Having an emergency go kit is essential for any disaster, whether it be a pandemic, natural disaster, or man-made disaster. It should contain the basic items needed to survive for at least 72 hours, such as emergency water, food, blankets, lights, masks, and copies of important documents. Before buying supplies for your go kit, make an inventory of what you already have in your home. This will help you save money and ensure that you have enough supplies for two weeks.
When stocking your go kit, make sure to include a 14-day menu kit with nutritionally balanced meals. You should also include prescription drugs for at least seven days in case supply chains are disrupted and pharmacies are unable to fill prescriptions. Camping supply stores are great sources of compact and well-preserved foods that are suitable for emergency preparedness kits. FEMA recommends that your emergency kit contains at least 72 hours of food per person, including baby food and formula for young children.
Additionally, store plastic food bags or zippered food freezers in your emergency supplies. If you include canned food in your emergency food supply, inspect it regularly to ensure that there are no rusty, leaking, bulging, or heavily dented containers and that there are no broken seals. Military and camping supply stores are good sources of some compact, well-preserved foods that are good options for emergency preparedness kits. Alternatively, or in addition, many people find that the best emergency food supplies are canned and dry products that cannot be stored.
Store basic food packages purchased for emergency supply in airtight plastic food storage containers, glass jars with screw caps, or non-rusty metal cans.