72 hour kits. Yes or no?

[pam]

I know @mirkwood has an opinion on 72 hour kits.  But what I found interesting on the Church website is that they don't come out and say that we should have a 72 hour kit.  This is what is said:

What about 72-hour kits?

Church members are encouraged to prepare for adversity by building a basic supply of food, water, money, and, over time, longer-term supply items. Beyond this, Church members may choose to store additional items that could be of use during times of distress.

What I get from this is that they really want us to focus on the 3 month supply and build from that.

In reading on other websites about 72 hour kits it always states that you need to make sure you can carry it.  But with the lists they provide, I don't see how anyone could carry everything they recommend in a 72 hour kit.

What are your thoughts?  Yes or no to 72 hour kits and why?

Personally I can see the importance of having some kind of a emergency kit for a few days that you keep in your car.  Especially during the winter.  

 

 

[NeuroTypical]

We live out in the middle of nowhere, and it makes sense to have car kits, especially in winter time.  I've been stuck in town and had to get a hotel room twice, the whole family twice too.  If we had been stuck in a snowdrift overnight though, yeah, that may actually happen sometime.  Or two or three nights.  By definition, we have "once in a century" storms about, well, once every hundred years or so.  People die in those.

We've also been evacuated due to forest fire, even though we're out of the trees.  It can still rain burning ash if the wind is right.  So it makes sense to have bug-out kits we can grab in an instant.  Again, in case the hotels are full and services get overloaded.  

Food storage is good for pandemics, civil unrest, or any other major disaster that overloads help, or makes it wise for us to be on our own for any lengthy period of time.  

[estradling75]

Three month of food in your home and 72 hours kits should not be a versus thing..

They are both designed to address different types of emergencies and thus have difference goals..

72 hour kits are for when you can't go/stay home.  While they say you should have "Everything" you need for three days.  The focus should be on "need" not everything...  Focus on what will keep you alive for three days away from home.  Then add would be nices up to what you can carry (if you have room)

The three month of Food in the home is more about sheltering in the comfort of your home if for some reason you don't have access to outside resources like you normally do.

 

[pam]

So why doesn't the Church put on their website more information and lists of items for 72 hour kits?

[NightSG]

24 minutes ago, pam said:

So why doesn't the Church put on their website more information and lists of items for 72 hour kits?

Probably largely because what is needed varies so much by person, location and season.  More than half of my 72 hour kit would be useless to someone who hasn't done some wilderness survival training, or can't swing a hatchet effectively.  Probably a third of it gets swapped out in spring and fall, since I'm unlikely to have trouble staying warm in the Texas summer, and massive amounts of water are less of a concern than extra food in winter.

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

I think if I lived in hurricane or tornado country, I would make sure I had a 72 hour kit.  And if I lived somewhere like Alaska where a flat tire or breaking down could put you in danger if you cant get assistance, I would definitely have one.

I live in an area with mild climate, so I dont have one...I probably still should, its just not as great a priority to me. I do have longer term food storage though. 

[Iggy]

5 hours ago, pam said:

I know @mirkwood has an opinion on 72 hour kits.  But what I found interesting on the Church website is that they don't come out and say that we should have a 72 hour kit.  This is what is said:

What about 72-hour kits?

Church members are encouraged to prepare for adversity by building a basic supply of food, water, money, and, over time, longer-term supply items. Beyond this, Church members may choose to store additional items that could be of use during times of distress.

What I get from this is that they really want us to focus on the 3 month supply and build from that.

In reading on other websites about 72 hour kits it always states that you need to make sure you can carry it.  But with the lists they provide, I don't see how anyone could carry everything they recommend in a 72 hour kit.

What are your thoughts?  Yes or no to 72 hour kits and why?

Personally I can see the importance of having some kind of a emergency kit for a few days that you keep in your car.  Especially during the winter. 

Here, I carry a gallon of water, a small tarp, two emergency foil type blankets, two inexpensive fleece throws, a roll of paper towels, folded up plastic bags.  Always in my purse I carry power bars, and if I plan in advance to eat out I have my glucose meter and my Humalog pen. During the winter when storms can close the bridge between my town and the entrance to the next one, and I can't cross to get home, then I carry my Lantus pen, a heavier blanket and a small pillow. The motels I can afford are rather seedy and I prefer to sleep in my car parked at the meetinghouse. Always connected to the two cig lighters in the car are the cables to my phone and to my Kindle Fire. I can call home to give my status to Hubby, and in the church parking lot, I can sign in and surf the internet for entertainment, or just read the scriptures, e-books, lessons, etc. Just a few blocks away from the meetinghouse are Fred Meyer and Safeway and my favorite restaurant. So, when I have to potty, I start up the car and go to the store.

3 hours ago, pam said:

So why doesn't the Church put on their website more information and lists of items for 72 hour kits?

Pam, in my neck of the woods, our Stake Presidency has stressed that we educated ourselves regarding 72 hour &/or Bug Out kits by attending as many of the preparedness seminars given by our local city/county/state peoples. Three of our members are employed by two of these county/state Emergency Management. So, not only has our branch, the ward in the next town AND as a Stake event had Firesides, RS Evening Meeting, given by them. One 5th Sunday my Husband and I did a presentation on: Emergency Preparedness by Hubby and 3 month/ 1 year Food & Etc. Storage by me. All of hubby's presentation was from information he gathered from our county web sites, NOT the church.

Sitting in the congregation was the parents of our Stake President (they live 6 months here, and 6 months three blocks from their son). They told him of our presentation, and about two weeks later, hubby received a phone call from him asking for us to do the same presentation during a Stake Fireside. Well, hubby is not able to travel well due to health issues, so as a compromise, Hubby typed up his presentation, I put it in a form that easily followed the Power Point Presentation we showed. I already had mine typed up.

When one of his councilor's was visiting us, we gave him a thumb drive with the power point on it and the typed pages of the presentation. Since this was going to be a Stake attended thing, the councilor researched the local emergency information for each of the wards.

As for a bug-out bag. We don't plan to bug-out. Hubby is 74, I am 64 and both of us are *stoved* up. We have gone over pretty much all of the possible scenario's and have opted to stay home. Just across from us is an area that has been marked out and designated as an Emergency Tsunami Helo Pick Up spot. We are out of the tsunami flood area. We just have to store water to flush/clean with, and stock up on more kittly litter.

Edited November 7, 2016 by Iggy

[anatess2]

If you live in the Hurricane pathway of the East Coast, I recommend the 72-hour kit that fits in a backpack to supplement your food storage.  Put it in the part of the house that is least likely to get blocked when you have to exit the house.  The backpack has to be less than 1/3 the body weight of the person carrying it.  The lighter the better.

72-hours is what the Red Cross says the average it will take for help to get through to a major disaster zone.

The 72-hour kit is, of course, not like the food storage that you live off of for long periods of time.  The 72-hour kit is a survival kit.  So, it varies by person/region/climate what you need in there.  Yes, you may have a 72-hour kit that doesn't have toilet paper.  Yes, you may have a 72-hour kit that doesn't have shampoo and conditioner.  You may have a 72-hour kit that doesn't have can opener... etc. etc.  My first 72-hour kit fits inside a quart milk carton with a water-bottle with a filtration system duct taped to it.  It contained enough sustenance to keep me from dying of hunger and thirst (provided I can find a water source (Florida has a lot of water holes) - jerkies, granola bars, candy and gum to last 3 days.

Now, I have the milk carton thingee in the car for in case I fall of the side of the road and get stuck and can't call for help or something.  The 72-hour kit I have now is a backpack with more items like a super portable thermal blanket and tarp that can be fashioned as a tent/shade that is bright orange so it can also be used for visibility to rescuers.  It also has hydration packets and self-heating hot chocolate.  I also got a first-aid kit in it.

Edited November 8, 2016 by anatess2

[Guest]

Yes, we should have car kits and go-bags and EDC bags.  They should all be tailored to our own needs and the circumstances we might find ourselves in.  We all need to get training from whatever sources we can: CERT, Red Cross, Boy Scouts, FEMA, etc.

[Burn]

All I know is that many government websites encourage a sort of 72 hour kit.  Now I don't necessarily trust the government, even though I've worked for them for 30+ years.  But I do know that if the government gets on board with this type of preparedness, we probably should listen.  The government is usually way behind thinking, knowledgeable people. Preparedness is a personal thing.  Think about it, pray about it, discuss it as a family, then come up with your own plan.

[pwrfrk]

I used a list from back when I was in the local search and rescue unit.  It was for my survival bag.  Lot of tools, even a couple books, maps, stuff like that.  72 hours may have been enough to take care of you after the initial crisis, but today?  Forget it.  Maybe for a small backpack, otherwise I suggest going bigger.  IMO 5 days, minimum.

Back a few years ago I was in a relatively remote area.  I had a water-proofed duffle bag for clothes, another for the emergency tools, and then another specifically for food.  I had enough Mountain House packed survival food to last me three months.  Then two 5 gallon water jugs and a bunch of filters and hose.  I normally kept both tanks for fuel filled, and that was around 110 gallons plus five 5 gal. jerry cans.  I made sure I was covered.

 

[Highlander]

 

For my 72 hour kit I’m using a hiking bag with food based on the army rations, a spare pair of cloths, fire source, tarp, knife, sleeping bag, 4L of water and a few army things. You can get a 72 hour kit template almost anywhere online although those kits can get carried away. Test out your kit so you know what you really need, the wife and I were planning on testing our kits out on a three day hike at the bottom of Tasmania to see the Aurora Australis but she got sick.

Your focus should be food, water and shelter the whole purpose of the kit is getting you through 3 days most natural disasters are over by then or aid usually arrives. 

 

[Lindy]

I was reading about members of our Church in California who had to leave their houses in a matter of seconds, and lose their homes and everything in it in just minutes by the wild fires.

Lost possessions, family memories, documents, wallets, and Temple Recommends.

Someone, who lost everything in the fire, said if they kept important things in a 72 hour kit.... well, they could have grabbed it on the way out the door.

I need to rethink things myself- my 72 hour kit is in the basement. 

[Highlander]

Quote

On 11/21/2018 at 4:31 AM, Lindy said:

I was reading about members of our Church in California who had to leave their houses in a matter of seconds, and lose their homes and everything in it in just minutes by the wild fires.

Lost possessions, family memories, documents, wallets, and Temple Recommends.

Someone, who lost everything in the fire, said if they kept important things in a 72 hour kit.... well, they could have grabbed it on the way out the door.

I need to rethink things myself- my 72 hour kit is in the basement. 

 

Yes chuck all the importants on a USB or on Cloud you can find lists online on things you want to keep incase of an emergancey

[Highlander]

Here is an old ration pack menu for the Aussie army obviously some things have to be substatuted for Word of Wisdom approval but this is easily replicated at your local supermarket 

(for you Americans a biscuit is like a cookie)

I also attached another document that has a list of things that could be useful for a 72 hour kit, in it i also coppied someones comments on the site saying this list is excessive, which it is, but it might give you an idea of things you want.

Pack light pack basics, all you need is food water shelter

Ration pack.docx

Bug out Bag Both 72 hour kit and car pack.docx

[Plein Air]

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Edited August 2, 2020 by Plein Air