Tuesday, February 12, 2013

72-hour kit: Food

It's been a whole year since we talked about 72-hour kit food. And sadly, I did not follow my own advice this year and rotate the food every 4-6 months. And I learned my lesson.
 
I don't like to waste food. At all! In fact, even though I love trying new recipes, but I don't like to try stuff if I haven't tasted it. Probably silly, but I just don't want to waste any food.

Well, Saturday my husband and kids helped me over-haul our 72-hour kits. The kids were excited to be able to eat some of the food, but unfortunately several things were NOT worth eating. I guess if we had been in a real emergency we might have eaten it. Maybe. But I learned that I would rather have things in my 72-hour kits that my kids would be excited about eating. Would I really want to cause myself and my kids more stress by forcing them to eat some nasty protein bar when we are in the middle of a stressful situation? Or would it be better to have some snacks that they are familiar with?
 
So, I removed the protein bars and added 2 granola bars. I also put two packs of crackers instead of just one. Raisins don't stay soft long, so they aren't really worth it unless you rotate your food once a month. And I still haven't added jerky or other dried meat. I really need to add that, at least to my husband's pack.
 

Here's my oldest eating some of the spoils of last year's kit.
They mainly ate the hard fruit snacks. Haha.
 


Here's my new 72-hour kit food
minus the fruit snacks that didn't make it in the photo.
 
Here's a list of what I have:
 
1 Mylar pouch tuna

1 tuna snack pack
2 packets of Kool-Aid for water bottles
2 packages of Ramen Noodle
2 packs of instant oatmeal
2 granola bars
2 peanut butter cracker snacks
a few hard candies
2 spoons
1-2 fruit snacks (not pictured)

Again, I stored eat kit in gallon-sized freezer bags.

And this time, I wrote down in my planner to switch the food out in April. My kids are already excited about eating their food.

In April, I plan on adding a little more food to the kits for my husband, myself and my older kids.

Remember, not matter what you have, have something. Something is better than nothing. Also, keep it LIGHT.

3 comments:

  1. I find it ironic...or inspiring that just last week, I pulled out my 72 hr kit and have been trying to figure out food! Thanks for the tip! I was just about to purchase some protein bars too. I don't think my kids would like them either :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the post. I like that it IS simple. I am going to go pack us some kits right now in some gallon ziplock bags. Easy peasy. Thanks Robyn.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Emergencies and major disasters are not exactly foreseeable. They are often quite, things like natural disasters, bombings, blackouts and earthquakes strike us in surprise. Evidently, 3 days is not a short period of time, and in unorganized and chaotic situations, 3 days seems more like 3 weeks. We should prepare a home 72 Hours Kit that is accessible and available to every single person in the home.

    ReplyDelete