Prescription medication keeps chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease and asthma under control when pharmacies close or you have to leave home fast. A reserve carries you through a two-week shelter-in-place or an evacuation without a dangerous gap in doses.
Prescription medication is the one supply you cannot improvise, so build your reserve with your doctor and pharmacist. Aim for enough to carry each person through a two-week bug in and a few days on the road.
- Quantity: Keep at least a 14-day surplus for everyone on daily medicine, and ask your prescriber about a 90-day fill to build it.
- Rotation: Use the oldest bottle first and refill the reserve, so your stock always holds fresh doses.
- Heat and moisture: Store pills in labeled pharmacy bottles in a cool, dry spot such as an interior closet.
- Cold chain: Pack a cold pack or insulated case for insulin and other medicines that need refrigeration.
- Records: Seal each go-bag supply in a zip-top bag with a written list of drugs, doses and prescribers.
- Splitting: Divide the reserve between your home stock and each go bag, so one lost bag never leaves you empty.
