Welcome!
Welcome to week #6 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 add utensils and such to your kits last week. Being able to eat is essential!
Week #6: Eating
So, you planned, bought and organized food in weeks #4 and #5. And last week, you put what you needed to prepare that food into your kit. Now, you will need to have a way to eat it! Many mess kits come with a cup or two and you can eat out of the pots. Some even come with utensils. However, if you have a large family, you may need more plates, bowls, cups and utensils than 1 mess kit provides. But, you don’t need to carry multiple mess kits (you only need 1-2 pots, right?) A few paper goods should do the trick!
Here are a few suggestions of things you might want to consider. Many of these items you should be able to find already in your home or for very little at the grocery store (paper goods). But one item I really love is the spork (spoon, fork and knife in one). I think it is worth the money!
Suggestions / Ideas:
- Cup
- Bowl
- Plate
- Sippy cup for very young kids
- Bottle for baby
- Utensils (knife, fork, spoon)
- Wipes or napkins
What we have done in our family:
How About You?
Leave me a comment and tell me how you will eat 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 #5: Food Prep | Week #7: Clothes | 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 have a few items set aside for our family mess kit, but it is mostly stuff from our kitchen that we have replaced with new items. We are looking to get some metal cups that serve the purpose of letting us cook in them and drink from them. They would work great over one of those little fuel tab stove/heaters. The kids also find it a treat to get to use their sporks, which are color coded to avoid arguments over which belongs to who in our house.
Yes, anything with a dual purpose is fabulous Brandon! And I love the color coding idea!
I have some plastic plates, cups and silverware that came in a wicker picnic basket. The basket got wet and I had to throw it away. The plates have been severely abused. I saw a very nice set at Wal-Mart (camping dept)that has a complete service for 4 that stores in it’s own tub and since I have several grandchildren and some of them might be with us I have thought about getting a couple of them. I love the pop up tent. I was thinking about buying one but winning one would be even better! 🙂
Good luck Brenda!
My husband and I just hit upon an idea this weekend as we were going through our camping equip and reevaluating what we have and what we need. I believe that it was last week when I told you about using the altoids can as a sewing kit. Well you can use the same thing for a small fishing tool kit or even an old medicine pill bottle. Some line (for a pole), weights, hooks maybe even a small bobber. If you have the opportunity then you can make your food last even longer and you can have fresh fish which you can cook in that tin foil you brought!! 🙂 There are folding rods that you can buy and even a child’s rod would work. Just had to share. There are so many good ideas that you and your readers have that it inspires creative thinking! 🙂
Thanks Brenda! Yes, I love all the meshing of ideas / minds that goes on in this series! It is awesome!
I’ve seen some great little mess kits and I really need to add them to my bigger kits. We have plastic items, like plates and cups, but we really each need a mess kit to make it easier and more compact.
I also like to have plastic baggies and aluminum foil in my bag for cooking/clean up. Especially if you can make a meal that can be served twice (grilled chicken then into soup)! Now, to add sporks to my growing list of shelf reliance stuff I love!
Yes! Plastic baggies are a great idea! Thanks Jennifer!
We purchased melamine dishes where they are so sturdy, along with some metal items. We also have real utinsels that we purchased at a thrift store. We up and running, ready to eat, and now we just need the tent.
We have foldable tupperware from tupperware. It great you can use the lid for an extra plate the bowl part can be used for a plate if needed or pop it out to various sized bowl. I can fit a spoon inside of it. I will be looking for a fork and knife to fit in it as well.I also have candy stored in it to keep it water proof. The best things are its light and can fold flat as to not take up a lot of room and is multi purpose. We can use them to store left over food if needed or to gather berries ect. Can also put napkins in them and the will stay dry and clean.
Sounds like a fabulous product! Where did you pick it up? Directly from tupperware?
Yes. I bought my first one directly from tupperware. However I got really lucky and found a set of six at goodwill for 2. they’re great for sending food to work with my husband as well and they don’t take up a lot of room in the cabinets. I have an old set of spoons that fit really nicely one in each. I haven’t had luck with a knife or fork yet because they’re too long but I’m hoping a trip to the thrift store will fix yhat. I have a spoon some pez(they are more flat then round) and a napkin in each.
Hi, I am super new too this, and I have to be honest, I got started by watching Doomsday Preppers. I am lost in several areas. I believe my hubby and I (both around 60 yrs) are a bit to out of shape to bug-out so more or less will stay at home. I have most supplies but maybe not in the quantities I need. We are responsible for 2 elderly mom’s, a single-divorced daughter and a special nees granddaughter. I don’t believe out eldest daughter, SIL Granddaughter and new babyboy (almost here) could make it here, (55miles away) but have thought about everyone. The areas I am concerned are cooking, I have the food,and one very small burner stove. Toilets, are another concern.
And then when I read about the possibility of a very long bug-in, it boggles the mind. I have some lanterns, batteries and candles etc. Medical supplies. Supplies for the animals etc. But I am still studying to learn about the things I am list about. Thanks for listening, [email protected] ( oh yeah, we live outside of Seattle, so weather is also a concern.
My family and I plan on purchasing a mess kit, meal kit and sporks to add to our bug out bags. We also plan to add wipes (will have a lot because of the baby)/napkins, and washable/reusable towels. We have baby bottles/formula as well if anything were to happen to me and I will not be able to breastfeed. Also we plan to add foil because that has many uses in itself. It can be used for cooking, as a plate/bowl or even a cup!
Oh yes, foil is fabulous! And so lightweight!
We have a few of the small mess kits, but I would like a bigger one since we are a family of 8. I have a fork/spoon/knife combo in my pack, but need to find something for the children to eat with for their packs. I love this series, it helps to keep things into perspective. I can get a bit overwhelmed when trying to put everything together all at once.
Thanks Vicki! I really hope it does just that: put things in perspective. Being overwhelmed never helped anyone!
Just looking at the list, and maybe I missed it, but with the cookware, is there a spatula or cook spoon? I didn’t see one in the picture. Adding that to our list if not
The cookware pictured above does not include a spatula / spoon, but there may be some available that do!
Great idea, Misty, to have a list. Also, after reading the other the posts, I realized I need to have a few more ideas for my two little grandsons. I babysit them 5 days a week, 7 – 4:30.
@Marcia: Aluminum foil! You could wrap things and then just throw them into a fire pit! Ooo…I like the idea. I'm going to add it to the list of possibilities. Thanks! And, I've got plenty of the same KFC packets!
@Brandon and Kristy: I'm sure you'd SURVIVE without them, but they would be nice to have!
We don't have much in this area, just some old bowls. I need to add a mess kit or two and some plastic products.
I have saved plastic forks/knives that come pre-packaged with a napkin that comes from KFC or other fast food restaurants. Oops, I guess that it not a good thing to admit to . . .
I have a set of the speckled camp dinnerware (purchased at Wal-Mart) which included 4 plates, bowls, cups, and silverware. I put them in a small plastic container with a handle – I also put in salt and pepper shakes, wipes, 2 small sauce pans . . . although. you can cook in the dinner bowls and cups. Aluminium foil always comes in handy.
@Amber: You are welcome! And yes, it is great to have it all together, but one other option is just making a list of everything you would want to grab if you had to evacuate. That way at least you are scrambling to remember everything at the last minute! And I need to get some collapsible bowls! What a great idea!
Thanks for all of the great ideas…we have everything that you have mentioned, but it would be nice to have it organized into one place! We love our sporks and collapsible bowls (we use these for backpacking). Each of us have a camping mug that has a lid on it, so that it can be used for hot/cold drinks.
@ dhofstra: I would love a wood fired bake oven! So cozy!
@trekteri: thanks for the tip about pets! One of the last weeks of the series is adding anything specific you might need for young babies or pets. But I will add your tip to this specific post as well.
@Stormy: Good idea to have disposable liners! Much easier cleanup; saves on water!
We have a mess kit already. We plan on just adding a spare plastic bowl, plate, and utensils. For the baby we are going to add a playtex bottle with a box of disposable liners and one regular bottle.
I love the cook set! Even though I am planning just for my sister and I. I would also like to add that if you have pets,then you can carry the collaspsible pet bowls that are basically cloth on the outside with a water-proof liner
I have a wood fired bake oven which is right above my fireplace, of course I can't take it with me but then I live in the country and would try to sit tight right at home with wood heat, a creek out back for filtered water & food in the cellar.
Heidi,
Where did you get your collapsible water bottles? I'm interested in getting some!
I don't have any plates or cups or anything utensils in our kit. I love the spork idea, those look good! I think I need to get a good sharp knife and a good steel to sharpen it with in there, it will be really necessary. I ordered some collapsible water bottles a while back, they have yet to arrive but those will be good to have in there.
meek_heidi@yahoo DOT com
@Nichole: Yay! I'm so glad you are finding it helpful!
I don't know how I ever forgot about adding sippy cups with three toddlers in my family. Thank you! I LOVE this series!
thenewfarmwife (at) gmail (dot) com