The following items are what make up your evacuation list our Emergency Preparedness Plan. The full printable worksheets are available on the excel spreadsheet or pdf plan.

Car Kit

In case you need to leave in a hurry, (or get stuck in your car) a main focus on being prepared for “evacuation” is to have a well stocked car.

□ Water (a case of bottles would be excellent)
□ 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 (or an old spare comforter)
□ Jumper cables
□ Car shovel/pick
□ Pocket knife
□ First aid kit
□ Radio
□ Package of batteries (for flashlight and radio)
□ Toilet paper roll
□ Spare clothes for small children
□ Coffee can heater

Grab List

The last thing you want to be thinking about in an emergency where you might not come back to “home” as you know it are the important keepsakes. Compile a list of items you would want to grab if you had the room and time.

Emergency Binder
□ Photos
□ Journals
□ As this list is personal, keep compiling as you think of things

Featured Posts on this Topic

How to make a Coffee Can Heater
Emergency Preparedness Lessons Learned

 

  • Ms. CJH

    I am so glad I found this site! I lived through the Northridge quake in 1994 and have seen how my “neighbors” would behave after not having water and electricity for 3 days; it is not pretty. I don’t mean to scare anyone, but the saying “Three days to ‘animal’” is very true. The quake, like many natural disasters, caught so many of us by surprise, including my family. When my family was preparing to evacuate the Gulf due to a predicted hurricane, my cousins were only marginally prepared. Lesson learned.  I have been meaning to get back into disaster preparedness, now with the check lists and some real-life experience I am ready to prepare in case of an emergency that knocks out power, water, and gas lines for a few days. Thank you for this valuable resource.

  • Pandora_robin

    We keep all our photos on CDs. They are in a hard sided case that hold about ten disks. We got it at Walmart for less than $10 a few years ago. I even scanned in photos that my mother had of family that have passed away. In an emergency we just grab it and put it in our B.O.B. I’m also in the process of having all our home movies converted to CD too.

  • KenSC

    I have some experience with hurricane evacuation and you should add to your list road maps of your state and any state you may be traveling through. Highways shutdown when they become full and the back roads may be your best or only way out. You should also have pliers and a tire plug kit. After a storm you will get flats and the kits sell out quickly. Remember you want to get to safety not be trapped in your car. Your photos are one of the most important possession you should take.

  • Randy C.

    We keep all of our photo negatives and important papers in a fire safe. This includes will, trust, insurance documents, contact list with phone numbers and addresses, and lastly extra money. If your leaving home you’ll possibly need cash for gas, food, & hotel/motel. The entire safe gets emptied and placed into a tote that sits on top of it. One other thing to make sure and grab are any prescription medications.

    • OutdoorsMom

      Photo negs will melt in a fire safe–they are only designed to keep paper from combusting, but get too hot for plastic negs and photo discs.

  • Randy C.

    We keep all of our photo negatives and important papers in a fire safe. This includes will, trust, insurance documents, contact list with phone numbers and addresses, and lastly extra money. If your leaving home you’ll possibly need cash for gas, food, & hotel/motel. The entire safe gets emptied and placed into a tote that sits on top of it. One other thing to make sure and grab are any prescription medications.

  • M Gerenday

    Another item for your evacuation list is a plastic poncho to use as your private porta-potty on the side of the road if stuck in traffic.

  • M Gerenday

    Another item for your evacuation list is a plastic poncho to use as your private porta-potty on the side of the road if stuck in traffic.

  • D McP

    Your contribution to everyone is blessings. Thanks for caring. HalleluYAH!

  • D McP

    Your contribution to everyone is blessings. Thanks for caring. HalleluYAH!

  • http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net Jodi – Food Storage Made Easy

    Those are some great additional ideas. Thanks for sharing!

  • Cynthia21918

    You can buy inexpensive fabric car toppers that strap on to the roof of the car's exterior. I suppose that you could clear out your front “drawer” storage compartment on the passenger side and at least have money and emergency contat information in there, a spare credit card, batteries, a flash light and some medication like tylenol and a few bandaids. you can also put emergency things into fabric or metal lunch boxes and each child or adult has to hold a lunch box full of supplies on their lap while driving along.Those are the best ideas I can think of right now. I have a fabric car topper that I'm not using, to bad I don't know you or i'd give it to you! :)

  • Sylvia Gw

    Never mind, found the video, thanks!

  • Sylvia Gw

    What is a “coffee heater”?

  • Sylvia Gw

    Never mind, found the video, thanks!

  • Sylvia Gw

    What is a “coffee heater”?

  • Andie Smith

    What is a “coffee can heater”?

  • Andie Smith

    What is a “coffee can heater”?

  • Andie Smith

    What is a “coffee can heater”?

  • Anonymous

    Our car is too small!
    Our family barly fits.
    We can’t go to the store and pick up food if we have all that in the car!
    Any Ideas?
    Thanks!

    • Anonymous

      In your case, I would think that small bug out bags, or mini-backpacks, would work. Always have them ready to go, and bring them in the car with you, keeping them on the floor if you can. That way you’re set up for an emergency, but you’ve got smaller packages to deal with.

    • Cynthia21918

      You can buy inexpensive fabric car toppers that strap on to the roof of the car’s exterior. I suppose that you could clear out your front “drawer” storage compartment on the passenger side and at least have money and emergency contat information in there, a spare credit card, batteries, a flash light and some medication like tylenol and a few bandaids. you can also put emergency things into fabric or metal lunch boxes and each child or adult has to hold a lunch box full of supplies on their lap while driving along.Those are the best ideas I can think of right now. I have a fabric car topper that I’m not using, to bad I don’t know you or i’d give it to you! :)

      • http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net Jodi – Food Storage Made Easy

        Those are some great additional ideas. Thanks for sharing!

  • fiona4jmj

    In your case, I would think that small bug out bags, or mini-backpacks, would work. Always have them ready to go, and bring them in the car with you, keeping them on the floor if you can. That way you're set up for an emergency, but you've got smaller packages to deal with.

  • Jencuevas

    Our car is too small!
    Our family barly fits.
    We can't go to the store and pick up food if we have all that in the car!
    Any Ideas?
    Thanks!

  • http://www.facebook.com/fiona.ruminski Fiona Rogers Ruminski

    You'd also want to insulate them as with Jill's problem of living where it's too hot.

  • http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net Jodi – Food Storage Made Easy

    You will want to leave an inch or two space in the top of the bottles to leave from for expanding. Also, we have heard that using mylar bags for water storage is an excellent solution for car kits. It solves the problem of chemicals from the plastic leaching into your water.

  • Anonymous

    I live where it is very cold. The water in my car kit would surely freeze and cause the bottles to expand. Any suggestions?

    • http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net Jodi – Food Storage Made Easy

      You will want to leave an inch or two space in the top of the bottles to leave from for expanding. Also, we have heard that using mylar bags for water storage is an excellent solution for car kits. It solves the problem of chemicals from the plastic leaching into your water.

      • http://www.facebook.com/fiona.ruminski Fiona Rogers Ruminski

        You’d also want to insulate them as with Jill’s problem of living where it’s too hot.

  • GinaSond

    I live where it is very cold. The water in my car kit would surely freeze and cause the bottles to expand. Any suggestions?

  • Fiona

    Jill, how about keeping those things in a cooler? Even a cheap styrofoam one would insulate things, and you could cover that with a quilt. Put the batteries in a ziploc bag to prevent issues, and tweak the food items to things that can handle the heat if necessary. Hope this helps!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jill-Eubanks/588759992 Jill Eubanks

    Regarding a Car Kit: I live in Phoenix, AZ. It gets very hot here in the summer time (110+). You can imagine how hot it can get inside the car. What do you recommend I do? I feel like I can’t keep the car kit in the car without is getting ruined. But, isn’t the point of having a car kit to have it with you when you are out and about in the car? I’m very very new to Emergency Preparedness. :)

    • Fiona

      Jill, how about keeping those things in a cooler? Even a cheap styrofoam one would insulate things, and you could cover that with a quilt. Put the batteries in a ziploc bag to prevent issues, and tweak the food items to things that can handle the heat if necessary. Hope this helps!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jill-Eubanks/588759992 Jill Eubanks

    Regarding a Car Kit: I live in Phoenix, AZ. It gets very hot here in the summer time (110+). You can imagine how hot it can get inside the car. What do you recommend I do? I feel like I can't keep the car kit in the car without is getting ruined. But, isn't the point of having a car kit to have it with you when you are out and about in the car? I'm very very new to Emergency Preparedness. :)