Emergency kit

Are you ready for an emergency?  What's in your kit?  Where do you keep it?  What do you keep it in?  How often do you rotate the supplies to keep them fresh?

I'm thinking of re-doing our emergency kit and would love some ideas and inspiration.  

Currently, my "Emergency Bags" are pretty much just things I carry around all day that I put extra supplies in, as well as a "Get Home Bag" in our cars.

My Purse is a Maxpedition Versipack--more of a tiny tactical bag, rather than purse. Inside I have crammed:
* Carving knife, utility knife and tiny pocket knife
* Tiny Aquamira Fronteir Water Filter
* Small first aid kit and a giant bandage (aka cloth menstrual pad),
* Scissors, knitting needles that I use as hair sticks, hairband, grey thread, safety pins, a few spare buttons, some small sewing needles
* can opener,
* Cards, dice, whistle, pencil, notepad, tiny Bible
* Matches, magnifying glass, mirror, fire starter
* Eyeglass repair kit (tiny screwdiver with various bits and comes in handy a lot), tiny saw, small tape measure
* My grandfather's old bandanna, dental floss, tiny compass
* hand-crank flashlight, and another tiny LED flashlight
* Emergency blanket, tissues, plastic bag to collect seeds or other random things in.
* Coconut oil (great for lotion, cleaning teeth, wound care, or cooking oil--we end up using it a lot!), tiny bottle of soap, hand sanitizer, Prayer oil (scented olive oil, which I once resorted to using as cooking oil because we had none while camping. Those were some odd-tasting pancakes!), two Tiny bamboo sporks
* Emergency Contact Phone Numbers
* More things that I'm probably forgetting...

My Son's Diaper Bag:

Two spare changes of his clothes and his coat

Wool felted mittens and hat

Food for him for at least two days

Towel to clean up messes

Water bottle

Car Get Home Bag:

Sawyer Mini Water Filter

Enough food for my husband to eat while walking home from work: Coconut milk, canned fish, lara bars, etc

Military poncho/tent

Firestarter kit (jute twine, dryier lint, water proof matches, lighter)

Map

Tiny shovel to dig car out of ditches

Handcrank flashlight like this one

Other things I'm probably not remembering...

First, I have a very complete toolkit for the vehicle, enough tools to do just about anything plus tapes  and gasket makers and epoxies to patch most things plus some oil and antifreeze.  And a couple shovels, one for snow and one for mud, and tow strap and rope winch and tire chains.  Just today I had to change the fan clutch in a friend's barn a thousand miles from home.  $60 in parts and a couple hours on the weekend instead of $200 and a half day or more of work lost.

I always have a case of water bottles in the car, plus a jar of mixed nuts.. I used to have lifeboats rations, but they are hyper processed sugar and bad fat so I have gone to more natural tins and rotate then more often.

I carry an old sweater or fleece, a poncho/tarp, a couple energy bars, knife, lighter, cord, first aid kit, water purifier drops, map and compass, lights--flashlight, headlamp, and glow in the dark paqlites.

Phone charger and paper address book

Got a good reminder to get my shit together with that earthquake yesterday morning, since we moved house I haven't sorted everything and I've no idea where half of it is.

I owned a VW Type-3 Squareback (mini station wagon looking thing) that the major components were a '71 transmission and engine, and a '73 body... it had it's quirks. I also bought the John Muir (yes that is the name) "Idiot Book" for that car. He told you in simple terms with simple pictures on how to care and repair an older VW and keep it going (stage I, II, III toolkits and parts) and how to overhaul it on the side of the road if you needed (and had the parts and stage III toolkit). This three year stint taught me a lot about basic c-a-r.

Now then, car has extra fluids in a square laundry soap pail in the trunk (oil, power steering fluid, brake fluid, can of carb cleaner); the big ol'tin of 'blizzard stuff' (big old ugly rummage sale pillar candle, glass bottle (old 20 oz beverage bottle), strike anywhere matches in a small glass jar with lid, chocolate bars, energy bars, space blanket (x2)) a small first aid kit I put together in another tin (different sized bandages, gauze by pad and roll, white tape, tube of Neosporin with pain relief, small baggie of qtips and pills of: antihistamines, aspirin, ibuprofen, acetominaphen, Imodium.) I recently added two of those field/camping filtering water bottles and extra filters. A small hatchet, a folding camp shovel, and in bad weather a snow shovel. Two towels double wrapped in large baggies (baggies are mucho useful by themselves). Two changes of clothes (rather old but warm stuff) from head to toe. Extra coat, gloves, scarf, and hat. Snow boots in winter. Two wool army surplus blankets. Road flares and cone/reflector set. Set of jumper cables. Set of snow chains (winter). Set of spark plug wires, spark plugs, distributor cap. Box of blade fuses. Tools including a 1/2" wrench for the bolts for the connectors for my battery, and a leatherman. Tow rope. On long trips I add a 5 gallon gas can, empty. I can at least fetch then.

I go through the car stuff every equinox or right after that; and rotate stuff out. My self grab bag I am still working on. I have been left to my own devices on the road just enough that I believe in my car kit. If in a bad way you can burn your upholstery for heat... if I don't go in the drink or get badly hit, I could stay with the car for four or five days without a problem. Maybe a week.