Doomsday Prepper Supplies and Survival Gear Shop

Hope for the best - but prepare for the worst!

With Russian military incursions into U.S. allied states increasing to Cold War proportions, and China aggressively flexing it's muscles in the South China Sea, the odds of nuclear war are quickly increasing.

Whether you are a homesteader, a prepper, or a survivalist, you believe in at least one thing – being prepared. Prepper supplies and survival gear is at the heart of your preparations for an emergency. There may be disagreement as to whether it is better to bug-out to a safer location, or bug-in down in your well stocked basement, but I don’t believe there needs to be any argument when you can prepare to do both!

I am talking about having "layers" of preparation. The very first layer of preparedness should be a well-stocked, and equipped bug-out bag - one which allows you to hike (or bike) out on foot if necessary. I mean it’s great your decked-out doomsday bunker up in the mountains of Idaho is all prepared. But what happens if the Yellowstone supervolcano decides to blow and drop 20 feet of ash on your doorstep over a period of days? What if after the economic collapse people start savaging around your house looking for food, and find your basement survival shelter?

I’m not saying planning to bug-in is wrong. I’m just saying that you should have "layers" of preparedness. You have decided to "be prepared," just don’t forget to prepare for the worst.

A worst-case scenario is that you have to bug-out, but you can’t use your car. Maybe a solar storm has taken out its’ electronics, or perhaps you live in an urban area and have been just hours to evacuate (from a tsunami or asteroid)– with everyone trying to leave the roads would certainly be blocked. The point being you absolutely cannot count on loading up your vehicle with a bunch of supplies and simply driving to safety. You should "plan" as if you and your family will be on foot (or bikes) and keep a survival backpack loaded with prepper gear, and supplies. This way "if" you can drive to a safe location - great! If not, you are still covered.

The best way of stocking this "bug-out bag" is to make sure you have the right mix of survival gear and emergency supplies, so you can live for months from just want you carry with you. This prepper backpack will contain the core basics of survival, allowing you to live off the land as much as possible. When deciding which prepper gear and supplies to carry, the minimum to account for is water, food, fire, shelter, and first aid supplies.

"Must have" Prepper Gear and Supplies: Bare Essentials for Survival.

Emergency Water Supply - You can only survive 3 days without water, and adults need 2 quarts of water per day. If you are on foot, you clearly can't carry enough water to keep you going for more than a few days. So the very first item you want in any bug out bag is a good emergency water filter to make drinkable water from nearly any fresh water source. The best water filter for your "bug-out" bag is one which is light weight, and can produce around 1000 quarts of water before it needs replacing - that's 500 days of water! Another option is a survival water distiller to make your own drinkable water. And unlike water filters, water distillers can work with sea water and kill viruses too! Lastly, if the SHTF, you can resort to water purification with chemicals or by boiling.

Emergency Food Supply - You can only survive around 30 days without food, and adults need about 2000 calories per day [*]. Compact, long shelf-life survival food rations are paramount to maintaining your energy. There are multiple suppliers of grab-and-go emergency food buckets which contain survival food packs with up to a 25 year shelf-life. Each of these food buckets weights a mere 10 lbs, and contains 120 servings which could support one adult for 2 months (realistically, I would only expect half that). I know I can easily carry much more than that, so the ideal is to stock the contents of four of these emergency food buckets in your bug-out bag. These prepper food rations do often need hot water, which is another reason safe water is important. And then to supplement your calories, there are also emergency high-calorie food bars which are compact and loaded with nutrients, electrolytes and calories.

Survival Fire Starters – Being able to make a fire in an emergency situation may be second only to having drinkable water. Aside from warmth and the ability to cook food that a fire provides - it also just makes you feel good. Here I’m talking about the importance of maintaining a positive mental attitude. Creating a fire will give you a sense of power over the environment – something you will certainly need if you were just forced to leave your home due to a disaster. Two of the most practical, and realistic ways of starting a fire are compression fire pistons, and magnesium fire starters. Both are light weight and take up virtually no space in your bug out bag. Learn to use them before you have to use them.

Survival Shelter – Exposure to the outside elements can kill you. Even in temperatures as high as 50 degrees, prolonged exposure without protection could result in pneumonia – and if left unchecked pneumonia can kill. I also can tell you from experience that the sun can be absolutely brutal if you are hiking outside every day with unprotected skin – this may not kill you, but you could wish it had. So it’s important that your survival gear include some form of shelter. A tent (or even multiple tarps) can keep you dry, and out of the elements and again help keep your morale up.

Awareness is the first step to getting prepared.

Doomsday Preppers have a horrible "image problem" as a bunch of crazies preparing for a zombie apocalypse, or hiding away in a bunker just waiting for that inevitable alien invasion. And - yes - there are some wackos like that. But, if you loosely define "crazy" as being irrational (either in action, or inaction) - then most people are crazy.

In fact, about 80% of the population is overly optimistic – a condition called Illusory superiority. This is the irrational belief that if bad things happen - they will only happen to others. Basically, the individual falsely believes that they have a better chance of survival than they really do - because they think they are "superior." Because these people falsely believe they are safer than they really are, they don’t take action to help ensure their safely. Most people don’t even have a basic 72 hour emergency kit because they don’t feel they need to. But illusory superiority could be a lethal mental condition if we face a major disaster in our life time – and odds suggest we will!

Most people also have a "herd mentality," and that prevents them from preparing for disaster. Since they don’t see their friends and neighbors prepping, then becoming a prepper isn’t something they are going to “gravitate” to. On top of that, doomsday preppers are seen as outcasts, and the herd stays away from outcasts – right? The herd mentality is actually a survival mechanism, but in this case it is hindering people’s chance of survival. Sometimes following the herd like lemmings is going to be detrimental your survival.

I find it equally ironic that buying some form of insurance is so popular, while buying prepper supplies is not. People seem to falsely believe that spending money on these pieces of paper to protect still other pieces of paper – money – is “ok”, while buying prepping supplies as insurance against a big disaster is not. It’s nice that people have this paper insurance, but what if this paper becomes worthless? If you are choosing the best form of insurance, shouldn’t a well prepared basic survival kit really be the first form of insurance one gets? If some disaster causes the collapse of government, or the failure of power grids, or society just breaks down, a well prepared survival backpack is the most reliable form of insurance a person could get.

So most people have some form of mental “issue” that keeps them from prepping. The rational person will have a much better grasp of their true odds of survival, and make preparations to better those odds. While people don’t even watch the news because “it’s too depressing,” a rational person will be unafraid to take that cold, hard look at reality.

Bad things DO happen: A few possible doomsday events...

Solar Storm / EMP

In 1859, there was a solar storm so large that if it happened today it would wipe out our power grid for years! It is estimated that solar events of this magnitude strike earth about once every 100 years.[*]

The transformers are the weak link in the system, and it is their replacement that prolongs this disaster. Really think over the consequences of what a long-term, nationwide (or hemisphere-wide) power-grid failure would mean - no water, no refrigeration, no ATMs, no cell phones, industry would be shut-down, etc.

A large solar storm could also wipe out electronic components. One of the consequences of this is that since modern vehicles use electronics to control their engines - most cars and trucks probably won't work. It is likely you won't be just driving to safety.

Global Pandemic

About once every 100 years there is a global pandemic.

Over the years 1918 to 1920, it is estimated the Spanish Flu Pandemic killed as many as 100 million people - that was 6% of the world's population! [*]

Then of course there was the Plaque of the middle ages. Some estimates of the death toll are high as 25% of European population. With the current mobility of the world's population, how much more quickly could a "superbug" spread today?

Supervolcano Eruption

72,000 years ago a supervolcano eruption nearly wiped out early man.

On average the Yellowstone supervolcano has erupted once every 600,000 years - it's already been 640,000 years since the last.

Yellowstone is just one of seven "known" supervolcanoes on earth.