For any human to exist there are basic essentials that must be met – food, water, shelter. Each of these necessities can be expanded out to include many things, one being fire, another clothing, etc.
For now let’s focus only on the very basics for short-term survival. Before I get into food, water and shelter, I’d like to recommend that everyone be prepared with all their important documents. Have them all in one place and well protected. By important documents, I mean birth certificates, deeds, titles, wills, etc. If the occasion calls for you to become mobile, you may not have time to gather this information together and depending upon the severity of the crisis at hand not all documents would be considered important. It’s good to be prepared anyway.
I learned this after moving to Florida. Florida can be prone to hurricanes and we have to be prepared for evacuations and for survival should a storm hit and take out such luxuries as water, electricity and shelter. I learned after a series of three minor hurricanes in a row, it doesn’t take long before food, water, gasoline and many other essentials became scarce. I was not properly prepared.
We must all realize that once it appears a disaster or crisis will strike, the overwhelming majority of people are not prepared. They will rush to get things they didn’t prepare for and hoarding begins. If you’ve never experienced this, trust me, it’s not something worth finding out about. People hoard even if they don’t need it and then this is usually closely followed by price gouging. Even though states like Florida have laws prohibiting price gouging in a crisis, don’t depend on it to ensure you won’t have to pay $50 for a loaf of bread.
For the short term survivalist, I recommend being prepared with enough food and drinking water to last a minimum of 7 days. Store enough non perishable foods in secure containers to last that long. Again these containers should be easily portable. In other words, that you can easily pick them up and go with them. Include in this supply bottled water enough for everyone in your family or group.
In addition to the bottled drinking water, I have at least 2, 6-gallon plastic containers that I keep filled with water all the time and stored in my shed. Periodically I dump out the old water into my flower beds and replace it with fresh. I do not intend this water for drinking but if you’ve never been in this kind of situation, you can never have enough water.
I keep camping supplies on hand. For Florida climate I have a tent and light sleeping bags. If you live in colder climes consider heavy bags and other cold weather equipment. I also have a small propane cook stove and several bottles of propane on hand. This stuff is relatively light in weight, easy to move if necessary and simple to use. Toss in a bottle or two of DEET for bugs.
For short term survival, batteries will become very important. You should have a minimum of two flashlights and enough batteries to last for some time. A few things to know about batteries. The have a shelf life. Don’t put a box of “D” cell batteries in your survival kit and just forget about them. I replace mine every year. Alkaline batteries last quite a while and of course how long these will go you depends of course on how much you use them. I suggest that you have at least enough batteries to replace the ones you need daily.
I also keep a battery powered emergency radio in my kit. It might give you peace of mind to check once in a while to see what is going on around you. Do not depend on telephone or cell phone service to be operational. Chances are they won’t be.
Also, there are flashlights, radios and other items that come equipped with a crank to charge a battery or requires you to shake an item to charge it up. Some of these work pretty good but I still recommend the old standby flashlight and battery.
If the crisis you are facing allows for you to remain on your own property, there are a lot of things you can have on hand that will aide you and your family in survival. This also depends of what your property is and how much storage space you have available to you.
Remember, if you must become mobile, you are limited in how much you can bring, so prioritize. Cover your absolute basics of food, water and shelter.
Note: Not everyone is smart enough to be prepared. You may be the only one around the have on hand the things needed to survive. Consider the value of your preparedness and the loved ones with you. With that in mind consider being prepared to defend yourself, your family and your property.
Tom Remington
