Calm preparation, in the order that actually matters

Start here

Two-week readiness

Two weeks is the planning horizon most US emergency managers use for household self-sufficiency. It is not a prediction that you will be cut off for two weeks; it is the point at which you stop being a person who needs rescuing. Build it gradually, one week per pay period.

• Week one: water and food for three days, plus one working flashlight per person.
• Week two: extend water and food to two weeks, and add a battery or hand-crank radio.
• Week three: power, fuel and cash. Do not buy in a rush — buy in your normal shop.
• Week four: documents, contacts and the household plan, written down on paper.

Utilities

Water and power

Water and electricity fail quietly and by district. The first hours are the ones that matter most, so the plan is simple: know how much water you have, and know what you will do without power before the lights go out.

• Store one gallon per person per day. Rotate it once a year and date the containers.
• Keep a water filter or purification tablets as a backstop, not as your only supply.
• Charge phones and power banks when a warning is posted, not when the outage starts.
• Refrigerated food is safe for about four hours with the door shut; a full freezer holds about 48 hours.
• Never run a generator, camp stove or grill indoors, in a garage, or near a window.
• If a boil-water advisory covers your address, boil for one minute and let it cool before use.

Mobility

Fuel

Fuel problems are usually distribution problems, not supply problems: the stations nearest the disruption run dry first. Keeping above half a tank is the whole strategy, and it costs nothing extra if you do it as a habit.

• Fill at half a tank. Never queue for fuel in a panic — that is what creates the shortage.
• Keep one approved fuel container, stored away from living space and out of sunlight.
• Know which two stations on your normal routes have backup power for their pumps.
• Diesel supplies tighten before petrol in most regional disruptions; plan longer trips accordingly.
• Keep your vehicle serviced, tyres inflated, and a blanket and water in the boot year round.

Cash

Money

Card readers need power and a network. When both are down, cash is the only thing that works, and small bills are what actually get used.

• Keep seven days of routine spending in small bills at home, and a small amount in your vehicle.
• Keep one card somewhere other than your wallet, and know the number without needing the card.
• Print your account, insurer and utility phone numbers — your phone may be the thing that fails.
• Do not withdraw in a rush during a disruption; it drains the same ATMs everyone else is using.
• Keep receipts and photographs for any insurance claim from the first hour, not the following week.

Digital security

Digital security

During a disruption, phishing rises and phone-based logins fail. The two things that matter are being able to log in without your phone, and not being the person who clicks the fake utility email.

• Turn on multi-factor authentication for email and banking. It is the single highest-value step.
• Print backup codes and store them offline, not in a note app on the device you may lose.
• Keep router and phone software updated; unpatched routers are a common target of mass scanning.
• Be sceptical of outage emails, utility texts and donation links — go to the site yourself.
• Keep two copies of anything irreplaceable: one encrypted, one offline.

Records

Documents

After the event, paperwork is what turns a loss into a claim. One waterproof folder and one encrypted copy cover almost every situation we see.

• Identity, insurance, deed or lease, prescriptions, and vaccination records.
• Photographs of each room and of high-value items, taken before anything happens.
• Pet records if you may need to shelter away from home.
• A written household plan: who does what, where you meet, who you call.
• The name and phone number of an out-of-area contact, on paper in every bag.

People

Community

Most people who survive a bad week do it with a neighbour rather than alone. Knowing two people on your street is preparedness, and it costs nothing.

• Check on anyone living alone nearby, and ask for their contact number.
• Agree an out-of-area contact so the household has one place to report in.
• Agree a meeting point inside your neighbourhood and one outside it.
• Sign up for your county or city alert system as well as reading this board.
• Ask the local school and workplace what their pickup and closure plan is before you need it.

What we are not asking you to do

We are not asking you to stockpile, to buy special equipment, or to change your routine this week. Panic buying is what turns a logistical inconvenience into a genuine shortage, and it is the behaviour most likely to hurt your neighbours. Everything on this page can be done in your normal shop, over a normal month, at normal prices.

The kit

The two-week kit, section by section

Businesses & agencies

For businesses, campuses and local agencies

A business does not need a two-week stockpile; it needs a person who has already decided what will happen in the first four hours. Write the decisions down and hand them to someone on every shift.

• Name a duty officer and a deputy, and put both on the alert distribution list.
• Write a one-page decision rule for closing or staying open, so the call does not have to be made from scratch.
• Check your fuel and generator contracts, and how long your sites can run without resupply.
• Test the out-of-band contact route — personal mobile numbers, not just workplace email.
• Keep a printed staff roster and a printed vendor list; both are useless if they only exist in the cloud.
• Review where the paper records go if the building becomes inaccessible for a week.

Print it and put it on the fridge

The one-page checklist is designed to print on a single sheet and to be filled in by hand. It works without power, without a signal and without this website — which is exactly when you would want it.

Open the printable checklist See where our guidance comes from