I saw this thread and hurricane season starts in 2 weeks so I cut and pasted from last year's thread- most of this stuff is not expensive, just pick up a few items every week:
Reminder
1 ) Safety- if they say evacuate, do it. If you decide not to evacuate, fine, just don't call 911 in the middle of the night. This happened numerous times and is not fair to the rescuers, many are volunteers in the suburbs.
Don't wait til the last minute- the stores are empty, buy a little bit at a time and build up your inventory.
2) Water- you need a LOT of water- bottled water is cheap, either buy bottled water and store it or use the empty gallon jugs to store tap water, 55 gallon water container in basement is ideal (16 drops bleach per gallon). At least one gallon per day per adult, 3 day minimum. Get a Katadyn water filter or similar to filter water.
3) Food- pasta, sauce, dried foods that don't go bad, canned food breakfast bars, canned or bottled fruit drinks/soda, peanut butter, jelly, chocolate (energy foods) etc. Comfort food- some crackers, cheese, turkey spam, candy (energy) etc is helpful.
Paper plates, cups, mess kit, matches, can opener, plastic knives forks etc. Electric stoves don't work in outages. I loaned my brother my coleman camping stove which worked well for his family.
4) Light- buy some emergency candles that burn a long time or tea candles and have glasses etc to set them in to avoid a fire. Have a few rechargeable LED flashlights. Have a couple of LED battery lights too for when the rechargeable lights go dead. LED lights don't use as much power as other lights.
5) Radio- I bought an ETON Red Cross AM/FM/Weather solar/hand crank radio for 30 bucks a few years ago. I wasn't impressed... until it became my main source of information for 11 days. Get yourself some type of emergency radio. Cell phone and some way to charge it very important to keep in touch w loved ones etc.
6) Cash- IMPORTANT with no power, food and gas stations were cash only. Medicine- weeks supply to be safe. Eyeglasses, important papers in fireproof box for evacuation. Fire extinguisher, Paper and pen/pencil.
6) Sleeping bags, blankets, warm change of clothes, rain coats, personal hygiene, first aid kit, bleach, diaper/baby supplies etc. Also books, games-backgammon, cards etc to take your mind off the disaster.
7) Generator- if you can afford one, do the research and buy one. They are hard to find after the power goes out. Extension cords and electric heater for the generator.
Plenty more on the web but this is a start. Good luck
　
