Emergency Preparedness: Making an Office Kit

Having an emergency supply kit is essential to making it through a disaster safely. You can either buy pre-assembled kits or create them for yourself.

According to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management you should have these essential items in your kit.

Today I spent over an hour at Wal-Mart assembling the items for Chance's office bag. I also took a couple of minutes and got some pictures of the kits in our car (that will be in the next post).


I used the contents of this kit, plus this list, and a conversation with my man to help me decide what should go in the bag.

I took pictures of the items in groups.
Here we have a first aid kit $4.97
Rain poncho $2.88
Hand warmer $1.97
Ice pack. The ice pack was purchased as a two pack to replace the one from our car ice pack.  I estimate that it cost me about $1 each.
So these four items total: $10.82.  

I went crazy in the camping department and found:
a four pack of waterproof matches $1.88
a two pack of luminescent sticks $2.26
reflective stickers $2.88
Water purification tablets $5.88
and a sweet wind-up flashlight that is also an AM/FM radio and it has a siren! It came in at $19.88.
These five items total: $32.78. The matches were a four pack so the rest are going into our home kit.

Next, Chance wanted his to be in a small backpack, but it also needed to be small enough to fin unobtrusively under his desk.
The backpack in an easy to spot red color was $7.00,
a small sewing kit $1.47,
a five pack of dust masks (the other four are going in the home kit) $1.00,
Powder, in case his feet get drenched or something, $.97
an emergency whistle that is also, get this: a compass, magnifier, and thermometer $3.88
Last but not least, I found a Hobo Tool. It has a fork, knife, spoon, cork screw, an awl, a bottle opener, and can opener for $3.88!!
Total cost: $18.20

Food! All of the food and drink except the jerky and trail mix had left overs.
Boxed juice: $2.78
Water: $2.00
Trail mix: $1.94
Cheese and Crackers: $2.68
Beef Jerky: $2.98
Sweet and Salty Granola Bars: $2.98
Total: $15.36

 In this photo you'll see Chance's spare glasses, hand sanitizer, lip balm, lotion, and sunglasses. We already owned all of this. Free!

Finally, Chance wanted a change of clothes and a spare pair of tennis shoes. We discussed retiring his current pair of shoes but they're still too new. Yada yada yada, I bought him an inexpensive new outfit and tennis shoes specifically for the pack.

The Braves beanie was already ours.
The gloves are $7.00
The shoes were $14.97
I bought him a red t shirt for $3.25
Jeans for $9.96
I bought a six pack of socks and put one into the pack. At $5.50 for a six pack it means we spent $.91.
Total: $36.09

Grand total: $113.25

You may not have noticed but I deliberately bought a red shirt, red rain poncho, and red backpack. I want my man to be easy to spot. :)

So here's the thing. The pre-made kit I wanted to buy was only $45. However, it didn't have any of the clothing items, the food cannot have possible been as delicious, and there was no Hobo Tool set!! It's a HOBO TOOL set. Sounds awesome.

Anyway, I realize that this is a lot of money to spend on something you hope you'll never use. I hope my little kit making journey helps you figure out if you should compile your own kit or buy one. Either way, having a kit will give you peace of mind and may end up  making all the difference some day.