Quick answer
Plan to be on your own for 7 days. For 4 people that means 28 gallons of water, about 56,000 calories of food that needs no cooking, light and phone power that do not depend on the grid, and your documents in one waterproof place. Most kitchens already hold 3 to 4 days. This page shows you the exact gap to close.
Numbers are set for 4 people. Change your household size below and every quantity updates.
5 days
Forecast lead time
7 days
Self-sufficiency target
3 to 14
Days without power, major storms
1 gal
Water per person per day
How a hurricane actually unfolds
5 days out
The forecast cone appears. Quiet-store window: top off prescriptions, cash in small bills, and the gas tank before anyone else is thinking about it.
48 hours · Watch
Hurricane watch issued. Freeze jugs of water, charge every battery you own, and bring in anything the wind can throw.
36 hours · Warning
Last realistic shopping window. Water and bread go first, stores strip within hours. Fill your bathtub and every large container.
After landfall
Outages run 3 days to 2 weeks. You live off the shelf now. Treat tap water as suspect until officials clear it.
Play it out
Five days, three decisions
A quick role-play of how hurricane week actually goes for a family of four. Pick what your household would honestly do.
Scene 1 of 3
Tuesday, 7:40am. The forecast cone appears over your county, five days out. Coworkers joke about French toast weather: milk, eggs, bread. Your pantry is whatever a normal Tuesday says it is.
Prefer to read it straight through?
Scene 1
Tuesday, 7:40am. The forecast cone appears over your county, five days out. Coworkers joke about French toast weather: milk, eggs, bread. Your pantry is whatever a normal Tuesday says it is.
If you normal week. it's five days away and these things usually wobble off: The most common choice in America, honestly. By Thursday evening the watch is out and the water aisle is down to sparkling lime. You'll manage, but every step from here happens in lines.
If you spend 45 minutes and about $60 topping up today: You shop a calm store with full shelves and no lines, done before lunch. Nothing else about your week changes. That was the whole trick.
Field note: Stores inside a forecast cone sell through roughly two weeks of bottled water in the 48 hours after a watch is issued. The quiet window is real, and it is exactly now.
Scene 2
Thursday, 5pm. Hurricane watch issued, 48 hours out. Then the 11pm advisory nudges the track 40 miles east, and your feed fills up with posts saying it will miss you.
If you good enough for me. stand down: Maybe right! Tracks wobble both ways, though. In 2004, Hurricane Charley swung dozens of miles in a single afternoon. If Friday night wobbles it back, your remaining options are an empty store and a full highway.
If you keep preparing like it's coming: You freeze jugs of water, charge every battery, and bring in the patio furniture. If it misses, you just built next season's kit at regular prices. If it hits, you're the calm house on the street.
Field note: A cone is a probability field, not a promise. Emergency managers plan for the whole cone, never the centerline, because a 40-mile wobble is routine for a hurricane.
Scene 3
Saturday, 9:15pm. Landfall is 60 miles south. Mid-movie, the lights die and the house goes properly dark. Two kids look at you to see how this is going to go.
If you candles. it's basically ambiance: Cozy, right up until a sleeve or the cat finds one. Fire crews call storm nights candle season, and with trees down, every response drives slow. Everyone is fine tonight, but that was a coin you didn't need to flip.
If you headlamps on, weather radio murmuring: Headlamps turn blackout night into camping night. The radio keeps you ahead of the boil-water notice, and the kids fall asleep mid shadow-puppet show. Tomorrow is cleanup. Tonight is weirdly nice.
Field note: House fires spike on blackout nights, and blocked streets slow every fire response. Flashlights first is the whole rule. Candles are for birthdays.
The hurricane checklist
People in your household
One page per scenario: quantities resize in place, and the link you share always shows this plan.
Your head start
0 of 7 days covered
0 of 13 essentials on hand
Tick what you already own.Save this as your real plan →Supplies buy you days. Gear keeps those days livable. Most families discover they start around day 3.
| Item | For 4 people | Why it matters | Covers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water · 28 gallons total | ||||
| Bottled water, 24-pack cases | 6 cases (about 17 gal) | Sealed, portable, splits between rooms and the car. | Days 1 to 5 | |
| 5-gallon water jugs | 3 jugs | The cheapest gallons you can store. Fill spares before the event, not during. | Days 6 to 7 | |
| Water purification tablets | 1 pack | Turns suspect tap or tub water into drinking water after day 7. | Backup | |
| Food, no cooking required | ||||
| Canned protein: tuna, chicken, beans | 18 cans | Eats straight from the can when the stove is out. | No cooking | |
| Canned vegetables and fruit | 20 cans | Fluids and vitamins while the fridge is dark. | No cooking | |
| Peanut butter | 2 large jars | 2,650 calories per jar, no prep, kids will actually eat it. | No cooking | |
| Crackers, tortillas, granola bars | 4 boxes plus a dozen bars | The bread aisle empties first. These keep for months instead of days. | No cooking | |
| Oats and shelf-stable milk | 6 cartons plus a canister of oats | Breakfast without power, and the milk needs no fridge until opened. | No cooking | |
| Power, light, and news | ||||
| Flashlights or headlamps | 5 flashlights | One per person plus a spare. Candles start fires in dark houses. | All week | |
| Batteries in every size you use | 2 packs per size | The thing that runs out on day 2 if you guess. | All week | |
| Phone battery banks, fully charged | 2 banks | Your phone is your flashlight, radio, and lifeline. Top the banks up the moment trouble is forecast. | All week | |
| NOAA weather radio, battery or crank | 1 | When cell towers and wifi fail, official updates still reach you here. | All week | |
| Health and documents | ||||
| First aid kit | 1 | Minor injuries spike during cleanup, exactly when help is hardest to reach. | All week | |
| Prescription medications | 14-day supply each | Pharmacies reopen slowly. Ask your pharmacist about an emergency refill before you need it. | 2 weeks | |
| Documents in a waterproof bag | IDs, insurance, cash in small bills | ATMs and card readers die with the power. | Grab and go | |
| Manual can opener | 1 | Most of the calories above are locked inside cans without it. | Critical | |
| After the storm | ||||
| Tarp and duct tape | 1 heavy tarp, 2 rolls | A patched roof is the difference between damage and ruin while you wait for repairs. | After | |
| Work gloves | 2 pairs | Debris is mostly broken glass, nails, and splinters. | After | |
| Unscented bleach | 1 bottle | Disinfects surfaces, and 8 drops per gallon treats water in a pinch. | After | |
| Coolers | 2 coolers | The fridge holds 4 hours, the freezer 48. Then ice chests take over. | Days 1 to 3 | |
Quantities land slightly above target on purpose: appetite and stress go up in a real emergency. Swap freely inside each category to match what your family actually eats. Print this page to take it shopping.
In the app
Your hurricane plan should not live on a printout
Provision Planner has a built-in Hurricane scenario. Add your supplies once and it tells you how many days you would last, what expires before the season peaks, and what to restock. Live National Weather Service alerts are built in, so the plan and the warning live in the same place.
Run the hurricane scenarioHurricane scenario
Water
7 days
Food
9 days
Power and light
5 days · restock
NWS alerts for your area
Live
Computed from your real inventory. Updates itself as things expire.
Frequently asked questions
How much water does a family of 4 need for a hurricane?
28 gallons: one gallon per person per day for 7 days, covering drinking and basic hygiene. Store more for pets, medical needs, or hot weather, and fill bathtubs and jugs as extra backup before landfall.
Do I need a generator?
No. A generator is a comfort upgrade, not a requirement. Battery banks for phones, no-cook food, and coolers close most of the gap. If you do run one, keep it outside and at least 20 feet from windows: generator exhaust kills more people after hurricanes than flooding in some storms.
When should I start preparing?
Before the season starts, because the checklist above costs less and sells out slower in May than in September. Once a forecast cone appears you have about 5 days, and shelves empty fastest right after the watch is issued.
What if I live in an evacuation zone?
Build the same supplies, but pack them to travel. If officials say go, you go, and the kit rides with you. Know your zone before the season starts: search your county name plus evacuation zone today, not the day the cone shows up.
Explore more scenarios
Every scenario gets the same treatment: the event, the supplies, the timeline, and your number.
Scenario 06Power Outage
Scenario 02Tornado
Scenario 16Evacuation
Scenario 10Water Outage
Scenario 05Extreme Heat34 scenarios, one libraryBrowse them all →Go deeper: Hurricane Supplies List · Hurricane Season Checklist · 2-Week Supply Plan for 4 People · Food Storage Calculator
Water and calorie targets follow FEMA and Ready.gov emergency planning guidance; forecast timing follows the National Hurricane Center. This is general planning guidance: adjust for allergies, medical needs, and what your household actually eats. If officials order an evacuation, leave. Photography: NASA image library and Pexels, used under their respective licenses.