What to Pack in a Go Bag: The Complete 72-Hour Evacuation Kit Checklist

Evacuation orders don't arrive at convenient times. A wildfire, a flash flood, a chemical spill, a storm surge — these events show up without warning, and when they do, you'll rarely have more than a few minutes to move. There's no time to hunt through drawers for your insurance documents, figure out where the torch is, or wonder whether you have enough water to get through the next few days.

That's the whole point of a go bag. Sometimes called a grab bag, a 72-hour kit, or a bug-out bag, it's a pre-packed collection of essential supplies designed to keep your household self-sufficient for at least three days away from home. The 72-hour window isn't arbitrary — it reflects how long it typically takes emergency services and aid organisations to become fully operational after a large-scale disaster.

And here's the good news: you almost certainly already own more of the contents than you think.

What Is a Go Bag — and How Does It Differ From a Home Emergency Kit?

A go bag is built entirely around mobility. It's designed to be grabbed in under two minutes and carried out the door — into a car, onto public transport, or on foot. That's what distinguishes it from a home emergency kit, which is a larger, heavier supply designed for sheltering in place during a power outage or extended disruption.

The two work as a pair. Your home emergency kit handles the scenario where you stay put. Your go bag handles the scenario where you can't. Both are worth building, but if you're starting from scratch, the go bag is the higher-priority item — it protects you in the most time-pressured, highest-stakes situations.

How Heavy Should a Go Bag Be, and What Should It Live In?

A backpack is the most versatile container for a go bag. It leaves your hands free, works whether you're on foot, on a bicycle, or climbing into a car, and distributes weight across your shoulders and hips. If your household has multiple members, split supplies across individual backpacks so that everyone carries their own load — and, critically, so that each person remains self-sufficient if the group gets separated.

For bulkier items like water and extra food, a wheeled container or rolling suitcase can supplement the main pack. Store the bag somewhere every household member knows about and can reach in complete darkness — a front hallway cupboard, beside the front door, or near the garage exit. If you'd need to search for it, it's in the wrong place.

The Core Go Bag Checklist

The categories below cover the universally recommended essentials for any household, in any geography.

1. Water

Water is the single most critical item in any emergency kit and also the hardest to improvise under stress. Without it, everything else in the bag becomes secondary within a day or two.

The baseline recommendation is 3 litres per person per day for drinking and basic cooking. For a household of two adults over 72 hours, that works out to a minimum of 18 litres — and that's before you account for heat, physical exertion, or children. Store water in sealed, food-grade containers and label each one with the date it was filled. Replace the water in reusable containers at least once a year.

As a backup for situations where you need to refill from a natural source on the move, include a portable water filter or purification tablets. Tap water should never be consumed during or after a disaster until authorities have confirmed it's safe. For a complete guide to storing and treating water at home, see our guide to storing tap water for long-term emergency preparedness.

2. Food

Go bag food needs to meet three criteria: it requires no cooking, no refrigeration, and minimal preparation. You don't know whether you'll have access to a stove, a microwave, or even a table.

Pack a minimum of three days' worth of non-perishable food for every household member. Prioritise items that are calorie-dense, lightweight, and — this matters more than people expect — things your household will actually eat under stress. Energy bars, trail mix, dried fruit, crackers, canned fish or meat (with a manual can opener), nut butters, and long-life ready meals are all solid choices. Good staples include rice, pasta, UHT milk, hard cheese, dried meat, canned goods, and chocolate — foods that combine long shelf lives with genuine energy.

A useful habit is to check your go bag food every time you test your smoke alarms. That twice-yearly routine keeps expiry dates from creeping up on you.

3. First Aid Kit

Every go bag needs a functional, current first aid kit. A pre-packaged kit from a pharmacy or outdoor store is a perfectly good starting point, but open it up, review what's inside, and supplement it for your household's specific needs.

A solid baseline kit includes adhesive bandages in multiple sizes, sterile gauze pads and medical tape, antiseptic wipes and wound closure strips, scissors and tweezers, at least two pairs of disposable gloves, an emergency foil blanket, a digital thermometer, a CPR face shield, and a printed first aid reference card.

Include a whistle too — a small addition that can be used to signal for help without exhausting yourself by shouting, particularly if you're trapped or injured.

4. Medications and Personal Health Items

This is one of the most commonly overlooked categories in go bag preparation, and one of the most dangerous to get wrong.

Include a minimum three-to-seven day supply of any prescription medication your household depends on. Speak with your doctor about obtaining an additional prescription specifically for your emergency reserve, and rotate the stock so nothing expires. Critical medications — EpiPens, insulin, inhalers, heart medications, antidepressants — should always have a reserve in the bag, no exceptions.

Beyond prescriptions, add common over-the-counter basics: paracetamol or ibuprofen, antihistamines, stomach remedies, and oral rehydration salts. If anyone in the household wears glasses or contact lenses, pack spares.

One final, easy-to-miss step: store a printed list of all current medications, dosages, and prescriptions in the bag. If you're injured or unable to communicate at an evacuation shelter, this list can be handed directly to paramedics or medical staff and may prove critical.

5. Important Documents

Keep copies of your most critical documents in a waterproof, sealed folder or zip-lock bag inside your go bag. Originals should stay at home in a fireproof safe — the go bag carries duplicates only.

The documents to copy and include are passports and national identity cards, birth certificates, insurance policies (home, health, vehicle), property deeds or rental agreements, medical records and prescription lists, bank account details and emergency contacts, and vehicle registration and driving licences.

Photograph all household valuables too, and store those images in cloud storage. If physical records are destroyed in a disaster, digital photos can support insurance claims and speed up the recovery process considerably.

6. Communication and Power

Staying informed is one of the most important things you can do during and after an emergency — and one of the hardest when the power is out and mobile networks are congested or down entirely.

A battery-powered or hand-crank radio is a non-negotiable item. Mark the frequencies of your local emergency broadcast stations on the dial before you store it, so there's no fumbling in the moment.

Pack a fully charged portable power bank with the correct cables for every device in your household. A torch or headlamp (headlamps are preferable — they're hands-free) with spare batteries stored separately from the device rounds out the lighting. Buy alkaline batteries, check them annually, and keep them in a cool, dry spot.

Finally, write a list of emergency contacts on paper and keep it in the bag. It's worth emphasising: when your phone is dead, a printed list is the only contact list you have. For a complete framework on how your family will stay in touch during an emergency, see our guide to building a family emergency communication plan.

7. Cash

Electronic payments stop working during power outages and network disruptions, and they stop fast. ATMs go offline, card terminals won't process transactions, and mobile payment apps are useless without data.

Keep a supply of small-denomination banknotes in your go bag, along with some coins. It doesn't need to be a large amount — enough to cover a few days of basic purchases, fuel, or coin-operated services.

8. Clothing and Shelter

Pack at least one complete change of clothes per person, appropriate for the current season. Include sturdy, closed-toe shoes or boots — these should be in or immediately next to your go bag, not across the house. Keep shoes and a torch near your bed too, for the possibility of a sudden night evacuation.

Add a rain poncho or waterproof jacket, a warm layer (fleece, thermal, or wool jumper — even in mild climates, evacuation shelters are often cold), and work gloves for moving through debris. For overnight protection, include a compact sleeping bag or emergency thermal blanket for each person. Mylar emergency blankets are impressively small and lightweight, but they don't replace a proper sleeping bag in genuinely cold conditions.

9. Hygiene and Sanitation

Basic hygiene matters more than most people expect during extended displacement — not just for physical health, but for morale and mental wellbeing. Having toiletries on hand can help maintain a sense of routine during a deeply disruptive time.

Pack hand sanitiser and antibacterial wipes, toilet paper and moist towelettes, a toothbrush and toothpaste, basic soap, and feminine hygiene products as needed. Add nappy supplies if there's an infant in the household. Include heavy-duty bin bags and zip ties too, which can be used to improvise sanitation if municipal waste systems are unavailable.

10. Tools and Practical Items

Round out your go bag with a handful of versatile tools that cover a wide range of situations: a multi-tool or penknife, a manual can opener (essential if you've packed canned food), duct tape, five to ten metres of paracord or rope, waterproof matches or a lighter, a local paper map (GPS depends on power and satellites; paper doesn't), spare house and car keys, and a small notepad with a pencil.

Customising Your Go Bag for Your Household

A checklist is a starting point, not a rigid prescription. Every household is different, and personalising it matters.

Children need age-appropriate comfort items — a small toy, a colouring book, a familiar storybook — alongside snacks they'll readily eat and copies of school and immunisation records. These small touches can make an enormous difference to a child's ability to cope in an unfamiliar environment. For a full guide to packing for different age groups and supporting children emotionally during emergencies, see our guide to emergency preparedness for families with children.

Older adults may need mobility aids, hearing aid batteries, and assistive devices built into the kit plan. If evacuating means navigating stairs or walking significant distances, factor that into your household emergency plan and consider whether supplementary transport arrangements need to be agreed in advance.

Pets need their own supplies too. Include at least a three-day supply of pet food and water, a leash or carrier, waste bags, and copies of vaccination records. Plan for a full week of pet supplies where you can — evacuation centres may not be equipped to house animals, which may mean finding alternative accommodation with friends, family, or pet-friendly boarding.

Medical equipment users should plan around any power-dependent devices such as CPAP machines or home oxygen concentrators. Most countries operate priority service registers for medically vulnerable customers — contact your electricity provider in advance to get enrolled.

Where to Store Your Go Bag

The rule is simple: store it somewhere you can reach in complete darkness, at any time of day or night, in under two minutes. A front hallway cupboard, a bedroom corner, the garage entrance, or the boot of your car are all practical locations. If your household uses multiple vehicles or splits time between different locations (work, school, a partner's home), consider keeping a smaller supplementary kit in the car.

Every member of the household should know exactly where the bag is kept. A brief walk-through once a year is all it takes.

How to Maintain Your Go Bag

A go bag that was packed once and then forgotten is a bag full of expired food, dead batteries, and outdated documents. Maintenance doesn't take long, but it does need to happen.

Every six months, check water storage dates, review food expiry dates, test your torch batteries, and rotate any medications. Every twelve months, replace water in reusable containers, update document copies (insurance renewals, new prescriptions, changed phone numbers), and reassess clothing sizes — particularly if you have growing children. After any use, immediately restock whatever was removed.

A practical trigger worth using: check your go bag every time you test your smoke alarms. It's an existing habit, it already runs on roughly the right schedule, and it means you never have to remember a separate reminder.

Starting With What You Already Own

One of the most common reasons households put off building a go bag is the assumption that it requires a large, expensive shopping trip. It doesn't. Most households already have the majority of what they need — the real work is in gathering it together, not buying it.

Start with a simple audit. Find your torch, any first aid supplies you already have, a portable radio if you own one, a spare set of document copies, and your prescription medications. Put them together in a backpack. Add water. You may be surprised to discover that a functional, basic go bag can come together in a single afternoon from items already scattered around your home.

From there, build outward. Add one or two items each month — a power bank this week, a pack of energy bars next week, a paper map the week after. Within a few months you'll have a comprehensive kit without any single large outlay, and you'll have the peace of mind that comes with knowing you're ready to walk out the door in minutes, not hours.