Emergency preparedness is the ongoing process of building skills, supplies, and plans so your household can survive and recover when normal infrastructure fails — power, water, supply chains, or communications.
Written by Mike, a union electrical lineman with 21+ years on the job and mutual aid deployments after Sandy, California wildfires, Texas winter storms, and Gulf Coast hurricanes.
FEMA recommends every household maintain at least 72 hours of food, water, and essential supplies. — Ready.gov
Start with water (1–2 gallons per person per day), a 72-hour food supply, a first aid kit, flashlights, and a family communication plan. FEMA's Ready.gov checklist is the baseline — then expand based on your region's specific hazards.
FEMA's minimum is 72 hours per person. Serious preppers build toward 2 weeks, then 30–90 days. Water planning should use 2 gallons per person per day for drinking, cooking, and basic hygiene — not FEMA's 1-gallon survival minimum alone.
Water, shelf-stable food, first aid, medications, flashlights, batteries, a radio, cash, copies of IDs, insurance docs, and a family meet-up plan. Add region-specific items: N95 masks for smoke, ice storm blankets, or hurricane shutters. Check Ready.gov, then fill gaps with our readiness dashboard.
Walk your kit every 6 months — spring and fall works for most households. Swap expired food and meds, test flashlights and radios, and update contact numbers. After any deployment or near-miss (outage, flood warning), refresh what you actually used.