Yesterday I posted a little link to an article on basic prepping. It was for folks just starting out. I got a surprising number of private messages from folks who are stressed and looking for help.
Other than food, water, ammo, and basic first aid, what is the one(or more) item you have added to your preps that you consider a must have?
I have always had food, water, first aid, flashlights, batteries, and fire extinguishers. Also blankets and a radio. I grew up in Iowa where we had tornadoes and then lived for years in California where we had fires(bug out) and earthquakes(stuck with little resources) Now, our family was never impacted in a big way by Mother Nature, but I was prepared or I thought I was.
When I came here to the gun world and discovered I had some major gaps in planning for long term survival I freaked out a little, asked around, gotmsome great advice and then I decided to use camping as my guide. We love to camp and we almost always doing it in a tent with sleeping bags. Survival kind of. I looked at our gear and found what would work if we were out of say electricity. Camp stove, lanterns, that kind of thing.
i have goals and I would love to move to some land and set up a life where we could still have the comforts of life with little sacrifice, but that may never be possible. What is possible is setting up a system that will work with my current set up and resources. For me the “camping” template worked well and it is fun for the kids to think about. Camping at home as opposed to zombie attack.
When the latest hurricane threatened our area we put our plan into action. Fortunately we were spared, but we found that for the most part we were ready. Still prayed like crazy, but neither myself, my husband nor our kiddos were afraid and we didn’t have to do any last minute freak out shopping. I also felt a whole lot better having Eleanor when the threat of riots was making its rounds.
So, what about the experts out there…can you help my readers who are new to this?
Steady small steps… get prepared to survive 24 hours without power, then a weekend, then a week, then a month…
Educate yourself… first-aid, firearms, finances, food, potential treats… you can’t do it all at once… but steady small steps…
Get the whole family on board… one of four in a family is not prepared…
It costs money and time, so prioritize and do what you can…
My family is far more prepared than most and not as prepared as many, but we’ve been at it for twenty-five years… it is truly a mindset and life-style…
Dann in Ohio
Perfect advice. Same you gave me and it worked. We just slowly added to what we had and didn’t try to do to much to fast.
I would say start with a inventory of what you have and what you think you will need. Starting out you wont know exactly what you need but put on paper anything that pops into your head. Then from there you can narrow down what is a true need or just a want to have. For example, you may think you need a 10 person tent, when in reality you can make a small tent or even tarps work as a shelter a a much cheaper cost. Putting everything down and seeing what you already have will assist in letting you spend your money wisely. Like Dan in Ohio said, it’s small steps. Learn new skills like starting a fire without matches or a lighter, setting up a emergency shelter, just going a weekend not using the electricity in your own home can be a huge learning experience.
Also I would say take a inventory of what foods your family eats and how those foods need to be stored. A freezer full of meat won’t do you any good if the electricity is out for a extended period of time!
Mostly just don’t panic, take a breath and really think through your situation.
I’ll just point out that, while having the ability to make fire without a lighter or matches is important, a better prep solution is about $10 worth of disposable lighters, spread out amongst your different kit (loss redundancy), plus some readily igniteable firestarters (small sealed containers of dryer lint lightly “moistened” with Vasolene is great, even in wet windy environments — a pinch of them will easily ignite a half-block of milsurp heat tab, which will ignite almost any wood fire that isn’t thouroughly soaked).
If your prep plan includes either losing ALL your butane lighters either through kit loss or attrition over time, better have a skill set that allows you to make a fire starter kit from scratch althogether. You should be able to get 1000 new fires out of a single Bic lighter, easily, which is survival fire for decades — how long are you planning to survive as a nomad who not only needs daily fire, but are moving so frequently you cannot bank your hearth coals nightly?
Fire from scratch skills are more relevant for survival WITHOUT a survival kit than they are to survival kit prep. Sure, if your soccer team crashes in the Andes, or your car slides down an embankment into a snowy ravine and you break your leg, they’ll be handy — since you won’t have your kit with you in most cases. (The latter is one reason, even if I do not have a full up “overnight” kit in a car,I have at least a knife and Bic lighter in the car, OTHER than what I normally have on my person. A knife, lighter, and a wrecked car you can use or strip for shelter puts you light years ahead of your distant ancestors in terms of survival kit.)
The advice on taking stock and see how to look at things differently was huge for us. I never really thought about using items in new ways or for more than one purpose.
Geodkyt, good point on fire!
Send them my way…Senior and I have been prepping for at least a couple of years. I think I am going to start a series on food storage soon. It has been a while since I have done any post on the subject, and I think it is time to help folks get started any way I can.
Will do my friend and yes please start that series.
Some of our “Must Haves” are basic toiletries. people are thinking food. but also think about toilet paper, toothpaste, femine products.etc…
On the food side..would be rice and lots of it. If 1 billion + chinese can live off of it so can we.
As a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) instructor I recommend any one interested in basic emergency response or preparation attend this training. It’s free and worth while to you, obtaining a First Responder medical certificate is also really beneficial as well. Keep a 72 hour kit per each person on hand for any emergency relocations and don’t rely on governmental assistance for at least that amount of time. Food, shelter, water, medication and first aid, flashlights, communication devices, change of clothing and a knife or multiple tool and fire making device are needful. A cooking stove, mess kit and pot for boiling water are important and a small fishing kit as well as some snares are worth having too. Guns can depend on location and circumstances but your not looking at drawing attention to yourself so keep it simple, a handgun, rimfire rifle or shotgun or what ever comforts you the most. Purchase a good slingshot that’s small enough to fit in your back pocket and learn to use it. These are perfect for driving off feral dogs and such and will bring down small game without drawing notice to you. Preparedness and confidence is something our ancestors took for granted and were successful in using. Its not difficult to have basic preparedness and costs very little.
Never thought of the slingshot before. Great idea.
Yes, a slingshot. Very good. Had not thought of or seen that elsewhere either.
Every day your basic needs are: food, water, shelter, security, and energy, (included within that would also be hygiene and medical). You know you need these things every day; can you supply them for your family if the current systems in place fail? Like Dan said (above), start figuring out how to prepare covering those categories for days, then weeks, then hopefully eventually months.
Security (guns, ammo) are important, but how many gun fights have you been in as opposed to how many times have you eaten? Prioritize accordingly. We all love our firearms, but before you buy that next one take a look at your food storage, or backup power situation.
And this is why I send people to your blog. I actually had a good foundation, but panicked at first thinking I needed have all these items that while nice are not priority.
Fire- I always carry some kind of fire. Usually several, but at the least, always a bic lighter. I pad this out in my kits with matches, lighters, flares (multiple uses in the truck bag) and stearno cans. I love Stearno for emergency heat- easy to use, easy to light, and safe indoors. Just dont expect it to boil a lot of water. Also, Wet Ones wiprs for emergency hygene. This was an extension of having them in my hunting pack. We call it the Brawny shower- face, neck, arms and pits, and you feel brand new. Makes a huge difference in morale.
Good point. I too have lighters stashed everywhere. I am all for basic bare bones from scratch skills and tools, but I am more for easy, reliable things that will work, but not make my life harder.
Your mention of a tent got me to wondering… So a winter storm knocks power out, it looks like it will last a while, and it’s cold. I have a self-standing back-pack tent. If I set it up in the middle of the living room floor would sleeping in there retain more heat within its walls than being out in an open room?
I don’t know, but I would think if your house was useable then use it. It will protect you from the elements and that’s a good thing. Plus would probably be more secure.
Good question. Hopefully, someone else will answer.
Actually, I meant setting it up IN the house. If even that thin material would keep a little more body heat in.
Look at the mylar (“moon blanket”) emergency tents (or buy a couple of moon blankets and a roll of tape).
THAT will keep you warm if set up in your house, even if power loss means interior temps drop below freezing.
Of course, a moon blanket over top of quilts, on a raised mattress (or you couch) that has a moon blanket on it as a bottom sheet, will turn your sleeping nest into a freaking sweat lodge, even with sub freezing air temps inside.
Canned foods; things that can be heat’n’eat without adding water or boiling water first. A manual can-opener. A crank radio (I’ve got an Eton I’m happy with), and lots of spare batteries.
Crank radio is a good one.
Manual can-openers are essential. Army-Navy surplus stores carry the old P-38 (not the planes, unfortunately) for around $1, plus pretty much every Swiss Army knife and Leatherman/Gerber multitool have a canopener on them somewhere. Learn to use it if you don’t already know, have someone show you so you don’t mangle a can and get can-innards all over you…or slice your fingers open on sharp metal edges. Recently, the receptionist at one of the places we provide IT for was running around looking for a can opener. I always have my Gerber multitool on me, and pulled it out. Several folks laughed, until I pulled out the opener, and proceeded to zip the top off the can in about 30 seconds. If the SHTF, sorry, but I’m not opening all y’alls cans for free! Pay me, or open your own can.
Lot of people talk about having food and a way to cook it, or generators and fuel to keep lights on. Many talk about having firearms to make sure they can keep their food. Some talk about medicines or antibiotics to fight disease. 2 things that are fairly critical that most folks overlook are personal hygiene items, and waste disposal.
Lack of personal hygiene will lead to sickness, be it the flu in season or dysentery from poor waste disposal. Either of these conditions can make a difficult situation life threatening in a hurry.
Can you wash your clothing at all?
Can you wash your hands before you eat?
Can you clean yourself after using the toilet?
Can you dispose of your waste in such a way that it is not a disease or scavenger hazard to you or your family?
Very, very good point. I think when I first started thinking about expanding our supplies that was a major gap.
Army-Navy surplus stores carry small folding shovels, which are awesome for waste disposal. They fold up to pretty much the size of the shovel blade, and about as thick as an average paperback novel. I think I picked up mine at a surplus store for less than $10 many years ago. Its gone on quite a few camping trips, and hasn’t missed a beat yet.
Good point. We have one, but yes!
Personal hygiene notes:
Wet wipes are good for immediate, short term use. A bar of Ivory soap in a double ziplock & a soap dish with a washrag is great for longterm sustainment; you can use Ivory soap for almost all soap chores, just rinse your eating utensils really well. Consciously remembering to wash your hands after the latrines or handling critters, and before any food pre or eating is probably MORE critical in a survival situation. Pack a microfiber towel (like Sham-Wow) for a way to get dry; unlike terry cloth towels, one of those suckers can be sopping wet, get wrung out , and immediately STILL get 90% of the water off — even in cold conditions you can air dry what dampness it leaves behind.
UNUSED, SEALED soft bristle toothbrushes – bonus points if you can include toothpaste or tooth powder (baking soda or salt also work – but don’t swallow). However, just being able to brush the crud out of the nooks and crannies gets you 90% there, even without toothpaste.
Three part water treatment program – filter the sediment first (a dirty shirt will do, if need be), have a micro-filter for the microorganisms (since you’re filtering out the algae and silt first, the ceramic filter will last WAY longer), and be prepared to boil whenever possible to save filter lifespan. Chemical treatment options are a good fourth componant as an “on the move” backup plan for when microfiltering or boiling is not an option. The emergency filter straws are great for pocket sized personal kits, so you can always have SOMETHING available — but they do not filter as well as the larger systems, nor handle really large quantities or work well with gathering water for collective use.
You’ve now done more to protect your health in austere conditions than most humans had available to them before the 20th Century, or even today in Third World nations.
Also, if you wear contacts or glasses, get an inexpensive pair of glasses with sturdy frames, add a neck strap, stick them in a hardcase, and put them in your bug out kit. If you wear contacts, add a contact case and a travel/sample sized bottle of solution to your pocket/glove box sized kit. (I also keep a pair of my previous perscription glasses in the glove box.)
Great, great stuff. Lots of good things to think about!
AGirl, something I saw only mentioned once in the previous replies is ‘morale’. A positive attitude can make a huge difference. All the food, water, first-aid, etc., will do no good if you don’t want to go on.
Think about what makes you feel good. I am a serious coffee drinker. I have lots of coffee on hand. If society falls for an extended time I may run out, but I can allocate myself to less and make it last longer. Coffee is just an example. If you like wine or beer, learn how to brew it at home. It may become a hobby now and something more important later.
Also, playing cards, board games, books (religous and other), puzzles, art supplies, and such can help kids deal with a bad situation. And these can also be used as gifts when needed. After a disaster, a child’s birthday can be made brighter with some crayons and a coloring book.
These just scratched the surface. Think about what makes you and your family happy and include at least some in your prep supplies.
Such a great, great point. You know I have not thought at all about this. I am perpetually positive person, but I just assumed I would make the best and have not thought to plan for “the good”. When TSM came home from Iraq he could not get enough of fresh food…fruits and vegetables were like crack for him. Over and over he would say, this taste fresh. I don’t know that I can promise that, but thinking ahead about what you enjoy should absolutely be included. If you have time to plan, plan!
True — I added a deck of playing cards in a waterproof bag to the bug out bag. Will be adding a small cribbage board, too.
Don’t forget you need cash. When the electric goes out you can’t use an ATM or go in the bank. Also need a weather proof container for all your important legal documents (birth certificates, ss cards, will, home documents, shot records, insurance) those are just some examples. A means to filter your water, maybe another means to cook . There are other items of course. I could go on and on. Don’t forget things for your children to keep them preoccuppied(books, cards).
I’m big on knowledge, it can’t be taken away and can be bartered. Basically I take the things I do and cope with every day and try to research a few different ways to accomplish them, and then try them out.