Our Grandma Lori Food Storage Makeover project has led to quite a few questions from readers on the different types of “ready-made” Disaster Kits that are available. We initially outlined three disaster kit options and chose our recommendations based off of Grandma Lori’s preferences. We asked our friends at Emergency Essentials to help us put together a list of all of the kits that they have available and when you might use each one. They gave us some great information for us to share with you, and also offered to do a GIVEAWAY of one of their great kits. Yay for one of our lucky readers!

To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment telling us what aspects of Emergency Preparedness you would like to learn more about. The winner will be randomly selected from all of the comments. The giveaway will run until next Sunday, February 21st at 10 pm MST and the winner will be posted Monday.

A Trekker 2 Disaster Kit from Emergency Essentials. A 3 day supply for 2 people, retail value $99.95 on sale this month for $84.99. See below for more information on what the Trekker 2 kit contains.

Bottled Emergency Kits {more info}
Bottled kits are economical and contain basic emergency supplies neatly packed into a 32 oz. water bottle for easy transport. They contains items such as hand & body warmers, ponchos, emergency blankets, matches, flashlights, whistles, basic first aid kits, and more.

Starter Emergency Kit {more info}
This can act as a basic kit or an add-on to any other emergency kit for additional people. It includes food, water, light, warmth, communication, and more.
 

3-Day Lite Emergency Kit {more info}
This economical kit gives you the basics you will need in an emergency. It includes food, water, warmth, light, communication, and first aid all packed in a medium backpack for easy transporting.
 

Roadwise™ Emergency Kit {more info}
This kit includes items specially selected for storage in your automobile.
 
 

3-Day Emergency Kit {more info}
Calorie food bars and aqua blox allow this kit to be stored in varied temperatures so it can also be used as an auto emergency kit. It contains basic food, water, warmth, first aid, light and communication items all packaged in a medium sized backpack. Recommended for one person for up to three days.

Trekker™ Kits
These kits are designed for either one (Trekker I™),
two (Trekker II™), and four people (Trekker IV™). The Trekker II™ Kit was rated ‘Best Value’ by the Wall Street Journal. These kits contain calorie food bars, aqua blox, and over 120 (Trekker I™), 150 (Trekker II™), and 275 (Trekker IV™) additional preparedness items. Some additional items found in our Trekker™ Kits that are not found in our 3-Day Emergency Kit are fire starters, purification tablets, more extensive first aid kits, additional hygiene items, and larger backpacks for storing the additional items.

ReadyWise™ Kits
Our ReadyWise™ line combines portability with convenience and ease. In addition to calorie food bars, these kits include MRE’s and MRE Heaters providing additional variety and nutrition. They offer a more comprehensive first aid kit when compared to our Trekker options as well as some additional items including a wool blend blanket, flashlight with the ability to charge a cell phone, and some emergency tools. ReadyWise kits are available in either 1 person or 2 person kits.

Comp™ Kits
Comp™ is short for ‘comprehensive’ which is the word that best describes this line. We have combined the convenience and ease of MRE’s and MRE Heaters with over
280 (Comp I™) and 390 (Comp II™) emergency supplies. These kits offer improved warmth, cooking, light and communication, first aid and sanitation, storage and tools supplies when compared to other kits. Some additional items that are unique to this line include an emergency toilet and water storage kit, our finest first aid kit in any of our 3 day kits, survival book, sewing kit, tri-fold shovel, and Deluxe Hiking Pack.

We hope you find this information helpful when selecting your Disaster Kits!

As part of our Emergency Preparedness Plan we include a list of items to include in a “Car Kit”. This is a kit that you keep in your car with useful items in case you have a road-side emergency. One of the items we recommend is a “coffee can heater” and we have had quite a few people ask us for clarification on what that is, so here is the answer will full instructions of course

How to Make a Coffee Can Heater – Video

How to Make a Coffee Can Heater – Instructions

• Step 1: Clean out an old coffee can (if you don’t drink coffee, any large can will do … just make sure it has a lid!)
• Step 2: Remove the cardboard center from a roll of toilet paper
• Step 3: Stuff the roll of toilet paper into the can and place the lid on
• Step 4: Insert the can, one package of matches, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol into a larger container or bucket (extra rolls of toilet and bottles of alcohol can be handy as well)
• Step 5: Place the larger container into the trunk of your car

How To Use Your Heater: If you need to use the heater to warm your hands or provide a little heat in the car, simply pour the alcohol over the toilet paper until it is well saturated (but not so there is alcohol sitting in the bottom of the can). Then light the toilet paper on fire. It will act as a wick and should provide heat for quite a while. You can also smother the fire and replace the lid when the can has cooled down and save it for later use

UPDATED TO ADD: To answer some of the comments below, I did some tests on actually USING the heater and here are my remarks. I thought that cocoa can WAS metal but apparently it’s just got a metal lining. Yes you should use a metal can! I tried this indoors and the fumes weren’t bad, I would probably crack a window or door in a car though. Also, this can gets HOT so you can’t just hold it on your lap or in your hands. Have something prepared to set it on. But it produced a great amount of heat. I could only hold my hands about a foot above the can without it being too hot. Also, when you go to light it, just throw the match in. I tried to set it straight on the toilet paper and burnt myself and screamed and threw the match, thus scaring my children and causing a safety hazard. Now you know everything I do