Survival - Survival Skills - Survival Kits - Survival Food  Outdoor Survival Skills - Survival Books - Survival Supplies  Survival Equipment - Survival Tools - Survival Foods

Survival kits as oft is said come in sizes to fit all. From your basic useless snakebite kit to some really pro models, or ones you make yourself, common sense says that you prepare one for your situation. Earthquake survival kits would contain things that might not be found in hurricane survival kits.

That being said, the thrust of this website is towards long term survival rather than short term survival, so a complete survival kit would reflect that. However, the basics of a survival kit is common to both survival situations.

Here's the minimum of what you need:

Water and water containers
Canned Food, large or small cans, depending.
Can Opener - In our modern age, some people have never used a can opener. Don't be that one.
Dried Foods - High calorie snack bars, freeze dried food, dehydrated food.
Water Purification Tablets
Flashlight with extra batteries. More than one would be nice. The LED head lamp variety are particularly good.
Radio with extra batteries. You need a spare. If you are really complete, a wind up model should be included too.
Knife, knives, Swiss Army Knife
Cord, ropes, string. A bit of rope for all situations.
First Aid kit of a complete nature. The war was lost for want of a band aid.
Waterproof matches, lighters. Plenty of ways to start a fire which is basic to life.
Pots, pans, and skillets for a complete kit. Else, at least an army style kit.
Fuel tablets for quick meals.
Survival blankets including "space blankets."
Rain gear as in a poncho.
Compact tent
Plastic garbage bags and sandwich bags
Toilet paper. In a pinch, an electronic Sears catalog

The one immutable definition of civilized society is.... toilet paper. Do not doubt me. Think about it. Not clothes. Not moon rockets. Definitely not television or computers. It's... TP, toilet paper. Not so very many years ago toilet paper did not exist in this country. You recall all those slick filmed period pieces, Robin Hood, Pirates of the Caribbean, A Christmas Carol, Genghis Kahn, Shane? They had one thing in common. No toilet paper. In many parts of the world today, the current residents have no....toilet paper. And why is this? Because they had not invented it when Robin Hood was shooting his arrows. That's why. Today, however, much of the world goes without it because they simply can't afford it or a supply is not handy.

How often have YOU had to go for a #2 without toilet paper? Monstrous, you say? Evil! Unthinkable! Well, guess what? When the power goes off, the toilet paper stops rolling. When the oil runs out, you best be ready to go to the can like Robin Hood, or Mary Queen of Scots. Your life WILL change. If you think that's bad, just extrapolate it out a little. Should the unthinkable happen, a soiled rear end will probably be the least of your worries. Things like where to get the next meal may take precedence.

So why have I gone off on this rant about wiping goods? I did it simply to illustrate the dire circumstances that we may face some day, and how wholly unprepared we, all of us, are for it. And I told you the above to demonstrate that the time to prepare is BEFORE you need to. After, it's simply too darn late.

So what's worse than being a rich old fat cat with a storehouse full of goods for the impending doom... and it happens. I'll tell you my friend. What's worse is being a soft bellied American with a survival kit with which you are not familiar. You were so busy watching realism TV and going out to eat that you didn't take time to familiarize yourself with the contents of your kit. Time comes to use it and you have to get out the instructions. In the meantime that festering wound has gone gangrene and you go from vertical to horizontal. All because you didn't know how to use what you had.

It is a known fact that the savage already has his survival kit ready. It's in his head and all around him. Us civilized softies, on the other hand must depend on the contents of that plastic box we ordered last year. Oh drat, where DID I put that blasted thing! Look, you just go ahead and bleed on out while I find it. Ok?

Look, nobody wants to dwell on all the what if's in a world without toilet paper, which is a way of saying that civilization as we knew it has gone to crap. I don't want to and I know you don't want to. The answer is to do a little prep work now, get you survival kit fixed, take an inventory, see how everything works, make a few notes, and pack the whole thing up in a safe place for eventualities. Then we can all go back to our regular lives of good eating and even better personal evacuations. When the sun comes up tomorrow, we won't even remember the horrors we subjected ourselves to while making our kit.

However, when the you "know what" hits the fan, we'll grab out survival kits, read our notes, be confident and prepared for whatever whoever throws at us. We'll be sitting pretty in a world gone to..well, you know. Gosh!

PS... Cold beverages is not a survival necessity. Sorry. However, when civilization restarts, you can get out your instructions on how to make it and be the most popular guy in what's left of your county.

It is a fact that something as simple as a bottle of water may one day save your life. Don't let the inconvenience of becoming prepared deprive you of all that you ever were or ever hope to be. At the end, don't think, "I should have paid more attention to breathing." Don't let it be you. Don't feed Darwin. Old whisker face is fat enough. Be the survivor. Survival Kits!