General Rules:
Utility and purpose vs. essentials and
redundancy - As far a gear; everything should have multiple uses or
serve multiple functions and if another item serves the same need drop it if
possible. Everything that does not have multiple purposes should be absolutely
essential. The very most important things should have some redundancy. Shelter,
Fire and Water should all have some redundancies as conditions can vary wildly.
Sometimes a single bed sheet is all you need for shelter and sleep, other times
a full down sleeping bag and heat reflecting blanket isn't warm enough.
Portability - Everything should be small enough and
light enough that a single person can carry it. This goes for bulk storage
items as well. For example water containers should never be more than five
gallons. One should have multiple containers of course but a single ten or
twenty gallon container will simply weigh too much for a person to carry. At
2.2 pounds per liter water is a very heavy necessity.
Simplify and consolidate - The best example of this that I can
think of is batteries in flashlights and other electronics. You could have a
giant mag-light that holds six D cell batteries, a head lamp that holds three
AAA batteries and an radio that uses four C batteries. This means you need a
large assortment of batteries just for your emergency equipment. But consider
replacing all battery operated equipment with things that use one type of
battery. My choice in general is AAA batteries because they are relatively
small and generally easy to find. The benefit to this is simple, If a head lamp
dies you can replace the batteries with some from any other thing in your kit.
What to consider? - This is a question everybody should ask
when planning a bug-out/ long term stock. Which sorts of things should one
stock? Food and water first come to mind but there are any small things that
may be overlooked or forgotten until it's too late. One category of
items to store are the 'essential but hard to make' items. Soap for example is
merely lye and fat/oils, this can be made at home and cheaply, IF you have the
materials. However the ingredients may not be available in any situation.
Gloves and boots/ shoes are essential but quite difficult to make. Containers
of various sorts, buckets, ammo cans, Tupperware excreta. And tools, sewing
needles, hammers, saws, bolt cutters, blades, car-jacks, automotive tools and
the like. And finally simple hardware, copper wire, nails, bolts and similar.
Always consider the multitude of plentiful small and cheap items one can find
at a dollar store that could prove very useful even if only used for barter.
Immediately I'm thinking of sewing needles, patches, safety-pins... there
really is lots in this category.
Top importance - Shelter, water, food. It's really that
simple. Many people think they need all the top shelf REI, Mountain Hardware,
GoLite, name brand equipment just for a day hike and then discover fellow
hikers with actual experience miles into a trail with only a fanny pack and a
water bottle. I have found very good equipment all over the place. When I
consider where I found this item or that I'm amazed to remember all the
different places. One of the best places to find such equipment is yard sales
and flea markets. I tend to find something I like then search it out online.
But in an emergency situation there may not be enough time to pull together the
proper equipment. There are pre-made kits of
varying quality available online. But in general I would not spend
the money on any of them. It's much cheaper and more practical to create your
own. This will force you to carefully consider every item and you will end up
with a kit that is more suitable to your needs and your climate than one made
by somebody else, And it will have nothing but the most useful items.
I've purchase many small first aid kits and later modified them to
fit particular needs. Creating dedicated many First Aid kits. All range in size
and purpose, some for day hikes, some dogs and horses, or extended backpacking
trips, cars and travel, for within the home and general disasters. Learning
what to change in these kits takes a little experience. More important than any
gear is skill, knowledge and judgment. Proper planning and a variety of skills
is really the only thing a person needs and any gear one may want should always
be carefully considered under the light of skills and experience.
Have a plan! - Again, all the equipment in the world is
useless if you don't know how to use it. Planning is equally important. As
goofy and paranoid as prepping may seem to many people it is a very realistic
practice. Talking with your friends family and neighbors about prepping may be
awkward, especially if they have never considered the impact a major disaster
could have on them. A fairly good introduction to prepping is the FEMA pamphlet
on disaster preparedness. Handing someone this pamphlet gives credit to your intentions
to be prepared. Simply having an 'official' government approved document that
explains the rationale of being ready for a disaster will give you a great
starting point to introducing 'preparedness' to somebody who may think it's a
silly thing to plan. In addition to introducing others to the prepping mindset,
one must inform friends and family. This means gathering family members and
friends together and discussing plans for disasters. When and where to meet if
communication lines are down, when and where to 'bug-out' and rendezvous after
SHTF, and what each family should have stocked. Having something like a family
cabin with a hand pumped well is about as good as it can get, but not everybody
will have access to something like that so planning is essential. Planning itself
can be overwhelming for noobs and sharing information is the quickest way to
gain knowledge on this subject. There are many websites and books on the
subject that can help. This is one area of knowledge where there is no reason
to reinvent the wheel. You do not have to calculate just how many gallons of
water you will want or how many calories you will be eating when all these
factors have already been calculated by others. The information is there for
the taking and will make the task of getting prepared much easier. I have found
that there is a slight divide between men and women when it comes to
preparedness. Often times men are too hung up on 'Bug-Out-Bags' and equipment
to consider food, while women are all too focused on First Aid and sanitation
to focus on equipment. This is why discussing these topics with your loved ones
is so important. When talking to my family it quickly became apparent that
nobody had long-term food storage in mind when they set out to build their First
Aid kits and 'Bug-Out-Bags', and there was an obvious divide between what the
women considered important versus what the men considered important. My mother
for example was very focused on medications, antibiotics, pain meds and
sanitation supplies, while my father was almost exclusively concerned with
equipment. Then I reminded them of food and the importance of a food supply and
they were slightly embarrassed to admit they had spend so much money
on equipment and First Aid and not a penny on food. Perhaps this
divide emphasizes the differences between the sexes but I see it to be
more complimentary.
See ready.gov
A bit of irony I've discovered is the claim that preppers are a threat to national security while the government has such a website as "ready.gov".
Essentially humans only require three
basic things for immediate, shelter, water, and food. The details of which
depend entirely on the conditions. In tropical zones shelter is less important,
in Deserts water is the single most important. In cold regions, shelter is of
the highest importance. These factors are determined by good judgment.
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