Posts Tagged survival gear
Weekend survival gear purchases
Don’t have the money to buy $1,000 for survival gear at one time? Then spread it out and get a little bit at a time.
One thing that strikes me as odd, is when people start talking about stockpiling a few simple survival supplies, the conversation will sometimes turn towards money, and how much to cost to prepare. I have had people say “I dont have $1,000 to drop on a food stockpile”, or something along those lines. The thing is, you dont have to have $1,000 to get started, purchases can be made in small sections.
Shopping for survival supplies
When your walking around a store – any store – and your doing your shopping, how often do you think about your survival supplies? Is it something you make a list of and make a special trip to town? Or do you incorporate your survival supplies shopping into your everyday life?
Lets take last night as an example, my wife and I went shopping at the local super wal-mart. While we were walking through the store, I picked up a 2 pack of strike on box matches. At 250 matches per box, that is 500 matches.
The last time I was at the camp I took inventory of my matches, and it came to like 6 or 7 boxes of 250 matches per box. So that equals out to around 1,500 – 1,700 matches. But I needed some for my house, so I picked up another 500. I also got a box of Remington 30-30 ammo, 12 gauge #4 shot, and a box of 12 gauge rifled slugs.
When we got to the food section, we picked up our grocery list for this weekend and 2 jars of olives – 1 jar for this weekend and 1 jar to put up.
Mixing and matching survival gear
I find it interesting that Taco Bell can create so many items on their menu by mixing and matching about eight different ingredients. There is the taco meat, sour cream, refried beans, tortilla shell, taco shell,,,,. But by the looks of the Taco Bell menu, it appears they have a thousand ingredients.
Its called utilizing available resources. And the same can be applied to survivalism.
On the flip side of the coin from Taco Bells minimalist approach, I find it interesting that survivalist stockpile so much gear. Certain survivalist think they have to have a special “bug out bag” that is separate from their standard camping / backpacking pack, that they need several rifles
Lets backup a few years, all the way to the early – mid 1980s. Back then I (Kevin), was in High School and was busy camping and exploring the marshes around the Bridge City, Texas area. My backpack at that time was about 14 inches tall, 12 – 14 inches wide, and maybe 6 inches wide. It could have easily been a school book bag, but it was OD green and made out of a canvas material. I had one backpack for all of my camping needs. At that time, that is all I needed. The pack was just big enough for a couple of cans of vienna sausage, or chili, can opener, small pot, matches, contact case, and maybe a spare shirt or socks.
| Hunting post SHTF
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MREs
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Large MOLLE pack
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5 things survivalist should stockpile
The other day I posted an article about stuff that survivalist should not stockpile. So in contrast, lets talk about stuff that survivalist should have on hand.
5. Fuel – when SHTF, your going to need a way to get out of town. Whether its a forest fire, hurricane, chemical spill,,,, keep enough gas in your tank to get away from the affected zone.
When a hurricane rolls trough the southern states, one of the first things to dry up is gasoline. People start filling their tanks up, the lines get long, and gas stations run out of gas.
Related Articles:
| Wilderness Bug Out
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Starting over
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Testing disaster plans
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Stuff survivalist should not stockpile
From time to time I see discussions on the forums about gear and supplies that survivalist should invest into – like a berkey water filter, mountain house foods, or long term food storage items. For the sake of discussion, lets talk about stuff you should not invest into.
Before investing a lot of money into a project, there is a lot of stuff to consider. The first thing is “can you “really” afford it? It would be nice to have half a million dollars to drop into 1,000 acres in Alaska and a 2 story cabin. But the fact is, most people can not afford such luxuries. Next, do you really “need” the supplies? Or, are you buying the stuff just to have it?
Tacticool is not survivalism
Tacticool is not survivalism: Wearing woodland camo in the urban jungle does not make you a survivalist. Bragging to your friends how you stockpile food does not make you a survivalist. Wearing combat boots does not make you a survivalist Trying to maintain a constant-stay-of-readiness does not make you a survivalist. Buying a gas mask…
Recent survival gear additions
The summer of 2010 was not only a great summer that will never be forgotten (at least by me anyway), it was also the summer that a lot of new survival gear was added to my inventory.
Top survival gear items
Out of all your survival gear items, which 10 are the most important? This list is going to change on your geographical location and any special needs. So consider this food for thought.
1. Home based water filter – an example of this is the Berkey Light or the Royal Berkey. Why is a water filter the first item? Because water is used so much in our daily lives. You do not need to be brushing your teeth with water contaminated with E. Coli, shigella or cryptosporidium.
2. Peanut butter and honey – High calorie food (peanut butter) mixed with honey – which has trace minerals – makes a meal that is difficult to beat. Unlike dried foods, no water is required to cook peanut butter or the honey. After opening, neither one needs to be kept cold. Honey can be stored for years without fear of spoiling and it makes for a good topical anti-biotic.
Royal Berkey water filter at the camp
Its not enough to have survival plans, those plans have to be tested from time to time in a variety of conditions. And then, the results of those test have to analyzed. From the results of those test, what do you need to improve the outcome?
Between July 30 – August 1 my family and I spent 3 days at the camp; while we were there, I decided to hook up the Royal Berkey water filter and give it a test. The Royal Berkey had been assembled, but never actually used. And like all survival gear, it needs to be tested before its actually needed.
Water is one of the basic survival needs- food, water and shelter. But having just “water” is not good enough, it needs to be “safe water.”
Awhile back I got a Royal Berkey water filter from Directive21.com – it was setup and a video was made about it. From there it was packed up and relocated to the camp, where it has stayed in storage for the past few months.
Water was taken from a nearby creek and poured into the reservoir. In about 15 minutes I could hear the first drips of the water hitting the bottom of the holding tank.
In about an hour, I was able to get a juice glass of water from the Royal Berkey.
Maxpedition Kodiak Gearslinger Review
The Maxpedition Kodiak Gearslinger is unlike a lot of other backpacks, as it only has one shoulder strap. Its designed so that the user can disconnect an under-the-arm strap, and then spin the pack so that its in front of them. Thus, making the pack easy to access without having to dismount it.
Maxpedition makes 3 packs in its gearslinger series – the Sitka, Noatak and the Kodiak. In this article we are going to be looking at the Kodiak.
The single shoulder strap supports the weight of the pack, while the under the strap helps to keep the pack in place.
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