Here’s another great video loaded with basics from my friend Brian Duff at Mind4Survival. He’s putting out some great stuff on his YouTube channel, which you can follow here. Today he talks about 21 essential stockpile items you should load up on now, if you don’t have them already.
This video is about having the right preps. It lists 21 items that are essential for stockpiling. Obviously, you can’t list every single prep needed in an eight-minute video but this is an excellent overview that covers many aspects of personal preparedness.
The key here is that before you get fancy, you need to make sure you have the basics.
In summary:
- Lighters
- Toilet Paper
- Bleach
- Soap
- Trash Bags
- Zip Ties
- Duct Tape
- Flashlights
- Instant Coffee
- Tarp
- Batteries
- Long-Term Storage Food
- Wet Wipes
- Generators
- OTC Medications
- Water Filters
- Fuels
- Cooking Items
- Battery-Operated Lights
- First Aid Kit
- 5 Gallon Bucket
For more information on building a stockpile, check out my online course here and my book here.
What would you add to this list?
Are there other essential stockpile items you’d add to this list? Do you have everything on the list covered in your own stockpile?
Let’s discuss it in the comments section.
One thing that I would put on the list is cast iron cookware; skillets, Dutch oven, etc. These would work with stove top, oven, grill, rocket stove or campfire. And then learn how to use them.
If your dutch oven has a flat lid you can even bake bread in it, by putting coals on the top.
For “baking” bread, I steam using a Chinese steamer. It doesn’t give the hard crust that western baking does, but at the same time it doesn’t burn the bread. Steam for about the same amount of time as to bake bread.
Cash.
If you get clear 55 gallon liners, you can tie them over a live tree branch and collect drinking water from transpiration. Mind you, it will kill the branch, so make sure it’s a necessity.
Rope. Cord or wire.
Wash clothes,…anything reusable, soaps,oil lamp and fuel for…think survival
A radio, like a solar/battery/wind up type is good, especially if it has a dedicated weather channel and AM/FM capabilities.
You might want to have some cash, in small bills.
“Junk” silver coins, tobacco, alcohol or other items can be used to barter. But barter carefully! Desperate people do desperate things.
For folks who need to keep medications cool, a small fridge (like a small one that can be run off a car battery) or a small ice maker, which could be run off a generator, would be good.
A “well bucket” and strong rope, as well as tools for removing a well head cover, are useful for those of us who have well water.
A pulley system can help retrieve water from a deeper well.
And buckets with lids for hauling/storing water are good to have.
I would suggest a small wagon, cart or plastic sled for transporting those heavy buckets, especially for us older folks.
You can find “well buckets” at Lehmans hardware. Check out their web site.
I order their catalogue every year as it has just about everything you need for off grid living and emergencies.
Don’t forget coping with human waste.
A jug for urine (add a funnel for us ladies) and a bucket with heavy duty trash bags and peat moss or wood shavings or cat litter can be used for solids.
Might want to add a shovel to bury same.
The urine,diluted, can be good fertilizer for non-root and non-leafy greens crops. How-to info on YouTube.
A pool noodle can be slit along the side and used as a seat on that bucket. Don’t forget a lid for the bucket!
And don’t forget pet and livestock food and supplies! And any meds you or your critters need.
And a hard copy of a good first aid book, one for humans and one for critters.
I also like the Youtube channel Cheaprvliving for off grid living ideas and bug out ideas.
For us folks in snow country, wool blankets and warm clothing, jackets, gloves, socks and boots are essential. Look to your local thrift stores to find some good quality items at a discount, especially if you live near a ski resort.
A pair of ice grips for winter boots is good to have.
Those who live in warmer climes will have other clothing requirements. Might want some bug netting and a stock of bug repellant.
A saw for cutting wood
and a hatchet are good to have. Don’t forget a knife or two or three.
And rope and cordage!
If you can get an old Boy Scout manual you will find a treasure trove of info!
Some means of self defense is wise, and whatever is needful to maintain and operate it.
A means to safely extinguish a fire is good.
A signal mirror can be a life saver.
If you hope to raise your own food get tools and seeds and fencing and water hoses and rain barrels now. Get some fertilizer, too.
It is late to plant a lot of things but start with something NOW. Lettuce grown in a container on a window sill, a bucket filled with soil that you plant with carrots or green beans, a jar of sprouts, anything to get you on the learning curve, will help.
Pick up gardening tools, and general tools like hammers and screw drivers, at yard sales in the summer and fall. (Lots of folks will be getting rid of camping gear in the fall,too.)
Seed catalogue companies are having seed sales now. Stock up for next year now. Also look for good gardening books germain to your locality. Ask your local garden groups or county extension office for suggestions.
And get a hard copy!
Get a pressure canner and canning jars and lids, now. Maybe a dehydrator, too.
Again, check out thrift stores and yard sales.
Have the pressure gage on your canner checked at your county agricultural extension agency and get extra seals for it.
When you buy used canning jars, check for chips and cracks.
And buy NEW canning jar lids, as used ones won’t seal properly.
Even if you don’t have a garden you can get a few pounds of tomatoes and some peppers and onion at the farmers market and learn to can up a small batch of salsa.
Get a hard copy of a good,recent canning book.
Jackie Clay of Backwoods Home magazine has written a good one and there is also the Ball Company canning book.
Make sure you read and understand HOW to can and what methods you MUST use for different foods. Do not cut corners!
The thing is to start learning these skills NOW.
Two thumbs up! You covered every suggestion that I was going to add.
Such a comprehensive list – thankyou for providing this info
Deck of water proof cards.
Whet stone.
Don’t forget the pets. Also tablet and pencils.
I would add the knowledge and tools to maintain the tools you have.
An example from my personal life—as a child, my father asked me to chop some wood with a hatchet for a cooking fire. The hatchet was so dull it bounced off the wood into my ankle (fortunately, not serious, just bloody). Fast forward decades later, I inherited the same hatchet. It’s made of high quality steel. I spent a few hours honing it as sharp as a sharp knife. In fact, I have used it as a knife to cut some frozen meat.
Likewise I try to maintain all my tools in ready to use shape.
A lot of good tools will be, and that includes all tools such as cooking pans and utensils, if they are abused or not maintained.
Hand warmers are a comforting item for sleeping bags and for finger dexterity in the cold.
Salt. The number one barter item throughout history. Store all types; Iodized, Natural ex: Redman’s, Rock, Kosher, Course, etc. Store in sizes from 1/2 to 5 lbs. in mylar bags with both moisture and oxygen absorbers for the larger sizes. I even store packets of salt and pepper in groups of 10 and 20 in mini zip locks in quart mylar bags to have to put into later freeze dried or vacuum meals plus for barter items.
Alas Babylon
Work Gloves, plastic gloves, baggies, basic garden supplies, spices, baking dishes,pans, cooking bowls.
What would you add to this list? Multiple pairs of eyeglasses and eyeglass repair kits.
When GPS is jammed in war zones you need a compass and paper maps. I laughed when I read this. https://townhall.com/columnists/alanjosephbauer/2024/07/07/limits-to-our-own-power-n2641448
Food grade buckets can be had for free if you don’t mind getting rid of a pickle smell before use, and NEVER scrub them with anything abrasive, because it puts micro-scratches which can put contaminants into your stored foods. Go to places like A&W, or a caterer, and you can also get those large glass jars from olives/pickles, to store your pasta and beans and keep them pest-proof.
I keep at least 5 different ways to start a fire, from lighters to waterproof matches, to AA battery and some foil, and a magnesium fire starter, as well as knowing how to use a fire drill/bow. I keep (LOTS of) charcoal briquettes stored too, because when the power goes out, you may need to cook what is in your freezer quickly and can it. Keep a charcoal grill. May not be as convenient as a gas grill, but you can burn anything in it! Buy charcoal it when it goes on sale around the holidays. Keep it in a metal garbage can with a well fitted lid in the garage.
Fish hooks and line in the go bag, where I live there are lots of streams and creeks.
I totally agree with the cast iron, and I pick them up at garage sales and estate sales/auctions. Lots of folks just get rid of them, but lots of folks over charge for them, so be choosy about where you buy. My daily use is old griswold and wagnerwear pans
Daisy, I Don’t use “bleach” as it’s almost hazardous all by itself. I use Hydrogen Peroxide, 3%, (H2O2), which is readily available just about anywhere. It also has medicinal uses. In order to use Hydrogen Peroxide to keep bacteria out of stored water, I checked with a “Chemist,” first.
1 Tablespoonful per gallon of water. Best thing about this is no “Bleach Stink,” and No After-taste! If one has a septic system, Hydrogen Peroxide won’t kill the beneficial bacteria.
Medicinally, Hydrogen Peroxide has a multitude of benefits that are too numerous to mention, but one of them is it will Totally Rid the human anatomy of cancer, when utilized properly. I KNOW THIS, FIRST-HAND!
I ENJOY every article, Young Lady! Be VERY BLESSED!
James, what is your remedy for the cancer treatment? thx, stay well/safe
-Firearms/Ammo
There are 6 different firearms a survivor needs:
1. Self-defense handgun
2. Self-defense rifle (with scope, red-dot sight)
3. Self-defense shotgun
4. Small game rifle (with scope)
5. Large game rifle (with scope)
6. Hunting shotgun
-Alternate Weapons/Meat Gathering Eqpt
1.Bow/arrows
2. Boar spear
3. Wire for traps
4. Fishing eqpt
5. Sling/slingshot
-Silver/Gold
Precious metals may or may not be ok for barter but their main purpose will be for making payments to lenders or government offices (home mortgage, property taxes etc).
And remember the old saying: “Always have enough gold to bribe the border guards.”
Insect repellant. Mosquitoes can kill.
Antibiotics. Here in the Barrens about 30% of the population either has or was subjected to Lyme Disease, a brutal, progressive ailment that sucks the life out of you, but is readily treated with doxycycline – if you can get it.