72 hr. kit supply list

Here is the list of our 72 hour kits that my parents gave us.

Day 1
Breakfast

• Cereal (the mini-sized boxes kids love)
• Gossner's milk (they come in all kinds of flavors and are made for food storage, it's not powdered either... actual milk that you can drink without adding any water)
• Fruit cup (the tiniest pull-tab can you can find)

Snack

• Nuts
  

Lunch

• Cheese crackers (or you could get any type of crackers but just a single serving size or three crackers you put in a small zip lock bag)
  
• Beef jerky (just a single serving size package)
  
• Trail mix (single serving sizes... ours was a small package)
  
• Dried fruit (single serving size package)
• Juice box
  

Snack

• Granola bar
• Raisins
  

Dinner

• Peanut butter (one of those "on-the-go" Jiffy packages)
• Crackers (three crackers or three packs like you'd have in a restaurant)
• Applesauce
• Power bar
• Gossner's milk

Snack

• Pudding (just a snack pack)
  

Day 2
Breakfast

• Cereal
• Gossner's milk
• Applesauce
  

Snack

• Fruit snacks

Lunch

• Peanut butter
• Crackers (three packs)
  
• Nuts
• Fruit cup
• Juice box
  

Snack

• Pretzels
• Raisins
  

Dinner

• Spam (or tuna if you want... one of those individual serving size packages)
• Crackers (three packs)
  
• Olives (single serving size pull-tab can)
• Trail mix
• Gossner's milk

Snack

• Pudding
  

Day 3
Breakfast

• Cereal
• Gossner's milk
• Fruit cup
  

Snack

• Pretzels
  

Lunch

• Spam or tuna
• Crackers (three packs)
• Beef jerky
• Applesauce
• Juice box
  

Snack

• Fruit snacks
• Raisins
  

Dinner

• Peanut butter
• Crackers (three packs)
• Dried fruit
• Nuts
• Gossner's milk
  

Snack

• Pudding
  

All the meals and snacks were stuffed into a large ziplock bag for each day. Then we had a label with the meal plan for that day in the bag so you could see what to eat for each meal. There was also enough plastic spoons and knives needed for the day's meals.

In addition to the meals, each backpack also has:

• Flashlight (you will need some extra batteries)
• Two bottles of water
• Emergency blanket
• Emergency sleeping bag
  
• Trash bag (the big black kind)
• Wipes

You might also want to "customize" each bag with some money (in small bills), notebook or coloring book and crayons, change of clothes (I will only do this for the kids probably), small toy, and any toiletries you want (for me, contact solution and contact storage case, tampons/pads, medicine, etc).

I know this is OVERWHELMING! Trust me. I would NEVER have gotten around to doing this in such an organized and simple way had it not been for my parents giving us these as Christmas gifts. When they talk about this at church, sweat immediately beads up and I start panicking because it sounds so simple but it costs money, time, and brainpower to get this put together, especially one for each family member. But I am so glad we have them. Now let's just pray the "big one" doesn't strike while we are at home because we will be crushed under our unreinforced 102 year old concrete block home. Or now that I think about it, at work because who knows if my 20+ year old building will stand up and I don't have a 72 hr. kit there or in my car. Hmmm... on further thought, let's just pray the "big one" never happens.

Joke's on us today

April Fools started out with a fantastic practical joke.

I woke up to find Jeff putting the finishing touches on a fresh coat of paint in the bathroom. Something he swore up and down, he'd never do. I started the project late last night, itching to redeem myself from our bedroom makeover oops. He said he couldn't sleep, so he got up at 4 a.m. to paint. I'll post pictures later... but if you're wondering, Jeff is so-so on the color but I like it. Go figure.

Then April Fools Day had her way with us.

First, Mother Nature in her cruel irony decided to dump snow, rain, and wind on us. Oh and a 30 degree temperature drop from yesterday.

And then the BOOM! LIGHTS OUT!

The power went out. We figured it would be a fairly quick fix... we seem to have a transformer blow every couple of months and our city power plant usually gets it fixed pretty fast. But then the hours passed by and the house started to get colder.

Apparently it wasn't just a transformer that blew but the entire power pole. I happened to glance outside and saw this.Our neighbor came over to check on us and told us the entire pole had caught on fire. Dang! I would have loved a picture of that.

So we waited and waited and waited. Meanwhile, husband extraordinaire was making up for lack of sleep from his early morning painting frenzy. The house kept getting colder and colder. The kids kept getting more and more bored. And I kept getting more and more anxious. It's kind of like when you go camping and you know you can't turn on a light. I don't know about the rest of you, but it drives me absolutely bonkers. Just the sheer knowledge that you have to pee in the dark and can't do a thing about it drives me crazy.

Then I remembered earlier in the week, I'd mentioned to Jeff that we should go through our 72 hr. kits - seeing as how they are four years old - and write down everything in them so we can replace all the expired food.

Hence lies practical joke #2 today. We ended up feasting on a lunch of crackers, peanut butter, Gossner's milk, trail mix, olives, and tuna. All because the power was still out and I didn't want to deal with fits of disappointment that we couldn't nuke some chicken nuggets in the microwave. The kids had a blast with our emergency picnic and I accomplished one of my to-do's. If anyone wants a list of three meals/snacks for a three day emergency kit, let me know and I'll send them to you. My parents gave us these kits for Christmas and their list is super easy.The power came back on about 2:30 p.m. I will admit, for a split second I was ready to just pretend the last session of General Conference was over. Had it not been for the fact that I'd already printed out some activity packs for the kids to do, I probably would have just bagged the whole thing. So much for our spiritual feast today.... but at least our house is warm, the bathroom looks crisp and clean, and we just might survive a disaster if we don't have to cook.