What is a Shelter in Place Kit?

In its simplest terms a shelter in place kit includes the supplies needed to survive a crisis in your home or domicile. A good kit will contain food and water plus comfort items. Which comfort items? Categories can vary but typically they are items for warmth and/or protection, convenience items, amusement items and medical and health-related items (as necessary or as required). Determining what to put in your shelter in place kit is both personal and will depend upon the composition of your family (e.g. children, infants, pets, other adults). Bottom line is that a good shelter in place should have at a minimum three days of supplies. Also, a well prepared kit will be portable and easy to gather at a moment's notice. You don't want to be searching for items that should be in your kit during the crisis.

Can I Build a Shelter in Place Kit Myself?

You absolutely can build a shelter in place kit yourself. All it takes is some time and the proper resources. To build your kit we recommend that you start with three basic preparedness items: water, food, and a few comfort items. Most families should have most of these basic items on hand. With a little bit of review of your household supplies and a trip or two to the appropriate store(s) you should be able to build a kit in as little as a week. To determine what you should put in your own ‘basic’ shelter in place kit, check out our recommendations in the chapter ‘Minimal Shelter in Place Resources or Needs’. Keep in mind that when building or purchasing your basic items you should have a minimum of three days or 72 hours of food and water on hand and enough comfort items to last that amount of time. Even though some hazards like power outages may not last 3 full days, some hazards like post hurricane, civil unrest, and lockdowns may last that long or longer. In fact, survivalists and ‘end-of-the-world theorists’ take advanced preparation to the extreme of having months and months of resources built up. Is this wrong? Absolutely, not! How prepared you want to be is a personal choice and each adult needs to decide what is best for their family or individual situation.

What is an ‘Extended Shelter in Place Kit’?

As stated above, water, food and comfort items are the basic items that should go in your shelter in place kit. To be ‘more prepared’ or have ‘more comfort’ during a shelter in place crisis, you should consider adding other items to your basic kit. You will need to consider solutions for potential events that involve no power, no lights, no heat or no air conditioning, no use of your appliances, no use of your communication devices and no use of your electronics. In some situations, being without these ‘comfort items’, can put a strain on a family household. In addition, there may be incidents where there may not be access to first aid or prescription medications, ATM’s or banks, or communication access to the outside world. In these cases, it is recommended that you not only have the basic items in your kit, but you may want to consider adding items from our list of additional or extended items. Depending upon the size and makeup of your family, you may also want to consider adding essential supplies for infants and toddlers, sleeping bags and extra blankets, extra food and water, and even important family document to your family’s shelter in place kit.

“I don’t want to take the time to build a kit, can I buy one instead?”

You absolutely can buy a pre-made, ready-to-kit shelter in place kit that not only can work for sheltering in place, but also can double as a “go bag” in case you and/or your family need to evacuate your domicile. There are a number of pre-built kits that can be purchases and they vary in price, quality, and contents. Our review of these products has found that one company, Stealth Angel Survival has the variety and quality of products that creates a ready-to-use shelter in place/go bag kit in your hands in a few days. To make it easy to buy a kit that is affordable for most families, we have made arrangements with several suppliers of shelter in place kits. Click here to go directly to our online store to order your family kit from one of our recommended suppliers.

What is a Shelter in Place Kit?

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