- When the power goes out, your phone dies and the web disappears. What’s on paper is still there.
- Four free A4 sheets: 72-hour kit, pantry, family plan and kit review.
- Print them today, fill them in with a pen and keep them where everyone can find them.
On 28 April 2025 most of Spain went dark within seconds. Many people had the information they needed… on their phone. And the phone, with no signal and no charge, was useless. A paper list never runs out of battery.
Why on paper and not on your phone
- It depends on nothing. No battery, no signal, no website needed.
- The whole family can see it. Stuck on the fridge or inside the kit, anyone can find it, including children and grandparents.
- It forces you to decide in advance. Writing down by hand how many litres of water you need or who picks up the children makes you think now, calmly, not in the middle of a blackout.
- You can tick it off. Ticking boxes is the fastest way to see what’s missing.
The four sheets and what each one is for
1. 72-hour kit checklist
The minimum to get through three days in a flat without power or help: water, light, radio, power, food, health and documents. At the top there are three boxes to fill in: people at home, water needed (people × 9 L) and review date.
Tip: don’t buy everything at once. Tick what you already have at home (it’s probably more than half) and note what’s missing in the margin. That’s your shopping list.
2. Emergency pantry
A table with quantities per person for three days and two blank columns: multiply by the people in your home and write down the expiry date.
Tip: buy what you already eat. An emergency pantry nobody wants to eat ends up expired at the back of the cupboard. Whatever you use, replace it on your next shop.
3. Family plan
The most important sheet and the one fewest people fill in. Meeting point if you can’t get home, who picks up whom, key phone numbers written by hand and basic medical details.
Tip: fill it in together over dinner. Ten minutes. Make a copy for each adult and keep it in their wallet.
4. Kit review sheet
Nine tasks and four columns covering two years: March and October, when the clocks change.
Tip: set a phone alarm for the day the clocks change that says “Check kit”. Charge the power bank, test torches and radio, rotate the water and check expiry dates.
How to get the most out of them
- Print two sets. One for the fridge or the kitchen noticeboard and another inside the kit, in a plastic sleeve.
- Write in pen, not pencil. Pencil rubs off, and in an emergency nobody will go looking for their glasses to read faint grey writing.
- Write phone numbers by hand. Nobody knows numbers by heart any more. Without your phone, your sister’s number doesn’t exist.
- Add the radio frequencies. Look up the frequencies of RNE and a local station today and write them in the kit. In a blackout they are the only reliable source of information.
- Review with a date. Every time you tick the review sheet, write the date. If the last one is more than a year old, it’s time to check.
Mistakes we see often
- Printing and forgetting. An unfilled list is just paper. Fill it in the same day.
- Keeping it where nobody can find it. If only you know where it is, it’s only useful to you.
- Guessing the water. It’s 3 litres per person per day just for drinking and cooking. A family of four needs 36 litres for three days.
- Forgetting medication. Write down what each person takes and keep at least a week’s supply.
And then what?
With the sheets filled in you know what’s missing. To buy it wisely, see the 72-hour kit guide, the food and water guide and the family plan explained step by step. All the sheets together are in Printable checklists.