What type of supplies and gear must you possess in the event of a SHTF situation?
That, of course, relies on certain factors.
Are we discussing the possibility of a worldwide financial collapse?
Could there be a nuclear disaster along with an EMP?
Perhaps it could be a situation involving terrorism, civil unrest, or a power outage.
You want to be fully prepared for all the potential disasters that could occur at any given moment.
Prepper Supplies: Water
Contrary to popular belief, water is the single most crucial necessity for surviving a disaster.
The body is capable of surviving for weeks without food, but it can only survive for a few days without water.
As you begin to experience dehydration, your energy levels, mental clarity, and rational decision-making skills diminish.
To ensure your supply of water, you will need to have this gear.
- Water Stockpile: You can start storing water today in your empty plastic bottles; you should have enough water for 2-3 months
- Water purification system: This may include a camping water filter, bleach, or water purification tablets.
- Water containers: See our top picks
- Water collection method: Such as bins or a tarp for collecting rainwater or a more advanced rainwater harvesting system
Shelter & Warmth
Your next priority, after water, is shelter. Shelter goes beyond just having a roof over your head; it encompasses anything that provides protection from the elements. The following items are necessary:
- Survival shelter: Learn how to make a quick survival shelter for wilderness situations. This can be done using debris like branches. To be prepared, you will want to ensure your Bug Out Bag (BOB) contains a tarp for creating a temporary shelter and a tent.
- Sleeping bag: Get a lightweight sleeping bag rated for freezing temperatures.
- Clothing: In survival situations, you don’t need more than one change of clothing (in case the clothes you are wearing get wet or when you clean them). Anything more is just going to weigh you down.
- Footwear: You will want good waterproof steel-toe hiking boots and also lots of changes of socks. You can wear the same clothes for weeks, but sweaty, crusty socks will give you uncomfortable blisters!
- Raingear: A rain jacket can also double as a tarp for making a shelter or collecting rainwater.
- Firestarter: Don’t rely on a lighter.
Prepper Supplies: Food & Cooking
When considering preparation for disasters, it is essential to make plans for both bugging out and hunkering down.
Bugging Out is the term used to describe situations when one would escape to nature to endure the most severe circumstances. It is advisable to have enough food for approximately 2-3 days in case you need to bug out.
When you are hunkering down, it means that you have to remain in your house, for example, following a nuclear disaster where there is insufficient time to evacuate from the hazardous area. For such situations, it is necessary to prepare your home by ensuring it possesses enough non-perishable food supplies to last for at least one month, and ideally, even longer.
- Non-Perishable Food: Choose light foods like freeze-dried meals and dehydrated foods for bugging out. For hunkering down, choose non-perishable foods like canned goods and bags of rice and beans. They must be rotated and appropriately packed for long-term storage.
- Cooking Stove: A small camping stove is good. Some options are gas or alcohol stoves.
- Camping Pot: This can also serve other functions, like if you need to boil water for sanitizing tools for applying first aid.
- Dishes and Utensils: These aren’t a survival necessity because you could all eat from the camping pot and fashion chopsticks out of sticks or pencils. But you’ll be happy to have a camping plate and utensils on hand.
First Aid Supplies and Gear for Preppers
It is advisable to create multiple first aid kits for various locations such as your Bug Out Bag, home, and car. It is crucial not to compromise on this aspect. Be sure to pack all essentials in a durable waterproof bag.
Finances and Money for Preppers
After SHTF, money will continue to hold value for a brief period. The following are the essential items that preppers will require:
- Cash: Keep a stockpile in your home, not in the bank. ATMs aren’t going to work after EMP.
- Gold and precious metals/stones
- Alcohol: After money loses its value, this will be valuable for trading with
Off-Grid Lighting and Power Supplies and Gear for Preppers
Once again, it is not imperative to have many of these items for mere survival. However, it is advisable to possess flashlights as they serve various purposes and enable you to escape in darkness without the potential hazard of injuring your ankle.
Checklist of supplies for preppers.
Included in this guide, you will discover:
- an easy to follow preparedness plan
- lists of survival supplies
- photos, illustrations, and short stories
- formulas for calculating supply needs
- a prioritized list of emergency preparedness categories
- simple strategies for setting preparedness goals
- checklists for each prepper category
- bug out bag and power outage kit ideas
- an easy system for tracking progress and
- a prepper calendar
- Alcohol (and rubbing alcohol)
- Antibiotics – Natural and fish antibiotics
- Antibacterials
- Antiseptics – Neosporin (or polysporin if you are allergic)
- Ammunition.
- Aspirin or aspirin alternatives
- Axe / hatchet and sharpener for wood chopping. Pulaski axe.
- Big Berkey water filter
- Blankets – mylar blankets , fleece and wool blankets
- Bleach
- Boots (hiking, work boots)
- Bouillon cubes
- Borax
- burn barrel
- Bucket Openers.
- Buckets of Emergency Food (beans, corn, cereal, oats, pasta,
popcorn, powdered milk, rice, sugar, spices and wheat) - Bugout bag
- Bugout bike
- Burn barrel
- Cable ties
- Canteen or water bladder
- Canned foods
- Canning lids
- Carbon monixide detector
- Camp stove
- Camp solar shower
- Camp Suds
- Charcoal (activated charcoal and charcoal briquettes)
- Compass and maps
- Composting toilet
- Communications (cell phone, weather Radio, CB, HAM radio,
two wave radio, walkie talkies) - Candles (emergency candles) and candlemaking supplies
- Canned food – meats, fruits, vegetables, soups, stews,
stocks - Can Openers – multiples for redundancy
- Carts – hauling food, water, wood, and equipment
- Chemical suit
- Chewing gum. Chew on this: Gum could help save your life in
a survival situation and we’ll show you how, so don’t over
look this inexpensive part of your preps! - Cigarettes – for tinder and bartering
- Citrus – prevent scurvy malnutrition.
- Cordage – paracord
- Colloidal silver
- Coffee packaged for long term food storage
- Coffee filters
- Copper
- Dehydrator
- Duct tape
- Dental aid – dental medic kit, dental wax, braces kit
- Dental hygiene supplies – dental floss, toothbrushes,
toothpaste, mouthwash (which is an antiseptic!) - Disinfectants (chlorine bleach, Steramine tablets)
- Drink mixes, powdered milk, and other emergency drinks
- Essential Oils. When medicines are not available, preppers
will be turning to wisdom of the centuries with tinctures and
essential oils. - Electrolytes – Pedialyte, Saltstick Electrolyte Capsules
- Emergency radio
- Epsom Salt
- Ferro rod
- Flashlights – LED, hand crank, and solar
- Flu pandemic mask
- Firearms (guns and ammunition)
- Fire extinguishers
- Fire starters – BIC lighter, matches, ferro rod, Zippo
- Fresnel lens
- Freeze dried foods – Augason Farms, Honeyville Farms,
Mountain House, Legacy Foods, bucket of potatoes. - Fishing gear – fishing pole and reel, fishing line, lures,
swivels, sinkers, tackle box - First Aid supplies – bandages, butterfly bandages, finger
cots, finger splints, smelling salts, (see also Medic Bag) - Fuel – kerosene, propane, white gas (see also charcoal)
- Gas Mask – Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) gas mask
- Gardening tools – rake, hoe, planters (see also shovel and
spade) - Generator
- Grains
- Grain mill
- Hammer and nails
- Heirloom, non-GMO Survival Seeds.
- Home defense tools – barbed wire
- Homestead supplies – chicken wire (aka poultry netting) and
garden staples, - Hunting – alternate gear including, BB gun, crossbow, snare
wire, slingshot, pellet gun - Hygiene (dental)
- Hygiene (personal) ~ shampoo, soap, toothpaste
- Hygiene (other)– diapers (paper and cloth); sanitary napkins,
tampons or cup; adult diapers, wipes - Hydrogen peroxide
- Immunity Boosters – Vitamins
- Knives (fixed blade knives)
- Knives (folding knives )
- Lanterns ~ solar, gas, hand crank, oil lamps
- Laundry ~ off grid washing machine, centrifugal dryer,
washboards, clothes pins and washing line - Lighter BIC lighter or Zippo
- Pandemic Personal Protective Equipment – chemical and
splash resistant, disposable clothing, booties pandemic
mask, goggles, nitrile gloves, gauntlet gloves - Plastic bags ~ hazardous waste bags, garbage bags, ziplock
bags, - Protein bars, energy bars, cereal bars, granola bars
- Manual kitchen tools – butter churn, cheesecloth, cheese
wax, manual egg beater, manual knife sharpener, juice
press, corn husker, heavy duty apple /potato peeler, pea
sheller. - Mason jars
- Medicines (allergy, aspirin, aspirin alternative, activated
charcoal, cold medicine etc. ) - Medics bag and first responder supplies
- Powdered milk
- Pressure cooker – for home canning
- Prescription medications (minimum six-month supply)
- Rain barrels
- Rice and beans (see also buckets of food)
- Respirator – Niosh certified (e.g., N100 or N95)
- Salt
- Saw, plus saw horses, clamp
- Screwdriver and screws
- Seed vault (non-GMO, heirloom seeds)
- Sewing Kit – sewing notions (needles, thread, sewing awl),
patterns, treadle-powered sewing machine - Soaps – Zote laundry soap
- Solar chargers – cell phone solar batteries
- Shoe repair –inserts, laces (or thin paracord), rubber heels
savers and soles. Shoe Goo - Shovel and spade
- Silver and colloidal silver
- Spices
- SuperGlue
- Survival Guide –
- Steramine tablets
- Tarps (green or camouflaged, not blue)
- Tea
- Tent, car camper recreational vehicle, temporary shelter or
bugout location - Toilet paper
- Thermometer, no touch (infrared) or disposable, digital and
analog - Vaseline
- Vinegar
- Vehicle essentials – jumper cables, fluids, tire repair kit, tire
chains, tow straps - WD-40 – a good all-around lubricant
- Wood, seasoned.
- WaterBob ~ bathtub water liner
- Water purification ~ tablets
- Water filtration system ~ gravity fed water filters, like a
Berkey or a Lifestraw - Water Storage. If you have kids, you’ll want a 260-gallon
water tank that will ensure a family of four has water for
three months. - Yeast
- Zeer pot or alternate refrigeration
