Frequently Asked Questions About Home Emergency Survival Kits

Our kits include the essentials recommended by FEMA and the American Red Cross: food, water, first aid supplies, emergency tools, light sources, and more. Each product page has a full contents list so you know exactly what you're getting before you buy. We don't pad our kits with low-quality fillers, every item is chosen because it actually belongs in a home emergency survival kit.

Start with the number of people in your household. Our kits are designed for specific household sizes, 1 person, 2 people, 4 people, and larger families. A good rule of thumb is to choose the kit that matches your household count and covers at least 72 hours. If you have young children, elderly family members, or pets, consider sizing up or adding a supplemental pet kit. Not sure? Read more here or call or text us at (810) 218-0950 and we'll help you find the right fit.

Smaller than you'd think. Most of our kits are sized to live on a closet shelf, under a bed, or on a garage shelf near the door. Each product page lists exact dimensions and weight. Our advice: store your kit where you could reach it in the dark, and make sure everyone in the family, kids included, knows exactly where it lives. (We have a whole Be Ready Basics answer about that.)

Honestly? You can build your own, and we respect anyone who does. But most families who start a DIY kit never quite finish it. The list is long, life is busy, and supplies wander off to the garage. Our kits arrive complete, checked, and ready the day they land on your porch. You're not just buying supplies, you're buying the certainty that it's done. Want the full, honest comparison? We break down both approaches in our pre-made vs. DIY guide

Yes! That's exactly the point. Every Gear Up kit arrives fully assembled and organized. There's no putting things together, no tracking down missing items, and no instruction manual to decode under pressure. Open it, store it, and rest easy knowing it's ready when you need it.

Our kits are carefully curated to cover the essentials right out of the box. While we don't offer build-your-own kits at this time, every kit is designed with room for your personal additions like medications, copies of important documents, comfort items for children, and pet supplies are the most common. See our guide to customizing an emergency kit for your family's specific needs for ideas by household type. Have a specific need or question about what to add? Reach us at (810) 218-0950 or support@gearupsurvivalkits.com and we'll point you in the right direction.

Our kits are designed to support your family through the most common emergencies: power outages, hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, severe storms, winter storms and any situation that disrupts access to food, water, or basic services. We also carry disaster-specific kits if you live in an area with a higher risk of a particular type of emergency. Browse our Disaster Kits collection to find the right coverage for where you live.

Yes! We carry dedicated pet emergency survival kits for both dogs and cats, as well as bundles that combine a household kit with a pet kit so your whole family is covered in one order. Don't leave your four-legged family members out of your preparedness plan, they depend on you too.

Our kits are curated based on the guidelines and recommendations published by FEMA and the American Red Cross, the same standards emergency management experts rely on. While individual kit products are not formally "certified" by these organizations, no commercial kits are. You can shop with confidence knowing our contents are built around their official guidance.

Quality is something we take seriously. We source reliable, tested supplies that are built to perform when it matters most, not just look good in a box. We don't cut corners on the items that count. If you ever receive something that doesn't meet your expectations, our satisfaction guarantee means we'll make it right, no hassle, no runaround.

A few things set us apart. We focus exclusively on home emergency survival kits for everyday families, not military gear, not hobby survival products, not overwhelming "prepper" supplies. Everything we sell is practical, family-friendly, and designed for real life. We're also a small business that answers the phone, responds to emails personally, and genuinely cares whether your family is prepared. You're not a transaction to us, you're the whole reason we exist.
And every purchase gives back: $1 from every kit goes to the National Forest Foundation, continuing a giving partnership our family of brands has kept since 2022.

Slowly, thankfully. The emergency food and water in our kits carry an approximately five-year shelf life on most rations, up to twenty-five on our long-storage meals, so this isn't a yearly chore. When you receive your kit, write the replacement year somewhere you'll see it, we like a piece of tape right on the kit, and do a quick twice-a-year check with our free Kit Refresh Checklist to rotate anything personal you've added, like medications or kids' clothing sizes.

Orders ship within 1-3 business days from our U.S. fulfillment locations, and most families receive their kit within 5-7 business days. You'll get tracking the moment it ships. One friendly note from experience: the best time to order a kit is a quiet week with nothing in the forecast - preparedness is one of those things that rewards not waiting.

Unused items in original packaging can be returned within 30 days. Email or call us for a return authorization to get started. If something arrives defective or we sent the wrong item, we cover all shipping and make it right; full details in our Returns & Exchanges policy.

One of the most caring gifts there is...especially for new homeowners, college students, aging parents, and brand-new drivers. An emergency kit says "I want you to be safe" in a way a gift card never will. For ideas on who to gift and how, see our guide to giving an emergency kit as a gift.