With Hurricane Irma still fresh in our memories, June 1st marked the beginning of hurricane season! Each year we are admonished to not wait until the last minute and prepare for disasters well in advance. Blake and I have started a habit of auditing our Go-Bags each year on the first day of hurricane season.
What is a Go-Bag you ask? A Go-Bag is a bag/box/bin full of supplies that you can grab-and-go in case of an emergency. I've also heard people call these 'Bug Out Bags'.
Last weekend we went out to dinner with some friends and we all started talking about what was in our Go-Bags. It was actually a really fun conversation, and I got several ideas from the other girls for things to add to my bag.
I thought I'd share with you what was in our bags and see if any of you had suggestions for other things I might be missing!
To begin with, we put off getting these bags together for years! The idea of going to the store with such a long list was so overwhelming. To make it easy on ourselves, we purchased an emergency disaster kit from Amazon. It's not the highest quality, but definitely got us started. The backpacks are very large, and they had plenty of room for us to add our extra stuff.
That kit includes:
- First Aid Kit
- Food Rations
- Ponchos
- Space Blanket
- Flashlight
- Utility Knife
- Body Warmers
- Waterproof Matches
- Clean Drinking Water
- Glowsticks
- Whistle
- Work Gloves
- Water Bottle
- Masks
- 2 Backpacks
Things we added:
- Clothing His and Hers (2 shirts, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of jeans, 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of underwear and a sports bra.)
- Toilet Paper
- Tampons
- Deodorant
- Toothpaste
- Toothbrushes
- Chapstick
- Hair Ties
- Bar Soap
- Dry Shampoo
- SPF 70 Sunscreen
- Hand Sanitizer
- Wet Ones Wipes
- Bug Spray
- Duct Tape
- Scissors
- Disposable Gloves
- Tarp
- Towel
- Collapsible Dog Bowls
- Batteries
- Trash Bags
- Water Purifying Kit
- Deck of Cards
- Extra Phone Charger
- Food (non salty, high protein)
Copies of Important Documents (stored in water tight ziplocks):
- Passport / Driver's License
- Social Security Cards
- Birth Certificates
- Marriage License
- Wills and Medical Directives
Things To Grab:
- Dogs
- Leashes
- Dog Food (which I already have in a small portable container.)
- Water Jugs (which obviously don't fit in the backpacks.)
- Any Current Medications
This is not a definitive list, just what we have included in our emergency kit! FEMA has a great PDF you can download with their recommendations. Leave a comment below if you are well prepared for a disaster! I'd love to hear your suggestions for things to include in our bags.
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