Your Free 72-Hour Emergency Checklist
Most emergencies are decided in the first three days, before help arrives and before the stores restock. This is the short version: print it, fill in the blanks, and tape it inside a cabinet where your whole household can find it in the dark.
Print it — one page, both paper sizes
The 72-Hour Action Card: what to do hour 0-1, 1-6, 6-24 and days 2-3, the Rule of Threes, and three things worth doing this week. No email, no signup.
A4 Europe and most of the world · PDF, 4 KB
US Letter United States and Canada · PDF, 4 KB
Water — you have about 3 days
- Store 1 gallon per person per day, minimum 3 days (2 weeks is the sturdier goal).
- Don't forget pets: roughly 1 extra gallon a day per medium dog.
- Keep one backup way to make water safe: a rolling boil for 1 full minute kills the pathogens that make you sick.
Food — you have about 3 weeks, but comfort matters sooner
- Two weeks of the food you already eat, shelf-stable, rotated so nothing expires unused.
- A manual can opener. (The most-forgotten item on this list.)
- A way to cook without the grid: camp stove, grill, or fuel you actually have on hand.
Light, power & information
- Flashlights or headlamps + spare batteries. Skip candles if you can (fire risk).
- A power bank for phones, charged and rotated.
- A battery or hand-crank radio, so you can hear real information when the network is down.
Medical & warmth
- A real first-aid kit you know how to use (bleeding control, not just tiny bandages).
- A week of any prescription medications, plus basics: pain reliever, antihistamine, rehydration salts.
- Blankets or sleeping bags to hold heat in one small room.
Documents & the plan
- Copies of IDs, insurance, and key numbers in a sealed bag (and a photo on your phone).
- Some cash in small bills; cards don't work when the power's out.
- A written family plan: where you meet if phones fail, and who calls whom.
That's the whole core of being ready, and almost none of it is expensive. It's closer to changing the smoke-detector batteries than to doomsday prepping. It just has to be done on a calm day, before you need it.
AFTER DOOMSDAY — The Complete Preparedness Manual
209 pages. Water, food, medicine, defense, off-grid power, and how to rebuild when the grid goes dark. €6.99 — instant EPUB + PDF download, English and French.
Get the book Free 72-Hour Checklist