72 hour kits

We used to have 72 hour kits. We got rid of them a while ago. The food that was in them was not food that I would want to put into my body anymore, especially during the first few days of an emergency. When our lives are in chaos is when we need good nutrition the most so that we can deal with the stress better. That being said, I did not replace the food in our 72 hour kits until now. I will just say that all of the earthquakes lately have kicked my butt in gear. So, I started thinking about what I wanted in them. I wanted to make sure I had some good nutritious options that were still going to be easy to carry, that would stay good in storage for at least 6 months and that were not going to need to be cooked. Here is what I came up with:

You probably cannot see everything really well so I will tell you what all is here. There are Annie's Bunny Crackers, Lara Bars, Stretch Island Fruit Leather, Trio Bars, nuts and fruit juice boxes and raisins. There is also a box of gallon size Ziplock bags in this picture. Most of these things are very healthy options. The fruit juice boxes and the crackers are not things that I would normally have in my house because they are not super healthy, but for this situation I have made an exception. They are way healthier then other options out there and they provide some variety.

Now, down to the nitty gritty of what I did! I pre-determined how much food I would like for each meal for three days. I have separated them to show how much food for each meal in the pictures below. Each day is the same for each meal. So, for breakfast we have one Trio bar, one fruit leather, one bunny cracker, one bottle of water. I have also included a jar of Just Barley to mix in with the water to make sure we are getting a lot of good nutrients in our bodies to start the morning out right.
This next picture is what is for lunch. There is a juice box, one raisin, a Lara Bar, and a package of nuts.
Then we have dinner. Water, bunny crackers, fruit leather and another package of nuts.

This picture are the snacks that I have afforded for the day. With boys I figured that we would need some. There is water, a juice box, raisins, fruit leather and yes, a pack of gum which I absolutely hate, but I figured it would keep mouths busy and hopefully keep minds off of hunger. I am sure there is some form of "Healthy" gum out there, but I didn't take the time to research that before I got this together. That will be a job for when I rotate my food.

So, here is a picture of all the meals laid out so you can see all the food together. There is not a whole lot of variety. You could make more variety but this is what worked for me right now. I think it will be plenty of food to keep us sustained for a few days in case of an emergency. It will for sure give us more nutrients then the junk food I had in our kits before.

This last picture is what it looked like all packaged up after I had it separated out. I stuffed it all into a gallon bag to help keep it safe and fresh. I originally had each days food in a different bag, but decided to combine some of it for the sake of room. It does take up more room then it did when I had all junk food, but that is ok with me.
I plan on rotating it every 6 months. Some of the food will last a year, so I will only rotate what needs to be replaced. We will eat the food I take out and we will put new fresh food in. For my family of 5 it cost about $120.00 for this supply. That is way more then I normally spend for three days worth of food, but I now have peace of mind that my family will be taken care of in an emergency.