What would you put in your own disaster preparedness pack?

[kman]

Over on this thread about the Kraft Prep Packs, donaldjcheek suggested we ask everyone what they would include in their own 3-day Disaster Preparedness pack. So let's talk about it here.

I realize 3-days might seem short to some but for the purposes of this thread, let's just say 3 days and if you want to make a 5-day or 7-day kit, you can adjust the quantities.

Let's try to stick to off-the-shelf items and food you can find in grocery stores. I'm more than happy to take a case of MREs and slap a label on it that says "KMAN'S 3-DAY FOOD SUPPLY" but that wouldn't be very creative.

To start it off, here's a recap of what donaldjcheek suggests:

3 x candles, 4 to 6 inches in length
1 x small box strike anywhere matches, wrapped in a ziplock plastic bag
1 x large can or 3 x small cans Sterno
6 x envelopes hot chocolate
6 x envelopes instant cider
3 x envelopes instant soup
3 x envelopes instant oatmeal
6 x cans (individual serving size) meat products (Vienna Sausage, luncheon meat, chicken, tuna, etc)
1 x jar cheese whiz or 1 x small box Velveeta cheese
1 x lb bag of instant rice or instant mashed potatoes
2 x stacks crackers (1/2 box)
3 x cans vegetables
3 x cans condensed soup
2 x boxes (at least 12 bars total) breakfast bars or energy bars (take out of the box and place in heavy-duty ziplock bag)
1 x bottle water purifying tablets or a small bottle of household bleach
1 x quart or liter sized cook pot with lid
1 x metal spoon
1 x emergency blanket
1 x small AM/FM radio with extra batteries
1 x small First Aid Kit

[kman]

I like your list, donaldjcheek. I could probably tweak a few of the food items here or there (and I will in a later posting), but right off the bat, the first thing that comes to mind is that I'd add one of these to the list:

6-in-1 Personal Safety Device
http://safetycross.lifegearcompany.com/6n1.htm


I ran across these in Wal-mart a couple of weeks ago for $18. It's a self-powered (wind-up) flashlight and FM radio. It has five LEDs and when you press the ON button, you can choose between lighting one LED (saves power), five LEDs (makes it very bright), or flashing all LEDs (strobing, for signalling).

The FM radio inside is pretty neat. It'd be nice if it had AM but the FM works nice. I haven't tested the wind-time vs. play-time yet but it seems to be pretty decent.

One last cool thing about device is that it can also charge cell phones via the wind-up power generator. Out of the box, it comes with an adaptor for Nokia phones but if you need another type, you can order it from their website for about $5 plus $4 shipping.

It may not be the best LED wind-up flashlight (doesn't last as long as some other flashlight-only devices) but the addition of the radio and cell phone charger make it a pretty handy all-in-one device for me.

[Rogue187]

I'd like to suggest a good sturdy camping type knife..
How about some water ration packs..?
Canteen Cups.../Sierra Cups

In my kit I'll be adding a nice shotgun too.

[MCIera]

Just did a quick inventory of what I had in a 24 hour food pack that tags along with me on occasion. Stuff like flashlights and tools are in a separate kit that is almost always with me. Would have to do a more complete inventory on the 72 hour kit, but I know it does have some of the Hormel entrees in it.

Breakfast
Kellogg's Pop-Tarts Blueberry 1 Pkg (2)
Instant Oatmeal Apple & Cinnamon 1.23oz (2)
Cinnamon Apple Sauce 4oz
Hormel SPAM Single Serving 3oz
Orange Drink Mix Sugar Free
Taster's Choice Coffee Stick (2)
Sugar, White Stick 3.5gr (2)

Lunch
Nabisco Crown Pilot Crackers, 1 Pkg
Bumble Bee Chicken Salad 3oz. (2)
Caravan Trading Trail Mix 2oz
Skittles Candy
Apple Drink Mix Sugar Free

Dinner
Lipton's Cup-a-Soup Chicken Noodle .46oz
UTC Five Grains Rice 7oz
Trader Joe's Tuna in Red Panang Curry Sauce - Hot 7oz
StarKist Low Sodium Albacore Tuna 3oz
Tapioca Pudding 4oz
Cinnamon Apple Sauce 4oz
Country Time Lemonade Mix
Nestle's Hot Cocoa Mix w/Marshmallows

Additional
Cigarettes 1 Pack (20)
Maker’s Mark Bourbon 50 ml
Dining Packet (3) (fork, knife, spoon, napkin, condiments, moist towelette)
FRH (4)
Hot Beverage Bag (2)
Esbit Stove w/ 4 Tablets
USGI Canteen Cup w/Stand
Polycarbonate utensils (1 set)

Contents Nutritional %RDA
Info 2500 Cal
Calories 3357 134.28%
Fat Calories 956
Total Fat (gr) 105.5 131.88%
Saturated Fat (gr) 28 112.00%
Cholesterol (mg) 200 66.67%
Sodium (mg) 4460 185.83%
Potassium 110
Total
Carbohydrate (gr) 497 132.53%
Dietary Fiber (gr) 24 80.00%
Sugars (gr) 206
Protein (gr) 118 210.71%
Vitamin A (%) 88.00%
Vitamin C (%) 570.00%
Calcium (%) 63.00%
Iron (%) 98.00%

[DangerousDave]

All I need is this chair, this paddle ball thing, this remote control, this ashtray and my thermos. And thats all I need!

[DangerousDave]

In the food department, as long as I had fair warning of the incoming hurricane, I'd head straight to the local FoodDog and stock up on canned meats/fish, canned fruit, crackers/boxed or bagged pretzels(replacement for typical bread), gallons of water(distilled, etc), anything and everything, as long as it needs no refrigeration. Oh yea, Kman, the Wallyworld and FoodDogs now carry Parmalat UHT milk. For the uninformed, what it is, is real milk that needs no refrigeration(until after you open it, if you do not consume it all right away). They have been doing UHT milk in Europe for a long time. Wonder why it has had such a time catching on in the USA. Dairy farms? Hmmm.

[MCIera]

Canned goods are adequate for the overwhelming majority of people, and may actually last longer than some of the retort foods. The retorts are lighter and easier to pack for folks who may have special needs (e.g. public safety or disaster relief.)

Haven't seen the UHT milk at Wal*Mart yet, at least not out West. In Europe, UHT milk is often all they sell in some stores; they don't even carry fresh pastuerized milk. I know they have UHT milk here in the U.S., but you never see it anywhere except from specialty businesses that focus on shelf stable foods. The only UHT milk that I've ever seen in stores is soy-based.

In the food department, as long as I had fair warning of the incoming hurricane, I'd head straight to the local FoodDog and stock up on canned meats/fish, canned fruit, crackers/boxed or bagged pretzels(replacement for typical bread), gallons of water(distilled, etc), anything and everything, as long as it needs no refrigeration. Oh yea, Kman, the Wallyworld and FoodDogs now carry Parmalat UHT milk. For the uninformed, what it is, is real milk that needs no refrigeration(until after you open it, if you do not consume it all right away). They have been doing UHT milk in Europe for a long time. Wonder why it has had such a time catching on in the USA. Dairy farms? Hmmm.

[DangerousDave]

This Parmalat is the real McCoy UHT milk. It's all over the place on the East coast. No soy beans here. I doubt if it will stick around long, cause the typical American East coasterner is retarded. here's a pic.

[MCIera]

No wonder they don't have it out here. That's whole milk! I'd swear that everyone out here must drink 2%, non-fat, or soy. I think the only people that buy whole milk are those with young children.

As a matter of fact, a lady once asked me how old my kids were that they were still getting whole milk. With my most deadpan innocent look, I said "The youngest is thirty-five", though inside I wanted to bust out laughing.

What kind of shelf life does that stuff have? While I don't have any qualms about eating foods past their Best By dates, I'm not so sure about milk.

This Parmalat is the real McCoy UHT milk. It's all over the place on the East coast. No soy beans here. I doubt if it will stick around long, cause the typical American East coasterner is retarded. here's a pic.

[deanopilot]

I like your list, donaldjcheek. I could probably tweak a few of the food items here or there (and I will in a later posting), but right off the bat, the first thing that comes to mind is that I'd add one of these to the list:

6-in-1 Personal Safety Device
http://safetycross.lifegearcompany.com/6n1.htm


I ran across these in Wal-mart a couple of weeks ago for $18. It's a self-powered (wind-up) flashlight and FM radio. It has five LEDs and when you press the ON button, you can choose between lighting one LED (saves power), five LEDs (makes it very bright), or flashing all LEDs (strobing, for signalling).

The FM radio inside is pretty neat. It'd be nice if it had AM but the FM works nice. I haven't tested the wind-time vs. play-time yet but it seems to be pretty decent.

One last cool thing about device is that it can also charge cell phones via the wind-up power generator. Out of the box, it comes with an adaptor for Nokia phones but if you need another type, you can order it from their website for about $5 plus $4 shipping.

It may not be the best LED wind-up flashlight (doesn't last as long as some other flashlight-only devices) but the addition of the radio and cell phone charger make it a pretty handy all-in-one device for me.

Big +1 on that Kman, I picked up one of those at Wallyworld for my daughter (her choice). She just took it to camp. Works pretty good, never used the charging function. Costco is selling similar units in the double blister pack. Bought the pair and threw 'em in the "ready for anything box". I swear, you could buy a pair of tow trucks in plastic blister packs at Costco for $9.