March Week 1: First-aid kit

This week's food storage item is the following:

March Week 1: First-aid kit, gauze, Q-tips, cotton balls, band-aids, Neosporin, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, etc.

I like to do this one in two parts.

First, I have a first aid kit in our bathroom, and this week is the perfect opportunity to update it and replenish it. I have a list taped to the top of the lid (the whole thing is kept in a fishing tackle box, which I love!) and I'll go through and check the contents of the kit with the list, and write anything I need to purchase on my shopping list. By the way, you can get a Plano fishing tackle box on Amazon for about $15.00, and they're perfect for first-aid kits!

Below is my list specifically for my first-aid kit (which is on red paper and taped to the inside of my first-aid kit lid). I first list the items that don't really expire, but may need replenishing.

Check to refill:

10 Band-aid adhesive pads - 2.25 X 3

10 butterfly bandages

1 box Band-aids (regular)

1 roll bandaging tape - 1” X 2.3 yds

1 roll first aid tape - ½” X 5 yds

1 roll Dermi clear tape - 1” X 10 yds

1 roll elastic tape - 1”

8 gauze pads - 2 X 2

10 gauze pads - 3 X 3

6 gauze pads - 4 X 4

2 absorbent pads - 8 X 10

1 roll gauze wrap - 2”

1 roll gauze wrap - 1”

1 roll ace bandage - 2”

1 roll ace bandage - 4”

20 Q-tips    

3 pr. rubber gloves

25 matches

Then, I list the items that have expiration dates, and may need to be rotated out:

Items with expiration date:

Visine

Neosporin

Purell hand sanitizer

antiseptic wash

first-aid crea
After-Bite itch eraser

Benadryl (itch stopping cream)

20 alcohol pads

12 Pepto Bismol tablets

Dramamine

Tums

24 Tylenol

24 Advil

cough drops

And lastly, some standard items that I just want to check to be sure they are still in the kit:

Standard Equipment:

1 tweezers

1 scissors - large

1 scissors - small

2 needles

Thermometer (forehead)

nail clipper

safety pins

ice pack

quarters

First-aid kit in a fishing tackle box

Second, in addition to my first-aid kit, I like to keep some extra things on hand in my emergency supply. I keep Q-tips, cotton balls, extra band-aids, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, various sizes of gauze pads, medical face masks, and rubber gloves. I keep most of these items (except the larger things) in a medium-sized container with a lid. It sits on the shelves next to the other items in my emergency supply. This week, when I checked my items, I noticed that the hydrogen peroxide had just expired. So, I'll need to pick up another couple of bottles from Costco. Everything else is on the shelf from a year ago, so we're good to go!

First-aid needs will vary from family to family, so as you look at my list, you may want to add or remove items. Store what your family will or may need for the year, as well as some extras that would be beneficial during a long-term emergency.

Let me reiterate that this is a weekly food storage plan that doesn't have any particular order. I like it that way so that I'm working on different things all the time, and building up different areas of my emergency supply. You can jump in on this plan at any given week, and have that be the start of your Week-by-Week Food Storage Plan. You don't need to go back to January and start at the beginning!

If you would like the full info on the Week-By-Week Food Storage Plan, just click on the tab at the top of the page. You can then click on any single week and it will take you to the most up-to-date post that featured that week's items. It also has the information as to how you can get a copy of the weekly schedule as well as the complete inventory sheets.