Chapter 2Your emergency kit
Chapter 2 · Start here · 29 min read

Your emergency kit

A good kit turns a catastrophe into an inconvenience. This chapter calculates what each person in your household and your pets need in your home or apartment: two weeks at home, a 72-hour bag per person, the car kit, the work kit, and the pet kit. At the end you get a list of the items that deliver the most, a staged buying plan, how to store it all in little space, and checklists to print.

The essentials · if you only have a minute
  • Two levels of reserve: 2 weeks of water and food at home; 3 days in a bag per person for evacuating (American Red Cross recommendation).
  • Water: at least 1 gallon (3.8 L) per person per day. For 2 weeks: 14 gallons (53 L) per person, plus water for your pets based on their weight. In extreme heat, the need can double.
  • Food that needs no cooking, that you already eat, and that doesn't make you very thirsty. Eat what's in the refrigerator first.
  • Light without flame: one flashlight or headlamp per person, with spare batteries. No candles.
  • Medications, documents, cash, and chargers are what you miss most and what gets forgotten most.
  • Store things up high and in the cool: if you live on the ground floor, nothing directly on the floor; nothing in spaces that heat up, like a patio closet or a garage.
  • Check twice a year, when the clocks change (March and November). Water you bottled yourself gets replaced every 6 months.

In this chapter

2.1The five kits and what each one is for1 min read2.2Water for two weeks2 min read2.3Food for two weeks3 min read2.4Quantity summary: per person and per pet, 14 days1 min read2.5Home kit: complete list2 min read2.672-Hour Bag (One Per Person)2 min read2.7Car Kit (Heat and Cold)1 min read2.8Office or work kit1 min read2.9Pet Kit1 min read2.10Important documents and digital backup1 min read2.11Cash1 min read2.12Medications1 min read2.13The most useful items in an emergency4 min read2.14Staged buying: build your kit in stages2 min read2.15Storage in an apartment1 min read2.16Rotation and maintenance2 min read2.17Common mistakes1 min read2.18Printable checklists4 min read0/120
Chapter sources (1)
  1. 1.Build a Kit — Ready.gov (FEMA) — https://www.ready.gov/kit 2.Water — Ready.gov (FEMA) — https://www.ready.gov/water 3.Prepare Your Pets for Disasters (folleto) — Ready.gov/FEMA — https://www.ready.gov/pets 4.Car (kit de emergencia para el auto) — Ready.gov (FEMA) — https://www.ready.gov/car 5.Emergency Financial First Aid Kit (EFFAK) — FEMA / Ready.gov — https://www.ready.gov/financial-preparedness 6.Survival Kit Supplies — Cruz Roja Americana — https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/survival-kit- supplies.html 7.Pet Disaster Preparedness — CDC — https://www.cdc.gov/healthy-pets/emergency-preparedness/index.html 8.Pet emergency preparedness guide (consumo de agua por peso) — Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management — https:// dem.ri.gov/media/68086/download 9.Avoiding Carbon Monoxide Poisoning — CDC — https://www.cdc.gov/natural-disasters/psa-toolkit/avoiding-carbon-monoxide- poisoning.html 10.Food Safety During Power Outages — USDA / FoodSafety.gov — https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep-food-safe/food-safety-during-power- outage 11.CDC press release on heat-related illness (ventiladores) — CDC — https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/media/pressrel/r010713.htm 12.Alerts y STEAR — Ciudad de San Antonio / TDEM — https://www.sa.gov/Government/Emergency-Crisis-Response/Alerts 13.Sales Tax Holiday for Emergency Supplies, April 25–27, 2026 — Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts — https://comptroller.texas.gov/ about/media-center/news/20260416-texans-expected-to-save-more-than-2-million-during-sales-tax-holiday-for-emergency-supplies- april-25-27-1776290703978