Go bag and grab bag packer
A go bag, or grab bag, holds what you need if you have to leave home quickly: water, snacks, medicines, a torch, a phone charger and power bank, copies of documents, cash, spare keys, warm waterproof clothes and a whistle. Lists from Ready.gov, the UK’s Be Ready campaign, Get Ready Queensland, NSW SES and the Australian Red Cross agree on those basics. The packer below adds a typical weight to each item, so you can see whether the bag is one you can actually carry.
Go-bag card · United States water figure
Over your limit by 0.7 kg a person. The heaviest lines are drinking water, backpack, no-cook food: carry less water and plan to refill, share the load, or leave bulky bedding for the car.
Leaving in a hurry?
Close and lock doors and windows as you go. Follow the emergency services’ advice on when it is safe to return.
Official evacuation lists overlap almost completely. The UK’s Be Ready flooding advice says to pack a grab bag in advance with medication, a first aid kit, important papers, a torch, drinking water, warm waterproof clothing and baby supplies, kept somewhere easy to reach. Get Ready Queensland’s evacuation kit adds food and water for three days, a battery radio, a phone with chargers and a power pack, spare cash, gloves, a face mask, toiletries, bedding and books and games. NSW SES adds spare keys, a whistle for signalling for help, maps and at least a quarter of a tank of fuel, and lists what to add just before leaving: phones, chargers, medications for 5 days and prescriptions, a small cool box for medicines that must stay cold, and baby supplies. The packer starts from those lists; untick what you don’t need.
A litre of water weighs about a kilogram, so a day’s supply at Ready.gov’s gallon per person is about 3.8 kg for each person, before food or anything else. That is why the default card is over its limit. Worked example: two adults and a child, a day of water and food, two bags. The water is 11.4 litres (11.4 kg), the food 1.8 kg, the two empty backpacks 2.2 kg, and the clothes, torch, radio, first aid kit, documents and the rest bring the total to 21.5 kg: 10.7 kg each, 0.7 kg over a 10 kg limit, with water 53% of the weight. The fixes are the ones the message suggests: carry less water and plan to refill, share the load among more people, or leave bulky bedding in the car. Canada suggests small bottles that are easy to carry. For carrying weight relative to your body weight, our sister site Summit Cabin has a pack weight calculator built for hikers.
The item weights are typical figures for common products, labelled as such: a small LED torch with batteries at 150 g, a power bank and cable at 280 g, a waterproof jacket at 400 g. Yours will differ, so weigh the packed bag on a bathroom scale and adjust the limit until it is a bag you can carry for a long walk.
Paper copies matter when phones are flat and offices are shut. The Australian Red Cross recovery kit lists copies of passports and other ID, birth and marriage certificates, ownership documents for property and car, insurance documents, wills and important prescriptions, plus a list of important numbers and access details for bank accounts. NSW SES adds proof of address, a rental lease and landlord contacts, and scanning everything to the cloud or a USB stick. Ready.gov says copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records can be saved electronically or in a waterproof, portable container. Keep them in a zip-lock or waterproof wallet in the bag, and photograph pets with you for proof of ownership.
For babies, pack ready-to-feed formula, nappies, wipes, a blanket and a sling, which the Australian Red Cross lists. A comfort toy and a card game help children through a long wait, as NSW SES suggests. For pets, Ready.gov lists a collar with an ID tag, a harness or lead, a carrier for each pet, food, water, medicines and records, and warns that many public shelters and hotels do not allow pets inside, so find somewhere that will take them before you need it. Get Prepared Canada suggests food and water for pets for at least 72 hours: 4 litres a day per average dog.
Somewhere easy to reach on the way out, which is what the door card is for: it tells anyone at home where the bags are, what to grab last, where to meet and who to call. Check the bag when you check the home kit: the UK checklist suggests every six months for expiry dates. Swap clothes for the season before winter and replace water you bottled yourself every six months.
For the full stay-at-home kit, use the emergency kit list builder; to agree where to meet and who collects the children, the household emergency plan.
General information, not medical or veterinary advice. If you are told to evacuate, follow the emergency services’ instructions; don’t delay to pack.
All checked on 5 November 2026. Item weights are typical figures for common products, not official data.
Water and snacks, medicines and a list of doses, a small first aid kit, a torch and spare batteries, a phone charger and power bank, a whistle, copies of ID and insurance documents, cash, spare keys, warm waterproof clothing, toiletries, and supplies for any babies, children and pets.
The UK Government’s name for a go bag: essentials packed in advance in case you have to leave quickly. Its flooding advice lists medication, a first aid kit, important papers, a torch, drinking water, warm waterproof clothing and baby supplies, kept somewhere easy to reach.
There is no official limit: it should be a bag you can carry for a long walk. Water is usually the heaviest item, at about 1 kg per litre, so share it between bags, carry less and plan to refill, or keep extra in the car.
Ready.gov’s work grab-and-go kit covers at least 24 hours, and Get Ready Queensland’s evacuation kit lists water for three days. A day at Ready.gov’s gallon per person is about 3.8 kg each, so most households carry a day and refill.
ID or passports, insurance policies, birth and marriage certificates, property or lease documents, wills, prescriptions, bank details and a list of important numbers, in a waterproof wallet, with a second copy online or on a USB stick.