More 72 Hour Kit Ideas

For the following week's family home evening we continued making our 72 hour kits. For water I decided to go with the Mainstay4 oz. water in foil pouches. I bought a box of 60 from Emergency Essentials. It cost $15 for the box. These are nice because they stay good for a few years which is good for someone like me. If I had water stored in plastic bottles or a camel back type container I would forget to change out the water as regularly as I should. These are also nice because it is easy to stick them anywhere in your back pack that you have extra space. They are also easy to divide up and share between family members.

In the 72 hour kit list it talks about a sleeping bag or blanket. A small and light sleeping bag isn't cheap. So the idea of getting one for everyone in the family wouldn't work. We will use a fleece blanket and pillow. These were blankets and pillows we bought at Smiths Grocery back in the summer. I am sure it would be easy to find something like this. Here is a picture of what looks like the same thing.



I found these at http://www.12volt-travel.com/travel-blanket-pillow-set-fleece-blanket-wmatching-pillow-p-7722.html

I think we paid around $10 dollars for ours at Smiths. They are light and fold up quite small.

I thought that we should also supplement this with emergency blankets. I had some of the cheap foil ones around that I would take camping. I decided to see what they are really like. It wasn't that easy to unroll and it made a lot of "krinkle" noises as you worked with it. It would be quite annoying to have to listen to it every time you moved during a night. When I wrapped it around me I could feel it reflecting back my body heat. None of these are actually "warm" like a sleeping bag but they would keep you alive and it would definitely be better than nothing. Also they are extremely small and light.

Another nice thing about these is that they are cheap. You can get these at most sporting goods stores. Anywhere you get backpacking supplies. They cost only a couple of dollars and around $5 if you get a sleeping bag version that would work more effectively if you were caught outside and there was any wind blowing. Because they are reflective they can also be used as a signaling device as well as a way to make shade if it is hot and the sun is out.

I decided to spend a few more dollars and buy a slightly better one. They are the Heatsheets brand. They cost more but are not as noisy, "krinkle-krinkle". They also have one side that is the reflective material with bright orange on the other. I bought them at REI.
I got a 2 person blanket for me, a 1 person blanket for my two year old and an emergency bivvy for my wife.
Weight is important if you have to leave your home. If we have some sort of disaster and we can stay at home we will be pretty well off for a short time but if we had to evacuate we would be in trouble. That is why we are making these 72 hour kits portable and as light as possible.

I work 40 miles from my home. I have read quite a bit about Northern Utah and what will most likely happen in the event of an earthquake (which the statistics show is about due). If the experts are correct I will most likely be walking home, so I have a similar kit in a backpack that I keep in the trunk of my car. I also adjust the level of clothing I keep in my trunk based on the season. Maybe I will review what I use in it some time soon.

In the selection of a radio I highly suggest the following radio:

GP 4L Survival Radio.
I bought mine from http://www.endtimesreport.com/GP-4L_Survival_Radio.html
a couple of years ago and like it so much that it never makes it in one of these 72 hour kits because it is the radio we use during the week to listen to some talk radio shows we like.


Survival Radio (with built in small LED light as shown above) - $22.95

Here is a little blurb about the radio I got off the website listed above:

"The GP-4 radio was originally designed for the US government. The State Department is still buying them by the tens of thousands, as they want all overseas personnel and dependents to be able to receive the latest news anywhere in the world. Only a tiny radio would likely by carried at all times, and the outstanding reception on AM, FM and SW would enable them to know what was happening and head for safety in the event of another embassy terrorist "event" like the two a few years ago in Africa.

Smaller than a pack of cigarettes, the tiny Survival radio is absolutely perfect to have handy to keep informed of the latest emergency news - on AM, FM, or two short wave bands! Digital dialing lets you select - and find again - any station.

Powered by two AA batteries which last for over 150 hours (over 300 hours with the supplied ear buds), this tiny radio had incredible reception. This tiny pocket radio can keep you informed of events even if you have to listen on short wave!

One of the most exciting things about this radio to me is the speaker quality. I'm old and have bad hearing from too many years of shooting, but the speaker on the Survival Radio is tuned specifically to enhance the 3,000 to 7,000 hz range - human speech! You can clearly hear what is being said, even on short wave, better than with radios ten times bigger - and that much more costly!"

(text above was taken from http://www.endtimesreport.com/GP-4L_Survival_Radio.html)

I also bought the Pocket Portable Antenna for Survival Radio - $10.95

This antenna clips onto the radio antenna and extends 16 feet. It is ideal for listening to the short wave frequencies. Ideally I should just buy another one for one of our 72 hour kits but for now I used one I bought at Smith and Edwards a year ago for only $5. It looks similar to this one:
It is larger than the GP-4L but it is still quite light. The one I have also has a flashlight on the bottom.