Start with the basics and build from there. Check thrift shops for simple cookware, utensils, & daypacks. Keep them filled with the proper equipment so you can grab them if you need to run. You just don?t need state-of-the-art. If you don?t have drinking water, you?d take water from a garden hose or dipped out of the toilet tank, wouldn?t you?

Shelter ? stretch a decent rope between two trees or posts, hang a large tarp over it for a tent, a smaller tarp for a floor, regular blankets and a few mylar emergency blankets.

Water - Cheap & easy. Keep a sheet of heavy plastic & more rope handy, plus a new plastic garbage can. Clothespin the end of a tarp to the stretched rope (in the open), drape it into the garbage can to collect rainwater.

Medicine ? Most of what you need, you?ve already got. Just put it together.

Food - When you go grocery shopping (esp sales), buy extra when you can. Under stressful conditions, you?ll want familiar food.

Toilet - Get a $10 toilet seat that clips onto a standard 5-gal bucket from a camping supply place. Store a good supply of toilet paper in the bucket.

Cooking ? Make a few soda can stoves & buy denatured alcohol for fuel. Put all your cooking stuff in a backpack (etc). Add acan opener, matches, cheap lighters, & a magfire from Martin Focazio when you can <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. If you normally keep meat in your freezer, have a way to cook it, like charcoal briquettes & a cheapo BBQ.

Toilet articles ? Have a bag handy with soap, shampoo, toothbrushes & paste, sanitary protection for the ladies, some towels & washcloths, & a couple of big packs of wet wipes.

Copies of important documents ? Keep them all together in one container. If you?ve got irreplaceable photographs, keep them handy, too, as well as a copy of your personal phone book.

You can set up camp in your own back yard. You can run with all this stuff if you have to, and set up a camp in a friend?s backyard.

Take it all to a campground with your family and make notes of what you forgot.

Sue