Exclusive8 Must-Haves in a Storm Survival Kit

As the previous several months have shown us rather clearly, being prepared for an emergency is of vital importance. After two storms battered the South, you had millions of people suddenly find themselves in a location where the very basic necessities of life were threatened. Buying food and water became either a challenge or sometimes outright impossible. The electricity, the internet, and the gas were knocked out. And at the same time, you have roads being battered to such a degree in certain places that some people weren't even really able to leave their homes without the assistance of a helicopter. And of course, even if right now you happen to live in an area that's not a traditional storm path area, there are still many good reasons to be prepared nonetheless. For instance, just several weeks ago, you had the Port Workers Union announce a strike. Now, luckily, that strike was resolved rather quickly. But if it wasn't resolved, it would have only taken maybe a week or two for supermarket store shelves to start getting empty. There are many, many different possible emergencies to prep for. And so today, let's go through the eight must-have essentials that you need when putting together a survival kit. The first category is, of course, water. Water is probably the most important element of any survival kit. I mean, without water, you and your family would not last long, no matter what else you happen to have. However, generally, water is one of the hardest things to store for a long time because water can go bad. And also, at the same time, physically, it just takes up a lot of space. Regardless, though, there are solutions. The first is to store simple cases of bottled water around the house. If the bottles are sealed by the manufacturer itself, that water should remain clean for several years. Typically, the standard is that plastic bottled water can remain safe for about two years before the plastic in the bottle begins to leach into the actual water. And so what you can do, and what me and my family does, is that we just store several pallets of bottled water, and we just rotate them every few years. Once certain pallets start getting close to their expiration date, we drink them, we buy more. And so at any given point in time, we have water on hand in case an emergency strikes. Now, according to everyone's favorite government agency, FEMA, the recommendation is to store at least one gallon of water per person, per day. That's enough for both drinking as well as sanitation purposes. And so you just basically have to do the math. If you have four people in your household, and you want to have enough water to last you for, let's say, a one-month-long emergency, then that would just be 30 days times four gallons, which would be 120 gallons of water. A typical plastic water bottle has about 16.9 ounces, so you can round that up to 17. And so in order to keep enough water for a month, your family would need to store approximately 900 bottles of water. A typical case holds about 24 bottles, and so again, if you just do the math, you need 38 cases of water to be fully prepared for a month, which is fine if you happen to have a large basement, or a storage shed, or an attic. But if you live in a smaller-sized house or in an apartment in the city, that's probably way too much water to keep around. And so there are other solutions. For instance, you could buy a low-cost and very, very innovative product called a Bathtub Emergency Water Container Kit. This is a very useful tool for emergencies. Basically, if you know that the water is going to go out, or if you just suspect that it might go out in the case of a storm, then you can take out this plastic container. It wraps around the entirety of your bathtub, and then you just fill it up with water. The capacity on this thing goes up to 100 gallons, and so for emergencies, it is perfect. That's because if you were to, let's say, just store water in your open, normal bathtub, that water would spoil and become useless very soon. The dirt, the gunk, and the soap scum, and all the other grime in the bathtub would quickly contaminate the water and make it not good within a matter of days, definitely a week. However, with one of these emergency water container kits, they can actually keep the water fresh for, they claim, upwards of 16 weeks, which is four months. That sounds like a long time to just have the water standing around in the house, but even if it's just one month, that's perfect. During that time, you can use that water for both drinking, for cooking, for washing, for flushing the toilet, and for all your other needs. And just to be extra safe in terms of drinking, you can pair the bathtub water container with a water filtration system. If you get one that has either activated charcoal or reverse osmosis, and you run the water through that before drinking it, it'll be the perfect solution for an emergency. And 100 gallons of water like that should last your family upwards of a full month, which is perfect. If you want to check out the links to both the water filters as well as to the bathtub emergency container, I'll throw those links down into the description box below. And as a caveat, we do not make any money from those links. They're just there for your convenience. Now, after water, the second category of provisions that you absolutely must care about is food. In the event of a serious natural disaster or some kind of a supply chain disruption, people have to either rely on whatever rations they can get from FEMA or whatever they happen to have stored up in their home. And so it's a good idea to store emergency food at home just in case so you don't have to rely on the government. Now, just like with water, this again will be heavily dependent on how much space you're working with in your home. If you have a large house with a basement and a shed and an attic, you can go all out. I mean, you can store containers of oatmeal, sacks of rice, canned soup, vegetables, fruits, and so on. Also, in terms of protein and in terms of how you can actually sort of work this into your normal life routine, what me and my family do is that I drink a lot of bone broth. It has good protein and it's just generally healthy. And they're also easy to store. Each one container has about 40 grams of protein per box and they last for about a year and a half before expiring. And so I normally drink one bottle per day. And so what me and my family do is that we've arranged these bottles in cupboards based on expiration date. And so when things are nearing their expiration date, we eat them up and then just replace them right away when we get about halfway full. And that way we always have an emergency stash that's not expired. If suddenly the stores are empty, we are always in a position where we can last upwards of several months in terms of not only the bone broth but all the food we have. Also, besides the bone broth bottles and the cans, I would highly recommend getting several buckets for each family member of emergency food rations. These emergency food rations, they typically come in these large plastic tubes that can last upwards of 25 years in the cupboard. They're vacuum-sealed, they're freeze-dried, and generally they're awesome. These buckets, they have about 150 servings each and they provide roughly 2,000 calories per day for each person, making them perfect for emergencies. Now, of course, we actually have a sponsor that we've been working with for years called My Patriot Supply who sell these buckets. I'll throw their link down into the description box below. But also, if you happen to have a Costco membership, they sell those buckets as well. I think each one is only like $100. However, the key, not only to these buckets but for everything, is to stock up on them in a relatively peaceful time like now. In fact, three weeks ago when the pork workers just began to strike, Costco almost immediately sold out of their emergency food buckets. People began to hoard them as soon as there was even a whiff of a possible disruption to the supply chain. And so, consider buying them now rather than later when people are all starting to prep. Also, one really important thing to consider is to make sure that you have all the tools that you need to cook all these foods in the case of an emergency. And it's even like the little things. For instance, you need to make sure that you have a can opener in your house that's not electric. It would be beyond annoying if you prepared all these cans of food but when emergency strikes, you can't open them because you have only an electric can opener and then you have to use a knife to open every single can. It would be crazy to do that. Also, make sure you stock up on the supplies you need to actually cook such as charcoal and propane because if the gas and the electricity suddenly goes out, you'll probably need to be able to cook and to boil water outside rather than to rely on the stove in your kitchen. And also, if you happen to live in an urban environment like the city, we actually published a whole episode where we visited an urban prepper and he gave us a ton of really useful and good tips and tricks about how to stay prepared in an apartment rather than an actual large house in terms of food, supplies, and everything else. If you want to check out that episode, I'll throw the link to it. You can find it down in the description box below. Now, with food and water out of the way, we get into the miscellaneous items that every survival kit should contain. The first is a radio that is battery powered, solar powered, and or hand crank powered. Ideally, all three. There's in fact many of these that you can find online and the one that I have at home, it has a solar panel at the top, it has a hand crank on the side, and you can use both this internal lithium battery that you can recharge alongside AAA batteries that you can replace. It's a perfect radio. And in an emergency, a radio is really important because not only can you listen to music to kill time, but also of course you can listen for emergency broadcasts and updates from both local authorities, state level authorities, as well as from the federal government. And if you're choosing a radio, make sure that it has three bands. You want it to have AM, FM, as well as WB. WB is known as a weather band and so you can use it to receive broadcasts from the National Weather Service. So AM, FM, as well as WB. It's funny how with all the advances in electronics, in an actual emergency, it's just the good old radio that everyone happens to revert to. Also, alongside the radio, I would highly recommend keeping some form of a generator. I recommend having at least one sitting around the house. That way, you can charge your electronics and use them whenever you need to, even if the actual electrical grid gets knocked out. If you live in the suburbs or somewhere in the country, you can of course keep an actual diesel, kerosene, or gas generator around. That way you can generate your own electricity. But if you live in the city, like in a high-rise apartment building, you probably can't have a diesel generator. And so you can just keep a power station in case of an emergency. These things only cost a few hundred dollars depending on the wattage you get, but they can store enough electricity to power a lot of things. Your iPhone, even your laptop, some lights, your flashlight, a lot of things that will probably die quickly in an emergency. I'll throw the links to several good generators and power stations down into the description box below for your convenience. Now, after the radio and battery packs, there is the vital first aid kit. Every survival kit should include some type of first aid supplies to treat minor injuries, burns, things like that. At the very base level, it should include things like bandages, antibiotic ointments, burn ointments, gauze, emergency stitches, and things like that. In particular, emergency stitches, people don't think about that too much. But if you have a cut and you're not able to make it, let's say, to the hospital, to the doctor, or anywhere else, these stitches are perfect. You can just put them on your skin and you pull them and it pulls the skin together and keeps it tight so it can actually heal. In the case of an emergency, they are a lifesaver. Also, if you happen to take daily prescription medications, or if you require something like an EpiPen for allergic reactions, make sure that you have enough in case you can't run to the drugstore for several weeks or upwards of a month. Perhaps next time you go to your doctor's appointment, just ask for several extra doses or vials of whatever you need just so you can keep it on hand. That's what me and my family do on pretty much everything, not just medication, but really everything. I mean, for instance, toothpaste, we usually keep a year's supply of toothpaste on hand at all times. And we use it, and we use it, and we use it. And then when we get down to the six-month supply mark, that's when we go ahead, we go to the store, and we buy again. We don't wait until we're completely out because if we get caught at that moment in an emergency, we're kind of out of luck, then everyone is hoarding toothpaste and everything else, and then we can't get it. And so consider doing that with medications as well. It's an unfortunate fact that a huge percentage of our medication actually comes from China. And so you don't need like a hurricane. In the case of a conflict breaking out in Asia, the CCP, they could easily cut off Americans from getting their medications. And so consider having somewhat of a buffer at home so that you could last for several weeks or several months without going for a refill. Also, alongside medications, consider keeping at least one extra pair of prescription glasses. If during an emergency, your glasses happen to break, that's pretty bad. So you might have to go for weeks or even a month without being able to see properly. That's why in my house, I usually keep at least two extra pairs of prescription glasses at any given time, just in case something happens, I can just pop another pair on without losing a beat. Then after medication and prescription glasses is lighting. If the power goes out, you'll still need to see in the dark. That's why flashlights and camp lights are essential to any survival kit. However, it's vitally important that alongside the actual flashlights and camp lights, you make sure you stock up on the relevant batteries as well. I know several people who thought they were good because they had flashlights stored up, but then when the power went out, they realized, oh, I don't have the right batteries, making all that earlier preparation completely pointless. Also, alongside flashlights, do consider stocking up on candles and matches as well. They're super useful and obviously don't require any electricity. Then after lighting, you have blankets. Especially if you live in a colder climate, consider making sure that your survival kit includes things like sleeping bags as well as blankets. Because if an emergency happens to strike in the colder months, you want to make sure that you can remain comfortably warm in your home, especially at night. Now, you probably already have plenty of winter clothing that you can stack one on top of the other, but do consider keeping a solid sleeping bag as well as several blankets just in case of an emergency. Then after blankets, you have toiletries. Toothpaste, toilet paper, diapers, soap, shampoo, conditioner, Q-tips, contact lens solution, things like that. A lot of these are really afterthoughts for a lot of people until they run out. And then when they run out, at that point, their absence makes life really uncomfortable and hard. And so if you have the space in your house, I would highly recommend keeping a 6 to 12-month supply of all your toiletries. And then you buy them when your supply reaches the halfway point. That way, you never run out and you always have a buffer just in case of an emergency. And so what would happen is that when an emergency strikes and everyone and their grandma is running to the store to buy up every pallet of toilet paper, well, you don't have to worry about it because you still have a 6-month supply in your closet. That's a good place to be. And lastly, cash. Cash is solid. When everything stops working, when you can't access the roads, the banks are shut down, the computer doesn't work so you can't access your bank account at all, the ATMs don't work, having cash around the house is really useful. I mean, if society really breaks down, having gold is even more useful. But in today's episode, we're just talking about sort of a short-term emergency. Having a few hundred or a few thousand dollars in cash lying around the house never hurts during an emergency. Now, all these survival kit suggestions are very low resolution. In the coming weeks, we're actually going to be making a lot more episodes that highlight and go deeper into every one of these specific categories, as well as subcategories, such as how you build out a closet to store the most amount of food, how you can prep soups, how you can make stews that last a long time by using hermetically vacuum-sealed cans, things like that. So look out for those. In the meantime, though, if you want to get started to prepare both yourself and your family for emergencies, we here at The Epic Times created a really useful checklist that you can actually go through with your own family to make sure that you're prepared for any possible emergency. I'll throw a link to that checklist. You'll be able to find it down in the description box below. Also, in the comment section, leave any tips that I perhaps didn't mention and that you know of in regards to prepping for an emergency. And also leave any requests. If you want to see some type of content, if you want to see some type of prep content, if you think I should interview anyone who has a really good take on things, leave it in the comment section below. We'll be reading through it later this week as well as over the weekend. And yeah, we're planning on doing kind of a long series on creating a survival kit, a survival plan, things like that. And so let me know in the comment section what you think you would like to see covered. And until next time, I'm your host, Roman from The Epic Times. Stay informed. Most importantly, stay free.