Food Storage Do-Over Week 3: Car Kits and Evacuation Plans

We are excited to be starting week 3 of our Food Storage Do-Over 2015! Last week we saw more great progress from all those participating and we are excited to keep going. If you didn’t catch last week’s post you can see it here. You should also make sure to check out the amazing spreadsheet Julie put together for us all as part of her do-over.

Remember this is a 17 week process that we will be going through together. If you want to join in with the group on Facebook click here. If you’d like to receive email notifications of each week’s do-over assignment you can join our mailing list here. Or you can always post in the blog comments with your progress as well! It is so much more fun and motivating doing it as a group so find a way to connect!

WEEK3FACE

In the Emergency Prep Basics section of our website we cover putting together a car kit and evacuation plans. Car kits can help provide life-saving resources in case you get stranded in your vehicle somewhere, and they can also be helpful in case of a quick evacuation if you don’t have time to grab 72 hour kits.

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Car Kit

If you are BRAND NEW and don’t have any emergency supplies in your car yet, spend this week creating your car kit. Here is a list of items that you may want to consider including, modify as necessary to meet your needs.

Water (mylar pouches or cardboard boxes are best for extreme temperatures)
72 hour kit food, high calorie meal bars, or other snacks
Cash ($20-30 in small bills and include some change)
Diapers/Wipes if you have kids
Emergency blankets/hand warmers (and/or an old spare comforter)
Jumper cables
Car shovel/pick
Pocket knife or multi-tool
First aid kit
Radio (hand crank or battery operated)
Flashlight (hand crank or battery operated)
Package of batteries (for flashlight and radio)
Toilet paper roll
Spare clothes/walking shoes for all family members
Coffee can heater

Evacuation List

In order to prepare for a quick evacuation, the best thing to do is have a list already written out with the items you need to grab in order of importance. You can get very in depth with this or just jot down a simple list and tape it near your exit door. An example of some of the things you may want to include are as follows:

72 Hour Kits
Emergency Binder
Pets/Pet supplies
Photo albums/scrapbooks
Journals
Extra food/fuel/water
Camping equipment

Don’t forget to come over and share your progress in our Food Storage Do-Over Facebook Group!

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Car Kits

If you already have a good start on your car kits chances are you will need to do a little update/refresh to make sure you have everything you need and rotate food and water supplies. Here are some ideas of things you might want to check on:

Make sure jumper cables work (I had a set of broken ones once)
Rotate food items that have a short shelf life
Check water supplies, rotate as needed
Swap out kids clothing and shoes for proper sizes
Check expiration dates on medicines in first aid kits
Test/swap out batteries for radio and flashlight if necessary
Review some of the posts in the resources section below for other ideas on how to bump up your car kits with additional items you may want to consider adding

Evacuation Plans

If you already have your basic evacuation plan and grab list in place there are some advanced things you can do to really “Do-over” your plan. This topic can be as simple or as complex as you feel it needs to be for your personal needs.

1. Split your grab list up by person and in order of importance. Have separate lists taped up in the area near your 72 hour kits. In case of an emergency each person will grab their list and go down it until you run out of time. If a family member isn’t home someone else would grab their list and work on those items. Make sure to include tasks like “Load small children in car”, “Grab purse/wallet”, “Load pets and pet food in car”. Things you would think are automatic, you may just forget in an emergency. (ok you probably won’t forget your kids but it helps to know when in the process you will get them loaded so they aren’t underfoot and slowing you down)

2. Go through the 13 Part Evacuation Plan from iGetReady.com. This is the most in depth plan we have come across. Her plan is to have your items separated into bins so you can grab the bins based on why you are evacuating and you go in order of importance as well. I have loved working through her lists and filling in the holes in my evacuation plans. We highly recommend it!

Don’t forget to come over and share your progress in our Food Storage Do-Over Facebook Group!

products
Thrive Life Auto Emergency Kit
Emergency Essentials Auto Emergency Kit
Auto Emergency Kits on Amazon.com

helpful
Here are some resources both from us and all over the web that can help you if you want more depth on any areas or are looking for even more ideas of items to include in your plans. It’s always a good idea to look at multiple approaches and decide what will work best for you! And don’t forget to check out the discussions on our facebook group to catch anything we are missing or see what others are doing!