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Winter storm emergency kit: 12 supplies for home and car

A winter storm emergency kit helps a household stay supplied with water, food, light, heat and power when snow and ice cut roads and knock out electricity

A winter storm can cut a household off from roads, grocery stores and the electrical grid at the same time. Ice brings down power lines. Snow closes highways and side streets. Delivery trucks can stop running. Once that happens, the supplies already inside the house are the only ones that matter. The time to gather them is before the forecast turns.

That is the purpose of a winter storm emergency kit. It is a planned set of supplies that lets people stay safe, fed, warm and informed through a stretch without power, heat or easy access to help. Most of the items are ordinary household goods. The difference is that they are collected in advance, stored in one place and checked before the cold season starts.

Ready.gov, the federal government's preparedness site, and the American Red Cross offer a planning baseline. Both advise storing one gallon of water per person per day. They recommend at least a three-day supply for an evacuation and a two-week supply for sheltering at home. Food planning starts from a three-day supply of nonperishable items. Those figures give a household a starting point to scale up or down based on how many people live there.

A full plan reaches beyond the pantry. Winter storms bring hazards of their own. A cold house raises the risk of hypothermia. Improvised heating can fill a home with carbon monoxide. Icy steps and driveways cause falls. Drivers can end up stranded on roads that close behind them. Infants, older adults and pets each have needs that a generic supply list can miss.

The 12 slides that follow cover a selection of core categories for a winter emergency kit checklist. They start with sustenance — water and food — then move to light, weather information, first aid and medications. Next come warm clothing and bedding, safe heat sources and the power supplies that keep phones running. The list then covers salt, sand and shovels for outdoor ice. It also includes a separate kit for the car and supplies for people and animals with specific needs. The final slide explains how to store, check and rotate everything so the kit still works when a storm arrives.

Store 1 gallon of drinking water per person per day

Plan on one gallon of drinking water per person per day, the baseline set by Ready.gov and the American Red Cross. Both advise keeping at least a three-day supply for evacuation and a two-week supply for sheltering at home.

Water sits at the top of a winter storm supply list for a practical reason. Freezing temperatures can burst pipes or freeze service lines, and either one can shut off a tap without warning. Homes on private wells face a second risk. An electric well pump stops when the power goes out. The faucet then runs dry along with the lights.

The amount scales directly with household size. A household of four needs 12 gallons to cover three days. The same household needs 56 gallons to cover two weeks at home. A single adult living alone needs three gallons for the evacuation minimum and 14 gallons for a two-week stay. Rounding up leaves a margin if a storm or its cleanup lasts longer than forecast.

Factory-sealed bottled water is the simplest option to store. It stays sealed until opened, and the cases stack neatly in a closet or pantry. Larger households can use food-grade water containers built for long-term storage. Containers that once held milk or fruit juice are a poor substitute. Their residue is hard to wash out completely.

Placement matters as much as quantity. Water expands as it freezes. A full plastic jug can split in an unheated garage, shed or car trunk. Keep the supply in a heated part of the house, such as an interior closet or a basement that stays above freezing. A cool, dark spot also keeps containers out of sunlight. Store them away from gasoline, paint thinner and pesticides. Plastic can absorb those vapors.

A bathtub filled before the storm arrives creates a separate reserve. That water suits flushing toilets and cleaning rather than drinking. Using it for those jobs leaves the stored supply for drinking and cooking.

Snow piled outside can look like an easy backup, but it is not a substitute. Melting it takes fuel and heat that may be scarce during an outage. Snow can also carry dirt and pollutants. Sealed, stored water avoids both problems.

Nonperishable food and a manual can opener

A winter storm emergency kit should hold at least a three-day supply of nonperishable food that needs no cooking or refrigeration. Pack a manual can opener with it. A storm can knock out the stove, the refrigerator and an electric can opener at the same time.

Every item should be safe to eat straight from the package, with no heat, no added water and no chilling. That rules out frozen meals, dry pasta, rice and anything that depends on a working oven.

Canned goods are a practical core for the kit. Canned tuna, chicken and salmon supply protein and can be eaten cold. Canned beans, vegetables, fruit and ready-to-eat soups round out the shelf. Pull-top lids remove the need for any tool, though not every product has them.

Dry and packaged foods fill the gaps. Peanut butter, nuts, crackers, granola bars, dried fruit and ready-to-eat cereal keep at room temperature in sealed packaging. Shelf-stable milk in aseptic cartons adds a dairy option that needs no refrigerator before it is opened.

Heavily salted snacks and cured meats raise thirst. That draws down the drinking water a household has set aside. Lower-sodium versions of canned soups and vegetables ease the pressure.

Stock foods the household already eats. A kit built from familiar items is more likely to get used, and less of it goes to waste. Anyone with a food allergy or a medical diet, such as one for diabetes, needs supplies that match those restrictions.

Without a manual opener, a pantry full of canned food becomes hard to reach. A basic hand-crank opener is small and takes up little room. Keeping it inside the food bin, rather than in a kitchen drawer, means it is in place when the power fails.

Disposable plates, cups and utensils help as well. They spare the household from washing dishes when water is limited or the water heater is not working.

Food already in the refrigerator should be eaten before the kit is opened. Keeping refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible holds the cold in longer. That stretches the life of perishables and keeps the nonperishable supply in reserve for later in the outage.

Flashlights and extra batteries instead of candles

Flashlights and battery-powered lanterns are the safer way to light a home during a winter power outage. Candles are a fire risk, especially in a dark house full of blankets, layered clothing and people moving around without much visibility.

An open flame can tip over, catch a curtain or ignite a stack of paper. It can also keep burning after everyone falls asleep. A flashlight carries none of those risks. It can be switched off, set down on a bed or handed to a child without a second thought.

A practical target is one flashlight for every person in the household. Shared lights tend to end up in one room, which leaves someone fumbling in the dark elsewhere. A personal light also lets each person move to a bathroom or........

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