If the power went out tonight and stayed out, could your household get through three days without help? That is the question this checklist answers.
Seventy-two hours is the window emergency planners use for a reason. After a major storm, flood, or grid failure, it can take that long for crews, shelters, and supply trucks to reach everyone. For those first three days, you are on your own. The people who come through it in decent shape are rarely the toughest. They are the ones who spent an afternoon getting ready before anything happened.
When you sign up at chrisgardnerbooks.com, you get the printable 72-hour checklist. This post walks through it section by section and explains why each item made the cut. Keep the printout handy while you read. Every line below matches it exactly.
Why this is in the news right now
This week, former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino told listeners on his podcast to take recent stock-up warnings seriously. His advice was simple: keep at least three days of food, water, and power on hand, plus an emergency radio, batteries, and a way to filter water. His blunt summary was "Get your stuff today." (read the story).
He is not the only one sounding the alarm. Governments overseas, including the UK and Japan, have urged citizens to stockpile essentials amid cyberattack threats and global instability, with some reports pointing to 30 days of supplies. The Pentagon is reportedly preparing major U.S. bases to run for up to 90 days without civilian power, fuel, or water.
Whatever your politics, the core message is the same one FEMA and Ready.gov have given for years: three days minimum, two weeks if you can. Bongino also made a point worth repeating. Panic is the real danger. The goal here is not fear. It is being calm and ready, so that when something happens, your family already has what it needs. Three days is where everyone should start, and that is exactly what this checklist covers.
Water (highest priority)
1 gallon per person per day — 3 gallons per person minimum
Portable water filter or purification tablets
When a storm is forecast: fill the bathtub and every spare jug
Water comes first because nothing else on this list matters without it. A person can go weeks without food but only about three days without water. When the power fails, municipal pumps can fail with it, and a boil advisory can turn your tap into a liability.
The gallon-a-day figure covers drinking plus a little for basic hygiene. For a family of four, that means 12 gallons stored. That sounds like a lot until you see it: three cases of gallon jugs tucked in a closet corner.
A filter or purification tablets are your backup if the stored water runs out or a disaster lasts longer than planned. And when a storm is in the forecast, use the hours you have. A full bathtub holds 40 gallons or more, which is plenty for flushing toilets and washing up.
Food
3 days of food that needs no cooking: canned goods, peanut butter, energy bars, dried fruit
Manual can opener
Paper plates and disposable utensils (no water for dishes)
No power can mean no stove, no microwave, and no refrigerator. That is why every food on this list is ready to eat straight from the package. Pick things your family already likes. A crisis is a bad time to discover that nobody will touch canned sardines.
The manual can opener is the item people forget most. A shelf full of canned chili is useless if your only opener plugs into the wall. Paper plates and plastic forks might seem like a luxury, but they protect your most important supply. Every gallon you spend washing dishes is a gallon you cannot drink.
Warmth & shelter
Blankets or sleeping bags — enough for everyone
Cold-weather layer per person (socks, hat, gloves) — hypothermia kills first
Tarps and duct tape
Most of us think of emergencies as summer storms. But a winter outage with no furnace can drop indoor temperatures fast, and cold works on the body long before hunger does. Hypothermia does not need freezing weather. Damp clothes and a chilly house over a few nights are enough.
A dry hat, gloves, and wool socks for each person do more than you would expect, since you lose a lot of heat through your head, hands, and feet. Pull everyone into one room, close the doors, and pile on the blankets.
Tarps and duct tape handle the rest. Cover a broken window, patch a leaking roof, or rig a windbreak. They are cheap, light, and solve more problems than almost anything else in the kit.
Medical
First-aid kit with a commercial tourniquet
7-day supply of prescription medications
Basics: pain reliever, antihistamine, electrolyte packets
In a disaster, ambulances may be slow or unable to reach you at all. Severe bleeding can become life-threatening within minutes, which is why a tourniquet belongs in every kit. Buy a commercial one from a reputable supplier rather than a cheap knockoff, and take a Stop the Bleed class so you know how to use it under pressure.
Notice the prescription line says seven days, not three. Pharmacies close, refills get delayed, and roads stay blocked longer than anyone hopes. A few extra days of essential medication is the cheapest insurance on this list.
The basics round it out. Pain relievers for injuries and headaches, antihistamines for allergic reactions, and electrolyte packets for anyone working hard, sweating, or getting sick.
Light & power
Flashlights + spare batteries (a headlamp is best)
Portable battery pack, kept charged
Battery or hand-crank radio
Candles cause house fires every year during outages. Flashlights are safer, and a headlamp is better still because it leaves both hands free for cooking, first aid, or digging through a closet in the dark. Keep one per person and store the spare batteries with them.
A portable battery pack keeps a phone alive for days if you use it sparingly. The catch is the phrase kept charged. A dead power bank is a paperweight, so top it off every month or two.
The radio is your link to the outside world when cell towers and internet go down. Emergency broadcasts will tell you where shelters are, when water is safe, and whether it is time to leave.
Comms & info
Emergency contacts written on paper — phones die
One local meeting point everyone in the house knows
Paper map of your area
Quick test: how many phone numbers do you know by heart? For most people the answer is two or three. If your phone dies or gets lost, every other contact goes with it. A single index card with key numbers, kept in your wallet and your kit, fixes that.
The meeting point matters because disasters rarely strike when everyone is home together. Pick one place nearby, like a neighbor's porch, a church, or a school, and make sure every person in the house knows it. If you get separated and cannot call, everyone knows where to go.
The paper map earns its spot the first time GPS fails or a familiar road is closed. Mark your home, your meeting point, and a couple of routes out of the neighborhood.
Documents & money
Copies of IDs, insurance cards, and prescriptions in a waterproof bag
$200+ in small bills — ATMs and card readers go down
If you have to leave home in a hurry, you may not get back for a while. Copies of your IDs and insurance cards make it far easier to file claims, refill medications, and prove who you are at a shelter or checkpoint. A gallon zip-top bag works fine as the waterproof bag.
Cash is the piece most people skip. When the power is out, card readers and ATMs go dark with it. The store down the street may still be selling water, ice, or gas, but only to customers paying cash. Small bills matter because nobody will be making change for a fifty.
Hygiene
Wet wipes, hand sanitizer, heavy-duty trash bags
Portable toilet setup: bucket, bags, and kitty litter
Nobody likes to talk about this part, but it is where a bad situation turns into a dangerous one. Without running water, germs spread fast, and stomach illness in a crowded, powerless house is miserable and can be serious. Wipes and sanitizer keep hands clean without touching your water supply.
If the water stops, so do your toilets. A five-gallon bucket lined with a heavy trash bag, with a scoop of kitty litter after each use, makes a workable toilet. Tie off the bag, set it outside, and swap in a fresh one. It is not glamorous, but your family will thank you.
Tools
Multi-tool or fixed-blade knife
Fire starter: waterproof matches and a lighter
A good multi-tool handles a hundred small jobs: cutting tarp and cord, opening packages, tightening a loose screw, pulling a splinter. A fixed-blade knife is tougher if you expect heavier work. Either way, choose one you will actually carry.
Carry two ways to make fire, because one will fail when you need it most. Waterproof matches work when wet, and a lighter works when you are short on time. Use fire with care indoors, and never run a grill or generator inside the house.
Do this today (the top three)
The full list can feel like a lot. Do not let that stop you. If you only do three things this week, make it these:
Stash 3 gallons of water per person.
Put a commercial tourniquet and first-aid kit in your car.
Write your emergency contacts and meeting point on paper.
None of these takes more than an hour or costs much money, and together they cover the threats most likely to hurt you: thirst, bleeding, and getting cut off from the people you love. Once they are done, work through the rest of the checklist one section at a time.
In my novels, the characters who survive are almost never the ones with the most gear. They are the ones who thought ahead. You do not have to wait for a crisis to become one of them.
If you have not grabbed the printable checklist yet, sign up at chrisgardnerbooks.com and it will land in your inbox. Print it, stick it on the fridge, and start checking boxes.
