Survival Preparedness 101

If I could convince you of implementing just a handful of rules to live by for keeping your family prepared for emergencies, the following six would be it. Each of these six boils down much larger survival topics into easy-to-implement things you can do in your home. They don’t require fancy survival kits (homemade ones are just fine), costly survival gear, or a lot of technical know-how. But they do require a little time, and a little planning.

Family Survival Preparedness 101

1. Have enough consumable water on hand. Minimum of one gallon per person per day (12 gallons for a family of four) for up to three days. Hopefully, after 72 hours water treatment facilities will have restored water service and drinking water will be readily available. Purification systems, tablets, or iodine-based purifiers might be good to have, too, for longer outages.

2. Put together a “bug out bag” for each family member old enough to carry one. Some people call these a bug-out bag, others call it a grab bag or a go-bag. Doesn’t matter what you call it…just have one!  What types of survival gear goes in your bug out bag? The basics include:

• A couple rations of food (high-calorie bars). We also have a few packs of Ramen noodles because they have a lot of calories and are easy to prepare, but are extremely light.
• Flashlights. One in each bag. Never burn more than one light at a time to preserve batteries.
• Batteries.  To power flashlights, mainly. Be sure to have the right size for your equipment, and pack plenty of extras.
• Glowsticks. When flashlights and batteries run out.
• Hand-crank emergency radio. Great for power outages, and if you are on the run, good for keeping up with emergency broadcast.
• Multi-tool. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere without a good multi-tool!
• Knives. We have several kinds of knives. A folding camp knife with a saw edge, a Swiss Army knife with attachments, a large, fixed-blade survival knife, etc.).
• Change of clothes. Lean towards cold weather gear, and consider an emergency rain poncho.
• Water purification tablets/drops. For treating water before drinking when boliing is not practical, or in addition to boiling just to be safe.
• Stainless steel Kanteen. This 40 oz. mug can be hung over an open flame for boiling water to kill bacteria/parasites found in untreated water.
• Emergency blankets. These mylar blankets are good to have on hand – we even keep a couple in our car’s glovebox.
• Firestarter materials. Range of materials for starting a fire. We have a butane torch lighter, a magnesium stick, water proof matches, kindling sticks, cotton balls and petroleum jelly.
• Rope/cord. Some 550 paracord is good to have for tying up food, making a shelter, and dozens of other uses.
• Compass. Nothing elaborate, just one that consistently and reliably gives you a north heading.
• Map of your surrounding area. Check out a local visitor center or convenience store to pick up a local and state map.
• Signal mirror. If you are stranded and in need of rescue, a signal mirror is a good way to get a pilot’s attention.
• A safety whistle for each family member. Again, good for rescue situations. You can make a lot more noise for less energy with a whistle than screaming. This is also a good way to find each other if you get separated. Tell everyone to whistle periodically and follow the sound.
• Couple fishing lures and line. You never know when you might have to seek refuge near a river or body of water. Don’t kick yourself for not having a little fishing line and a few hooks.
• Camp axe. One of the first things I check for when camping. Great for splitting firewood, chopping down a small tree for shelter, etc.
• First aid kit. Large kits take up a lot of room, so look for something compact with the basics, or a soft-sided, notebook size kit.
• Survival handbook. Read it before you need the info, but store it in your bug out bag for reference.
• Roll of duct tape. Needs no further explanation, really.
• $250 in cash and coins. Feel free to store as much or as little as you desire. We keep a couple rolls of quarters along with some cash in an old plastic camera film tube.
• Ziploc bags. Great for waterproofing, food rationing, etc.
• Deck of cards (to fight boredom). Don’t discount the psychological aspects of survival. After a day or two, boredom will set in and you’ll be glad to have a deck of cards to pass the time.

3. Have a family emergency plan and rendezvous point. Establish a rendezvous point within walking distance of your home, school and office. Might be a neighborhood playground, your church, or a landmark that is important to your family. Rehearse various types of emergencies with the entire family to be sure everyone knows how to respond to each type of emergency.

4. Consider arming yourself.I’m not what you would call a gun aficionado, but my family grew up with guns. If you have small kids, or are generally worried about their access, consider locking them up in a safe. Just be sure you can get to them in a large-scale emergency. Past events have shown us that looting and lawlessness is a common in the aftermath of disasters. As for types and number of firearams, well, that depends on how much you want to spend and how much you want to maintain and secure. I don’t think you could go wrong with having one of the following types of guns on hand:

• Pistol (preferably a .45 with additional magazines/rounds)
• Shotgun (12-gauge pump would probably do)
• .22 Long Rifle (good for plinking, shooting small game, etc.)

5. Store a reserve of money, metals, and goods to barter. If we experience an economic collapse, it is quite possible that we could return to a barter system, at least in the short term. If this does happen conventional currency will be worthless. I’m not storing up gold myself, but it might make sense to have some on hand for an economic emergency such as a depression.  For smaller emergencies, like the kind that knock out power or connectivity to ATM machines, it is a good idea to save a little stash of cash at home.

6. Stockpile non-perishable food and consider growing your own. We have a fledgling garden in our backyard. It doesn’t yield much, but will in the years to come. We like to think of our food storage in three levels: the normal inventory we have on hand, the items we have stockpiled, and the food that we grow. If we were forced to survive on things we grew, it would get lean pretty quick. However, it would be possible to survive on a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables if we lost or consumed everything else.