What should be in a 72-hour emergency kit?
A 72-hour home kit covers water (4 liters per person per day), food that needs no cooking, light, a battery or crank radio, a charged power bank, medicines and first aid, hygiene supplies, cash in small bills and copies of documents. For one person it costs roughly €30–60 ($35–70), and you can build it over three weeks.
The checklist
| Group | What | How much |
|---|---|---|
| Water | bottled water | 4 L (1 gal) per person per day → 12 L for 3 days |
| Food | canned tuna or beans, crackers, rusks, peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit, UHT milk | 3 meals a day + snacks; about 2,000 kcal per adult per day |
| Light | flashlight or headlamp + spare batteries | one per person; no candles |
| News | battery or crank radio | 1 per household |
| Power | charged power bank, car charger | 1–2 per phone |
| Health | prescription medicines, first-aid kit, thermometer | at least 1 week of medicines |
| Hygiene | wet wipes, hand sanitizer, trash bags, toilet paper | for 3 days |
| Money | cash in small bills | a few days of basic spending |
| Documents | copies of IDs and insurance, important numbers on paper | in a waterproof folder |
Choose food your family already eats
For the first three days, pick food that needs no cooking and no refrigeration, with ring-pull lids. Under stress, children won't eat something new — store what you eat and eat what you store.
What it costs
A kit for one person costs roughly €30–60 ($35–70) without shared items (radio, first-aid kit). You don't have to buy it at once: one shopping trip a week for three weeks is enough.
A home kit is not a backpack
This list is for staying at home safely. An evacuation backpack is a separate kit — but keep the most important things (documents, medicines, a flashlight, a power bank) together, so you can grab them within a minute.
Sources: EU Preparedness Union Strategy (2025); FEMA / Ready.gov — Build a Kit; Red Cross — Survival Kit Supplies. Sources are listed on the last page of every guide.
Updated:
