Practical emergency prep for families

Get your family ready for the emergencies that actually happen.

Calm, step-by-step guides for storms, power outages, evacuations and the paperwork that matters. Pick the situation on your mind and start there.

New to this? Start here Browse guides by situation

Written by a parent who completed Montgomery County CERT training. Safety guidance comes from named public sources.

Three good first steps

Do them in any order. Each one is a small job.

Top guides

Start with what you are facing

Each group below is a good place to begin. Read one guide, do one thing, and you have made real progress.

Storms

Hurricanes, tornadoes and winter storms: what to do ahead of time, and when it is on the way.

Power outages

Staying warm, keeping food safe and getting through the night when the lights go out.

Evacuation and go-kits

A plan everyone knows, a kit that is packed, and the pets and little things people forget.

Important documents

Know what to keep, in what form, and where it lives, before you need to look for it.

Browse all emergency guides →

Free printables

Checklists and cards you can print and keep

Each one goes with a guide. Open the guide, and you can get the printable sent to your email.

Tornado Plan Card + Shelter Kit

Your safe spot, backup spot, who gets the kids and where to meet, on one card.

Winter Storm Checklist (Home and Car)

Before-winter, watch, warning and power-out lists for the house.

Pet Emergency Kit Checklist + Pet Info Sheet

The kit checklist by group, plus where your pets can go if you leave home.

Emergency Contact Cards

Fold-over wallet cards, a kids card and a fridge-size household contact sheet.

Family Medication List

Two fillable pages: a household block and room for four people.

Home Inventory Checklist

Room-by-room tick boxes for 13 rooms, plus a table for high-value items.

Keep reading

Latest from the site

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Illustration of a home kitchen during a boil water notice: a stockpot at a rolling boil on a gas stove, two lidded pitchers of cooled water, a stack of paper plates and cups, and a handwritten BOIL WATER note taped to the refrigerator door.

Emergencies

Boil Water Notice: What to Do, What's Safe, and a Free Fridge Card

What to boil, what tap water is still fine for, the flush checklist to run when the boil water notice ends, and a free two-page printable with a fridge card for the whole house.

17 min read

Illustration of a tan fire-resistant document bag full of folders and envelopes sitting inside an open dark gray home fire safe on a closet floor, with a blank checklist on a clipboard beside it.

Gear & Supplies

Fireproof Document Bag vs Home Safe: Which One Actually Protects Your Papers?

A fireproof document bag is cheap and portable but built for brief heat. A UL-classified safe is rated for a set time and temperature. Here is how to choose, with a free printable for what goes in the bag and where your other copies live.

17 min read

Illustration of an adult hand filling in a blank ruled index card at a kitchen table, with a leather wallet, a clear plastic card sleeve, a phone lying face down and a child's backpack nearby.

Emergencies

Emergency Contact Card: What to Put on It (Free Printable)

The short list of what belongs on an emergency contact card, the numbers we leave off and why, and a free two-page printable: two fold-over wallet cards, a kids card, and a household contact sheet for the fridge or kit.

16 min read

When you want it all in one place

The Family Emergency Binder

If you would rather have your contacts, documents and plans in a single printable binder, we built one. Everything on this site works without it.

See the Family Emergency Binder →

Who's behind this

Hi, I'm Todd

I'm a parent who completed Montgomery County CERT training. I'm not an emergency professional, so the safety guidance here comes from named public sources. Where we live, we see tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods, extreme heat, and cold we're not built for. The lesson that stuck: having your information written down before you need it takes one worry off the list. I started this site to give regular families the practical, no-panic guidance I wish I'd had. No bunkers, no fear, just what to buy, store, and do.

More about the site →