 🙂
I also went to the Thrive site and made a wish list. I’m going to slowly add those things as we get a little cash. 🙂
I just added a box of foil to the kit. Going to look into a wing stove and the Stove in a Can!! Remembered to bring my can opener back home from work…
Each adult has a can opener and we also added a 12 in 1 Scissors to my pack. Each adult also has a Steno can in their packs for heating up food. The 16 piece cooking set would be awesome. For camping and our survival packs….Fingers crossed!! Thanks again for the great info!!
You are welcome Tiffany!
We need to start slow because of $, but something is better than nothing, right? I plan to get a leatherman type knife, a small mess kit, and a couple of heat cells for each adult pack this week.
Something is ALWAYS better than nothing and starting slow is still starting Natalie!
We have a fuel cell/stove in a can and a can opener. Though I’ve been adding more Thrive express meals to my backpack to lighten the load, so we’ll need a lot fewer canned goods. I have a couple of small mess kits as well, one in each adult backpack.
Thanks again for the great information!
YOu are welcome Katie. I’m glad it is helpful!
If we loose power and are staying home, we have multiple ways to cook and we will have all the cooking utensils we will need. at home we can cook on an open fire outside, our gas grill, our camp chef stove, our turkey fryer, a coleman 2 burner stove or in our RV. I am going to try to build a solar oven too. If we have to bug out, we will hopefully take our RV that is equiped with a stove and is packed with all the utensils needed for cooking. I will be adding a stacking set of pans, a pot holder/oven mitt, a mess kit, a cooling/baking rack to use on an open fire, foil pouches, matches, home made fire starters, a can opener and a knife(Swiss Army/multi funtional tool) I have made a penny stove made from a pop can and some alcohol for fuel to put in our BOB. I’m sure there are more things we could add, but I feel this is a good start. Thanks for some good ideas.
Sounds like an incredible start Dawn! What will you do if you have to bug out on foot?
I will have to consult my husband on this one…he does all the cooking (lucky me!).
Yes, VERY lucky you Heather!
Congratulations, Lauren!!
Since last time, I’ve added some stove-in-a-cans, a wing stove & some heat cells. We already had the sewing kit, pocket knives/tools, crank-style can opener and a scissors-and-more tool. I’d still like to get a portable camp stove, but feel pretty prepared to cook with what I have. (We’ll be able to warm baby food for our first grandbaby that’s on the way in Nov! :-)) As always, thanks for the weekly reminders. Our kits are really well-stocked because of your blog.
Congrats on the soon to be new grandbaby Deb! And you are always so nice to congratulate everyone! Thanks!
We have a small sterno set for our backpacks, and two different camping stoves in case we were driving out or staying home. If possible we would use fridge and freezer stuff before getting intour 72 hr kits , which would need a bigger unit to cook on.
Right now, we’ve just got matches and a prayer for finding wood to burn. I’m hoping to get a few Heat Cells, but I think I will wait to purchase them until I have a few other items I’d like to get, so I can save on shipping costs.
Sounds smart Erica!
I have a camping stove and a spare propane tank with adapter for camping stove use. It should last quite a while, however, this is not a good solution for on-the-go use. I am looking to add a mess-kit and maybe some fuel cells for my survival supply.
Yes, good to have. We have one too, but not ideal for on-the-go. Bit by bit though!
We purchased a propane grill for outdoors last year and I made sure it had a single burner on the side for cooking.
What will you use if you can’t stay home MarySue?
I have a Jetboil which holds 4 cups of water and boils water in less than four minutes. It has a self ignition, so no matches required. It also holds everything inside of itself (such as the fuel canister and components of the unit). It also comes with a pot cozy to keep your water hot longer. I also put inside of it a spork, a small square of a scotch brite pad for cleaning, a super compressed camp towel (the size of a fifty cent piece), a few matches just incase the switch stops working at some point. It also has a cup/bowl. I love this thing and hope to get another for my husbands back pack. https://www.amazon.com/Jetboil-Personal-Cooking-System-Orange/dp/B005EM37S6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369946596&sr=8-1&keywords=jetboil+sumo
Sounds like a great little tool to have Vicki! Thanks for the link.
For my family I found some camping supplies (lanterns, multitool, dog water bottle/bowl and a combo spoon/fork/knife) all for like $1-3 at the target dollar spot this week.
LOVE Target Dollar Spot!
We have a few heat cells and a wing stove in our kits, and this week I am adding a mess kit!
My husband has a backpacking stove, so I will have him pull that out this week and make sure we have fuel for it. We will probably buy some more fuel to go with that stove. He also has at least one pot that goes with it. Better get out all our backpacking stuff this week! It will really help pull our kit together!
Yes, a lot of our kit stuff doubles as my husbands backpacking stuff too. (-:
My husband and friends think I’m a little crazy with my “box’o’stuff” but it’ll get us through a couple days on our own. There is a Space Bag that lives right next to it in our walk out basement with blankets and sweatshirts, and we have backpacks with nearly identical contents in case we get separated. I’ve discovered that the best things Clothing-Wise are the As-Seen-On-TV Forever Lazy Suits. We each have one in our backpack and they are full body fleece suits with a double-ended zipper up the front, a zippered flap in the back and a hood you can tie. I wouldn’t wear it on its own, but with sweats over top of it, or leggings/tights and a tight-fitting shirt underneath, you might look silly but you will be warm!
I’ve included a lot of ready-to-eat food, but also have camping equipment we can use to cook.
Smart Leigh!