Money & Home
Build a Family Emergency Kit in One Afternoon (Under $100)
Power cuts, storms, boil-water notices. A kit that takes three hours to assemble is the difference between an inconvenience and a bad night.
Emergency preparedness has an image problem. It brings to mind bunkers and doomsday. In reality, the events that actually happen to ordinary families are dull: the power is out for thirty hours, the water is off, a storm closes the road, a wildfire smoke advisory keeps everyone indoors for three days.
For those, you need a box. Not a bunker. Here is what goes in it and roughly what it costs.
The core box (start here)
- Water: four litres per person per day, three days' worth. Bottled is fine. Rotate annually.
- Food: three days of things that need no cooking — tinned beans, nut butter, crackers, dried fruit, tinned fish. Include a manual tin opener, which is the single most commonly forgotten item.
- Light: one head torch per person. Head torches, not hand torches — you need your hands. Spare batteries taped to the box.
- Radio: a hand-crank or battery radio. When the mobile network is down, broadcast radio still works.
- Power: a charged power bank, checked every three months. Set a calendar reminder now.
- First aid: a proper kit, plus a two-week supply of any prescription medicine your family takes.
The child-specific layer
Everything above assumes adults. Add, per child: a comfort item they can live without day-to-day (a duplicate, if the real one is irreplaceable), a small pack of cards or a puzzle book, a spare set of clothes, and any formula, nappies or specific food they need. Write your mobile number on a card and put it in their bag — and, if they are old enough, get them to memorise it.
Three conversations worth having tonight
- Where do we meet? One spot outside the house, one spot outside the neighbourhood.
- Who do we call? Nominate one out-of-area contact. In a regional emergency, local networks jam while long-distance ones often work.
- What is the sound? Agree on what your smoke alarm means and practise leaving the house. Do it once, at night, with the lights off. It is unsettling, which is exactly why it works.
Where to keep it
One clear plastic tub, labelled, somewhere you can reach in the dark without moving anything else. Not the loft. Not behind the Christmas decorations. If you have a car, keep a smaller duplicate in the boot: torch, water, snack bars, blanket, phone cable, a bit of cash.
Check it twice a year
Attach it to the clock change or a birthday. Ten minutes: rotate the water and food, test the torches, charge the power bank, and swap out clothes the children have grown out of — which will be all of them.
