Water and food for two weeks

Water: one gallon per person per day

Ready.gov's rule is at least one gallon of water per person per day for several days, covering drinking and sanitation. Our plans use the same gallon a day and stretch it to 14 days, because multi-day outages and supply problems often last longer than a weekend.

Counting pets. We plan on about 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight per day, so a 60 lb dog adds roughly half a gallon a day. That's a planning estimate; ask your vet about your own animal.

Sanitation. When a storm or outage is coming, fill the bathtub and keep a bucket nearby for flushing toilets. Know where your water main shutoff is before you need it.

Food: build it on regular grocery runs

Start with three days of shelf-stable food your household already eats, then add a little to each weekly shop until you reach two weeks. For a family of four that's roughly an extra $40 a week, and nobody has to make a separate stockpiling trip.

• No-cook first. Canned proteins, peanut butter, crackers, cereal, dried fruit, shelf-stable milk. Food the kids will actually eat.
• One way to cook without power. A gas range, a grill or a camp stove, used outdoors only for grills and camp stoves, plus the fuel for it.
• Special diets. Formula, baby food, allergy-safe foods and pet food count toward the target.

Rotation: newest to the back

Put new purchases behind older ones and eat from the front. Check dates every quarter. The plan tool puts these checks on a dated calendar for you.

Three budgets

What to look for