A 3 Day Pack is simply all the geat that you will need to survive for three days. You keep it in a handy location so that you can grab it quickly if you need to evacuate or if staying home during a disaster you know exactly where your survival equipment is. Everyone should make their own 3 day pack or bug out bag and let everyone in the family know where it is.

You can look at Amazon’s 3 Day Packs to either buy or get an idea of what would go into these. Many times these listings will jog your memory so that you get a better idea of what is needed.

There are a few basic things that you need to keep in this pack at all times:

Food – Keep enough food in calories to last you three days. Overestimate and make sure that you have at least 9000 calories for the three days. These could be full meals of stored food that you keep in the pack or simple items that backpackers or bikers would eat during long trips.

Water and Water Purification – Be sure that you have some water in the pack as well as a way of purifying water. This is very important. Also keep a pot so you can boil water.

Fire Making Tools – Keep at least two ways that you could start a fire with at least one of those being something you can reuse.

Medicine – Keep a basic first aid kit as well as some medicine if you need to take it. It’s OK to have more than 3 days worth of medicine especially if you depend on it.

Shelter – You can keep a tent, tarp, rain gear, and anything else you might need.

There are numerous other items that you can have with this pack like things that keep your comfortable or from getting bored. The idea is to make sure that you at least have something ready to go.

Take a look at 3 Day Packs to get a better idea of what you need to pack in addition to the above.

First is to store some water. Storing upwards of 30 days of water is much too difficult for most people because it takes up too much space. One can still store some water around the home. One place to store water is in the refrigerator and freezer. Whatever empty space you have in each of these put containers of water wether it be milk jugs or 2 liter bottles. When your power goes out, they will keep the food inside cold and can be used as backup water supplies.

Before you run out of your tap water be sure to fill your bath tub and other containers in your house full of water if in a disaster situation. Have some cheap containers around that are there to be filled in an emergency as soon as possible. Even if this water doesn’t stay fresh, you can still purify it.

Ubove ground swimming pools are great because they can hold massive amounts of water. In a flood they won’t get all the flood water in them as they are more than a few feet off the ground. If you can’t afford this, try getting some rain barrels and keeping them full of water on a regular basis.

Be sure to have proper water purification devices at home. For less than a few hundred dollars devices that can purify thousands of gallons of water can be purchased. These will help with most water shortage type situations during a disaster just fine.

The biggest food storage secret!

The big secret to food storage is to store the food that you eat on a regular basis. While this might not sound like a secret many tend to complicate the process. Here is how this process works.

Let’s say there is a can of soup that you enjoy on a regular basis. Instead of eating up that cans you have then going to the store and getting more, go ahead and buy 10 or 20 cans of that soup for storage. When you eat 5 of those cans, go to the store and buy 5 more. What this does is make a rotational stock of food that you can depend on if there is a time of food shortages or disaster.

When you start doing this with enough items, you can build up your food supplies. It doesn’t have to be done in one trip. Just start doubling up on everyday items when you go shopping and gradually build towards a 30 day then 60 day supply of food.

What about long term food storage and products?

These do work. There are freeze dried and instant ready meals that can be stored for years. These have their place in long term food storage but aren’t required.

One of the best long term storage products to invest in are seeds. Learn to garden and make growing food part of your food storage plans for the 90 day and beyond needs for food. Realistically if the disaster has not come back together within 90 days, you do need long term food plans by growing food.

Start Today

When you buy that jar of peanut butter to replace the empty one, buy two. Every time you run out, buy at least one more. Do this for enough items in the home and you will have your food stored without the messy issue of expiration dates to worry about.

This does not have to be something extremely complex. There are just a few essentials that you need to start preparing.

First, teach everyone in the family where to meet and how to contact each other. Everyone needs to know where to meet if out during the day when disaster strikes as well as where to meet if someone happens when at home. Have more than one location to meet so that you and your loved ones can be back together.

Have at least 30 days worth of food available. This might seem like quite a bit but it’s not. Just stock up on items that you already eat. For example, buy 3 jars of peanut butter and just rotate them. When you get down to 2 jars, go buy another one and keep rotating the stock. If you do this with enough items, you will have a few weeks food without having to stock up on freeze dried meals that most don’t like anyway.

Have some water purification devices with some water stored.

Get a contact list out of family and relatives with ways of reaching each one of them.

Be sure to have practical items like blankets, medicine, first aid supplies, and things that you will need day to day.

Have some items available that will make your time during a disaster less boring. These might be books, games, and other things that do not require electricity and can keep the mind active.

Anything else prepared will be extra but may make your life more comfortable like backup power supplies and others.

Start getting your emergency preparedness plan together today so that if the time comes, you have something to rely upon.