Last Updated on September 12, 2020 by
If you’ve just started your prepping journey, it can seem a little overwhelming at first to know where to get started. There are so many things that it seems you need, how are you going to know what the best prepper supplies are for when SHTF?
There are a variety of different categories that you will need to think about. When I first started I started off with broad categories such as food and water, then broke it down into individual items from there.
Today, I am essentially going to show you how I did it when I first started. I will break it down into categories for you and then give you some of the best prepping supplies for each category and where you can get them.
Most of this stuff you can easily and conveniently get on Amazon, Walmart, or any other sporting goods store. I especially like Amazon because you can buy it, usually at great prices, then have it to your doorstep the next day.
So let’s go ahead and dive into this subject and help you figure out what the best prepping items will be when society collapses.
Food
Food is one of those necessary items that you just can’t live without. As we are experiencing the novel coronavirus wreaking havoc in our towns, you are probably are beginning to experience just how quickly things can go downhill. There’s usually a short window of opportunity to stock up before the entire town starts to panic.
When it comes to food prepping, there are a lot of different avenues that you can follow. Below I’ve listed some of the best prepping foods you can start storing for when SHTF:
Freeze-Dried Emergency Foods
Freeze-dried emergency food kits are one of the most popular prepping items on the market in the food category. One of the primary reasons for this is that these types of emergency food kits have an extremely long shelf-life of up to 25 years.
Food Ration Bars
Food ration bars are another excellent choice if you’re trying to stockpile food items for when all hell breaks loose. These are high-calorie, nutrient-dense food bars that can be eaten at any time for a snack, or if times get really tough, as a meal.
Meals Ready To Eat (MREs)
MREs can be a good supplement to any long-term food stock plan but there are some words of caution with eating too many of these. You can’t survive on MREs alone, but you can use them to add some flavor to your diet.
Water
Water is going to be one of the biggest items to get figured out as soon as you can. Most people focus a lot on food right from the start, but if you really think about it, shouldn’t it be water since you can only live three days without it?
I’ve written several different types of articles on long-term water storage, long-term water storage containers, and water purification so that it will hopefully help you understand the different aspects involved with water prep.
Gear and Tools
Having the right gear and tools can help you get out of precarious situations when SHTF. Because of the coronavirus, we are all getting a small taste of what happens when people panic. Everyone is focusing on buying up food, water, and toilet paper just in case something like martial law is declared and everyone is required to stay indoors.
But moving beyond food and water, having important items such as axes, survival shovels, emergency radios, survival compasses, survival flashlights, LED Lanterns, and emergency first aid kits will go along way to making us safer, more comfortable, and more efficient.
Weapons
I just got off of the phone with my brother and he told me just stood in line for an hour to get ammo for his guns. He told me that Sportsman’s Warehouse was restricting the number of ammunition boxes that each person gets to 2 boxes per gun.
Therefore, if you have several different types of guns such as a rifle, a shotgun, and a handgun, then you would be able to get six boxes of ammunition. It’s times like this that it makes you realize that you should have been prepping ahead of time. I’m sure never again will my brother allow this to happen. It’s a great learning lesson for all of us. Pretty soon it may completely impossible to find ammunition anywhere.
Make sure if you have weapons that you feel comfortable with using. You never know when you will have to defend yourself in order to keep your family safe.
Personal Hygiene
If it gets really bad and water is cut off, things are going to get messy, literally. Indoor plumbing will now become an issue and you’ll have to have prepared for makeshift toilets or at least have bought one on Amazon like the Ready America Lockdown Toilet Kit.
Other things to think about are your teeth. This can cause one of the biggest problems in life after society collapses. Your teeth are incredibly important and you need to be able to take care of them. Make sure you have toothbrushes, dental floss, and toothpaste to keep your mouth safe and clean.
Shelter
If you find yourself bugging out and along the way you need to find shelter, you’ll want to have some things in your bugout bag so that you can make shelter for the night, for example. Learning how to build a good survival shelter is important just in case you are forced out of your home.
First Aid
When SHTF, there will more than likely be no doctors to help out if you or someone in your family gets hurt. It’s important to make sure you have some kind of IFAK as well as at least one first aid kit around the house.
Make sure to stock up on essentials like band-aids, ointments, gauze pads, etc. You can build your own first aid kit if you prefer, instead of buying one online. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you have supplies that can help with minor scrapes and cuts, burns, and major injuries.
Entertainment
I’ve mentioned this before in another article, but after it gets bad in your town, it’s going to get boring. What I’m noticing in my town since the first reported cases of coronavirus have hit, the stores and restaurants are empty. Everything is deciding to stay home and avoid public places.
So what are you supposed to do for entertainment if you aren’t going out anymore? Well, playing cards with a cool urban survival playing card deck could be one way to pass the time. Since the electricity is still on, cell phone game apps will always be a great source of entertainment for everyone as well.
You may want to stock up on some books that you enjoy reading as well. I know books seem like a thing of the past, but you can buy them in the Kindle editions too.
Final Thoughts
Being prepared is essential for making it through tough times. We are experiencing times right now due to the novel coronavirus that is spreading rapidly. As I write this post, it was just announced that San Francisco has been placed on lockdown, and it has advised people only to go out when they need necessary items.
This coronavirus outbreak should be a learning lesson to us all. Learn from these times, so that you will be prepared for the next one.