Every checklist we publish is here, free, in one place. Print what's useful, ignore the rest.
They're all one page each, deliberately. A checklist that runs to four pages doesn't get finished, and an unfinished checklist is worse than none because it looks done. Each one has a guide behind it that explains the reasoning; the sheet is what you actually work from.
A checklist earns its place by removing decisions, not by listing possibilities. If a line makes you stop and think about whether it applies to you, it belongs in a guide, not on a sheet you're working through with the power out. That's the test every one of these had to pass.
The Complete List
Start with the top row. If you only ever print one sheet, print that one.
| Checklist | Use it when | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Family emergency plan | You have nothing written down yet | Family Emergency Plans |
| Emergency contacts sheet | Numbers only live in phones | Emergency Contacts |
| Evacuation checklist | You may have to leave, on any timeline | Evacuation Checklists |
| Documents checklist | Building a grab-and-go folder | Emergency Documents |
| 72-hour kit checklist | Assembling or auditing a kit | 72-Hour Kits |
| Go bag checklist | Packing a bag that lives by the door | Go Bags & Evacuation Bags |
| Power outage checklist | The grid is unreliable where you live | Blackout Preparedness |
Make Them Yours
A generic checklist is a starting point, not a finished document. The version that works has been cut down and written on.
Delete more than you add
Every one of these has lines that don't apply to you. No pets, no car, no basement, no medication — cross them out. A sheet with four items crossed off reads as finished. A sheet with four items left blank reads as abandoned, and next year nobody can tell which was which.
Write the specifics in
"Water" is not a checklist item, it's a category. "Six 2-litre bottles, under the bed" is an item, because someone else can verify it. The same goes for "documents" and "medication" — a name, a number, or a location makes the line checkable.
The test is whether somebody else in the household could confirm the line is true without asking you. If they can't, the line is a reminder rather than a checklist item, and reminders are what turn a one-page sheet into four pages nobody finishes.
One printed copy beats five saved files
A PDF in a downloads folder on a laptop that's out of battery is not a checklist. Print it, put it somewhere physical, and put a second copy in a vehicle.
Give each sheet an owner
In a household of more than one adult, write a name at the top. Shared responsibility for a checklist tends to mean nobody reviewed it, and both people assumed the other had. One name, one sheet, and the other adult knows where it lives.
What to Print First
Order matters more than volume. Printing all seven in one evening produces a stack that nobody completes.
- Family emergency plan. Twenty minutes, closes an obvious gap, needs no purchases.
- Emergency contacts. Ten minutes. Solves the dead-phone problem on its own.
- Documents checklist. An afternoon of scanning, mostly waiting.
- Everything else, once those three are done and on a wall.
The first two cost nothing and take half an hour combined. Doing them badly this week beats doing all seven properly next year.
The kit checklists come after, and in a specific order: 72-hour kit before go bag, because the go bag is mostly a subset of it and you'll otherwise buy two of everything. The power outage sheet only earns its place if outages are a real pattern where you live rather than a once-a-decade event.
When to Review Them
Once a year for the plan and contacts sheets — tie it to your annual smoke-alarm test so it isn't a separate thing to remember. Kit checklists get reviewed when you rotate the kit, which is when food, water and batteries hit their dates.
Anything that names a person, a school, a workplace or a vehicle gets updated the moment that changes, not at the annual review. Those are the lines that go quietly wrong.
Two things are worth checking even when nothing has changed. Batteries in anything the kit checklist mentions, because they leak on their own schedule. And every phone number on the contacts sheet, by actually dialling one or two of them — a disconnected number looks identical to a working one on paper.
When you replace a sheet, throw the old one out the same day. A drawer with three versions of the same checklist in it is how a household ends up following instructions written two addresses ago.
Print the family plan and the contacts sheet now, while you're here. They're the two that do the most work, and they're both done before dinner.
FAQ: Emergency Checklist Template
Are these emergency checklist templates free?
Yes, all of them, with no form to fill in. There's an optional single download for the complete pack, but every individual sheet is available directly.
Can I edit them, or do I have to print them?
Most are fillable PDFs, so you can type into them and save. We'd still print one copy — the point of a paper checklist is that it works when nothing else does.
Which emergency checklist should I start with?
The family emergency plan. It's the one every other sheet assumes exists, and it takes about twenty minutes.
Do you have disaster-specific checklists?
Yes — hurricane, tornado, wildfire and winter checklists live with their own guides rather than here, because the actions are hazard-specific. They link back here.
What are some good emergency preparedness examples to follow?
A completed one-page plan on a fridge, a contacts card in every wallet, and a kit somebody has actually opened in the last year. That's a well-prepared household. Volume of gear is not the measure.
Sources
- Ready.gov — Make a Plan, Build a Kit
- FEMA — household preparedness guidance
- American Red Cross — preparedness checklists
- State and county emergency management offices
When a warning is active, follow local authorities and official emergency instructions before any general guidance. See our Editorial Policy and Sources & Fact-Checking.