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.
We are also adding Barilla Whole Grain Mezze Penne with Tomato and Basil Sauce which is a 60 second warm up. The fiber in it is approximately 40 percent. The amazing thing is it tastes homemade!
I really like the Thrive foods for their quality and the basis of their food orientation goals so I am excited to try Thrive Express. If you can stock good food like Thrive before an emergency happens, I would chose to do that!
Thanks Melanie! That Barilla sounds amazing!
I just found your blog thanks to Pintrest, and I love it! It has motivated me to update our emergency kits. I started working on our important documents binder last night. I plan to finish it this week. I appreciate the info and motivation your blog has given me to get things in order! Thank you!
You are welcome Debra! I’m so glad to know it has been helpful!
I can’t wait to catch up on the series! I’ve subscribed so I get the updates via email. Thanks again for all your work!
You are welcome Debbie! Thanks for joining us!
Great tip about the gum, Misty. I had never thought of that but it makes perfect sense.
Brigette
We are adding Mountain House meals to our kits. They are the freeze dried backpacking pouches of food and we got them in a big box from Costco. 🙂
Let me know how you like them Marie!
I just found your site! My Mom made me a small 72 hour kit before I got married 6.5 years ago, so it’s definitely time to refresh! I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, but I’m excited to start!
Yay! Welcome Jackie!
Thanks for the list of food to avoid, I would have never thought about things crushed or popping open!
No problem Tiffany! I just learned from experience! It was a mess!
I’m the only person in my family who would eat tuna, but I love the suggestion to mix individual cups of tuna into other single-serving foods.
I just rotated out my shelf stable sausage and realized I didn’t replace it so I need to do that and I’m going to get the tuna pouches. Great idea.
We each added a “comfort food” that is quicker to cook. My husbands was Hormel Complete and mine is Uncle Ben’s Chicken Rice (90 seconds to cook). We have not tried the Thrive Express yet, but I will be ordering some. It sounds wonderful!
90 seconds!? Amazing!
I found this site a cople of weeks ago as my family and I are just putting a kit together. Thanks for the awseome suggestions they are very helpful. Ipicked up some old el paso pouches of black beans, rice, and chicken at the grocery store. The ingredients are all precooked and are designed to be microwaved to warm. I tried some cold and they are edible and are much better heated up in a pan. We also have freeze dried fruit and my plan is to look for some veggies this week.
Sounds great Kim! I’ve glad you’ve found some helpful info!
I’m actually still working on last weeks. I’ve got breakfast covered and have lunch on my grocery list. I also got my order with my backpack, water purification, and water bottle in it. I’m hoping to place another order and add some fruit. I’ve stuck extra clothes for the kids in their backpacks. I’ve found that big yogurt and cottage cheese containers work great for holding granola bars. I’m also working on my important information binder.
Sounds like you’ve done a LOT Natalie! Wow.
Technically I did this week’s assignment last week…I ordered some Thrive Express. Now I need to go back and do the breakfast and lunch. I will definitely do some FD fruit pouches, but I need to go back and read the last post for more ideas. I don’t really buy a whole lot of processed foods (granola bars and prepackaged oatmeal), so I’m really bad at rotating them when I put them in there. I will keep trying to come up with a plan.
Have you tried using the FD fruits and veggies as baby food? I’ve heard you can take the crumbs at the bottom of the can, or just blend it up and add water. My baby will be starting solids soon and I’m wondering how this would work.
Yes! Yes! Just crush it to a powder and add water to make it the consistency you want and it is fabulous! Same nutrition as fresh!
Great info here. We really need to stock up our food stores and there are some good ideas here. Thanks.
Thanks Tim!
I recently found a suggestion for adding cured hard Italian salami to your kit. I wouldn’t solely rely on if for your nutritional needs since it is SO salty, but it would make a pretty nice addition to a kit to add variety from tuna, chicken or jerky. You can eat it with crackers if you are on the move, or toss it into rice or pasta if you are able to cook a little bit.
My kit currently contains jerky, ramen (takes longer but can be soaked rather than cooked if needed, peanut butter crackers, fruit snacks, oatmeal (see ramen) and hard candies. I also would love to pick up some FD meals like Thrive Express or Mountain House. I don’t have a small camp stove…yet 🙂 … but when I do get one I plan on putting a few “just add water” meals in.
Maybe you’ll win a camp stove this week?……(-:
With the 2 person 72 hour kits you have the bars, but with two kids those will not work for three days. I have ordered a few thrive express packs (with my new Q) and also have a couple Mac n cheese and soup cans. I’m excited to just add the tribe express pouches to have a little extra food that is so light weight!
I’m glad Jennifer! I’ve loved the THRIVE express!
After last weeks post, I decided to purchase some food from your THRIVE store. It is supposed to be shipping soon. I can’t wait to try it and stock up on our faves! Thanks!
Thank you for the support Lacey! I hope you enjoy it!
I just found your blog and the OCD organizer in me is in love. I’m so excited to get our family’s survival gear in order!
Glad to hear there is someone else as OCD as me out there! (-:
Welcome Tightwad! I love the Homestead Revival! I'm working on her idea of having a few shelf stable meals all ready to go with all the ingredients TOGETHER in a tupperware or something. She has great stuff!
And I think the Payday candy bar is a GREAT idea!
Glad to have found you from the Homestead Revival site. I have had kits for quite some time but am always looking for good food ideas for them.
In our kits now we have Jif-to-Go individual servings (3 to a pkg), chicken pouches, raisins, instant soup, instant oatmeal, 6 water bottles, sm cans of fruit, and a Payday candy bar for a mental boost.
Right now I have nothing! I'm new here but am so glad I found this site. I will be stocking up on water this week, seems like a good place to start.
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I will be adding more water this week. I went to my local Kmart today because they are doubling coupons. I got several packs of mouse traps for free, those are good to have around! I need to restock on peanut butter so I am putting that on my list of things to do.
This week (once I go to the store), I plan on adding- peanut butter (already have several jars on hand), saltine crackers, beef jerky, protein bars, Chicken in a pouch, and dried fruit.
I already have FD meats, fruits, and veggies in my kit. I regularly eat the tuna pouches also because they are ready to go and easy to use. (Discovery: Mixing a tuna pouch into a shells and cheese cup that was prepared in the microwave is an easy dinner for one!) Some manufacturers also sell pouches of ready to eat white and brown rice and other flavors that include veggies. Super easy and fairly light weight. Items I want to add to my kit and regular storage are the high calorie emergency bars and the just add water entrees.
I really like the foil pouch packed tuna. You can mix it up in the pouch and eat from it too. They have a long shelve life too. No need for a can opener..