Creating Your Own Survival Kit from Things Around the House

In this day and age, it is a wise move to have a survival kit stashed around your house just in case. While there probably won’t be a zombie apocalypse anytime in the near future, there are a hundred reasons why you still might need such a kit. Keeping one handy just means you are well-prepared and ready for emergencies. Like Ben Franklin said, “If you fail to prepare, then you prepare to fail.”

There are many expensive survival kits you can purchase online or in stores that are ready to go, but you can save quite a bit of money by putting one together yourself. Plus, you can customize it to your exact needs: consider the survival scenarios that are most likely to occur in your geographic region, store a month’s supply of a special medication you require, or select food options to your personal taste.

In fact, you just might have everything you need for a survival kit in your house right now! You wouldn’t even have to go out and buy anything, just walk around your house and gather some items. Below is a list that could help you out in your preparation for constructing your own private survival kit.

A Duffel Bag or Backpack
We all have an old duffel bag lying around the house from our trips to the gym that we don’t use anymore. Perhaps you have a backpack from you or your kids’ school days just sitting in the closet. Both these storage items are perfect to contain your survival kit. Blow off all the dust and shake out all the cobwebs. Your survival kit is about to take off.

Medical Supplies
Having basic medical supplies in your survival kit is a good step in preparing for what could go wrong. Take some band-aids, rubbing alcohol, tweezers, a towel, ibuprofen, Tylenol, and anything else you believe could come in handy. It is always a good habit to store these in small plastic bags, especially anything that is liquid. You don’t want loose items floating around in your duffel bag. Keep everything as tidy as you can so you can locate it quickly in a pinch. Also, packing a bit of toilet paper might be a very good thing.

Food and Drinks
You want to be sure to pick food items that can last for at least a year to store in your bag. There are probably cans of fruits and vegetables in the back of your pantry that you have forgotten all about that would be perfect for a survival kit. Be sure to pack a can opener as well otherwise you might be beating yourself up later on.

Beef jerky can last a long time and provide you with much-needed protein. Also, a perfect addition to your survival kit would be protein powder. Just being able to mix it with bottled water could provide you with an instant meal replacement.

Cash
Right or wrong, cash is king in our world today. Having a few hundred dollars on hand in your survival kit will give you a bit of spending money if there is an emergency.

Knife or Gun
Unfortunately, bad things happen in this world (they might already be happening if you’re utilizing this kit!). If you don’t have some sort of weapon in your survival kit, then you are putting yourself and your family at risk of being victims. Even if you don’t believe in guns, one could save your life someday in an emergency. Just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean that other unsavory characters won’t be packing.

Matches or a Lighter
You probably have extra lighters laying around your house right at this moment. Throw a few those into your survival kit. In addition, having a few candles and a flashlight could be beneficial down the road as well.

Extra Clothes and Blankets
We all have a closet full of clothes that we seldom wear. Throw in some of these into your survival kit. If there is an emergency, you don’t want to be stuck wearing the same dirty clothes each day. Additionally, depending on where you live, extreme temperatures could become a very real threat to your survival.

Create a Bag for Each Member of the Family
Don’t just think ahead for yourself. Having enough food and water for everyone is essential for surviving, so make sure you have enough in your kits to last you awhile. Prepare an individual kit for every member of the family. Of course, with kids, you may not want to include weapons into their bag, but they may have ideas about other things they can store in there. I’m willing to bet they’d enjoy creating their own, and parents can use the opportunity to initiate a “thinking ahead and being prepared” lesson in a hands-on, more-fun manner.