Emergency Preparedness Checklist

Water and food worked out for your household and the number of days, plus only the hazards that actually happen where you live.

Your household

Adults
2
Children
0
Pets
0
Days of supplies
Three days is the old minimum. Two weeks is what agencies now suggest for anywhere that gets cut off.
What actually happens where you live
Only these hazard sections print. A list covering everything gets done by nobody.

14 gallons of water and about 42 meals for 7 days.

42 lines

Emergency Preparedness Checklist

7 days of supplies for 2 people.

14 gallons of water • 42 meals • Extended power cut

Water and food — 7 days for 2 people

Ready.gov asks for at least one gallon per person per day for drinking and sanitation. It is the figure everyone underestimates. In very hot weather that need can double, and children, nursing mothers and anyone ill need more.

ItemHow muchHaveReplace by
Drinking water — 14 gallons
Shelf-stable meals — about 42
A manual can opener
Sturdy paper plates, cups and cutlery
Something to cook on that is not the mains — camp stove, grill, and fuel
Coolers and ice packs

Light, power and information

  • Torches — one per person, plus spare batteriesNot candles. House fires after a disaster are commonly caused by candles.
  • A battery or hand-crank radio that receives NOAA weather alertsThe one piece of equipment that still works when the mobile network is down, which it will be.
  • Power banks, charged, plus a car charger
  • Spare batteries in every size you actually use
  • A printed list of phone numbersNobody knows any phone numbers. A dead phone is a dead address book.
  • Cash in small notesCard terminals and cash machines both need power. Small notes because nobody will have change.

First aid, hygiene and tools

  • A stocked first aid kit, checked rather than assumed
  • Two weeks of every prescription, and a written list of doses
  • Prescription glasses, spare, and any medical device supplies
  • Soap, sanitiser, wipes, toilet roll, bin bags
  • Feminine supplies and any personal necessities
  • A wrench or shutoff tool kept at the gas meterOnly turn gas off if you smell it or are told to — turning it back on requires the utility.
  • Work gloves, sturdy shoes, a dust mask
  • Duct tape, plastic sheeting, a utility knife
  • A fire extinguisher you have checked this year

For the hazards you actually face

Generic preparedness lists cover everything and get done by nobody. These are the ones for where you live.

  • Know how long the food holds — a fridge 4 hours, a full freezer 48, a half-full freezer 24, all with the door shutUSDA figures. Refreeze only what still has ice crystals or is at 40°F or below.
  • A generator sized to what you actually need, with fuel stored safelyOutdoors only, well away from windows and doors. Carbon monoxide from generators kills people after every major storm.
  • Know how to open the garage door manually
  • A corded phone if you still have a landline

Go bag — one per person, by the door

Packed in advance. An evacuation order gives you minutes, and nobody packs well under those conditions.

  • Copies of identification, insurance policies and the deed or lease
  • Medication for a week, in its labelled packaging
  • Cash
  • Phone charger and a power bank
  • A change of clothes and sturdy shoes
  • Water and food for a day
  • Torch and a whistle
  • A paper map, with two routes marked

The plan, written down

Where you go, how you find each other, who you call. The plan is what people forget to make while they are buying supplies.

Detail
Meeting point near home
Meeting point outside the area
Out-of-area contact & number
Evacuation route 1
Evacuation route 2
Where the pets go
Utility shutoffs — where
Insurance policy numbers
School / childcare release plan

Checked on / replaced

theprintablehome.com/emergency-preparedness-checklist/

Note: Follow the instructions of your local emergency management agency over anything printed here. Evacuation orders, shelter locations and local hazards are decided locally and in real time. (Checked 2026-09.)

The arithmetic people get wrong

One gallon of water per person per day. That is Ready.gov’s figure and it covers drinking plus basic sanitation.

For a family of four, over two weeks, that is fifty-six gallons — plus more for pets. Almost nobody pictures that correctly, and water is simultaneously the most important supply and the one most often short. The sheet does the multiplication so the number is in front of you rather than estimated.

Two things the flat figure hides: in very hot weather the need can double, which matters because the outages that last are the ones after hurricanes and wildfires; and children, nursing mothers and anyone ill need more than the baseline.

Food is easier: roughly three shelf-stable meals per person per day, and a manual can opener, which is the single most forgotten item in every emergency kit ever assembled.

Three days or two weeks

Three days was the traditional standard and it assumed help arrives quickly. Guidance has moved toward two weeks for anywhere that can be isolated — which, after a hurricane, a wildfire or a serious winter storm, describes most places.

If two weeks of water is genuinely not storable where you live, store what you can and know where the nearest resupply is. Partial preparation is not a failure; the failure is having neither supplies nor a plan.

Only the hazards you actually have

A preparedness list that covers hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, floods, tornadoes and blizzards at once is too long to act on. It gets read, admired and not done.

Tick what actually happens where you live and the sheet prints those sections only. Hurricane shutters are irrelevant in Colorado; furniture strapping is irrelevant in Florida. A short list you complete beats a comprehensive one you do not.

What actually kills people afterwards

This is worth stating plainly, because it is consistent and it is preventable.

Carbon monoxide, overwhelmingly. Generators run in a garage or too close to a window. Grills brought indoors for warmth or cooking. Unvented heaters in a sealed room. It happens after every major storm, to people who survived the storm itself. A generator goes outdoors, well away from any window or door, always.

Fires from candles. Use torches. One per person, with spare batteries.

Driving through moving water. A foot of moving water floats a car. This is the most common flood fatality and it happens to people who thought it looked shallow.

How long the food actually holds

USDA figures, and they are shorter than people assume: a refrigerator keeps food safe for about four hours with the door shut, a full freezer for about 48 hours, a half-full freezer for about 24. After that, refrigerated meat, poultry, fish, eggs and leftovers get thrown out — and food is only safe to refreeze if it still has ice crystals or is at 40°F or below.

The door is the whole variable. Every time it opens, the clock restarts shorter.

The plan is the part people skip

Everyone buys supplies. Far fewer write down where the household meets, how they find each other and who they call.

Meeting point near home            for a house fire
Meeting point outside the area     for an evacuation
Out-of-area contact                local lines fail; long distance often works
Two evacuation routes              the single road out is the one that closes
Where the pets go                  many shelters will not take them
Utility shutoffs                   where they are, and the tool beside them
School release plan                who is authorised, and where they go

The out-of-area contact matters more than it sounds. In a regional emergency, local networks are saturated while a call or text to another state often gets through, and it gives everyone one number to report in to.

Documents and photographs, before anything happens

Two things that cost an afternoon and are worth a great deal afterwards:

Photograph the house, inside and out, before a storm season. It is your insurance baseline and it takes twenty minutes. Keep it in cloud storage, not on a shelf.

Know whether you have flood cover. Standard home and renters policies exclude flood. It is a separate NFIP policy with a 30-day waiting period before it takes effect — which means it is a decision for an ordinary Tuesday, not for the day a storm is named. The waiting period is waived in a few cases, mainly when the policy is bought as part of a mortgage or after a flood map change, but none of those help someone watching a forecast.

Check it once a year

Water, batteries, food and medication all expire, and a kit assembled four years ago is a box of expired supplies and a false sense of security.

Attach it to something you already do. The maintenance list puts the emergency kit check in November, alongside the alarm batteries, for exactly that reason.

Store some of it somewhere other than the basement. The place you keep the kit is sometimes the place you cannot reach.

Frequently asked questions

How much water do I need for an emergency kit?

One gallon per person per day, covering drinking and basic sanitation. For a family of four over two weeks that is fifty-six gallons — which is a great deal more than people picture, and it is the single most underestimated item in every kit. Pets need their own supply on top.

Three days or two weeks?

Three days was the old standard and it assumed help arrives quickly. Guidance has shifted toward two weeks for anywhere that can be cut off — which after a hurricane, a wildfire or a major winter storm is most places. If two weeks of water is not storable for you, store what you can and know where the nearest resupply is.

Why does the list only cover some hazards?

Because a preparedness list covering every possible disaster is too long to act on and gets done by nobody. Tick what actually happens where you live and the sheet prints those sections only — the hurricane items are useless in Colorado and the earthquake items are useless in Florida.

What kills people after a disaster rather than during it?

Carbon monoxide, overwhelmingly — generators run in a garage or near a window, grills brought indoors, unvented heaters. Then candles causing fires, then driving through moving water. All three are behaviours rather than supply problems, which is why they are called out on the sheet rather than left implied.

Does home insurance cover flooding?

No. Standard homeowners and renters policies exclude flood almost universally; it is a separate NFIP policy with a 30-day waiting period before it takes effect. That waiting period is the point — it cannot be bought once a storm is named. There are narrow exceptions, mainly when the policy is bought in connection with a mortgage or after a flood map change, and none of them help someone watching a forecast. If you are in or near a flood zone, that is a decision to make on an ordinary day.

What should be in a go bag?

Copies of identification, insurance and the deed or lease; a week of medication in labelled packaging; cash; a charger and power bank; a change of clothes and sturdy shoes; a day of food and water; a torch and whistle; and a paper map with two routes marked. One per person, packed in advance, by the door — an evacuation order gives you minutes and nobody packs well in those minutes.

Related printables

Important Documents ChecklistWhat documents to have, where each original lives, and which ones go in the folder that leaves the house with you.Home Inventory List for InsuranceA room-by-room contents inventory with serial number columns, the prompts people forget, and a page for checking your policy sub-limits.Home Maintenance ChecklistA month-by-month maintenance calendar built for your house — your climate, its age, and only the systems you actually have.