Hello fellow DIYer,
There are two ways to prepare for trouble. One is: I stay at home and get through three days without power and water. That is your home emergency supply. The other is: I have to leave right now and I have five minutes. That is a completely different kit, and most people do not have it.
Here is the answer straight away: a go bag is a packed rucksack of 20 to 35 litres standing by your front door, holding documents, cash, medication, power, light, warmth, a little water and food, and one set of clothes. The goal: get through the first hours up to the first day after a forced departure on your own, without having to hunt for anything while you are panicking. Count on 6 to 10 kilos per adult and on 75 to 250 euros if you buy everything new.
And now the thing almost every checklist misses. A go bag is never complete, and it does not need to be. There are always three or four things you have to grab at the last moment: your phone, your glasses, the medication in the fridge, the laptop. You cannot leave those permanently packed. What you can do is write those four things on a card and hang that card on the bag. That card is the difference between “I have a bag” and “I have a plan”. We will make it together further down.
In this article: the difference from a home emergency supply, the scenarios where you genuinely have to leave, the complete contents list by category with weights, what you should definitely not pack, versions for children, pets and older people, where to store the bag, how to maintain it and the plan that goes around it.
Go bag or home emergency supply? Two different things
These two get mixed up constantly, and that is exactly why so many people end up with a bag that is far too heavy.
| Home emergency supply | Go bag | |
|---|---|---|
| Scenario | You stay at home, but power, water, gas or internet fails | You have to get out of your house, fast |
| Duration | 72 hours, ideally a week | The first hours up to about 24 hours |
| Weight | Does not matter, it sits in a cupboard | Critical, you have to carry it |
| Water | 3 litres per person per day (Dutch government guidance) | 1 to 2 litres per person, plus a way to refill |
| Food | Tins, pasta, rice, shelf-stable stock | Only what you can eat without cooking and without a tin opener |
| Format | Crates, cupboard space, cellar | One rucksack per person, ready to grab |
| Where | Anywhere in the house | By the front door or in the utility cupboard |
The simple rule of thumb: the home supply stays, the bag leaves with you. Overlap is fine (the same torch can be on both lists) but do not pack them together in one thirty-kilo crate, because you will never get that out of the door.
No home emergency supply yet? That is step one, because “staying home without utilities” is far more likely than “having to leave”. But the bag is quick to build and gives you peace of mind straight away.
When do you actually have to leave?
No doom-mongering, just the realistic list. These are the situations where people have to leave their homes, from very common to rare:
| Scenario | How often | How much time you have | What goes wrong without a bag |
|---|---|---|---|
| House fire or a fire next door | The most common of all | Seconds to minutes | You are standing in the street in your pyjamas with no ID, no medication, no phone charger |
| Gas leak or hazardous substance in your street | Regularly | Minutes | The area is cordoned off, sometimes you cannot get back in for a day |
| Large fire with a smoke plume or an industrial incident | A few times a year | Minutes to an hour | The advice is usually to shut the windows and stay inside, but sometimes it is evacuation |
| Risk of collapse, explosion, evacuation after a find | Rare, but it happens | Minutes to hours | An unexpected night somewhere else |
| Flooding or a threatened dyke breach | Rare, but with days of warning | Hours to days | The only one where you usually have plenty of time |
| Long power cut in winter | Rare | Hours | The house cools down, you go to family or a reception centre |
| Nuclear incident | Very rare | Hours | Usually staying inside is the advice, sometimes evacuation of a zone |
What stands out: the most likely scenario is not the big disaster, but simply a fire in your own house or next door. And that is exactly the scenario with the least time.
Leave or stay? That is not your call
Worth knowing, because it rarely appears in checklists: in most incidents the advice is to stay inside. With a smoke plume or a hazardous substance, running outside is often the worst thing you can do. The authorities tell you whether to shelter or leave through the national emergency alert system, the regional emergency broadcaster and the official crisis websites. In the Netherlands that runs through NL-Alert, crisis.nl and your safety region.
With flooding there are literally two choices, and the Dutch safety regions put it like this: stay and go to the highest dry point in your house, or leave while you still can. Which one makes sense for your address depends on how high the water gets where you live. In the Netherlands you can look that up per address on overstroomik.nl. Check what applies to your area once on a quiet evening, and then you know.
So the rule is: the bag stands ready in case you need it, but you do not leave on your own initiative when the instruction is “stay inside”.
The five-minute rule: the card on your bag
This is the heart of this article.
In a real evacuation it always goes the same way: the bag is hanging there, neatly ready, and then people still spend three minutes running around the house looking for things. Precisely the things you cannot leave permanently in a bag because you use them every day.
Solve that with a card. Write it on a piece of stiff card, laminate it or slip it into a plastic sleeve, and hang it on the zip of your bag:
TAKE WITH YOU (in this order):
1. Phone and charger from the bedside table
2. Glasses / hearing aid / dentures
3. Medication from the fridge and the pill box from the kitchen
4. Wallet and car key from the hook
5. Laptop from the study (only if there is time)
6. Cat in the carrier / dog on the leadBEFORE YOU GO OUT OF THE DOOR:
– Main gas off and main switch off (only if it is safe and there is time)
– Lock the front door
– Message to your contact person: where we are going
Make that card personal. Everyone has different essentials. Writing it is the real work, because that is when you think calmly, once, about what you actually need, instead of doing it in a panic.
And practise it once. Set a timer for five minutes and walk the route. You will discover, guaranteed, that something is missing or that something sits in an awkward place. Once a year is enough.
The bag itself: which one, how big, how heavy
Type: a rucksack. Not a suitcase, not a holdall, not a crate. A rucksack keeps your hands free, and you want that when you are holding a child, opening a door or climbing over debris.
Size:
| Who | Rucksack capacity | Target weight |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | 25 – 35 litres | 6 – 10 kg |
| Teenager | 20 – 25 litres | 4 – 6 kg |
| Child (6-11 years) | 10 – 15 litres | 2 – 3 kg |
| Toddler | Their own small bag with a cuddly toy and a beaker | Symbolic |
Rule of thumb for weight: you have to be able to walk with it for half an hour without wanting to put it down. If you are in doubt about whether something should go in, it should not go in. Water and tools are the two items where the weight always gets out of hand.
What to look for in the rucksack:
- Hip belt. Shifts the weight from your shoulders to your hips. At 8 kilos that makes a real difference
- Rain cover or a rucksack in water-repellent fabric. There is a good reason official guidance recommends waterproof packaging
- Several compartments, so you can find your torch in the dark without pulling everything out
- Neutral colour. A bright rucksack stands out if you are walking somewhere at night
- No expensive trekking pack needed. A solid rucksack for 30 to 60 euros is perfectly fine. Got one in the loft already? That one is perfect
Organise with colour codes. Use clear pouches or packing cubes in different colours: red for first aid and medication, blue for hygiene, yellow for power and electronics. Then you do not have to search in the dark.
The complete contents, category by category
Here is the full list. Behind every item is the reason it is in there, because a list without explanations is a list you half empty out after a year.
1. Documents, money and information (the most important category)
This is the stuff you genuinely cannot replace. And it weighs almost nothing.
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Copies of everyone’s passport or ID | At a reception centre, with insurers and when you re-register, this is what you are asked for. A copy is nearly always enough to identify you until you have the original |
| Copy of your health insurance card and policies | Health, contents, buildings, car. A policy number on paper is worth its weight in gold when there is damage |
| Copy of the mortgage deed, tenancy agreement or proof of ownership | For major damage or a long evacuation |
| Current medication list from your pharmacy | Ask for this free of charge at the pharmacy. With a doctor who does not know you, it is priceless |
| List of phone numbers on paper | Family, GP, pharmacy, insurer, employer, school. You do not know them by heart, your phone does, and your phone can be flat or broken |
| Cash in small notes | 100 to 300 euros in fives, tens and twenties, plus some coins. Without power or a network, card payments do not work |
| Spare keys for house and car | Official guidance names this explicitly |
| Passport photos of every family member | If a child goes missing. It sounds grim, but the emergency services ask for them |
| USB stick with encrypted scans | All documents, plus photos of your home’s contents for a possible insurance claim. Put a password on it |
| Paper road map of your region | If the network is down, your sat nav does not work |
| Notepad and pen | Leaving messages, noting number plates, writing down addresses |
Extra tip: make this document folder available digitally as well, in a cloud folder you can reach from a borrowed phone. Two routes beat one.
2. Communication and power
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Power bank, 10,000 mAh minimum, 20,000 preferably | A 20,000 mAh power bank fully charges a modern smartphone roughly three to four times |
| Charging cables for every device in the household | Including the type you rarely use |
| Car charger (12V USB) | Your car is the biggest battery you have with you |
| Emergency radio, battery or wind-up | Named explicitly in official guidance. The regional emergency broadcaster is where the instructions come from when the internet goes down |
| Spare batteries in the sizes your devices use | Packed loose, not inside the devices (see maintenance) |
| Old phone as a backup | Any phone can call the emergency number, even without a SIM card |
| Whistle | Named in official guidance. A whistle is a hundred times louder than your voice, and you can keep it up for hours |
A detail few people know: never switch off emergency alerts on your phone, and check twice a year that they work. In the Netherlands the government sends a test message through NL-Alert on the first Monday in June and the first Monday in December, at 12 noon. If you do not get that message, something is wrong in your settings.
3. Water and food (less than you think)
This is where the weight goes wrong. Water weighs a kilo per litre.
| What | How much |
|---|---|
| Water in the bag | 1 to 2 litres per person. No more |
| Water filter bottle or filter straw | Weighs almost nothing and turns tap water of unknown quality, or surface water in the very worst case, into drinking water |
| Water purification tablets | Backup method, small and long-lasting |
| Empty collapsible water carrier (2-5 litres) | So you can fill up properly at the first safe tap |
| Food for about 24 hours | Nuts, dried fruit, cereal bars, crackers, peanut butter in a squeeze pack, salty snacks, chocolate |
| What you do not take | Tins. Heavy, and you need a tin opener |
Think salt and calories. Under stress you eat badly and drink too little. Bars with plenty of fat and sugar, plus something salty, work better than a healthy salad.
For the children’s bag: put in something they love and are not normally allowed. That is not a luxury, that is a calm button.
4. Clothing and warmth
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| One complete set of clothes per person | Underwear, socks, long trousers, long-sleeved top. A vacuum bag saves half the volume |
| Fleece or thin down jacket | Warmth per gram is the measure here |
| Rain jacket or poncho | Getting wet is the fastest route to hypothermia |
| Sturdy shoes you can slip on | Put them next to the bag, not in it. Walking over glass in your pyjamas is not something you want |
| Hat and gloves | Most heat loss goes through your head and hands |
| Emergency foil blanket per person | Weighs 50 grams, costs a couple of euros |
| Compact blanket or thin sleeping bag | Only if the weight allows. Reception centres usually have blankets, but not always straight away |
Swap the clothing set with the seasons. A T-shirt in January is not much use, and a winter coat in July is dead weight.
5. Health and medication
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Your own medication for at least 7 days | For anyone on medication this is the single most important item in the whole bag. Ask your GP or pharmacy for an emergency supply, or request your repeat prescription slightly early |
| Current medication list | See category 1 |
| Compact first aid kit | Plasters in several sizes, sterile gauze, wound disinfectant, bandage, triangular bandage, small scissors, tweezers, gloves. With instructions, as official guidance recommends |
| Painkillers (paracetamol) | Simple and broadly useful |
| Spare or old glasses | Without glasses you are dependent on others. An old pair in your prescription costs you nothing |
| Anti-diarrhoea medicine and rehydration salts | Dirty water and stress are a bad combination. Rehydration salts prevent dehydration |
| Dust mask (FFP2) | For smoke, dust and grit |
| Earplugs | Sleeping in a sports hall with two hundred people |
| Personal items | Inhaler, EpiPen, insulin and a cool bag, hearing aid batteries, incontinence supplies |
An important note on iodine tablets: they are only relevant in a nuclear incident, and not for everyone. The Dutch government issues them to people aged up to and including 40 living within 0 to 20 kilometres of a nuclear power station, to children up to 18 within 20 to 100 kilometres, and to pregnant women of any age within 20 to 100 kilometres. Above 40 and outside those zones there is no demonstrated benefit. Check what the rules are where you live. If you have them: keep them ready, but never take them on your own initiative. The authorities announce when that is needed, through emergency alerts, the crisis website, the regional broadcaster or your local emergency authority.
6. Hygiene
Official guidance lists this category in full, and it is the category people cut first and miss fastest.
- Toothbrush and small toothpaste
- Hand sanitiser
- Wet wipes (washing without water)
- Toilet paper, flattened with the roll removed
- Sanitary towels or tampons
- Small microfibre towel
- A few bin bags (rain poncho, rubbish, wet clothes, an emergency toilet at a push)
- Soap or a small bottle of all-purpose cleaner
7. Light and tools
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Head torch per person | Better than a hand torch, because it keeps your hands free. Add spare batteries |
| Small torch | Backup, and easy to hand to someone else |
| Glow sticks | No batteries, no flame, safe for children |
| Multi-tool or Swiss army knife | Knife, pliers, screwdriver and tin opener in one |
| Duct tape | Wind a few metres around a pen or a piece of card, saves carrying the whole roll |
| Length of rope or paracord, 5 to 10 metres | Washing line, strapping the bag down, makeshift repairs |
| Lighter plus matches in a waterproof tin | Two methods, because one always fails |
| Work gloves | Glass, rubble, rust |
What does not need to go in: hammer, saw and bolt cutters are on the official emergency supply list, but that is for the version at home. In a go bag you carry on your back they are too heavy and you rarely need them. A multi-tool is enough.
8. Comfort and headspace
Do not underestimate this. The first night on a camp bed in a sports hall is hard for everyone, and harder for children.
- A cuddly toy or familiar object per child
- Small toy, pack of cards, colouring pencils and paper
- A book
- A sweet or something nice
- A photo of home or of family
- Charger and earphones, because a phone is also a place to calm down
Special versions
Children
Give every child from around the age of six their own small rucksack. Not because you cannot carry the weight, but because then the child has something of their own with them and something to do. Inside: cuddly toy, water bottle, their own set of clothes, something nice to eat, a small game, a head torch and a card with their name, date of birth and both parents’ phone numbers.
That card is the most important thing in the bag. Put one in their coat pocket too, because bags get lost.
Babies and toddlers: ready-made formula or powder, nappies for at least a day, baby wipes, a changing mat, a spare babygrow and a dummy. Baby food is named explicitly in official guidance.
Pets
| What | Details |
|---|---|
| Carrier or transport box | Next to the bag, not in it. Without a carrier a cat often cannot come along |
| Lead and muzzle | Even for a friendly dog, because reception centres may ask for them |
| Food for 2 to 3 days and a collapsible bowl | In an airtight bag |
| Pet passport and chip number | In the document folder |
| Recent photo of the animal | In case it goes missing |
| The animal’s medication | Often forgotten |
| Poo bags and an old towel |
Stay realistic: in an organised evacuation using your own transport you can usually bring pets. If you go by bus or other organised transport, that is often not possible, or only for small animals in a carrier. Work out in advance where your animal can go if it cannot come with you, and put that address on your card.
Older people and people with a disability
- Medication matters most of all here. Build in a bigger buffer, a week at minimum
- Aids: spare glasses, hearing aid batteries, walking aid, support stockings, incontinence supplies
- A short medical summary on paper: conditions, allergies, medication, treating doctor, contact person
- Who helps? Agree with a neighbour or family member who grabs the bag and who helps with transport if it comes to that. Put that name and number on the card
The car bag and the work bag
You are not always at home when something happens.
In the car (small box in the boot):
– Bottle of water and a cereal bar
– Foil blanket, hi-vis vest, head torch
– Power bank and car charger
– Sturdy shoes and an old coat
– Copy of your ID and some cash
– Jump leads and a seatbelt cutter with a glass breaker
At work or in your bike bag:
– Power bank and cable
– A bar and a bottle of water
– Foil blanket
– Some cash
– A slip of paper with phone numbers
What you should definitely NOT pack
This list is what makes your bag carryable, and it is exactly what other checklists do not tell you.
- More than 2 litres of water per person. Water is the heaviest item there is. Take a filter bottle and refill
- Tinned food. Heavy, and losing the tin opener is a classic
- A complete toolbox. Hammer, saw and bolt cutters belong in your home emergency supply, not on your back
- A big first aid case. A compact kit in a pouch does the same job
- Camping fuel and gas burners. Usually not allowed in a car or a reception centre, and dangerous in a full rucksack
- Valuables “just in case”. Jewellery and expensive electronics make you a target and cost space
- Seven sets of clothes. One set, plus what you are wearing
- A tent and a sleeping mat, unless you are specifically planning to sleep outdoors. In an evacuation you go to family or to a reception centre
- Everything you use daily. That does not work. That goes on the card
Where do you store the bag?
This is the point where good preparation still ends up useless.
Good:
– In the hall cupboard or under the coat rack by the front door. Grab and go
– In the utility cupboard, if there is space
– On the first floor by the stairs, if your house has several floors and you sleep upstairs. Then you do not have to pass the fire on your way out
Bad:
– In the loft. Too far, and in a fire the smoke gets there first
– In the shed or garage outside. Try reaching it once the fire brigade has cordoned off your property
– In the cellar. In a flood, exactly the wrong place
– At the bottom of a full cupboard behind the vacuum cleaner. Then it is there, but not in time
Put your shoes next to it. And hang your coat over it. Sounds excessive, until you are standing barefoot in the street at night.
Spread it across the household. Every adult gets their own bag. If one bag stays behind or gets lost, you have not lost everything. Make sure the document folder is in two bags, or that a copy sits in the car.
Maintenance: twice a year, twenty minutes
A go bag that stands untouched for four years is a bag with leaking batteries and expired medication.
Tie the check to the clocks changing (late March and late October). Put it in your calendar.
| What you check | Why |
|---|---|
| Best-before dates on food | Bars and nuts usually last a year or two |
| Medication | Replace it and simply use up the old stock |
| Water | Refresh it, or use bottled water with a date on it |
| Charge the power bank | Power banks slowly discharge. Topping up twice a year is enough |
| Batteries | Keep loose batteries next to devices, not inside them. Batteries left in a torch for years leak and wreck the device |
| Children’s clothing sizes | Children grow faster than you think |
| Clothing set for the season | Summer set out, winter set in |
| Documents up to date? | New insurer, new ID, new phone number, family who moved |
| The card | Is the list still right? Different medication, different car, different pet? |
The plan around the bag
A bag without a plan is half a preparation. These four things cost you one evening and are worth at least as much as the kit.
1. Agree a meeting point. Two of them: one just outside your house (the lamp post across the road) and one further away in the neighbourhood, in case the street is cordoned off. Make sure everyone in the household knows them, children included.
2. Pick a contact person outside your region. In a local incident, local networks are overloaded, but an uncle in another part of the country is reachable. Everyone calls or messages that one person, and that person then knows where everybody is. Put the number on paper in every bag and every coat pocket.
3. Make sure emergency alerts reach you. In the Netherlands you can check that with the test message on the first Monday in June and December, at 12 noon. Install your regional emergency app too, and know which station is the regional emergency broadcaster where you live.
4. Know what can happen where you are. Look up once whether you live near a high-risk site or a railway line carrying hazardous goods, and how high the water can get at your address. In the Netherlands that is risicokaart.nl and overstroomik.nl. Then you know whether “upstairs” or “outside” is the right answer for your address.
What does a go bag cost?
The good news: you already own three quarters of it.
| Item | Buying new |
|---|---|
| 30-litre rucksack with hip belt | 0 – 60 euros (you often have one) |
| Power bank 20,000 mAh | 25 – 50 euros |
| Head torch with batteries | 10 – 30 euros |
| Emergency radio, battery or wind-up | 20 – 50 euros |
| Compact first aid kit | 10 – 30 euros |
| Water filter bottle | 20 – 45 euros |
| Foil blankets (pack of 4) | 5 – 12 euros |
| Multi-tool | 15 – 60 euros |
| Shelf-stable food and water | 10 – 20 euros |
| Hygiene kit | 10 – 20 euros |
| Copying documents, laminating, USB stick | 10 – 25 euros |
| Total, everything new | 135 – 400 euros |
| Total, using what you already have | 75 – 150 euros |
How to do it cheaply:
- Start with what is free. The document folder, the card, the contact person plan and the phone number list cost you nothing and matter most
- Use what is in the house. Old rucksack, old glasses, old phone, the torch from the drawer
- Buy it spread out. One item a month. Within six months you are done
- Ready-made emergency bags are convenient but almost always more expensive than building your own, and they never contain your medication, your documents and your glasses prescription. You have to add the essentials yourself anyway
- Share with the neighbours. One emergency radio in the street is enough, as long as you know whose house it is in
The short checklist to print out
Documents and money: copies of ID, health insurance card, policies, medication list, phone numbers on paper, 100-300 euros in cash, spare keys, passport photos, USB stick, paper map, pen and notepad
Power and communication: power bank, cables, car charger, emergency radio, spare batteries, old phone, whistle
Water and food: 1-2 litres of water, filter bottle, purification tablets, collapsible water carrier, bars, nuts, dried fruit, crackers
Clothing: one complete set, fleece, rain jacket, hat, gloves, foil blanket, sturdy shoes next to the bag
Health: 7 days of medication, first aid kit, paracetamol, spare glasses, rehydration salts, FFP2 mask, earplugs
Hygiene: toothbrush and toothpaste, hand gel, wet wipes, toilet paper, sanitary towels, microfibre towel, bin bags
Light and tools: head torch, torch, glow sticks, multi-tool, duct tape, rope, lighter and matches, work gloves
Comfort: cuddly toy, game, book, something nice to eat, photo
On the bag: the card with the 60-second list and the meeting point
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a home emergency supply and a go bag?
A home emergency supply is a stock at home that gets you through 72 hours in your own house when power, water or gas fails. Weight plays no part there. A go bag is a portable rucksack standing ready for when you have to leave your house quickly, meant for the first hours up to about a day. There, weight is exactly what matters: 6 to 10 kilos per adult. You need both, but pack them separately.
How heavy should a go bag be?
As a rule of thumb: you have to be able to walk with it for half an hour without wanting to put it down. For an adult that comes down to 6 to 10 kilos, for a teenager 4 to 6 kilos and for a child of 6 to 11 years 2 to 3 kilos. The weight almost always gets out of hand through water (1 kilo per litre) and tools. Take 1 to 2 litres of water plus a filter bottle instead of five bottles.
Where is the best place to store my go bag?
By the front door, in the hall cupboard, under the coat rack or in the utility cupboard. If you sleep upstairs, consider a bag by the stairs on the first floor, so you do not have to pass the fire on your way out. Not in the loft, not in the cellar and not in a shed outside. Put sturdy shoes next to the bag.
How often should I check my go bag?
Twice a year, tied to the clocks changing. Check best-before dates on food and medication, refresh the water, top up the power bank, see whether children’s clothes still fit, swap the clothing set with the season, and check that your documents and phone numbers are still correct. Keep loose batteries next to devices rather than inside them, because batteries left in a torch for years will leak.
Do I always have to leave when something happens?
No, and that is an important point. In many incidents (a smoke plume, a hazardous substance) the advice is actually to stay inside, close doors and windows and switch off ventilation. Always follow the instructions given through emergency alerts, the crisis website, the regional emergency broadcaster or your local emergency authority. In a flood there are two options: go to the highest dry point in your house, or leave while you still can. In the Netherlands, overstroomik.nl shows per address how high the water can get, so you do not have to make that choice in the moment.
Should I put iodine tablets in my go bag?
Only if you are in the target group. The Dutch government issues iodine tablets to people aged up to and including 40 living within 0 to 20 kilometres of a nuclear power station, to children up to 18 within 20 to 100 kilometres, and to pregnant women of any age within 20 to 100 kilometres. Above 40 there is no demonstrated benefit. If you have them, keep them ready but never take them on your own initiative: the authorities announce when that is needed.
Can I take my pet with me in an evacuation?
If you leave in your own vehicle, usually yes. If you travel with organised transport, that is often not possible, or only for small animals in a carrier. Make sure the carrier stands next to your bag, that the pet passport is in the document folder, and that you have worked out in advance where your animal can go if it cannot come along.
Am I better off buying a ready-made emergency bag?
You can, but it is usually more expensive than building your own, and the most important contents cannot be in there by definition: your medication, your documents, your glasses prescription and your phone numbers. If you do buy one, still set aside an evening to make it personal. Otherwise you have a bag that looks good and helps you very little in real life.
Finally
Building a go bag is not doom-mongering. It is the same logic as fitting a smoke alarm or keeping spare bulbs in the shed: sort it out in an hour, once, and then you never have to think about it again.
Start this evening with the cheapest part, because it happens to be the most important one too: the document folder and the card on the bag. Make copies, write down phone numbers, agree a meeting point. That costs you an hour and zero euros, and it is exactly what you miss when it is real.
The rest you add over a few months.
Want more projects and practical self-reliance around the house and garden, from a proper storage cupboard to a shed that keeps your emergency supply dry? Have a look here: Fred’s DIY Plans
Best regards from Fred Schouten, builder and DIYer through and through
PS: the most underrated item in this whole article is an old pair of prescription glasses. Costs you nothing, because you still have them lying around. And without glasses you suddenly become, in an emergency, someone who needs help instead of someone who can give it.