Question for my favorite crazy-survivalist-type
commander_zero, what kind of gear/supplies would you suggest that your average Joe Citizen should have in every room in his house?
I’m thinking things like flashlights, self-defense, food, water, blanket, etc – I mean, you can keep all that stuff in one room, but what if, when the time comes, you can’t get to that room?
I’m trying to mentally catalog what I need to find room for in every room in my new place.
Depends on what youre planning for. If you want something for the usual hurricane, power failure, blizzard, etc. you can fit all that in a couple of those black-n-grey ‘ActionPacker’ Rubbermaid containers. (Which I recommend.)
Simplest way to to it, in my opinion, is to stand naked in your living room in the dark in the middle of the night with the heat off and ask yourself “Okay, what do I need at this moment?” I’d go with a change of clothes, lighting, heating, cooking, water, food, communication, defense, portability and a few other things. Specifically:
Change of clothes inc. shoes…seasonably appropriate. You’ll probably be able to get some clothes out of your closet and dresser, but if you have to leave home for any reason in a hurry you’ll at least have one change of clothes with you. Comfortable clothes and shoes, please.
At least two quality flashlights and spare batteries. A good LED flashlight will save you on batteries and can be used alot more freely than a non-LED light. Whatever you get, make sure both take the same size batteries…MagLites are kind of the standard for flashlights. Candles and oil lamps are okay but obviously come with their own hazards.
Heating may or may not be an issue for you. A small propane heater works well indoors but you might just wanna go with a sleeping bag or blanket.
Some type of food that doesnt require much in the way of cooking is nice. If you have a gas stove you’ll probably still be able to use it. An electric stove is obviously another story. If you decide to get a small camp stove, be sure to use it in a well-ventilated area. Coleman makes propane stoves, lanterns and space heaters that run off the small 1# propane bottles that you normally use on torches. Theyre very handy, store well and give good service.
If you know theres going to be a possibility of an outage or other disruption, fill your bathtub. You can drink the water if you have to but its nice to use for washing up and flushing toilets. Save the bottled water for actual drinking. I keep a couple five gallon jugs but also a couple cases of 1-liter bottles. A case of bottled water is less than ten bucks at CostCo.
A good battery radio is a must. Preferably running on the same size batteries as your other battery-powered gear (flashlights, etc). Baygen, Grundig and a few other outfits make wind-up radios that dont use batteries at all. (They make flashlights like that too) and I highly recommend them. If you think you need them, the Motorola FRS walkie-talkies are pretty nice. Usual caveat about batteries.
Your Glock should serve you just fine…have at least a hundred rounds for it and a couple extra mags. A short shotgun would be nice.
Ideally, you want all this stuff in a ‘man-portable’ container so that you can, on a moments notice, grab it and throw it in the back of the vehicle and go, go, go. (If you have a garage where you keep your vehicle, I highly recommend a couple five-gallon cans of gas. Or, always make sure to never let your vehicle go below 1/2 tank.)
Keep some cash on hand. ATM’s will be out and no one is gonna want to take a check. Small denominations. Nothing bigger than $20.
All of this stuff should fit into a footlocker-size footprint. Or a couple of those ActionPackers. I cant say for sure, but I’d guess you could put together the FEMA/DHS suggested ’72-hour’ kit for less than a couple hundred bucks.
Obviously, for a more….ugly….situation you would need more extensive preps. If you need really, really more specific details on things let me know…
I have a few of those Rubbermaid Action Packers already – love those things. Used to keep one in the trunk, full of emergency gear, botted water, spare fluids and road flares, when I had cars with trunks. I use my battlewagon’s cargo space too often to carry one, though.
Your answer seems pretty geared toward getting up and going, but what if you’re just going to ride it out at home? Where I live, there are no hills to run for. I mean, I live on the hill already. So if there’s a bad earthquake, or a massive power outage that leads to rioting and looting – those are the sorts of emergency situations I want to be prepared for.
I also want to be prepared for what happens if someone busts into my house and I’m in the shower/kitchen/office/backyard as opposed to being in bed (with my gun at hand in the quick-release safe). Unfortunately buying more guns isn’t in the budget right now. *sigh*
‘ActionPacker’ Rubbermaid containers. (Which I recommend.)
Those suckers are expensive. Good, but expensive. I get flip top storage bins that Home Depot carries. It’s a 12 gallon clear bin with a red top that costs four bucks. Certainly not quite as durable as the ActionPacker but they cost about a quarter as much.
Speaking of storage, I will be getting some of the airtight bucket lids from Sportsman Guide. That’s quite a find.
Your answer seems pretty geared toward getting up and going, but what if you’re just going to ride it out at home? Where I live, there are no hills to run for.
Mmmm…it isnt that its geared towards making a run for it, its just that I like to have everything in one (or two) convenient locations so everything is together. As much as I (or you) may plan on staying put it *is* probably a good idea to have things stored in such a manner that if things did require you to leave, you wouldnt have to hunt everything down and forget some things.
I mean, I live on the hill already. So if there’s a bad earthquake, or a massive power outage that leads to rioting and looting – those are the sorts of emergency situations I want to be prepared for.
That being the case, if youre prepared for, say, an earthquake, then youre de facto prepared for lesser events. (In an earthquake youre probably going to lose power anyway, right?). I wouldnt change much from what I posted earlier…lighting, heating, cooking, etc. Only changes Id make would be to add shutoff-wrenches for water and gas lines.
I also want to be prepared for what happens if someone busts into my house and I’m in the shower/kitchen/office/backyard as opposed to being in bed (with my gun at hand in the quick-release safe). Unfortunately buying more guns isn’t in the budget right now. *sigh*
A dog is the best early warning system. Failing that youd have to harden things around the home to the point that if someone did break in it would require such effort as to give you plenty of notice (i.e.: noise). Of course, portable alarms are available if you want to go that route. (There are various battery operated infra-red ‘motion detector’ portable alarms on the market…set ’em and forget ’em.) I would hope, though, that in such a situation where looting or violence was a possibility you would not leave your pistol in the safe but rather have it hanging on your belt as you proceed about your day. If there were an earthquake and subsequent power outage, I think youd probably feel alot more comfortable puttering around your house in the half-light and getting your gear from the garage if you had that pistol on your belt.
Best thing ive found, hands down, is the surplus 40mm ammo cans..theyre rugged as all hell, have carry handles, are watertight and take abuse like a trailerpark housewife. Cheap too.
Only thing is that sometimes that military look draws more attention than you want.
I might have to get some of those ammo cans. Though they aren’t big enough to accomodate all the stuff that I use the bins for, which is mainly for camping and radio gear. The 20mm flat ammo cans would be handy as hell for radios and stuff, after adding some eggcrate foam. How well do ammo cans stack?
and take abuse like a trailerpark housewife.
I grew up in Louisiana and lived in a few trailer parks. I don’t know whether to be amused or depressed now.
Only thing is that sometimes that military look draws more attention than you want.
You could always paint the ammo cans pink or something. That would probably fix that problem.