Emergency Kit checklist NZ: What to pack ? | Get ready 101

We saw a question on a community forum recently: is it weird to keep cash in your emergency kit?

Definitely not weird, in our opinion. But how people responded, and their level of preparedness varied wildly.  Some had a grab bag by the door. Others had a pantry they deliberately kept overstocked. Some had enough water to last days. Lots had a wad of cash.

It got us thinking: is there such a thing as a holy-grail emergency preparedness checklist? Not just the official basics or hard-core prepper material, but the things real people actually say they couldn't have done without, plus the little lessons learned the hard way.  

We couldn't find one. So, we've taken a crack. There'll always be gaps depending on where you live, what you're likely to face and who you're preparing for. Tell us what we've missed through @shelterinplacenz and we'll keep updating it.

Here goes.

First - are you staying or going?

Before you start ticking items off a checklist, you need to ask: what kind of emergency are you preparing for?

There's no such thing as a universal emergency kit - because there isn't one universal emergency. Sometimes you'll need to leave immediately. Other times leaving is exactly what you shouldn't do. 

So, there are two different jobs to prepare for: a home emergency kit, and a grab bag. 

	Home Emergency Kit	Grab Bag
Purpose	Shelter safely at home	Leave quickly
When	Earthquake, storm, power or water outage	Tsunami, fire, flooding, landslips
Where	Accessible at home/work	By the door, in your car, at work
Lasts	At least 3 days (we recommend 7+)	Typically 24- 48hours
Think...	Self-sufficiency	Portability

How long you should prepare for depends on where you live and what's likely to happen there. Get Ready 101: Know Your Risk is a good place to start - and give you a better direction on what to pack.

The list we've curated here is primarily for your home emergency kit - the stuff that helps you to shelter in place. We'll cover grab bags further down. 

The home emergency kit: the must-haves

Water

• Stored water - 3L per person per day, for at least 3 days, as a minimum
• A way to treat and filter additional water if your stored supply runs out
• Containers to store and carry it

Water is huge. People who lived through the Christchurch quakes say that same thing: losing tap water was harder than losing power. Sourcing it, carting it, treating it, heating it. Have a treatment method you understand and know how to use.

Our water filtration range is here if you want to go beyond your initial stored supply.

Food

• Long-life food you can eat without cooking (and that the kids will actually eat too)
• Pet food
• Snacks and treats

Don't build a sealed box of tinned food - it gets forgotten and goes off (or explodes which we know from experience!). Deepen your normal pantry with things you actually like eating, date things with a marker or invest in a long-life pantry.

Cash

• Small notes - fives, tens, twenties
• Some coins

During the Christchurch earthquakes, EFTPOS went down for days. So did the mobile network. ATMs were inside cordoned off buildings. Meanwhile dairies reopened within the hour - cash only. Keep it in small notes, nobody's got change and check it once a year - one car fill is a whole lot more today than it was a year ago!

Cooker

• A cooker that doesn't need mains power
• A pot you can boil water in
• Matches or a lighter, somewhere dry
• Fuel - or if you're going with our gas-less cookers, you can use twigs/ leaves, whatever you have laying around.

A cooker does two jobs: hot food and boil water. A hot feed on day four without power just goes a long way towards normality and staving off boredom.

Just a note - our long-life food doesn't need a cooker. It rehydrates in clean cold water too - but hot water is just faster. And if you're using a cooker - use it outside. Always. 

Light, power and information

• Torches - head torches are best, hands free
• Spare batteries - these sell out super fast when the power's out!
• Power bank(s), charged
• Battery or wind-up radio
• Write a list of important phone numbers, addresses, meeting points on something waterproof

Toilet system

• A sturdy, watertight 15-20L container with a tight fitting lid - something like an empty paint bucket works
• Plastic bags to line it
• Household disinfectant - chlorine bleach works well
• Sawdust, kitty litter or dirt as a backup if you've no disinfectant
• A spade
• LOTS of loo paper (more than you think you'll need, trust us!)

It's not something you want to think about - but it's often overlooked when planning for emergencies. After a decent natural disaster like an earthquake - assume the sewage system's buggered.

As a makeshift toilet, line your container, add a splash of disinfectant after each use to cut odour and reduce germs and replace the lid every time. Keep a second lidded container for full bags and follow public health advice on disposal later on.

Hygiene

• Hand sanitiser
• Soap and wet wipes
• Disposable sanitary products
• Nappies (if you have little ones)
• Rubbish bags

First aid and health

• First aid kit - but add more band aids and bandages than the standard ones come with
• Spare emergency blanket
• A month of any regular medication. Spare inhaler if needed also.
• Spare glasses or contacts
• Formula / breast feeding supplies
• Written list of prescriptions and NHI numbers. Helps also to add blood type here too

Warmth, safety and documents

• Properly fitted P2 or N95 mask for each person
• Tarpaulin and strong tape - for broken windows or a damaged roof
• Work gloves - for picking up any debris
• Copies of important documents, your home emergency response plan and photo ID - scan or take photos.
• Have on hand somewhere you can easily find - extra sleeping bags or blankets, sturdy shoes, warm layers, thermals and a raincoat each.

Tips: plan to sleep in one room - rather than the whole house to keep warm and monitor one another. Keep shoes and a torch beside the bed. Windows shatter inwards, and you don't want to be finding your shoes in the dark on broken glass!

Things people wish they'd known first

These items (and emergency tips) come up again and again from people who've actually been through it - and most don't appear on the official emergency preparation lists. Don't skip!

Something sweet

If anyone's diabetic - or also as a quick distraction for the kids.

Keep fuel in the tank above half

Useful practice to get into for your petrol or diesel vehicle. Fuel stations need power also to run.

Know where your nearest water source is

To then filter as needed. Local springs, streams, a neighbours tank or your own roof.

Something to do

Consistently underrated. A huge chunk of any emergency is sitting around with no power, nothing happening, often with bored kids. Add a couple of new games, books, cards, spare kindle with offline entertainment, chocolate - heck even a good wine into the kit.

Keep a list on the kit

Tape a list to the lid. Include: what's inside, and when each thing needs replacing. Saves you unpacking the whole thing twice a year to check dates. At Shelter In Place, when you buy an emergency Kit from us, we'll get in touch when items in your kit need replacing so you don't forget.

Think about where your kit lives

No use having an emergency kit if you can't get to it. Consider splitting it into two spots in case you're cut off from your kit. Also think rodent proof, and dry.

Don't forget about the pets

Food, water, a lead, a carrier or cage. A toy and treats. They'll be as unsettled as everyone else in the household.

Use fridge or freezer food first

Before dipping into your emergency supplies, use up your fridge or freezer food first.

Now, the grab bag

Your home emergency supplies are designed for staying put. A grab bag has the opposite job. It's there for the moment when you need to leave now.

It's a light-weight, scaled down and portable version of your home emergency kit. Everyone who can carry their own bag should have one. What goes in it?

• Water - a bottle or two per person
• Food - snacks and a couple of no-cook meals
• Cash - enough for a tank of fuel, in small denominations
• First aid and medical- the basics, not the full kit. Regular medication
• Torch (batteries), power bank, chargers for phone and other devices
• Radio (solar, wind-up or battery)
• Hand sanitiser
• Copies of important documents
• Walking shoes, warm clothes, raincoat and hat
• If kids: nappies, wipes, formula/breast-feeding supplies
• If pets: a lead or carrier and food

Don't forget the car

A flood, slip, snowstorm or a bad crash can leave you stranded in your car for hours. Keep another grab bag stored in the boot - walking shoes, warm clothes, water, snacks, a torch, first aid kit, essential meds. If you're driving in winter conditions, add a shovel, snow chains, ice scraper.

Just start with one thing.

If you've read this far and you're feeling overwhelmed- know you don't need to buy everything at once. The best advice we've heard:

• Add one item a week into your Kit
• Ask your council about subsidised water tanks
• Check your supplies at daylight savings

Starting from scratch? Our ready-made kits cover long-life food, water and heat in one go, or you can build your own. Just add the extras unique to your situation and risk specific to where you live. 

What's in yours that we've missed? Tell us on instagram or facebook - and we'll keep updating this list. 

Want this as a printable checklist? We'll send you a one-page version for the inside of the cupboard door. Send us a message and we'll flick it across to you!