The Top 10 Prepping Essentials Everyone Should Have.
Whether you’re simply concerned with the direction the world is headed, or want to prepare the the absolute worst case scenarios, these are the top ten essential items you will want in your cupboard, garage, attic or basement. These are in no particular order, as although some of these items are more immediately essential than others, none of these should be skipped, and most are very useable outside of survival situations. Approximate prices in USD and GBP are included throughout, and shopping around is highly advised as identical products can often be found cheaper in one store or another. Price comparison sites are your friends - use them.
A good first aid kit - This can and will come in handy in any survival situation, and is something you should have in your house at all times, as accidents can happen out of nowhere, and do so without warning, but a well stocked first aid kit can be the difference between life and death if it does. A good basic first aid kit containing bandages, gloves, sterile wipes, plasters, burn dressing gel and more can be found from around $50/£40, however ones containing more advanced equipment can easily run into the hundreds of dollars/pounds. Alternatively, you can build one yourself using a box or bag and whichever supplies you deem necessary. How much you spend is entirely up to you, but you should always have, and ensure you can confidently use, at least one well stocked first aid kit in your house, and car/backpack, if you take long road trips or hikes.
Multi-Tool - In many survival situations, this will quickly become one of your most used items. This should contain (at a bare minimum) A firestarter, a knife, bottle and can openers, Phillips and flathead screwdrivers and scissors. But a proper Swiss Army Knife (along with many alternatives) contains other extremely useful implements such as a fish scaler, sewing awl and corkscrew. Some of these may not seem obvious, but in order to survive effectively, especially long term, the ability to repair clothes and prepare caught fish efficiently will become increasingly useful. Decent multi tools start around 10-20$/£ and an official Swiss Army knife typically retails around $40/£30.
Emergency Rations - This goes without saying, but in survival scenarios such as pandemics or blackouts caused by solar flairs, access to regular sources food may become unreliable or non-existent, depending on the severity of the situation and the effectiveness of the response from authorities. As such, you should have at the very least, a week’s worth of non perishable foodstuffs. Good foods to keep include oats, which last unopened for around 2 years, dry pasta, which keeps for around 3 years and tinned goods, which typically last indefinitely (all assuming storage in a cool and dry place). 1 week’s worth will cost in the range of 15-50 $/£ per person, depending on the type of goods, whether they are branded or store-brand, etc.
Water and water purification tablets - As above, the need for these will depend on the situation, however, if water purification services are no longer operating, or if you are forced to leave your house, both of these will be essential. You will need to have 2 litres/68 fl oz. of water per person per day, and a week’s worth of canned water will cost around 20-30$/£. This will be your initial source of water, until you can find a source of more water to either boil or use water purification tablets in. Enough purification tablets to treat 2000 litres / 68000 fl oz will cost 10-20$/£.
A dependable flashlight and lamp - This is an easy one to overlook, until night falls in a blackout, and even if you’re simply trying to navigate around your own home, this will become prohibitively difficult, heightening your risk of injury from climbing stairs or tripping, and rendering the entire night useless for productive activities for survival such as cooking food and planning or entertainment activities such as playing cards or board games. But this will become even more critical should you need to leave your home, which is a realistic prospect in many scenarios, as rural areas such as forests, are rarely safely navigable in complete darkness, due to irregular terrain that can easily hide fallen branches you can trip over, and holes in which you can twist ankles. A decent flashlight will set you back 30+$/£ and a decent camping lamp can be found from 15-20$/£.
Sleeping bag - Even in a home-based survival situation, if the grid fails and you don’t have an alternate power source, your boiler fails. And your home will cool quickly unless you are in a naturally hot environment. Even many desert climates experience very cold nights due to a consistent lack of cloud cover, and as such, retaining body heat will become a must, given the need to ration food supplies and minimise unnecessary calorie burn. 4 season sleeping bags, which are highly recommended, as they will protect you in cold environments even outside the home, these typically start around 80$/£, and can withstand subzero temperatures, though prices rise to in excess of 150$/£ for one that can comfortably withstand temperatures below -5c/-23f, a necessity in colder regions.
Rechargeable batteries and solar-powered charger - Some access to electricity, whilst not strictly necessary for immediate survival, will make an enormous difference to your ease of survival and quality of life while doing so. This can be used in order to power devices such as torches, radios, clocks and phones, if cell service remains operational. As with a sleeping bag, these can also be used on camping holidays and during regular power cuts and will start around 100$/£ for a decent entry level solar charger and some Li-On batteries. Make sure you have the correct size batteries and battery charger for everything you need to power and don’t opt for cheap (sub 50$/£) solar chargers unless you can be sure of their dependability, as the panels in many such models have a tendency to degrade quickly. A waterproof model is also very strongly advised.
Navigation tools - As a minimum, you should have a durable, waterproof compass and a detailed map of your region/state and ideally country, in case you need to travel over significant distances for food, medical attention, etc. Ideally, you would also have a GPS device, but as these are generally well in excess of 100$/£, and simply a more efficient form of a map and compass, don’t feel they are a must. As for the map and compass, these can easily be bought for 15-20$/£.
An analogue radio (AM/FM) - In many scenarios, a radio could suddenly become your only means of receiving information from the outside world, especially if you live rurally, such as blackouts, nuclear attacks or internet outages, as basic communications over radio will be maintained to the last by government authorities around the world to inform citizens of current events and where to go for supplies, medical attention, etc. Analogue radios are dirt cheap, with the most basic starting around 10$/£ brand new, but feel free to buy a more expensive one that will be more useful in the ordinary modern day with bluetooth, DAB, etc - so long as it has true analogue functionality.
Toolbox items - Every home should have a toolbox, but a prepper’s toolbox should contain a several specific items that you may come to need in a survival situation. Specifically, you should always have duct tape, and pipe sealant for general repairs, a hammer and nails, in case of windows, doors and the like being broken and a manual tree saw to acquire firewood and a sharpening tool. All these can easily be found for 40$/£, with the only item where you need to be particularly selective over quality being the saw, which you may need to use very regularly.
Whilst you can never be 100% prepared for every scenario that may arise. However, if you have all of the above, you’ll be much better prepared than most, and prepared to the level necessary for basic survival in the short term.