2.13 The most useful items in an emergency

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Ranked by priority for an urban household. A = essential, buy it first. B = very useful, in the second or third purchase. C = supplement, once everything else is ready.

The most useful items in an emergency
#	Item	Why	Priority
1	Stored water (2 weeks)	Without water, within days you have a medical emergency; in heat, sooner	A
2	Extra prescription medications + list	Pharmacies close or run out of stock; hard to replace	A
3	LED flashlight or headlamp per person	Safe light without flame; a headlamp leaves your hands free	A
4	Spare batteries	Without them, flashlights and radios are useless	A
5	Charged power banks	The phone is your alert, map, and contact	A
6	NOAA radio with SAME alerts + AM/ FM	Wakes you for warnings and gives news without internet	A
7	Ready-to-eat food (2 weeks)	Energy and morale without cooking	A
8	Manual can opener (2)	A can is useless if you can't open it	A
9	Complete first-aid kit + tourniquet	Wounds don't wait for the ambulance (chapter 7)	A
10	Cash in small bills	Without power, cards don't work	A
11	Document copies + encrypted USB drive	Identity, insurance, FEMA assistance	A
12	Battery-powered carbon monoxide detector	CO kills with no smell; a known cause of deaths in historic winter storms	A
13	ABC fire extinguisher	Puts out a small fire before it gets big	A
14	Sturdy shoes per person	Glass, debris, walking miles	A
15	Heavy-duty trash bags + zip ties	Trash, emergency toilet, poncho, waterproofing	A
16	Pet food and water + carriers	Without them you can't evacuate with your animals	A
17	Whistle per person	Carries farther than your voice and uses less energy	A
18	Unscented bleach	Disinfect surfaces and water (chapter 3)	B
19	N95 masks	Wildfire smoke, dust, mold when cleaning	B
20	Duct tape + heavy plastic sheeting	Repairs, sealing windows, sheltering in place	B
21	Multitool and wrench/pliers	Shutting off utilities, repairs, opening things	B
22	Work gloves and nitrile gloves	Protect you when clearing debris and giving first aid	B
23	Battery-powered or rechargeable fan	Relief in summer outages (doesn't replace air conditioning)	B
24	Sleeping bag or thick blanket per person	A historic winter storm without heating	B
25	Portable battery power station	Charges phones, fans, and medical equipment with no fumes; safe indoors	B
26	Emergency toilet (bucket + bags + litter)	If there is no water to flush, it prevents illness	B
27	Good-quality cooler	Keeps medications and food cold for hours or days with ice	B
28	Portable water filter	Make water safe to drink during evacuation (doesn't remove chemicals; see chapter 3)	C
29	Two-way radios (FRS)	Communicate within the complex or neighborhood without a cell network	C
30	Folding solar panel	Recharges the power station in long outages	C
31	Camp stove + fuel	Hot food and water, outdoors only	C
32	Paper maps, notebook, and pencil	Routes without GPS, notes, messages	C

What NOT to buy (or not for your situation)

What NOT to buy (or not for your situation)
Product	Why not	Better buy
Gasoline generator for an apartment	There's nowhere to use it 20 feet (6 m) from doors and windows; carbon monoxide risk; many complexes prohibit it; storing gasoline indoors is dangerous	Battery power station + solar panel
Candles for lighting	Fire risk in a wood-frame building	LED flashlights and lanterns
Propane or kerosene heaters "for indoor use" or any combustion heater	Carbon monoxide and fire	Sleeping bags, layers of clothing, a small room
"25-year food" buckets with few calories	Many advertise "servings" that add up to few calories a day; they require water and cooking; your family may not eat them	A regular long-shelf-life pantry of food you already eat, rotated
Cheap "all-inclusive" emergency bags	They tend to come with minimal first-aid kits, weak flashlights, and poor-quality food	Build your own; use a good backpack and choose the contents
"Tactical" gadgets (credit-card multitools, paracord bracelets, big knives)	Little real use in an urban emergency	A multitool from a reliable brand
Filter straws as your only water source	They filter little volume, don't remove chemicals, and many don't remove viruses	Stored water and bleach; filter as a backup
Counterfeit tourniquets (no certified brand)	They can break or fail to tighten enough	A tourniquet of a recognized model and a Stop the Bleed course
Large quantities of food nobody at home eats	They're wasted when they expire	Buy extra of what you already eat
Devices that only work with apps or the internet	They fail right when the network fails	Equipment that works offline