Kit Library · Household
The Evacuation Bag
for the day you have to leave.
A backpack that gets one person through about three days away from home, light enough to carry for a mile. Twelve items, a water plan that rides in the car, and a checklist to keep it current. Built from Ready.gov, American Red Cross, CDC, and EPA guidance.
Build the kit01 · The problem
Ten minutes to get out the door
Most evacuations are ordinary. A wildfire moves toward the county line, a river is forecast to crest above the road, a hurricane track shifts, or a rail car leaks upwind. The order comes, and the household has minutes, not hours, to decide what goes in the car. The families who leave calmly are the ones who packed on a quiet afternoon months earlier.
An evacuation bag is that afternoon's work. It holds what one person needs for about three days away from home: water and a way to make more, food that needs no stove, light, a radio, first aid and medication, a change of clothes, and the paper that proves who you are. It lives near the door with walking shoes beside it. The car is the plan. The bag is built so that if the road closes, you can still walk.
The bag is not your pantry. The water and food for sheltering at home belong in bins, and that is a separate kit. A household that only builds the bag is ready to leave and not ready to stay, so most households need both. If staying home is the more likely plan where you live, start with staying home through a long disruption and come back to this page.
02 · What to buy
The bag, assembled
Twelve items, per person. Each one earns its place against the list Ready.gov and the Red Cross publish for a basic kit, adjusted for something you carry instead of something you store. Build it, wear it, and walk a mile in it before you add anything else.
The bag itself
Osprey Talon 33
A 33-liter pack that weighs under three pounds empty, with a padded hipbelt that moves the load onto your hips on a long walk. That size holds everything below without leaving room for extra weight to creep in. The women's-fit version is the Tempest. Any hiking pack from 30 to 40 liters with a real hipbelt does the same job; a used one from a gear swap is a fine start. The hipbelt is the feature that matters.
Water
A metal bottle, a Sawyer Squeeze, and Micropur tablets
Carry about a liter in a single-wall stainless bottle such as the Klean Kanteen Classic, plus a way to make more. CDC says a filter rated to 0.3 micron or smaller removes bacteria and parasites but not viruses, so check the rating on the package, and filter first, then treat with Katadyn Micropur MP1 chlorine dioxide tablets. The CDC Yellow Book notes these need several hours of contact time. CDC also says to bring clear water to a rolling boil for one minute, or three above 6,500 feet, if you can safely make a fire.
Water for the car
Three days per person, staged beside the bag
The American Red Cross evacuation standard is one gallon per person per day for three days. That is about 25 pounds per person, which is why it does not go in the pack. Keep sealed cases of bottled water next to the bag and load them into the car on the way out. If the car makes it, you have the full supply. If it does not, the filter and tablets in the bag take over.
Food
Three days of food that needs no stove
Bars, nut butter packets, trail mix, jerky, and tuna or chicken pouches. Nutrition labels use 2,000 calories a day as a general reference, and walking with a pack burns more, so err toward the dense end. Pack food your household already eats; a hard day is the wrong time to find out someone will not touch it. Keep it where it stays cool, rotate it twice a year, and eat what comes out.
Light
Black Diamond Spot 400 headlamp
Hands-free light for a dark stairwell, a roadside, or a shelter cot. It runs on three AAA batteries, which store well and are sold everywhere, and it is waterproof. Pack two spare sets of batteries. A headlamp beats a flashlight in this bag because both hands stay free for a child, a pet, or the bag itself. Skip glow sticks as a primary light.
Radio
Midland ER310 weather radio
Ready.gov lists a battery-powered or hand-crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio in the basic kit. The ER310 covers both: NOAA weather channels with alerts, AM and FM, a hand crank, a small solar panel, and a flashlight. It is how you hear evacuation routes and shelter openings when cell service is overloaded. Turn it on once before you need it and learn which channel serves your area.
Power
Anker 10,000 mAh power bank with your phone's cable
Ready.gov lists a cell phone with chargers and a backup battery. A 10,000 mAh bank holds about two to three phone charges and weighs about half a pound. Add a wall plug and the cable your phone actually uses, and try to make the headlamp, bank, and phone share one cable standard. Top it up every month and keep the bag indoors, since heat shortens battery life.
First aid and medication
Adventure Medical Kits Mountain Series Hiker, restocked
A compact kit with bandages, gauze, tape, blister care, and wound cleaning supplies. Open it when it arrives and add the non-prescription basics Ready.gov lists: pain relievers, anti-diarrhea medicine, and antacids. The Red Cross recommends a seven-day supply of prescription medication, and a written list of your medications. Your prescriptions are the part we cannot pick for you; ask your pharmacist about an early refill.
Air
3M Aura 9205+ N95 respirators
Wildfire smoke, dust, and debris are common on evacuation routes. EPA says a NIOSH-approved N95 significantly reduces exposure to smoke particles when it seals tightly to the face, and that masks with straps that loop around the ears are not designed to seal tightly to the face. A good seal needs a clean-shaven face where the mask touches. Children two and older can wear respirators, but NIOSH-approved sizes do not fit young children, so watch that children wear them correctly. Pack several per person.
Shelter and clothing
A tarp, cord, and clothes for the coldest night
An 8 by 10 foot tarp and 50 feet of cord make a roof, a ground sheet, a rain catch, or a privacy screen in a crowded shelter. Clothes are the first shelter: wool or synthetic layers, a rain shell, a hat, and extra socks, chosen over cotton, which dries slowly. Pack for the coldest night you are likely to get, not the afternoon high, and swap the set in March and November. Walking shoes you have already broken in stay next to the bag; that is the other item we cannot pick for you.
Tools and sanitation
Leatherman Wingman, a whistle, fire starters, and hygiene basics
The Wingman covers pliers, a blade, scissors, and a can opener in one tool; check your state and local rules on blade length. Clip a whistle to the outside of the bag, which Ready.gov lists to signal for help. Pack two lighters in a zip bag with a little tinder that lights when damp. For sanitation, Ready.gov lists moist towelettes, garbage bags, and plastic ties; add toilet paper, soap sheets, and menstrual supplies if anyone needs them.
Paper
Documents, cash, a map, and a compass
Copies of IDs, insurance policy numbers and phone numbers, the medication list, proof of address, and a recent photo of each family member and pet, in a waterproof pouch. The Red Cross lists document copies and cash in the basic kit; small bills work when card readers do not. Ready.gov lists local maps: carry a paper map of your region marked with two destinations in different directions, plus a simple baseplate compass. None of this weighs much, and all of it still works when the phone is dead.
12
Items in the core bag
$530–$720
Complete bag, before food, clothes, and cash
1 mile
The loaded walk test
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03 · What not to buy
Skip these
This is one of the categories where marketing runs furthest ahead of the job. Everything below adds cost or weight and makes the bag harder to use.
Pre-packed emergency backpacks you never open
Many retail kits advertise a hundred pieces and fill the count with filler: tiny bandages, emergency ponchos that tear, ration bars nobody tested, and a pack with no hipbelt. None of them contain your medication, your documents, or clothes that fit. If you buy one, dump it on the table, weigh it, and replace the pack and the food. Building from the list above costs about the same and works better.
Military-pattern packs and camouflage
Webbing, camouflage, and square packs without a hipbelt pay for a look, not for comfort. On a crowded shelter floor or at a road checkpoint, a pack that looks like military kit draws attention you do not need. A hiking pack in a plain color carries better and looks like every other traveler's.
Three gallons of water on your back
Carrying the full three-day supply is the most common way these bags become too heavy to use. Water weighs a little over eight pounds a gallon. The full supply belongs in the car; the pack carries a liter and the means to treat more.
Packs over 65 liters
A big pack gets filled because the space is there. Unless you already backpack at that size, a larger bag means a heavier bag you will not want to lift on the day it matters. Thirty to forty liters holds everything on this page.
A hydration bladder as the only water container
Bladders can puncture, hide how much water is left, and are awkward to fill from a stream or a tap of unknown quality. A bottle you can see into, plus a collapsible pouch for dirty water, keeps clean and untreated water separate.
04 · Budget version
The whole bag for about $250
The budget version keeps every function and trades brand names for the lowest-cost item that still works. Most of the savings come from the pack and the tools. When money appears, upgrade the pack first and the filter second.
Used 30–40L hiking pack with a hipbelt
Gear swaps and thrift stores; skip the square bag with no belt
Sawyer Mini + chlorine dioxide tablets + a plain bottle
Slower than the Squeeze, same job
Three days of bars, nuts, and pouches
Plus sealed cases of water for the car
Basic LED headlamp + spare batteries
Drugstore grade is fine to start
Basic NOAA weather radio + whistle
Crank or battery; confirm it receives your local channel
Name-brand 10,000 mAh power bank + cable
Avoid no-name banks
First aid from pharmacy shelves + N95s
Add your prescriptions and the written list
Poly tarp, cord, two contractor bags
Clothes from what you already own
Basic multitool, lighters, hygiene supplies
Any multitool with pliers and a can opener
Document copies, zip pouch, state map, compass
State highway maps are often free
Budget total (one person, before cash)
The one trade-off: a cheap pack is the item you will feel most on a long walk. If you upgrade only one thing later, upgrade the pack. A hipbelt that fits is the difference between tired shoulders and a tired body.
05 · Better version
When to upgrade
Add these only after the core bag passes the one-mile walk with weight to spare. Each one solves a specific problem, and each one adds weight.
Sleep add
Sleeping bag or quilt, plus a pad
If your likely destination is a shelter floor, a car, or a friend's garage, a compact sleeping bag or quilt rated for your coldest nights and a closed-cell foam pad turn a long night into a restful one. The pad insulates you from the floor, which matters as much as the bag. Earplugs and a sleep mask earn their few ounces in a crowded shelter.
$80–$250
Amazon →Cooking add
Small canister stove and a pot
A compact stove lets you boil water and eat freeze-dried meals. Use it outdoors only. CDC says never to use a portable gas camp stove indoors, and CPSC warns against running fuel-burning heaters or lanterns while sleeping in tents, campers, or vehicles, because of carbon monoxide. If you have nowhere safe to cook, the no-cook food in the core bag is the better plan.
$50–$110
Camp stove guide →Comms add
Garmin inReach Mini 2
Two-way satellite messaging that works without cell service, and location check-ins your household can see. It needs a subscription, but plans can be activated month to month for the seasons you would use it. Worth it for households whose routes cross areas with weak coverage, or whose members travel alone.
$350–$400 + plan
Amazon →Long-walk add
Folding trekking poles and a second liter
If your plan includes a real chance of walking several miles, folding poles such as the Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z take load off the knees and steady you on uneven shoulders. In hot or dry country, carry a second liter and a few electrolyte packets. That is the whole heat upgrade; the full water supply still rides in the car.
$100–$170
Amazon →Climate adjustment
Pack for where you live
The same bag shifts with the climate. Cold country adds a warmer layer, gloves, and extra socks. Wet and flood country makes dry bags essential and marks high ground on the map; Ready.gov is plain that you should not walk, swim, or drive through flood water, since six inches of moving water can knock you down. Wildfire country keeps extra N95s and plans exits in more than one direction. In the Carolina foothills, for example, remnant tropical rain, ice storms, and multi-day outages are the usual reasons to leave, and a foothill evening runs colder than the afternoon suggests.
$0–$60
Better version total
Core bag + sleep system + stove + poles and second liter. The satellite messenger is a separate decision.
~$760–$1,250
06 · Maintenance
A bag you keep current
The bag has two natural check-ins a year, when the clocks change in March and November. Empty it onto a table, swap the season's clothes, rotate food, and walk the mile again. Two small monthly habits keep the electronics ready in between.
Where the bag lives: inside the house, near the door you would use, with the shoes and the staged water beside it. Not the attic, the garage, or a hot trunk, where heat shortens the life of food, batteries, and medication. If the only copy of the bag lives in a car that may be somewhere else, it is not there when the house has to be left.
07 · Save it
The working checklist
Every item in this bag, grouped into six sections with a check interval for each, so you can track what you own and keep it current through the year.
Save it to My Readiness, or print it and tuck it into the top pocket of the bag.
Traveling with animals? Add the Pet Preparedness Kit. Leaving by car? Pair this bag with the Vehicle Emergency Kit.
Sources
Where the guidance comes from
- Ready.gov, Build A Kit. Accessed September 28, 2026.
- American Red Cross, Survival Kit Supplies. Accessed September 28, 2026.
- CDC, Water Treatment Options When Hiking, Camping, or Traveling. Accessed September 28, 2026.
- CDC Yellow Book, Water Disinfection for Travelers. Accessed September 28, 2026.
- EPA, Protect Yourself From Wildfire Smoke and Ash. Accessed September 28, 2026.
- CDC, Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Basics. Accessed September 28, 2026.
- CPSC, Portable Heaters and Camping Equipment. Accessed September 28, 2026.
- Ready.gov, Floods. Accessed September 28, 2026.