Over the years I’ve read at least two dozen articles or watched videos telling us what to stock up on immediately. Most of them have been pretty decent lists. Some of them are sales pitches for whatever products the content creator is pushing. A handful were ludicrous.
(Article originally published at Late Prepper)
Hopefully, this one won’t be ludicrous and I’m not selling any of the items I’m recommending today. The need to stock up on important items ahead of… whatever… has never been greater in modern America. We’re a society of abundance, but it seems like the supply chain could crumble at any moment with massive threats on multiple fronts.
We’re starting with the basics. If you’re an experienced prepper you’ll probably laugh, but many of us have only even considered preparedness recently. In reality, there are probably dozens if not hundreds of items that we should stock up on as soon as possible, but I decided to do short lists like this one with only three items. It’s easier to take incremental steps and work our way up than to jump in and spend huge money all at once.
These obviously aren’t the only items. In fact, they’re probably not even the most important. But I figured I would put out bite-sized lists every couple of days so we can all prepare with baby steps. Just don’t take TOO small of steps. The trajectory of the nation is not a good one.
My criteria for these short lists are:
- Importance: If we included everything that we could use on lists like this, they would be infinite. But there really are only a few dozen items we truly NEED if the crap hits the fan.
- Risk of Future Price Hikes or Shortages: It behooves us to grab as many of a certain product as possible if that product’s price is going to rise sharply or if they wont’ be available in the future.
- Ease of Storage and Shelf Life: We could say eggs are extremely important and are likely going to be priced much higher in the future, but you can’t easily store 1000 eggs and they won’t last long enough for you to eat them.
- Potential for Barter: In the event of societal collapse (God forbid!), it may be necessary to have items that can be traded. Since I’m not a fan of trading food or ammunition, having other items available that your neighbors may want can benefit everyone if bartering becomes a thing.
- Eventuality of Use: I hate waste, so these are the items that will be used up over time even if the apocalypse doesn’t come.
- Not Food: Sustenance, shelter, meds, and ammunition are not on this list. Those are priorities and require more planning than just grabbing a bunch while at Costco. We’ll cover all of them at another time.
Let’s begin.
Fire Extinguishers
This probably isn’t the first thing one thinks about when it comes time to stock up on things. It’s not like we’re using these regularly… at least let’s hope you’re not using them regularly. But fire extinguishers will be extremely important in the event society collapses. If you can’t call the fire department then even a minor fire can grow and destroy everything.
Plus, it’s a good practice to have one in or near every room of your house.
One might say fire extinguishers should be disqualified from this list because of the “eventuality of use” criterium, but since they last 10-12 years their presence IS their use. In other words, not having to use them is a good thing but having them available if needed is important. They cost anywhere from $20 to $50 for small ones all the way up to hundreds of dollars for the larger ones. We have 5 spread around the house and 7 in storage, plus one in each vehicle.
Aluminum Foil
Foil is another item that may not be at the top of anyone’s list, but it’s one of the most versatile common supplies ever made by man. It can be used for so many things in a crap-hits-the-fan situation. In fact, I might have to write up a list of emergency uses.
As for regular use, there’s already an article by Good Housekeeping that highlights its versatility.
The reason it made it on this first essentials list is because if things go south, aluminum foil will be one of the first items to either skyrocket in price or become completely unavailable. And I’m not talking about full-blow societal collapse. If things go a little south, foil will become more premium.
Soaps
Various soaps are likely at or near the top of most stockpiling lists, and for good reason. They’re extremely necessary today and will be useful in a crap-hits-the-fan scenario. Moreover, they’re still relatively inexpensive, but that can change in a hurry.
Don’t go overboard. They are supposed to last for up to three years and realistically they can last a few years longer than that, but they deteriorate over time. Treat them like food items by keeping them in a rotation that you replenish after use.
Someday I will do a brief breakdown of the different types of soaps to keep on hand, but when getting started it’s a best practice to start with the soaps you’re using today and stockpile them until you have a sufficient supply.
More Items Coming
I recently read a list of 134 items to stockpile immediately before the end arrives. It was a pretty solid list, but after two weeks I realized I hadn’t bought any of the items. It was just so much to take in that even the “a ha” items that caught my attention didn’t make it into my shopping cart.
That’s why I decided to do these bite-sized lists. Maybe you can buy these items on your next shopping trip, then a new list will be ready before the trip after that.
Those who are flush with cash might prefer to just drop tens of thousands of dollars all at once and get it over with, buying plenty of supplies of dozens of items. Most of us can’t do that, thus the utility of these incremental lists.
Things are getting crazy but we needn’t worry. Getting prepared isn’t hard. It can even be fun. As it is said in 1 Timothy 5:8:
But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
Stay frosty, folks.
Article cross-posted from Late Prepper.
