Two-Week Emergency Kit: Upgrading From 72 Hours to the Outages That Actually Happen (2026)
Sep 24, 2026
Short answer: A 72-hour kit is the floor. The outages that make the news, ice storms, hurricanes, grid failures, atmospheric rivers, run one to three weeks, and the difference between a 72-hour kit and a two-week kit is mostly quantity, not new categories. Water and food scale with headcount and days. Power scales with what you must run. Medications scale with the prescription. Everything else you already own if you built the 72-hour kit.
What changes at two weeks
| Category | 72 hours | Two weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 3 gal/person | 14 gal/person, plus a filter for refills |
| Food | 3 days no-cook | 14 days, with a stove for morale |
| Power | Phones and lights | Phones, lights, a router or Starlink, medical devices, a way to recharge it all |
| Medications | 3 days | 30 days, rotated |
| Sanitation | Wipes, bags | A bucket toilet, bags, lime, more wipes |
| Cash | $100 | $300 to $500 in small bills |
| Heat or cooling | Blankets | A safe indoor heater with CO alarm, or a plan for a cooling center |
Water is the hard one
Fourteen gallons per person is 56 gallons for a family of four, and it weighs 460 pounds. Nobody stores that in a closet. The realistic plan is 3 to 5 days stored, then a filter and a source: a water heater holds 40 to 50 gallons, a bathtub filled before a storm holds 60, a pool or a creek is unlimited with treatment. Store what you can, and own the filter.
Power is where the kit grows up
Three days is phones and headlamps; a jump starter covers it. Two weeks is a router, a CPAP, a fridge for insulin, and the ability to recharge everything. That means a power station sized to your load plus solar or a generator to refill it. Our power outage kit guide has the sizing math; the short version is that backup power is the first thing every 2026 preparedness list puts at the top, and it is the category most 72-hour kits skip entirely.
What does not change
First aid, light, fire, signaling, documents, tools. The Ultimate Emergency Survival Kit, a headlamp per adult, a whistle, LED flares, and a dry bag of documents serve two weeks as well as three days. Buy them once.
The order to buy it in
- Water storage and a filter
- Backup power for phones and lights (jump starter)
- Two weeks of food and a stove used outdoors
- Medications and first aid
- Power for medical devices and communication
- Sanitation and heat
Build it with the kit builder, which scales water to your headcount.
Frequently asked questions
How much water for a two-week kit?
One gallon per person per day: 14 gallons per person. Store what you can and own a filter for the rest.
Is a 72-hour kit enough?
It is the minimum. Modern outages routinely run a week or more; build 72 hours first, then extend water, food, power, and medications to two weeks.
What is the most important upgrade from 72 hours to two weeks?
Backup power. A three-day kit runs on a jump starter; two weeks needs a power station and a way to refill it.
Do I need a generator?
Not necessarily. A power station plus solar covers phones, lights, a router, and small medical devices. A fridge or heat for weeks is where a generator, run outdoors, earns its place.
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