Survival Supplies (That We Need To Have Now)

In previous posts, I talked about the need for redundancy, and this post will go over some of the basics yet again. You should be asking yourself what basic survival supplies you will need in the event of a crisis.

So, what does it take to survive? Of course, “food, water, and shelter” are a few of your needs, but are those the top three things we need to survive? I will give you five basic must-haves: 

• Attitude
• Need
• Homeostasis
• Clean Water
• Food

Basic Survival Supplies List

Yes, it’s review time, as I promised some redundancy. It is important to think about this as second nature so you do not find yourself fighting the crowds just before mother nature decides to blow your house down.

You can take this post as a redundancy to learn about survival supplies. Either that or you can take it as a test.

The thing is, survival is such a vast area that it’s easy to forget things. Especially if you leave things till the last moment, that’s why it’s so important to go back to the basics occasionally and review your situation. By doing so you won’t forget something critical in a crisis.

You will be properly prepared and not be part of the chaos.

There are some sites out there promoting “54-item survival lists.’ Don’t go there. Here we will look at five.

Attitude And Mental Survival Skills

I have talked about this survival mindset in another post on this site. The top thing you need to survive I almost any situation isn’t food, water, or shelter; it’s the right mental attitude. That will do more to help you survive than anything.

Interestingly enough, every military manual dealing with survival starts by talking about attitude. Why is that? Because you have to convince yourself that you are going to survive or not make it.

People who are convinced they will survive will do whatever is necessary to stay alive. They will possess proper mental survival skills.

On the other hand, those convinced that they will die are more likely to give up. Their attitude will keep them from exercising the necessary willpower to overcome.

So, before you work on anything else, you must work on your attitude. You need to develop the heart of a champion and the thoughts to go with it.

Why Is Homeostasis Important For Survival

What the heck is homeostasis?

The definition of homeostasis is the ability or tendency to maintain internal stability in an organism to compensate for environmental changes. An example of homeostasis is the human body keeping an average temperature of 98.6 degrees

So here you are, learning new words. You’re welcome.

Actually, it’s a concept I have talked about before, even though I never mentioned the word, much less knew it myself.

We can readily adapt to a wide range of external temperatures, but not internal ones. I still remember seeing films of Arctic explorers running outside in underwear. I thought they were crazy, but they survived it.

However, if our bodies’ internal temperature rises to 105 degrees F (40.5 C), it will kill us. It will also kill us if it drops below 87 degrees F (30.5 C). That’s not a very wide range to work with.

To maintain homeostasis, we clothe our bodies, provide other types of protection, build shelters, and heat our buildings. So, several distinct parts of shelter are used for survival: the physical shelter itself, insulation (clothing), and fire for heat.

If you want to get a little more into this, check out this site.

Survival Water Purification For Drinking

Not just any water will do to survive; we need clean water because drinking the wrong water could kill us.

When I talk about clean water, I am not talking about how clear it is but how biologically clean it is. My pool water is quite clear, but I do not believe I would drink from it.

You can make dirty water clear by allowing it to sit. The sediment will settle out, and you can skim the clear water off the top.

Making biologically impure water clean is much harder. Water can be home to many bacteria, protozoa, parasites, and viruses. These can cause acute intestinal disorders, pain, sickness, and death.

There are many ways of water purification. The most common are mechanical filters that take that ornery stuff out. The filter must be rated at 2 microns to remove bacteria and protozoa. To remove viruses, it must be rated at 0.2 microns.

You can also purify water by chemical disinfection. This means adding something to the water to kill all the nasty things lurking about. The most common chemicals used are iodine and chlorine (otherwise known as bleach).

When you run out of other options, you can boil water to purify it. All those critters die at 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius).

So, if you raise the water above that point for several minutes, it will be pure enough to drink. Just don’t forget to cool it down some.

Survival Food In Crisis Situations

The average American can live anywhere from 30 to 100 days without food, depending on whose figures you use. We can live 30 days without losing our ability, but we can survive for maybe 100 days.

So, while food is necessary for survival, it isn’t as necessary as homeostasis or clean water. Not only that but eating to survive and eating a normal, healthy, well-balanced diet aren’t the same.

Army MREs (meals ready to eat) are high in carbohydrates, fats, and proteins and low in vitamins. That’s because they are designed for use in combat, the ultimate survival situation.

There are better food storage ideas.

In a survival situation, you can go without the micro-nutrients of vitamins if you are getting carbs, fats, and proteins. However, in the long term, you need those veggies to keep you healthy.

The other thing that food needs are to be cooked. Like water, our foods contain bacteria, protozoa, parasites, and viruses. We cook our food, especially meat, to kill all those nasty things before they can kill us.

Prepper Guidelines For Every Day

If you’re going to be successful as a prepper, there’s always more you can do to ensure your future safety and security, and the most important thing you can do is to keep at it all the time.

Don’t wait until the last minute to gather survival supplies like everyone else. I can never understand the long lines at the gas stations the day before a hurricane is expected to hit.

What were they thinking? What are you thinking?

A lot of prepping is about having and stockpiling the right supplies. That seems to be the first thing new preppers start with, and the storage process never seems to end. That’s because when things go to pot, you’ll need all the water, food, and equipment you can get!

The general assumption in the prepping community is that nothing will work like it should during and after a disaster. Just look at what happened to the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian.

Or to the city of  Paradise, California, after those horrendous fires.

So, you should have everything you’ll need to survive on hand as you won’t be able to get it elsewhere.

The other problem is that without normal services, the ways that we do things every day aren’t going to work. Think about energy survival. That means that we have had to supply the supplies that we can use without electricity and other modern conveniences.

The key here is survival. We’re not prepping to live in luxury; we’re doing what’s necessary for our families to survive.

So, what does it take to survive? It’s easy. You can only survive three hours without heat (assuming it’s freezing cold), three days without water, and three weeks without food.

Your prepping supplies need to concentrate on those three things. If you stockpile adequately for these purposes, then you can survive.

Must-Have Survival Gear

Here is a list of other survival supplies you should b considering:

• A few fire-starting methods: lighter, matches, flint, and steel with a magnesium strip.
• Large, dry tinder bundle in a sealed bag.
• Handheld flashlight or headlamp with extra batteries.
• Fixed-blade survival knives
• A good working compass.
• Map of location (if you know it ahead of time)
• Emergency whistle.

Now’s the time to start stocking up. Not with everybody else at the last minute.

Don’t just run off and buy everything; take some time to research and ensure that the things you stockpile are the best for your needs. Your family must survive on what you keep, so you must ensure it’s the right stuff.

I know it sounds like this is going to be expensive. Maybe you’re feeling like you can’t afford to prep on your income.

One day at a time. A little here and there…..it all adds up.