The Grab List

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Storm Season Kickoff: Building Your 15-Minute Grab List

On the Great Plains, spring storm season means that sometimes you may have only minutes to reach safety. Last September we compared the Blackout Box and Shelter in Place Kit. Those are the gear you build and keep ready in advance. But what about the items you use every day—things you can’t keep in a kit because they live in your pocket, on your nightstand, or in the refrigerator?  

This is where a Grab List comes in. Think of it as a reminder list of items that are essential, but not stored in your kits. Tape it inside a closet door or next to your shelter. When seconds count, the Grab List keeps you from forgetting what matters most.

What Is the Purpose of the 15-Minute Grab Bag?

The 15-minute Grab Bag is not a replacement for a well-stocked Blackout Box or Shelter-in-Place Kit. Instead, it fills a critical gap: those few minutes of warning when a tornado siren, weather alert, or urgent knock on the door tells you it’s time to move.

Its purpose is simple:

  • Speed — When time is short, you don’t want to think, you want to act. A pre-packed bag means you can grab it and go.
  • Completeness — It covers essential items you can’t keep in long-term kits: current medications, IDs, keys, phone chargers, cash, comfort items for kids or pets.
  • Continuity — It bridges the gap between your everyday life and your pre-positioned kits, ensuring you have both planned supplies and those “in-motion” items you use daily.
  • Peace of Mind — Instead of running room to room under stress, you know exactly what to grab, in what order, and you have a bag designed to hold it all.

In short, the 15-minute Grab Bag is a practical safety net—a tool to keep you from forgetting the irreplaceable things you rely on every day, while still ensuring you reach safety quickly.

What to Include on a Grab List

Here are some examples of practical items that often don’t live in a kit but should be grabbed quickly if time allows:

  1. Wallet or Purse: IDs, debit/credit cards, and cash are with you most days but easy to overlook in the rush.
  2. Keys: Car keys and house keys are everyday items, not spares, and need to move with you.
  3. Cell Phone and Charger: Phones are usually on hand, but a charger or power bank should be part of your “don’t leave without” list.
  4. Medications: Prescription bottles or refrigerated meds from the kitchen that can’t be duplicated but must not be left behind.
  5. Glasses or Hearing Aids: Already in use, but a Grab List reminder ensures you don’t leave them on the nightstand.
  6. Everyday Comforts: A child’s favorite blanket or stuffed toy, or a pet’s leash and carrier.
  7. Documents or Devices in Use: Laptops, work files, or binders that don’t stay in your prep kits but may be critical to keep safe.

How the Grab List Works

Unlike the Blackout Box or Shelter in Place Kit, which are stocked once and kept ready, the Grab List acknowledges that some essentials are simply in motion every day. That’s why the list lives where you’ll see it when the sirens sound. In the calm of an evening, walk through your home and jot down those items that are never stored in kits but would be devastating to lose or forget.

When the alert comes, move with purpose: one person grabs the kits, another runs the Grab List. The result is a shelter that’s stocked with both planned supplies and the irreplaceable day-to-day items your family truly relies on.

This May, as storm season begins in earnest, make your Grab List. It’s one of the simplest, cheapest, and most practical preparedness tools you’ll ever create—and it could save you from regret when the winds die down.

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