As I mentioned before, my emergency bag for the car is more of an inconvenience bag.  As in:  “Let’s go for a hike!  I need some sunscreen!” Or: “UGH, I am SO THIRSTY after this particularly sweaty riding lesson.  I wish I had flip flops and some water!”

The car kit would solve each of those problems.

Stored in a little tote bag behind the driver’s seat (where I also store reusable grocery bags), it contains the following:

*Hooded sweatshirt

*Hat

*Sunscreen

*2 Liters of water

*Soup with pop-top lid

*Emergency poncho and emergency foil blanket

*Granola bars and fruit snacks

*Canned fruit

*Spoon and fork

*Old flip-flops

Voila!  Now that I have some minimal emergency prep, I can gradually do a bit more.  For example, I am now the proud owner of four food-grade five-gallon buckets, and enough rice and beans to fill two of them.  But that is a story for later!

Oops!  I started this post back in December, and then never finished it….

Anywho, over the holidays I was working on improving my emergency preparedness situation.  Besides my grab-and-go backpack, I put together three bins that contain emergency supplies for three days:

The bins are stored in my garage, with nothing stacked on top of them, so that in the event of an emergency where I need to get the snap out of here, I can quickly toss them in the car.

One bin contains six gallons of water.

That is about as much as I can lift.  Since water doesn’t have an expiration date, I labeled each jug with the date that I purchased the water.  I’ll replace it at some point, but I haven’t yet researched how long bottled water lasts.  A while, I’m guessing.  As for additional water needs, there is a surplus store nearby that sells, well, all kinds of things, but it also sells food grade bins and barrels, so I plan to get a couple of water barrels to store water for home-emergency use.

The next bin contains food.

Camping stove and fuel (though fuel is not actually stored in the food bin, it is stored in the next bin), cooking pot, beef jerky, canned fruit, granola bars, crackers, and fruit snacks, and the black bag is full of canned soup and tuna and stuff like that.

Bin number three contains everything in the “other” category:  candles, matches, first aid kit (plus tea tree oil and hydrogen peroxide), hand sanitizer, laundry soap, rope, metal water bottle, dog food, a blanket that has one waterproof side (the black thing at the bottom of the pile on the right), towels, and extra clothes in the red bag.

Above are the contents of the red bag.  Jeans, a couple of pairs of socks, a couple of tank tops, tshirt, wool sweater, and leggings.  Not pictured are extra undies, as I didn’t really think it made sense to post pics of my undies on the interwebs.  Anywho, this clothing bag wouldn’t exactly get me through a snow storm (which is fine, since we don’t get snow here), but if I was in a situation where I just needed fresh socks and a sweater, I’d be okay.  Plus, there are more warm clothes in my emergency backpack (which would also go along with the bins in an emergency), so between the two, I’d be covered.  Literally.

None of the bins are at capacity, so there is still room for more. I also plan to store my sleeping bag in this bin, since I rarely use it anyway.

Going forward, I plan to reevaluate my emergency goods every six months, replacing, adding and subtracting as needed.  Next up, the bag I keep in my car!

I mentioned before that I was working on revamping my emergency preparedness stuff.  It is all still a work in progress, but something is better than nothing!  Plus, I plan to take a look at it all every six months to rotate any soon-to-expire food or meds, and add or subtract anything.

The start of my emergency preparedness is my grab-and-go bag, or “bug out bag” in official preparedness terms.

The idea is that in an emergency type situation, I would grab the backpack (and pets) and get out of the house.  The backpack has a few basic supplies to help me out in the first day or so of a shiteous emergency, like an earthquake that wipes out my city.

Here are the contents:

And a breakdown of what is actually inside, by cagetory

 Pet Stuff:

* Cat carrier tote bag

* Cat harness and leash

* Dog leash

* Folding pet bowl

* Cat food

*Dog food

--Still need:  Extra pet bowl, copies of pet vaccinations and microchip records, towel for inside cat tote

Food/Water:

*2 Liter bottles of water

* 3 cans of soup w/ pop top lids

* Turkey jerky, granola bars, fruit snacks, peanut butter crackers

* Utensil set

 Misc:

*2 germ and dust proof masks

* 3 emergency ponchos, 3 emergency foil blankets

* Knit hat, gloves

* Duct tape

* Toilet paper, paper towels large garbage bags

Ziplock of personal items:

* Tissues

*Matches

*Vaseline

* Cotton balls, Q tips

* Tampons

* Soap

*Comb

* Sunscreen

* Lip balm with sunscreen

* Toothpaste, toothbrush, floss

* Wet wipes

* Gum

– Still need: tube of lip gloss,  you know, in case I get interviewed for the news. 

Ziplock of First Aid Stuff:

* Matches

* 3 instant cold packs

* Tweezers

* Advil and Pepto Bismol

*Band aids

* Gauze, gauze pads, gauze wraps

* Hand sanitizer

Other items still needed:

*Whistle

* Ear plugs

* Scissors or some kind of multi-tool

* Tarp

* Bandana(s)

* Copies of important documents

*Cash, including a roll of quarters

* Paper and pens

* Maybe move the change of clothes from Emergency House bin to backpack?  Or add a duplicate here?

* I also have two crank flashlight/radios- one that I keep next to my bed, and one that I keep in the car.  I either need a new one, or one of those two also need to be relcoated.

The backpack is stored on an easy-to access shelf, so that I can quickly grab it.

It certainly won’t save me from every disaster ever, but it is a place to start.  The next level consists of the three bins in my garage that I can either use in a home emergency, or throw in the car (in combination with the backpack) to get out of here….

During

One of my goals for this holiday season was to revamp my emergency preparedness situation.  I’ve had some sort of grab-and-go backpack for several years, but I didn’t have a system to update the contents, and I didn’t have any house-emergency storage.  So, over the past week I’ve been updating, stockpiling, and reading crazy stuff on the internet.

It is really fun.

First order of business was to inventory my backpack.  I had not even opened it in several years, and cleaned out a couple of medications  (Advil, Pepto-Bismol) that had actually expired in 2008.  (Related note, how does one dispose of expired meds?)

Step two was to start reading up on what else I should include.  I read about a million “Be Prepared!” sites from places like the Red Cross and FEMA, and then I ventured gradually into survivalist territory.  In fact, I spend most of last night reading a Mormon manual on preparation and survival that also included tips and tricks for surviving a nuclear explosion.  Luckily, I did not have nightmares.

One of the fanciest things I’ve learned is that my ready-to-go backpack has a fancy name:  The Bug Out Bag.  There are all kinds of survival websites devoted to the contents of the Bag, and I feel fancy pants that I’ve had some version of one for at least five years.

Anywho, back to the prep.

Reading the survivalist recommendations are a bit intimidating, and also a bit unrealistic.  Urban/suburban Northern Californian that I am, I am likely not going to find myself needing to build a snow shelter.  Nor do I plan to learn to use and include a handgun or shotgun.  So, my prep is tailored to my situation.

I have three separate emergency stockpiles.

1.  The “bug out bag,” aka: the backpack that I can grab and run with.

2. Main emergency kit, stored in bins so that I can either use them at home, or easily throw them in the car and go.

3.  A small car kit, with minimal supplies.

Each kit is based on what are realistically the most likely emergencies I could prepare for.  While many of the survival websites and the Mormon guide are basically preparing for the end of the world as we know it, I’m starting a bit smaller.

Realistically, situations that are likely to require an emergency kit around here are a house fire or a really terrible earthquake that would take this area out, Katrina-style.

My prediction is that in most emergency situations, I’d be able to load up my car with my backpack and house bins and get to somewhere else.

The backpack is the primary emergency kit.  It has food, water, a first aid kit, pet supplies, toiletries, etc.  It has the main first aid kit, so it is set up to be combined with the house/car supplies.

The house supplies are in three bins.  The original plan was one giant bin, and then I realized (after purchasing said bin) that that was ridiculous, because the filled bin was far too heavy for me to move.  Instead, I settled on three regular sized storage bins which will be stored in the garage and fit quickly and easily into the car.  The house bins contain the minimum to keep me (plus two dogs and a cat) fed for three days.

Bin number one contains water.  I have six gallons in there now, and may be able to squeeze a few more in and still make it lift-able.  We’ll see.

Bin number two contains food.  In there is a small camp stove, canned foods, packaged foods, etc.  I’m still working on the food accessories– a small cooking pot, a bowl, etc.

Bin number three contains supplies, and is still the most in-progress.  So far there is a change of clothes, candles, dog and cat food, additional first aid supplies, etc.  I have a rarely used sleeping bag that I’m pretty sure it will fit in there, too.

The car bag is the smallest, and is almost preparation for inconvenience rather than emergency.  There is water, food, utensils, a sweatshirt and hat, sunscreen, shoes, and a mini rain-poncho.  I also have a blanket with a waterproof backing.  Already in the car I have a crank flashlight/radio.  The car bag is more for an event like:  “Oh, the road is closed and I am really hungry and kinda cold.  I need a snack and a sweatshirt while I take this hour-long rural detour.”  Or: “Wow!  The weather is amazing!  Let’s go to the beach!  I have a blanket and sunscreen in the car!”  We don’t have snow here, and when I travel to the snow, I already am in the habit of throwing in extra emergency stuff, just in case.

There are still several more odds and ends I am assembling, plus I need to make copies of important documents for the main backpack, and gather a supply of cash (including a roll of quarters, the websites say!).

Once these preliminary supplies are complete, and now that I’ve whet my appetite on bigger and badder survival stuff, I have my eye on some food-grade five gallon bins to fill with rice and beans and tuck away in a currently unused storage corner…

But in the meantime, I’ll post the full contents of each of my kits once they’re finished!