Emergency kit, two person, 72 hour

The standard planning assumption for a household is 72 hours without power, water or an accessible road. This pack covers two people for that period: water pouches with a five-year shelf life, food bars, a hand-crank radio and light with a phone charging output, thermal blankets, dust masks, a whistle, gloves and a compact first-aid module.

Twelve pounds packed, in a bag that can be carried by one person. Everything datable is dated. The point of an assembled kit is not that the items are exotic — it is that they are already in one place at two in the morning.

Fitting and care. Keep it by the way out, not in a loft. Check the dates every six months on the same weekend as the alarms; the water pouches and the food bars are the items that expire, and both are individually dated. Crank the radio for a minute at each check so the internal cell does not sit flat for years, which is what kills it. Add what the kit cannot know about: prescription medication, spare glasses, a printed list of phone numbers, and cash in small notes.