72 Hour Kit

Keep your 72-hour kit fresh all year

When to replace stored water, check batteries and medicine, rotate food before best-by dates and review your 72-hour kit as your household changes, with calendar reminders.

1 min — To be rechecked by 2026-11-24

The schedule

What How often Why
Water you bottled yourself Every 6 months Ready.gov: replace water that was not commercially bottled every six months
Store-bought water By its date Keep sealed, cool and dark
Flashlight and radio batteries Every 6 months (our suggestion) Batteries drain and can leak in storage
Medicine and first aid supplies Every 6 months (our suggestion) Ready.gov: replace expired items
Food Before each best-by date Eat it and replace it
The whole kit Every year, and when your household changes New baby, new pet, a child who has outgrown clothes

Sources: Ready.gov, maintaining your kit and Ready.gov, storing water.

Make it automatic

The reminder tool creates calendar events that repeat every six or twelve months, each with an alert, plus a one-off reminder two weeks before your earliest food date. The file opens in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook; nothing is sent to us.

Easy habits

  • Check the kit when the clocks change in spring and fall.
  • Put new food at the back and use the oldest first.
  • Keep a list inside the kit lid of what expires when.
  • After any emergency, restock everything you used straight away.

Small things that help

A permanent marker and labels for dates, a pack of spare batteries for every device in the kit, and a waterproof list inside the lid of what expires when.