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Saturday, April 30, 2022

SODIS Method of Purifying Water

SOLAR DISINFECTION OF WATER

When it comes to prepping supplies and gear, "two is one, and one is none" is good advice to keep in mind. It doesn't matter whether it pertains to having multiples of the exact same item or different skills or methods of achieving a desired goal. It's always having Plans B, C, and D in case Plan A doesn't work out.

For me, the SODIS method of purifying water is somewhere around Plan D. We've got the well, generators for running the pump, large countertop filters, smaller backpacking filters, bleach, activated carbon, iodine, water purification tablets, and so on. However, water being essential to life and all that, having numerous ways to purify it in a variety of circumstances makes sense. SODIS is so easy and cheap that even a caveman can do it.

SODIS (SOlar water DISinfection) utilizes plastic water bottles and the sun to eliminate pathogens from drinking water. It's about as low-tech and inexpensive as you can get. Developed in the 1980s as a means of purifying water in third-world countries, it's a method we can apply to disaster situations in this country, with a few caveats.

Cheap water purification using: SODIS

Friday, April 29, 2022

Dry Bean Food Storage Myth – Actual Shelf-Life Revealed

Effective Garden Preparedness

HOW TO GET STARTED

Many people in the prepping world often ask me how to get started producing products local to their own back yards. Good news? It’s easier than ever in history to get started with a garden! The vegetables and fruits you grow not only will provide nutritional benefits for you and your family, but also provide an excellent stress reliever from your hard day at work.

First, I completely understand that some folks live in apartments or condos and simply cannot garden to the extent that the garden will provide enough. I suggest that if you fall into this area, try your best to use large pots, hanging baskets that attach to the railing of your patio, or maybe a community roof-top coop garden with your neighbors if permitted.

Thursday, April 28, 2022

Start a 3 WEEK Prepper Food Pantry

PRESSURE CANNING: BEGINNERS GUIDE

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Pressure canning can be intimidating, especially for beginners, but it’s well worth it.  Don’t limit yourself to water bath canning jams and pickles!  Once you learn how to use a pressure canner properly, you’ll be able to safely can low acid foods like vegetables, soups, and meat.  

Pressure Canning ~ A display of foods that need to be pressure canned, along with a pressure canner.

Getting started with pressure canning can be intimidating.  Even though I’d been water bath canning for years, I was still nervous when I ran my first pressure canner batch.  Is this thing safe?  Did I do it right?  Am I going to blow up my kitchen?

Now that I’ve spent the last decade using my pressure canner at least a few times each month I’m glad I took the leap.  Here’s what you need to know to get started pressure canning food at home.

HOW DOES PRES

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

10 Smart Prepper Hacks from Seasoned Preppers

Easy Non-Toxic Homemade Laundry Detergent

Wanting to make your own Laundry Detergent either to save money or have control over the ingredients? This recipe very well could be the formula for the Best Homemade Laundry Detergent out there. Try it--you'll love it!

homemade laundry detergent in glass jar with metal measuring cup

Why Should I Make My Own Detergent?

If you're like me, you care about your budget, your family's health, and the environment. When thinking about healthy living, it's easy to focus heavily on diet, but it's crucial to think about your home as well.

Because things that come into contact with the outside of your body are just as important to healthy living as the things that you put inside your body.

And think about it--you wear clothes 24/7--so what you wash them in matters!

I've tried out all kinds of homemade laundry detergent formulas over the years but was never really happy with them. In fact, you can read in this post about Why I Stopped Making Laundry Detergent.

Literally, I stopped trying and switched to a natural brand I liked, and also used soap nuts, but unfortunately, the brand was discontinued, and my son and I seemed to develop a rare allergy to soap nuts so......

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

How I Store 200 lbs of Potatoes WITHOUT a Root Cellar

The True Costs of Owning Chickens


Owning chickens can be a rewarding experience for any homesteader. You can get farm-fresh eggs and healthy meat for the whole family. But, newcomers to the world of homesteading and having livestock, in general, tend to expect an easier process than it turns out to be.

Beginner homesteaders tend to start with a garden that requires little work, but moving onto chickens can be a giant leap. This article will show you the monetary costs of raising your own flock and some of the hidden costs, like less vacation time and a daily chore list that never quits!

chickens inside a large greenhouse

Monetary Costs

Of course, if we are talking about costs we have to discuss the monetary investment of owning chickens. Owning egg-laying hens and meat chickens may have different needs.

For this article, we’ll be focusing on the monetary costs of laying hens, but there is a lot of overlap for meat chickens as well.

Buying Chicks

Baby chicks aren’t free. First, you’ll have to make a trip to your local pet or farm-supply store to pick out your chicks. Or, if you want a larger selection, you can go online and pick out your preferred breed of chickens that can ship to your local post office.

Either way, you’ll pay around $3-5 for each of your day-old chicks, and be responsible for their survival from the minute you get them. They’ll probably be cold, hungry, and thirsty while chirping quite loudly.

If you want an average size flock of about 6 hens to lay a half-dozen eggs per day, you should buy 7 just in case one doesn’t make it.

Total Cost: $24 for 6, my flock of 18 cost me $90.

The Brooder

You bring them home and have to have a safe area that provides heat, water, and food. It will also need a layer of bedding.

For the enclosure, you can use a dedicated brooder, or use something like a plastic tote you can pick up at your local big-box store. The heat source will typically be a heat-lamp, hover brooder, or heating pad designed for baby chicks.

The initial feeder and waterer probably won’t last beyond the first couple of weeks as they grow rapidly and need more food and water daily. Once they are ready to move from the brooder, you have quite a few new costs to take care of.

Total Cost: $30-100, can vary widely.

chicken feeding

The Feed

The food cost for your chickens can be as affordable as you want it to be. If you plan on free-ranging your chickens and letting them forage for as much food as possible while feeding them a standard layer feed that isn’t organic or GMO-free, you can save yourself quite a bit of money.

But, if you are like me, you have your chickens in a permanent chicken run and only feed them fresh garden scraps and organic, non-corn, non-soy, layer feed for the most nutritious eggs they can provide for my family.

Each chicken will eat around 1/4 to 1/3 lb of food each day.

Total Cost: $28/50 lbs for my high-quality feed, half or even less for lower-quality feed.

The Coop

Chickens need a place to sleep and hide from predators and the weather, which typically entails a coop. While I’ve seen 100% free-range birds that don’t even have a coop, they aren’t good egg producers at all!

The coop needs to provide around 2-4 square feet per chicken. There are free plans available online to build your own or you could buy a coop kit. Either way, the cost can be larger than you’d expect!

Total Cost: $80+

chicken run

The Chicken Run

Free-range chickens may not have a run, but I like the protection and peace of mind I get with my chickens enclosed in their 400+ square feet run.

I have chain link panels and bird netting over the top, as my flock likes to try and fly out without a roof. This cost can be substantial!

Total Cost: free for free-ranging, $100+ for permanent runs

Medicine

Knock on wood, I haven’t had to deal with a sick chicken ever. But, if your flock gets sick, you may have a vet bill or need to buy specialized medicine for your flock.

Most chicken owners I know tend to cull those in the flock that get ill as a matter of efficiency.

Total Cost: varies dramatically

The Hidden Costs

Sure, you may have read up on owning chickens, and knew about the monetary costs of raising your chickens. But, I’m about to tell you about all the hidden costs of being able to go out and harvest fresh eggs day-in and day-out!

Daily Feeding & Watering

Sure, this process doesn’t take that long. Measure out their daily ration of food, and pour it into the separate feeders every single day.

You can’t just leave as much food as possible in the run and hope they put themselves on a diet. Chickens will overeat and lower their egg production because of it!

The waterer gets dirty all the time, no matter what set up I have. This means cleaning the waterer every day and scrubbing it whenever I see a hint of algae growth.

Chickens drink a lot of water, especially on a hot summer day, so I may make a couple of trips to ensure they have fresh cold water. They are pickier about their water quality than you may think!

Cleaning The Coop & Run

Chicken manure is full of nutrients that can fertilize your garden and fruit trees. But, harvesting it from the chicken run and coop can be a hassle!

First of all, if you wait too long to do it the smell becomes atrocious. If you clean it often, the smell isn’t as bad. But, you’ll probably be cleaning your coop every week or two and your run every month or two.

I’ve learned that cleaning the coop is pointless, so I designed what I like to call my HoverCoop, which has no bottom.

The roosting bars are suspended in the air, and it is covered on all sides and the top. The chickens roost on the beams, and their manure simply falls into the run, which is where I utilize the deep litter method.

the inside of a chicken coop without a bottom
the inside of a chicken coop without a bottom

Using deep litter means less often cleaning of the run and coop. But, once or twice a year, I have a day-long project of going in and removing the huge amounts of soiled deep litter that will turn into compost in a future garden.

Herding The Chickens

Don’t let your chickens out unless you have them trained like dogs! They are hard to herd around back into their pen, and even harder to catch by hand.

I’ve spent countless hours herding chickens in the past year from fence failures, and a lack of a roof over my chicken run. Now, I finally have the design that hasn’t allowed a chicken to escape for months now!

Noisy Neighbors

There is a reason that roosters are banned in many urban areas. They are loud! They don’t just crow at dawn either. They crow all day for all sorts of reasons.

You can cut down on this noise pollution by only having hens in your flock, but they can be loud as well if you have a particularly vocal group.

Some hens even have an egg-laying song where they sing a nice song each time they lay an egg (so, every day basically).

Predator Pressures

There are tons of predators that would love to turn your flock into an all-you-can-eat chicken buffet! That’s why I don’t free-range my birds, and use a strong fence around my run.

Nothing is worse than having to clean up a mess of dead chicken when something inevitably gets into a weak pen or coop wrapped with chicken wire.

Few Vacation Days

Gardens are awesome because they can be set on a timer to water their plants for days on end. You can take a family vacation for a week, and not worry too much about your garden if you have it set up correctly.

This doesn’t work the same for a flock of chickens! Since we’ve established our flock on the homestead, we haven’t been away from them for more than 3 nights. Even then we had a family member come and check on them daily to ensure they had enough water and food.

The eggs also needed to be collected since they tend to get curious with eggs left around to the point of gobbling them up.

Yes, your precious hens will eat their eggs if you let them! This can cause a habit to form and all-of-a-sudden you have a flock of egg-eaters that give you nothing but empty shells strewed about.

Final Words

I know this article sounds like a plea to stop you from getting your own chickens. The truth is: they are awesome to have on the homestead, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

You just have to be ready for an adjusted lifestyle if you get a flock of layer hens or meat birds. They will take up a lot of your time if you want those farm-fresh eggs!

raising chickens costs pinterest

Monday, April 25, 2022

NEVER Run Out of Canning Lids Again -- My New Secret!

DIY GROW LIGHTS FOR SEED STARTING

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DIY grow lights are easier than you think!  No need to spend a lot of money when cheap grow lights get the job done, and look beautiful at the same time.

Tomato seedlings under DIY Grow Lights

Starting seeds at home can be tricky, especially in northern climates with short winter days (and cold windowsills).  Even with our attached greenhouse here in Vermont, we still don’t get quite enough light for healthy seedlings each spring.  Beyond that, the temperatures never quite consistent enough for healthy seedlings, too hot during the daytime and too cold at night.

Gardener’s Supply sells beautiful grow light shelf setups, but at $900 for a three-shelf unit, I knew I could make my own for a lot less.  After a little research, I was able to set up my own DIY grow lights on adjustable shelving for under $300, and I’ve been using it for years now. 

We use ours year-round, growing microgreens during the offseason and starting literally hundreds of seeds each spring.  

Sunday, April 24, 2022

How to Pressure Can Potatoes

20 Last-minute Survival Items to Get – Grab Them Quickly!

last minute prepping items pinterest


If we are being totally honest, some of us are not as prepared as we should be. Materially, I mean. Some of us might be drawing from a seemingly bottomless well of knowledge, experience and other survival information, but not have much to show for it in the way of supplies and equipment.

If this describes you, you should know that this is far from optimal, whatever else you might tell yourself about living off the land, scavenging to survive and all those other excuses.

Or, perhaps you are just new to prepping and have not gotten properly underway yet. You have identified a problem, acknowledged a deficiency in your own readiness, and have set about correcting it, one piece at a time.

This is more forgivable, but just like the example above it will not help you when disaster is coming up the driveway and knocking at the door. You are either ready, or you are not. There are no do-overs!

Whatever the reason, you are ill-prepared when it comes to needed equipment and supplies to survive a disaster. Time is short, and the hour will soon be upon you. There’s nothing else to do but scramble to grab whatever supplies you can, and then buckle down for the long haul.

Believe me when I say that there will be many other people doing the exact same thing. Time is limited, and supplies are dwindling: what should you grab? In this article we will share with you 20 last-minute survival items you should get while you still have opportunity.

Shop Fast, Shop Smart

When the balloon goes up and you are certain that disaster is close at hand, you’ll need to make the best possible use of your time to get the things you need. You’ll need to be fast and efficient with your shopping.

Not only because the danger increases and the chances of a bad outcome consequently go up the longer you delay before seeking shelter, but also because other folks will be in a panic, too, a mad scramble to do the exact same thing that you are doing.

Ideally you want to “pit in”, get the things you need in one stop, and then get home or get to your shelter wherever that might be. You’ll notice that all of the things on this list can be obtained in quantity from nearly any major big-box store.

The vast majority of the items on this list can also be reliably had from most gas stations and convenience stores, although the quantity they have on hand is usually drastically less.

Though it is less important when you are properly prepared with well-stocked supplies of food and other necessities, until you have reached that minimum level of material preparation it is definitely worth your time to rehearse this list as a sort of mental shopping checklist so you won’t waste any time when time is the most precious commodity of all.

Also consider that the items on this list are included because they assume you are starting at literally zero with hardly anything in your pantry, medicine cabinet or fridge. You might already have a good supply of food, or bottled water, for instance.

If that’s the case, great, that can save you a few precious seconds. But, as always, if some is good more is usually better and you shouldn’t hesitate to nab a little extra when you can.

20 Last-Minute Survival Items to Get

homemade cans of food on shelves

1. Canned/Pouched Food

Food is definitely an essential survival item. And though many people, and particularly people living in North America, have plenty of surplus “fuel” stashed on their body in the form of fat this does not obviate the need for regular calorie intake to sustain normal energy levels and mental acuity.

Also consider that most people become downright unpleasant when they aren’t getting three square meals a day. You can make your survival endeavor easier and nominally more pleasant by having plenty of decent food on hand.

As always, for most preppers’ sake, the ideal survival foodstuffs are canned, pouched or otherwise preserved items that are more or less ready to eat with minimal or no preparation. Canned vegetables and fruits, stews, soups, meats and so forth are all ideal.

Specialized camping and survival foods like dehydrated campers’ meals or MREs are also good, though you’re unlikely to find these with regularity in typical big box stores. They are also quite expensive for what you get.

If you did nothing else but grabbed several cans of beef stew, a variety of preserved meats, a few cans of vegetables, a few of fruit and so forth you would be ahead of the game.

The fact that these are found in all kinds of groceries in great quantity ensures there should be something for you to obtain so long as you act quickly.

2. Bottled Water

Water is the most essential survival consumable second only to oxygen in importance. The average person can go for weeks, even more than a month with absolutely no food, but will die in a matter of days without water to drink.

While it is true that many disasters will not necessarily result in a total loss of municipal water supplies, there is a lot that can go wrong regardless. Contamination will be a constant concern, and if you are banking on turning on your tap to obtain drinking water you are planning to fail.

The obvious and easy over-the-counter solution is bottled water in one form or another. Small individual bottles, larger multi quart jugs, or even gallon plus sizes are all adequate. You should take what you can get and be glad you have it.

Consider the usage demands of your family when purchasing water in quantity because it is both heavy and takes up a considerable amount of room. FEMA recommends you have one gallon per adult per day as this allows for both consumption, cooking and minimal hygiene requirements.

You should not be so quick to use bottled water for washing and bathing, but it will definitely beat having no water at all or only contaminated sources to draw from in a pinch.

3. Bleach

Bleach is a super survival item, and as you will learn is good for a lot more than just keeping your white laundry pile sparkling clean.

Bleach does double duty as both a sanitizer and heavy duty surface cleaner, but also as an easy and efficient way to help make water taken from a questionable source safer to drink.

By adding a tiny amount of bleach to a known quantity of water, you can have reasonable assurance that any nasty microorganisms living in the water will be killed.

Obviously, the bleach won’t do anything to remove metals, sediment and other debris you should avoid ingesting but it will go a long way towards eliminating the most common threats that can make you gravely ill.

Now, this must be done cautiously although the risk factor is pretty low. Ingesting bleach in any significant quantity will cause harm, and you are adding little more than drops of bleach to a gallon of water at a time.

Make sure you study up on and then download the formulas you’ll need for the purpose ahead of time and then keep them with your bleach or survival manuals.

can of gas

4. Gasoline

We see it every hurricane season year in and year out: when disaster draws close, there is always a run on the gas pumps. You might be forgiven for believing that the theoretical supply of gasoline is essentially bottomless, but I can give you my complete assurances that the practical supply is anything but.

Gasoline requires a considerable amount of industry to produce, both the extraction of raw materials and refinement to say nothing of delivery and storage. Once the supply lines stop, all the many gas stations in your local area can be drained in virtually no time.

The best way to prevent getting caught short of gasoline is to simply keep your cars topped off. Consider a half tank ‘empty’ for your purposes and fill up accordingly. This way, you will ensure you have a fair amount of range out of your vehicle if you need to leave at the instant.

Nonetheless, assuming you can get quick access to a gas pump immediately preceding an encroaching disaster, go ahead and fill up.

You would also be wise to get additional gasoline while you are there, and a clean, ready to use gas can for the purpose is a good idea. Even one extra gallon of gasoline will be helpful, though five gallons is better.

5. Toilet Paper/Baby Wipes

Just as you should count on the water supply going out, you should also count on your sewer system malfunctioning in your local area. What definitely won’t be malfunctioning is your natural urge to do your business, and that means you will need plenty of materials for the purpose.

Toilet paper and baby wipes are absolutely essential, even if you aren’t flushing them down the toilet anymore to dispose of them.

You don’t have to go very far in the prepper-sphere to find article after article packed with advice on alternate methods to wipe your behind when you run out of toilet paper. These are definitely good tricks to know, but you’ll be very glad if you never have to employ them!

Make sure you have a sizable stockpile of toilet paper, and if recent panics have taught us anything it is that TP will be in very short supply from the outset, so make sure you grab this as quick as you can.

Baby wipes are even better because they can be used for all over hygiene sans any water, not just for wiping your behind.

6. Petroleum Jelly

Petroleum jelly is that wonderful substance that your grandma probably wanted to put on every burn, scrape and boo-boo you suffered when you were little.

Though every house seemingly has one of these mysterious, goopy jars tucked away in a medicine cabinet or a closet you shouldn’t underestimate it; petroleum jelly genuinely has a million and one uses, and not just for moisturizing skin, taking care of cracked lips or doctoring an injury.

Petroleum jelly makes a great fire starter, and is also exceedingly handy for preventing corrosion. It even pulls double-duty as a cleaning agent that can remove nasty, sticky messages from your hands or other surfaces, and considering how precious water will be that might come in handy depending on what sort of messes you are dealing with.

Considering how cheap petroleum jelly is and how useful it is overall, there is no excuse not to have a jar of this smelly stuff. Make sure you grab one as you are passing by the pharmacy in your local department store.

7. Bandages

Disasters and injuries accompany each other like peanut butter and jelly. Considering how many casualties a disaster will produce along with all the other attendant chaos and infrastructural damage, you aren’t going to be able to depend on your local doctor’s office, clinic or emergency room.

You very likely won’t even be able to depend on emergency medical services, or even getting connected to them through 911.

You’ll need to become your own first-responder, a common refrain in personal readiness circles. A well-equipped med kit is one of the very first things that any prepper should develop, but in the absence of a properly stocked medical kit, and the know how to use it you can do all right by keeping an abundance of bandages on hand.

Bandages will allow you to deal with one of the most common effects of injury, exsanguination; blood loss.

Rolled gauze, gauze pads and even hemostatic (or blood-clotting) gauze is all commonly available, and you should have plenty on hand. Also make sure you grab a box or two of Band-Aids for dealing with the innumerable smaller injuries that will doubtlessly occur.

8. Rubbing Alcohol

Rubbing alcohol is an excellent compliment for your burgeoning medical kit, and is useful as a disinfectant and even as an impromptu fuel source or small fires. Rubbing alcohol is available dirt cheap pretty much anywhere, so there’s no excuse for not having some.

As you doubtlessly already know if your childhood caretakers were sadistic like mine were, the stuff burns like liquid hellfire when applied to any cut or scrape. This is highly traumatic for the unfortunate patient, but it sure beats an infection, and since time is short and supplies dwindling, you should make do with dependable options that you can easily access for the purpose.

Rubbing alcohol does not necessarily expire but it can evaporate over time, so make it a point to check on it periodically and ensure that the container is tightly sealed.

9. Soap

You cannot get by without soap! Even in the middle of a disaster or some other stressful, terrible situation you cannot forgo basic hygiene.

Keeping your hands washed is essential for preventing the spread of germs, and you’ll have to be even more diligent than usual because getting sick is the last thing you want when society is grinding to a halt.

Beyond that, even though you might be pushing off your regular bathroom routine a little bit you’ll still need to keep the rest of your body clean.

It is not just your hands that can harbor germs, and if you let the little buggers go too long without being washed away you’ll start to stink, which will make the people around you miserable. You also start to foment infection which can once again turn into a major problem.

You can rely upon any kind of soap you want, but you’ll be best served if you are stocking up in a pinch to buy classic bar soap. It is easy to store, stable, and convenient to use. Any kind of soap will do, but if you see your favorite on the shelf just buy it.

I generally prefer the Lava brand soap that has grit in the mixtures, helping to remove a sort of nastiness from my hands with greater efficacy. Just a reminder, you might be dealing with all kinds of blood and muck in the aftermath of a disaster, so you should definitely consider it.

10. Hygiene Supplies

Think basics here: Toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. You don’t need to get all frou-frou with your usual battery of lotions and anti-aging stuff. Also consider that specialty hygiene supplies will be just as vital as soap if you have to rely on them.

Pads for incontinence and ladies’ sanitary supplies will be vital, and you don’t want to run out of either of them since you cannot be assured of gaining access to any more after the onset of the disaster.

Included in this category is any specialized equipment necessary for catheters, colostomy bags and so forth. These are not things you want to be forced to improvise when you’re already in the middle of a bad situation. Things can always get worse…

11. Baby Care Items

For those that have an infant, the importance of baby care items cannot be overstated. The trick with babies is that they cannot be expected to modify their behavior in order to contribute to a positive outcome during any disaster, no matter what kind.

As always they will remain incredibly vulnerable and dependent upon their caretakers and that means taking care of a baby is just going to be business as usual. That means you need to load up on all the supplies you think you will need for the duration.

Foremost among these will be diapers and formula, but any medicines, creams or powders that are specific to infant healthcare and wellness are also a good idea.

Ideally you will be able to access all of the brands that you know your baby gets along with, but in case you can’t, you might have to settle for alternates. For this reason it is a good idea to establish prior to the event which brands you can use with your baby, and which you can’t.

These are among the very first things to dry up when people are in a buying frenzy during a panic, and you would be wise to prioritize acquiring these immediately when you head into the store to shop.

12. 5-Gallon Bucket with Lid

All preppers love these ubiquitous 5-gallon paint buckets, the kind with the heavy duty, gasketed lids that seal tightly. Useful for all kinds of projects and general storage, they will take on an entirely new and important purpose during a disaster.

You know how I mentioned above that your sewer service could be knocked out as a result of the disaster? Yeah, if you need some place to go but isn’t going to be in your bathroom this bucket will save the day when used in conjunction with a heavy-duty trash bag and some shredded newspaper.

But let us assume that you don’t need to use this bucket for that purpose. You’ll still be glad you have it because it will make for a convenient and sturdy storage solution for additional water if you’re able to draw it before losing water pressure, or even as a convenient tote for food or other items.

You will never be unhappy that you have one of these guys that is clean and ready to use for any given purpose, and worst case scenario if you don’t need it at all you can chuck it in the garage where it will be standing by for your next home improvement project.

batteries

13. Batteries

You’ll need two batteries to run all sorts of useful electronic gadgets in a disaster, especially one that entails a grid down scenario.

Flashlights and emergency radios are foremost among these necessary gadgets, as once the power goes out on a local or regional level you must provide a reliable, safe way to see in the dark, and also a way to receive emergency broadcasts that is not completely dependent upon internet or television functionality.

While you are at it, identify any other useful tools or gadgets that run on batteries, and keep them in the back of your mind so you can grab them all in one pass while you are out shopping.

Also, don’t put off of grabbing batteries just because you know you have some rolling around at home. Alkaline batteries are notorious for losing a considerable amount of capacity over time, and even if you aren’t anticipating anything but a short duration event, you never know how long and how bad things could get.

Heavy use of any gadget will burn through batteries with surprising speed, so get several packs just in case. In the end, it will be cheap insurance.

box filled with ammo

14. Ammunition

Ammunition is a hot commodity in times of trouble, and recent years have taught us all that its seemingly limitless supply of available in America is anything but.

Ammunition can disappear from store shelves with frightening speed, and if you rely upon a firearm for self-defense you don’t want to discover how ineffective it is without ammunition so stock up while you can.

Even a single extra box can provide you a significant measure of comfort and security if society starts to turn on itself or opportunistic looters come sniffing around.

Many of the oldest department stores in America that are still operational no longer sell ammunition, but Wal-Mart does, and you would be wise to swing by the sporting goods counter before your fellow shoppers can get to it and thoroughly pick it over.

So long as the ammunition is of decent quality and functions in your firearm don’t worry too much how about specifics like projectile type or wait; anything that goes bang is much better than nothing.

15. Trash Bags

Disasters cause all kinds of problems end result in big messes. Inside, outside, all over the place. Trust me when I say you were going to need trash bags and plenty of them.

From dealing with the smelly necessity of human waste to simply taking out your usual garbage, trash bags are essential to maintain sanitation.

Trash bags also serve an important prepper-specific role as potential water catching systems, waterproofing material, ground covers and more.

As you continue your travels in the prepper-sphere you will notice that many preppers have a special love for any water impervious durable plastic sheeting as it is useful and all kinds and specific and improvised purposes. Modern trash bags definitely fit the bill.

Quality definitely counts here, and the stronger the better. If you can get the extra large, extra thick contractor bags that typically fit a 55-gallon drum, you’ll be in a good spot.

If you can’t, grab any standard size kitchen trash bag that is marked heavy duty, and has a drawstring top. They cinch down tighter and are easier to handle than the kind you have to tie yourself.

16. Propane / Charcoal Grill

A great many Americans enjoy grilling, and most have a grill kicking around somewhere on their property, either propane or charcoal fueled.

You might not be enjoying a festive cookout in the aftermath of a disaster your grill might take on new importance as a safe and reliable way to both cook and boil water.

Of course, you can only do either if you can get the grill started and that means you’ll have to have either propane or charcoal depending.

Naturally, both are likely to disappear quickly once of disaster approaches, because most people lack the skill or equipment to establish a cooking fire any other way assuming their kitchen is out of commission.

Even if your propane grill has some gas left in the tank, don’t count on that; you should definitely pick up another tank while you are shopping.

Likewise, your charcoal grill can burn other things for fuel like wood, this is going to be fraught with aggravation if you do not have a good supply of seasoned wood handy.

It is worth a reminder here: never, ever use any kind of grill indoors as the accumulation of carbon monoxide and other harmful byproducts of combustion will pose a potentially deadly health hazard. You must be especially cautious of this if you live in a cold climate.

17. Duct Tape

Duct tape is one of the few tools that has a legitimately meme-worthy status. The old jokes have been around forever that if you can’t fix it or make it with duct tape that it probably just isn’t going to get fixed.

Some of these jokes are humorous, some are cringe-worthy, but the fact remains is that there is a lot of truth in them!

Duct tape is wonderfully multi-purpose, capable of reinforcing, ceiling, waterproofing, joining, and all sorts of other tasks. If you need to quickly craft a patch for a leaky roof or seal a tear in clothing or gear duct tape can do that.

Duct tape can help you easily and safely pick up tiny shards of broken glass. Duct tape can even improvise a makeshift spear using nothing more than a broom handle in a kitchen knife.

You’ll definitely want to grab a couple rolls from the hardware aisle during your shopping forays. If you can, spring for the higher-end brands of duct tape like Gorilla Tape or T-Rex tape.

With far stronger adhesive and significantly more durable fabric backing than traditional brands these should be the preference of every prepper.

fire extinguisher

18. Fire Extinguisher

You may or may not already be acquainted what the frequency and hazard posed by common residential fires, but regardless you must know that fires are an altogether too common secondary event on the backside of a major disaster, and made all the more dangerous because fire departments will be over works, and emergency communication systems will be overloaded, disrupted or entirely disabled.

This means that you might have to become your own firefighter in addition to your own paramedic. Your single best resource will quickly and reliably snuff out a house fire before it turns into a major conflagration is a fire extinguisher.

Generally, you’ll want to get the biggest fire extinguisher you can easily handle, one that is ABC rated for dealing with all common fires (except flammable metals).

Though you can often get fire extinguishers at your local big-box department store they might not have the selection you can expect from a proper hardware store or fire safety supply store. If all you can get are smaller kitchen or car fire extinguishers, grab a couple of them.

19. Prescription Meds

If you or anyone else in your family requires ongoing medication as part of a health care regimen, it might well be too late to stock up immediately prior to a disaster. Swing by the pharmacy, and see if you cannot plus up a prescription for you or a family member.

This can be logistically challenging because pharmacist will not hand out prescribe drugs willy-nilly on a promise.

Talk to your doctor and your pharmacist beforehand, and see if you cannot get a standing +1 or +2 refills kept available for your dispensation at all times.

10 dollar bills

20. Cash

Credit cards and other electronic forms of payment might define our modern era, but society still, at its core, runs on cold, hard cash.

Most disasters will reliably knock out the infrastructure that makes modern forms of payment function, and that means if you were going to pay for anything in the immediate aftermath, especially pay for a favor, you’ll need cash and plenty of it.

You should have a good supply of cash stashed at home for just such an occasion, but assuming you are like most people, and have irresponsibly omitted this most basic of preps, you should swing by an ATM at the soonest possible opportunity.

Don’t be picky about paying fees either; you need to get that cash in hand before the teeming multitudes force a run on all ATM’s which will not be restocked before disaster strikes, and potentially not be restocked for some time after.

It will be a cold comfort indeed knowing you can still buy the things you need even if there is no power, no internet and no other functional electronic infrastructure for miles around.

Conclusion

You might be brand new to prepping and not have any stockpile materials and supplies to show for it, or you might know better and have just procrastinated. Now, facing down an imminent disaster and a severe need to gather the things you’ll require to survive the situation might look hopeless.

Don’t despair! Making one or two strategic stops and shopping quickly with a purpose can furnish you with many necessities that will help you and your loved ones survive the trying times ahead.

Spend the time to review this list, and either write it down, enter it into a note taking app or commit to memory so you won’t waste a second when time is of the essence.