What Kira Carries

It's time for Kira's 72 hour kit! I know, you have been checking my blog every 5 minutes...the anticipation is killing you, right?
This is Kira's first year with a 'big' backpack. She has all of her items in her pack. Needless to say, she was/is really excited about it. The little things in childhood that make you happy are so fun to see!
Before I give a list of the food items that she carries, I want to go off on a little tangent. To me, if we were to ever have to use our 72 hour kits, I would be stressed up to the max. Yet I don't want that to affect my kids. I want them to see it as a big adventure, which was how they saw the tornado's/power outage last April. To a kid, trekking along and eating out of a backpack can be an adventure. That is the way I want them to see it. Which is why we have the food that we have in our packs. I remember being a teenager and changing out the food in our kits(I bet it had been well over 5 years since we had done that...) and no one would touch the food. I remember thinking that yes, this food would keep me alive, but would I be able to swallow it? Would my super picky little brother throw it up like he threw up 1/2 his food if my Mom made him take a bite? That thought stuck with me and prompted the way I do my kits now. If you like the food then it will be less of a hardship to stay alive and especially for kids, can make it more of an adventure. Also, the food is designed to keep you alive, not full.
Back to the food. This is what Kira has in her pack.
For breakfast everyday: 1 can of fruit cocktail - it has a pop top so we don't have to worry about the extra weight/space of a can opener.
For lunch/snacks: 1 monster slim jim, 2 squeezable apple sauce, 2 granola bars, 2 packages peanuts, 2 fruit snacks, 1 biscuits and cheese, 6 cracker packages - oreos, rits bits, nilla wafers, etc. - and one juicy drop pop for her treat.
For dinners: 1 can spaghettio's, 1 stars and chicken soup at hand and 1 pkg top ramen. *For the top ramen please note that we do not have a bowl to cook it in, it will be eaten raw and need water to drink down with it.
For an extra one night we also have 1 can of corn.

Yes, having her food in cans does add more weight. To me the upsides of having cans outweighs the weight that would be dropped within the first day or two. The cans have extra liquid which can be drunk adding water and vitamins to your body. The cans also will be easily heated and you don't have to pack extra water to reconstitute the food. Again, I can't help but reiterate that my kids will eat the foods that I have packed. That is very important to me!
For water Kira has one 16.9oz water bottle and one 2 liter water bottle. *In Josh's and my pack's we have crystal light flavor packets to mix in with the water. We didn't put any in Kira's pack because she tends to spill 1/2 the package when she opens it.*

Clothing: Kira also has one pair of pants, a long sleeved shirt, underwear and a pair of knee socks. If Rora had any knee socks I would have put some in her pack instead of the ankle socks, but I'm to cheap to go buy knee socks for her.

Miscellaneous items in Kira's pack:
1 first aid kit containing bandaids, gauze, disinfecting wipes and burn ointment.
1 bar of soap
1 bottle hand sanitizer
1 toothbrush & 1 tube toothpaste
1 package tissues
1 emergency blanket
chap stick
1 lighter (We made sure that she knows how to light it and have gone over fire safety.)
1 pocket knife (Again, we have gone over safety and know that she can safely use it.)
1 emergency whistle
1 package wipes
2 emergency candles.
Not pictured:
1 flashlight (with batteries) - we have to buy a new one and the store was out of the inexpensive ones when I went so I have to go back.
2 glow sticks - The store was out when we went so I still have to get some fresh ones. (These do not need to be replaced every year, it's just been over 4 years since we got them so it is time to replace them.)
family picture (we're waiting for Ella to update it)
immunization records (I will get the updated ones from the Dr next week.)
And lastly contact information for family members. With Kira the information on there differs only slightly from Rora's. We don't have to put on it 'My name is Akira Babb, I am 5 years old.' because she can say that, where Rora probably can't/won't for a stranger.

I forgot to pull her toys out of the bag but she also has a little barbie with a few accessories as her toy.

That's it for Kira's pack. You made it through another post on our 72 hour kits. I hope that you've gotten a couple ideas to help you improve yours. I know whenever I talk to anyone about theirs versus mine I usually end up with a different something to change or add. Up next. My pack. DUN DUN DUUNNN!