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FROM THE DESK
After Hurricane Maria, some areas of Puerto Rico waited two weeks for meaningful outside assistance. After the 2021 Texas freeze, grocery stores in some neighborhoods didn't fully restock for ten days. The 72-hour kit we built in Issue 2 handles most disruptions. But "most" isn't "all." Time to extend the runway.
Here's what I've got this week.
THE BRIEF
Beyond 72 Hours: Building a Two-Week Kit
A 72-hour kit is your foundation. It handles the outage that lasts a weekend, the evacuation that puts you in a hotel, the storm that keeps you home for a few days. But recent history shows that some disruptions stretch well beyond three days.
A two-week kit isn't a different concept. It's a scaled-up version of what you already have. The same categories apply: water, food, power, communication, sanitation, and medical. You just need more of each, plus solutions for problems that don't emerge until day four or later.
Water scales the most. One gallon per person per day for 14 days is 14 gallons per person. For a family of four, that's 56 gallons, roughly 470 pounds of water. That's a lot. This is where rain barrels (Issue 48), water filters (Issue 22), and bathtub bladders (Issue 39) become essential. Store what you can, but plan to source and purify additional water.
Food for two weeks is easier than you'd think. The pantry strategy from Issue 25 already builds this naturally. A well-stocked pantry of shelf-stable staples, rice, beans, pasta, canned goods, peanut butter, oats, handles two weeks with room to spare. Add a camp stove and fuel, and you can cook real meals.
Power becomes a bigger issue past 72 hours. A power station charged by solar (Issue 21) gives you indefinite phone and radio capability. Prioritize what actually needs power: communication devices and lighting. Everything else can wait.
Sanitation gets overlooked. After three days without water service, your toilet stops working. Five-gallon bucket with a toilet seat lid, trash bags, and cat litter creates a functional emergency toilet. It's not comfortable, but it's hygienic and works. Store extra trash bags and a container of enzyme-based odor eliminator.
Mental health and morale matter more in a two-week scenario. Books, cards, games, and activities for kids aren't frivolous additions. They're sanity infrastructure. A deck of cards weighs nothing and can sustain a family through days of boredom.
The transition from a 72-hour kit to a two-week kit isn't one big purchase. It's the accumulation of everything we've covered over the past 50 issues. If you've been following along and acting on the weekly tasks, you're already most of the way there.
ONE THING THIS WEEK
Count your water and food supplies right now. How many days can you sustain your household?
Be honest. Count gallons of stored water, canned goods, and shelf-stable food. Calculate how many days it covers. If it's under 14, identify the gap and start closing it with your next grocery trip.
ON THE RADAR
Threats Against Public Officials Up 2,030% Since 2015 — Family Members Up 3,700%
A Princeton University study tracking political violence found threats against public servants increased 2,030% from 2015 to 2025. Threats against the family members of officials rose 3,700% over the same period. The U.S. Capitol Police reported a 58% rise in threats against members of Congress. Targeted violence overall grew more than 30% from 2024 to 2025 alone, according to START, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism.
The trend has real preparedness implications. When institutions responsible for public safety are themselves under strain — and the Secret Service is currently nearly 350 agents smaller than it was a decade ago — personal and community-level preparedness becomes more important, not less.
LESSON FROM: CREEK STEWART
Creek Stewart wrote Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag with a focus on portability, but his survival school teaches longer-term self-sufficiency. His principle for extended kits is "rule of threes, scaled up." Three minutes without air, three hours without shelter, three days without water, three weeks without food. A two-week kit positions you well within every timeline.
Stewart's practical advice: think in systems, not items. A water system (storage plus filtration plus sourcing). A food system (storage plus cooking plus rotation). A power system (storage plus generation plus conservation). Each system has redundancy built in, so losing one component doesn't collapse the whole capability.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Armed Man Charges Secret Service Checkpoint at White House Correspondents’ Dinner — Trump Evacuated
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, charged a Secret Service checkpoint at the Washington Hilton Saturday night armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives. President Trump and Melania were evacuated mid-dinner. Five shots were fired; one Secret Service agent was struck while wearing a body-armor vest and is expected to recover fully. Allen was hospitalized and is facing federal charges including assault on a federal officer and use of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Trump described the attacker as a “lone wolf” and said the incident underscores why he has pushed for tighter venue security. It is the third attack or attempted attack on Trump since 2024 — and the first to occur at a formal Washington event.
Source: NPR, CNBC, Washington Post
WHAT WE’RE TESTING
Vacuum sealing is the most accessible upgrade most preppers skip. The FoodSaver V4400 removes air from bags or Mason jars and heat-seals them shut, extending the shelf life of dry goods from months to several years — without the complexity or cost of a freeze dryer.
The 2-in-1 design handles both roll bags (for custom sizes) and jar sealing via accessory hose — useful for sealing rice, beans, oats, flour, and coffee in wide-mouth Mason jars you already own. Automatic bag detection means it senses the bag and seals without fiddling with settings.
It won’t give you the 25-year shelf life of freeze-dried food, but for the $256 price point it extends pantry staples 3–5x longer than standard storage. That’s a meaningful preparedness upgrade most households can actually execute this week.
Best use case: vacuum-seal bulk dry goods bought at Costco, protect documents or ammo from moisture, and seal portions before freezing to prevent freezer burn. Pairs well with the deep pantry approach from Issue #25.
Budget alternative: The FoodSaver FM2000 ($40). Fewer features, no jar sealing, but does the core job of extending dry food shelf life at a fraction of the cost.
OVERRATED / UNDERRATED
Overrated: "Two-week emergency food supply" kits from survival companies. The calorie counts are often misleading (800 to 1,200 calories per day isn't enough), the taste varies wildly, and you're paying a premium for packaging. Build your own from the grocery store.
Underrated: A five-gallon bucket toilet. Nobody wants to talk about it, but sanitation is the first crisis in any extended disruption. A bucket, seat lid, trash bags, and cat litter cost under $20 total and solve a problem that becomes serious by day two without running water.
THE LINK DUMP
ThePrepared.com: Extended Emergency Kit — Scaling beyond 72 hours with practical guidance.
FEMA: Build a Kit — Government baseline. Good for comparing your setup.
Ready.gov: Sanitation — Emergency sanitation guidance, including the bucket toilet approach.
The Encyclopedia of Country Living — Carla Emery's 845-page homesteading bible. Worth owning.
NEXT ISSUE
Growing food in small spaces. Container gardens, balcony setups, and indoor growing for apartments and small homes.
PS: If you've been following this newsletter since Issue 1 and acting on the weekly tasks, you're probably closer to a two-week kit than you realize. Take inventory. You might surprise yourself.