A field guide for households
Cover the first 72 hours, the next two weeks, and the slower craft of doing more for yourself. Calm guidance, grounded in FEMA, Red Cross, and traditional practice.
Content based on official guidance from FEMA, the American Red Cross, the CDC, and the hands-on traditions of generations who knew how to do for themselves.
What we mean by survival
No sirens. No countdowns. No lifestyle performance. Just ordinary households becoming harder to break.
The name on the door says survival, and that’s probably how you found us. But survival in the new world isn’t what it used to be.
It’s not bunkers and bug-out bags. It’s a flashlight you can find in the dark, a week of food you would actually eat, and knowing how to shut off your own water when a pipe breaks.
You won’t find sirens here, or countdowns, or end-of-the-world thinking. You also won’t find self-reliance turned into a costume. We’re here for the older, quieter work: building a household that can take care of itself, help its neighbors, and stay steady when ordinary life gets interrupted.
Your local risks
Eight major hazards, with regional guidance, prep steps, protocols, recovery, and local resources.
Community resilience
Connected households recover faster. Self-reliance makes you strong enough to serve.
Job loss
The first three days after income stops — a calm household plan for the disruption many families face.
The starting point
Power goes out. Roads close. Shelves empty. The households that do well aren't the ones with the most gear — they're the ones who decided, ahead of time, where the water is, who picks up the kids, and what the plan is when the phones don't work.
Start with 72 hours of self-sufficiency. Build out from there at your own pace.
72
hours of readiness
Water · food · medicine · shelter · light · communication
The readiness curve
Preparedness isn't a single moment — it's a ladder. Most households do well to climb one rung at a time.
01
Survive
The baseline. Water, food, light, medicine, and a household plan for the most common short emergencies.
Start here →
02
Sustain
Hurricanes, regional outages, supply disruptions. What changes when 72 hours isn't enough.
Build it out →
03
Endure
The boring discipline that decides recovery time: drills, documents, skills, community.
Go deeper →
04
Provide
Gardening, preserving, solar, wood heat, hand tools. The slower craft of doing more for yourself.
Begin the craft →
The framework
Whether you're building a 72-hour kit or a multi-year plan, the same six categories organize the work.
01
Know your local hazards. Assign roles. Pick meeting points. Practice it once a year.
02
Water, food, light, batteries, radio, tools, backup power — scaled to your tier.
03
Plan for both staying put and getting out. Heat, cold, smoke, water — each needs a different answer.
04
First aid, prescriptions, OTC basics, sanitation. Enough to handle the gap before professional care.
05
A way to receive alerts and a way to reach the people who matter — even when cell towers fail.
06
Documents, insurance, cash, contacts. The boring kit that decides how fast normal returns.
The other half
Most of what makes a household resilient also makes life better in normal times. A garden. A pantry of preserves. Solar panels on the porch. Hand tools that outlive you.
The slow craft of doing more for yourself, on purpose, all the time. Useful when something goes wrong. Useful when nothing goes wrong. The hedge is the bonus; the craft is the point.
Explore Self-relianceThe overlooked pillar
A job loss. An unexpected medical bill. A furnace that dies in January. These aren't the emergencies that make the news, but they're the ones most households actually face — and the recovery math is identical: how many weeks can your household sustain itself without outside income?
Financial resilience is household preparedness. An emergency fund, reduced fixed costs, and skills that earn are as practical as water storage. Same discipline, different shelf.
Unemployment filing, job centers, food assistance, utility help, and health insurance options — specific to your state.
The financial 72 hours
Emergency fund
Three months of essential expenses — rent, utilities, food, insurance. The single most important financial prep.
Reduced fixed costs
Lower your monthly baseline so the runway stretches further. Every $100 cut extends your fund by weeks.
Skills that earn
Repair, preservation, gardening, carpentry. Skills that reduce costs today and create income options tomorrow.
Insurance audit
Know the gaps. Flood, earthquake, and sewer backup aren't in standard homeowner's policies.
Hazard Guides
The most common emergency in the country — and the most straightforward to prepare for. Food, water, heat, and backup power.
Prepare now →
The costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, year after year. Every state floods. Most flood insurance gaps are preventable.
Prepare now →
More than 1,000 per year in the U.S. The difference between a watch and a warning — and what to do in the minutes between them.
Prepare now →
Storm surge kills more people than the wind. How to read the cone, when to leave, and what to do if you stay.
Prepare now →
Wildfire season now runs year-round in much of the West. Home hardening, evacuation timing, and air quality when you can’t leave.
Prepare now →
Affects more of the country than any other hazard. Heat, pipes, roads, and the danger of carbon monoxide indoors.
Prepare now →
Heat kills more Americans than any other weather event. Who is most at risk, how to identify heat illness, and when to check on neighbors.
Prepare now →
No warning. No countdown. Drop, cover, and hold on — and what to check before you go back inside after the shaking stops.
Prepare now →
Grocery stores hold three days of inventory. A two-week household buffer costs less than most people think and solves more than one problem.
Prepare now →
Know your ground
Hurricanes in Florida, wildfires in Colorado, ice storms in Texas. Enter your ZIP — we'll show you the three or four hazards that actually apply, with specific preparation notes for each.
Or browse hazards by region without entering a ZIP.