72-hour kit checklist: what goes in a three-day emergency kit at home

Most of a three-day kit is already in your house. The work is pulling it into two labeled tubs and leaving it alone.

By the OFF Grid Journal staff · October 8, 2026 · 5 min read
Based on Project 68 of The Off-Grid Handbook by Garrett Dalton

A 72-hour kit holds what your household needs for three days without power, running water or stores: 3 gallons of water per person, three days of food that needs no cooking, light, a battery or hand-crank radio, a first aid kit, medications, warmth, hygiene supplies, document copies and small-bill cash. Pack it in two labeled tubs in one closet everyone knows. Most of it you already own.

Stay kit vs. go bag

The Off-Grid Handbook's position is to stay put: for most realistic events, a prepared home is the strongest place to be. So Project 68 builds a 72-hour stay kit that makes the first three days smooth at home, and doubles as the grab-load in the rarer case that leaving is right.

The difference is size. The stay kit is everything in the tubs, and the go bag is the smaller set you carry out the door, listed in advance on the tub lid.

The American Red Cross draws the same line: a 3-day supply of water and food for evacuation, a 2-week supply for home. The 72-hour kit is the first step toward the larger reserve.

72-hour kit checklist

The water line matters most. One gallon per person per day is the Ready.gov and Red Cross baseline, so a family of four needs 12 gallons for three days, and the emergency supply calculator scales it for your household and pets.

Fill the water from your regular stored supply rather than buying new. The book's storage rules apply: food-grade containers, labeled with the fill date, kept cool and dark and off bare concrete, and rotated every six months.

The radio is the piece that tells you when the event is over. A hand-crank emergency radio keeps working after the batteries run down.

The comfort layer people forget

A kit can tick every box and still fail in the middle of the night. The book lists what households tend to leave out:

• A margin of every prescription, where your prescriber allows
• Spare glasses or contacts, and hearing aid batteries
• Children's items: formula, diapers, a favorite book or game
• A three-day set for each pet: food, water, medications, leash or carrier

Pets need their own planning, because many public shelters can't take them. Pet emergency preparedness covers the pet module in full.

Medical and mobility needs

For older adults and anyone with a disability, FEMA's preparedness guide adds a few lines to the kit. Pack assistive devices such as hearing aids and mobility aids with spare batteries, a written list of your support network with their numbers, and food and supplies for any service animal.

If someone in the house depends on a powered medical device or refrigerated medicine, Ready.gov's advice is to talk to the medical provider about a power outage plan before you need one. Note the plan on a card in the kit, with the provider's number.

Keep a printed medication list in the kit too, with doses. If you have to see a new doctor or pharmacist during an event, it is the first thing they will ask for.

What goes in the go bag if you must leave

If the household has to relocate, there is no time to sort. Decide now what goes, and write the list on the tub lid.

1. Documents: the emergency binder or its USB copy
2. Medications and glasses
3. Water
4. Food bars
5. Warmth: a blanket or jacket per person
6. Cash
7. Phones, chargers and the power bank

Keep a smaller version in each vehicle. The car emergency kit list covers what belongs in the trunk.

How to build a 3-day emergency kit in two hours

The book prices the kit at about $100 in materials, mostly because it consolidates instead of buying new. Work in this order:

1. Get two clear plastic tubs, or one tub and a duffel, and label them.
2. Pull water from your stored supply, three gallons per person.
3. Pull three days of no-cook food from the pantry.
4. Add the spare lighting set, a second radio or a power bank, and a first aid kit.
5. Add blankets, hygiene basics, small-bill cash and the binder note.
6. Add the comfort layer, then write the go-bag list on the lid.
7. Date everything that expires.

Where to keep it, and how to keep it ready

The kit lives in one place, usually the closet of the room you would shelter in, and everyone in the house knows where. The book's rule: it is never quietly raided for camping.

Check dates and rotate food, water and batteries every three months. The book's field note sums up the point of the whole kit: it is 72 hours of not making decisions.