Emergency Preparedness - 3 Minute Kits

I have been talking about emergency preparedness a lot lately. I will continue to do so. I think it is an important topic and I am excited that our family is in a position to plan for the future - beyond how I will feed the kids tonight.

If you are feeling overwhelmed about preparing your family for emergencies I have a great place to start. 

First take a deep breath. I must say this a hundred times a day.

Second how about a 3 minute kit?

A 3 minute kit is everything that you will need during the first three minutes of an emergency. 

What you will need is:

A whistle - this is so you can make enough noise so everyone knows where you are.

A light - so you can see and so others can see you.

Leather gloves - so you do not hurt your hands on something hot, or sharp.

Shoes - so you are not walking around bear feet on debris, or even just standing outside.

Lightweight clothes - lightweight so they fit in the bag, clothes so you are covered and not outside in your PJs (or worse naked).

Combine the material in a bag and tie it to your bed.

Here is what L's kit looked like.

Thankfully L has a million hand me downs so I picked an outfit she would not miss and put in an old pair of tennis shoes that are worn but still fit. We found a pack of leather work gloves at the hard wear store for $7 dollars for a pack of 5 (we gave grandma a pair also). We got the whistles from the same hard wear store for a dollar each. I opted to not put in flashlights. J raided out 72 hour kits to steal the flashlights so he can read at night. They just would not last in the bag. So instead I ordered light sticks. These emit light for 12 hours. Although I am hoping he does not get into them, if he does I charge him a dollar for a new one and we move on. Easier then a flashlight, and fulfills the same purpose.

I could not decide on a good bag to use to attach them. I may have to change it in the future. However, for now I decided to use plastic grocery bags. Cloth grocery bags would work also, but my kids could not untie them or rip them in a real emergency. (That is our biggest obstacle to emergency Preparedness - making it usable in an emergency but not so easy to get into they play with it.)

Here is J's kit tied to his bed. The girls have theirs tied on the side of their bunk bed. I have mine on the floor next to my bed since I do not have a frame. Now that we have finished our 3 minute kit we get to start working on our 3 day kits.