Top Ten Reasons I Desperately Needed to Rotate My 72 Hour Kit Foods

Problem: While writing the article "How to Make a 72 Hour Kit", I pulled out my own 72 hour kits to take remind myself of how they were put together. I realized the date on them was July 2006! I decided I better buy some replacement foods since the recommendation is UFO to rotate it every 6 months to a year.

So I opened the kits up and discovered that if we truly would have had an emergency these would not have been very pleasant to eat. Here are the reasons why.

Top Ten Reasons I Needed to Rotate My 72 Hour Kit Foods:

10. Didn't even have a kit for my youngest daughter (and she's almost two!)
9. Stew expired July 2007.
8. Tang powder turned into crystallized lumps.
7. Beanie Weenies tasted rancid (yes I sampled them) and expired in 2007 as well.
6. Expired oatmeal although it didn't taste too bad.
5. Raisins as hard as rock. Even my kids wouldn't eat them.
4. Fruit roll-ups were smashed flat and REALLY sticky and gooey. I should NOT have let my kids attempt to eat them!
3. Expired noodle soup which also didn't have any directions on the envelopes...hmmm.
2. Beef jerky was so hard that it killed my jaw to try to chew it and also had white powder on it that I am suspicious was mold. I hope I don't get sick from tasting it!
1. The jolly ranchers melted all over the entire kit! Must have gotten overheated when we moved. So not only would it have been gross in an emergency but now as I'm rotating it, the food is going to waste because it is so nasty and old.

Today I decided enough was enough. I took my kids to Walmart with my 72 hour kit shopping list in hand. I bought enough stuff to make 6 kits and it cost $49.50, so approximately $8.25 per kit. I didn't need to purchase a stove, fuel pellets, matches, or spoons so to make a brand new kit would cost a few dollars extra. It took me about 30 minutes to empty out the old kits and put in the new food items. So I procrastinated for a whole year on something that took me less than 2 hours and about $30. I make myself mad sometimes. Needless to say I've learned my lesson!

To view this article with some pictures, a printable shopping list, and a bonus video view my blog post at foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2008/07/17/updating-my-72-hour-kits/">foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2008/07/17/updating-my-72-hour-kits/

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