Be ready for anything with a well-stocked home emergency kit. This guide covers the essentials to keep your family safe and prepared.
I’ll be honest – I never thought much about building a home emergency kit until recently. Living in Chicago, we don’t deal with hurricanes or wildfires, but flooding and tornado warnings? Those are regular occurrences. You’ll even remember when our entire basement flooded. Yeesh.

After one too many moments wondering if we were truly prepared, usually while camping out in our basement during a tornado warning, I decided it was time to stop procrastinating and build a kit.
I am not a serious “prepper” or anything like that. I don’t let the fear of disasters change how I live my daily life. But getting this kit together has been a gamechanger for my peace of mind. Plus, climate change is exposing all of us to more extreme weather, so it’s good for everyone to be prepared.

Whether you’re facing a natural disaster, a sudden power outage, or just want to be ready in case something unexpected happens, having a well-prepared home emergency kit is one of the smartest things you can do for your family.
Honestly, I now see it as just as important as changing your air filters or cleaning out the gutters. It’s basic home maintenance.
What is a Home Emergency Kit?

Think of a home emergency kit as your family’s safety net during an emergency situation. It’s a collection of essential items that will keep your family safe, comfortable, and self-sufficient if help isn’t immediately available.
Why It’s a Good Idea: In the event of an emergency, local officials and emergency services may not be able to reach everyone right away. Delays are common, and having a plan in place helps every household member stay calm and prepared. Beyond practicality, having an emergency kit is just a really good idea for peace of mind. It’s one less thing to worry about when the unexpected happens.
While researching how exactly to create a home emergency kit, I noticed that most experts recommend focusing on three areas, with three separate kits.
- Your main home emergency kit: This is what you would use if you’re stranded at home or have to shelter-in-place.
- A Go bag: Something you could grab and go if you needed to leave your home quickly.
- Car emergency bag: A small bag you keep in the car in case of emergency.
My Biggest Takeaway
Before diving into what goes into the kit, let me share the most important lesson I’ve learned: An emergency kit is only useful if you can actually use it. Keep it somewhere handy. Keep it stocked. Choose items you’ll actually eat and use. Make sure your evacuation plans are updated and memorized.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Your kit should reflect your family’s unique needs and circumstances. For example, since we don’t live in an earthquake or hurricane zone, I didn’t include tools specifically for those disasters.
1. Assembling Your Home Emergency Kit

One of the easiest ways to start building your emergency kit is by taking a look around your own home. That drawer full of extra plastic utensils from takeout orders? Toss them into a resealable bag and add them to your kit. An old pot that’s gathering dust in the back of your cabinet? Perfect for emergency cooking.
As you upgrade or replace household items, consider whether the older versions still have practical uses in your emergency setup. Using those items is a simple way to save money and repurpose what you already have. This made the process feel less overwhelming, and before I knew it, I had enough supplies to keep my family going for several days.

Essential Items to Include
- Three-Day Supply of Water: At least 1 gallon of water per person per day for three days.
- Emergency Food: Non-perishable snacks like granola bars, canned food, and dried fruit.
- First Aid Supplies: Bandages, antiseptics, non-prescription medications, and pain relievers. I put extras in a baggie, but you could also buy a kit.
- Emergency Shelter: Plastic sheeting, duct tape, and warm blankets.
- Personal Items: Feminine supplies, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer.
- Important Family Documents: Copies of insurance policies, identification, and bank account records. A few years ago, I saved all of our documents digitally and uploaded them to the cloud.
- Emergency Lighting: Flashlights with extra batteries.
- Communication Tools: A NOAA weather radio and portable phone chargers. I purchased this weather radio because it has a built-in flashlight, a port for charging your smartphone, and a crank and solar panel so it always has a power source.
- Fire Safety: A fire extinguisher. These compact ones are great if you’re short on space.
- Cash: In small bills.
- Comfort Items: Toys and playing cards.
- Whistle: To signal for help. I bought one for everyone in the family.
Additional Items to Consider:
- Pet food, water bowls, leashes, collars, and medications.
- Plastic utensils, paper towels, and trash bags.
- Extra set of car keys.
- Baby supplies like formula, diapers, or baby food.
I put all of my items in a clear storage bin and labeled it, using my favorite label maker. You don’t want to be looking through all of your bins when there’s an emergency, so know where it is!
2. Your Go Bag (Emergency Grab Bag)

A Go Bag is basically a mini version of your home kit—but portable. It’s the bag you grab if you need to leave your house in a moment’s notice. We recently went through our closets and I had an old duffel bag in our donate pile that I grabbed to fill.

Here’s what I packed in ours:
- Bottled water and a water purification straw. I’m a big fan of Lifestraw and bought a few of these!
- Non-perishable emergency food
- First aid supplies
- A warm blanket
- Extra medication and pain relievers
- Wet wipes and toiletries
- Cash in small bills
- Copies of important documents
- A flashlight with extra batteries
- Duct tape and a multi-tool (or Swiss army knife)
- Masks
- Sentimental Items: If you need to leave your home quickly, you may want a fireproof bag that can hold special photos, documents, and letters.
Honestly, just knowing this bag is ready to go makes me feel so much more prepared.
3. Car Emergency Kit

When I first thought about emergency kits, I forgot about the car. But imagine being stranded during a winter storm – a reality as a Chicagoan – or stuck far from home during a power outage. Your car kit can be a lifesaver.
- Bottled water and non-perishable snacks
- First aid kit: I ended up getting this kit for the car because it’s very compact and included matches, glow sticks and a few other items on my list.
- A warm blanket and change of clothes for all family members
- Jumper cables & battery
- A flashlight and glow sticks
- A fire extinguisher
- Plastic ties and garbage bags
- Road flares
- Extra cash and copies of important family documents
- Wet wipes and toilet paper
- A kit like this is a great option if you want to buy something that is ready to go.
Best Practices for Maintaining Your Kits

- Regularly check expiration dates on food, water, and medications.
- Store supplies in a cool, dry place. We have our home kit and to-go back on a high-shelf in our storage room.
- Update your kit based on seasonal needs.
- Make sure every family member knows where the kits are located.
- Treat your emergency kits like routine home maintenance – review them regularly, just like you would your smoke detectors or HVAC system. In fact, I added this to Your Home Playbook as a yearly to-do!
To Dive Deeper
I am not a hazard expert, so I want to direct you to a well-rounded website about all things preparedness.
I found Ready.gov to be the best resource out there with evacuation plans, tips for planning for hazards with kids, building a kit, and more. If you want to make sure you’re ready, it’s worth a browse.
Final Thoughts on Emergency Preparedness

Look, I know I’ve written much more glamorous posts here on The DIY Playbook. But when disaster strikes, I think this will be one of the most valuable tools you’ll have. Whether it’s flooding, tornado warnings, or an extended power outage, having these supplies ready means you’re already ahead of the game.
If you’re just starting out, don’t stress. Add a few essential items every week from my checklist, and soon enough, you’ll have a kit you can rely on. I’ve also added all of these essentials to an Amazon list if it’s easier for you to see them all in one spot and add to your cart that way.
Stay safe, stay prepared, and here’s to hoping we never actually need to use these kits!