Unusual Types of Preparedness Kits?

[Tea]

So, preparedness kits usually run from those it is generally recognized that everyone should have (basic first aid kit, car bag, 72 hours worth of food and water, at a minimum) to those that no self respecting PREPPER would be without (bug out bag, get home bag, two weeks or more worth of food and water, et cetera) and of course small kits within kits, like a fire starting kit and sewing kit in a bug out bag.

I am starting this thread to discuss any unusual types of preparedness kits people have come up with that fall outside of those basics, why you have them, and what you consider essential items for them. It can be kits for minor emergencies, or kits that address oft-neglected aspects of a full blown TEOTWAWKI scenario.

I will go first with just one of my own (I like putting kits together):D

A few years ago I put together an "after tornado kit" focused on the fact that when we do get severe storms here they often come with a dramatic drop in temperature (80s and sunny to 40s and raining within the span of an hour, for example) and because the area is heavily wooded, can leave roads impassable for a few days. I put it together because I have had the experience of getting soaked before making it to the house, then coming out of the basement to cold rain, no electricity, impassable roads, and a lot of cleanup work. Fortunately, my house was still there so I was able to change into dry clothes, check fence-lines, make sure the neighbor's houses were still standing too, change in to dry clothes again, and have a hot meal before getting to work on cleanup. My after tornado kit is focused on things we would need that day or the next if the house was NOT there, and is as much about comfort, morale, and helping everyone deal with the shock as it is about literal life and death survival. (Important legal documents, irreplaceable photos, et cetera are a separate issue in my mind, and could be dug out of the rubble later if stored in the basement file cabinet, or copies retrieved from a trusted relative's home.) The "after tornado kit" is small enough to grab and climb out with, and is stored in the "storm bunker" part of the basement, where we take shelter. It includes:

-Warm clothes
-Rain gear
-Dry socks
-Boots or shoes - reasonably warm and waterproof, but just an old pair (I spent no money putting this kit together)
-A single, small blanket
-A small, very basic first aid kit
-A hot breakfast (oatmeal) for the first morning after
-A hot dinner (canned soup) for the first evening after (I let each member of the household choose their own and write their name on it - we can cook them up one at a time in the same pot.)
-Can opener
-Camping bowls, spoons, mugs
-Relaxing herbal teas
-Enough coffee to make a big pot and share with the whole neighborhood (they will need their own mugs, though)
-Said big enamel coffee pot
-A saucepan for cooking breakfast and dinner/heating tea water
-A small can stove, with enough dry fuel for at least the first few uses
-Matches and lighters
-Canned dog food to help any animals currently in the household or caught as strays after the storm drink enough water during a stressful time
-Pet dishes
-Spare collar and leash for tying up the spare dog that inevitably shows up lost after any storm (once it was a horse, but I don't have a spare halter and lead for the kit, so would just have to make do somehow.)
-Two flashlights that let's face it, probably won't work when we need them>8)
-Candles for a more reliable source of light/a bit of heat for warming hands
-A whistle in case we are trapped in the basement under rubble
-A "We're okay back here - no help needed" sign for the end of our very long driveway through the woods, so emergency workers don't waste time trying to clear it and reach us.

Should probably include but doesn't:
-A good tent
-Sleeping bags for every member of the household

Since I was both putting this together from things we had around the house, and trying to keep it reasonably compact, certain bulky items had to be left out. For shelter I would count on finding something to use - maybe the house is gone but barn or shed still standing, one of our cars made it through undamaged, or a neighbor within walking distance still has a house and lets us sleep there the first night. Even in the worst case scenario, their should be debris like metal roofing lying about that we could rig into a simple overhead shelter.

Oh, and if anyone is wondering why I've left out the obvious - water - it's because we would have a reliable source of it here even after a tornado.

Have you come up with your own unusual kits? Please share! :)

[iris lilies]

The only preparedness kit I have completed is my “Legacy” bag, discussed on another thread. Just completed.it contains all of our important papers except passports. It is intended for our executor/trustee, but we can grab it and go in an emergency.

[Zoe Girl]

I have lost power in the house many times, a fondue pot with sterno is really helpful. You can make tea (can't survive without tea!) Other than that I have a second checking account that get $50 a month in it in case anything happens with my primary account like losing the card or banking problems. I have had my last pair of glasses and an older inhaler handy, all my kid and I have had asthma.

Our preparedness has changed quite a bit in different states. In the mountains of Colorado we put at least 2 weeks of food in the freezer, had wood for the fireplace and didn't worry about water. If we lost power it was because of snow so we could melt and filter it. In California we had water and canned goods, the power loss and brown outs were often in the summer. Also everything was sealed in plastic. Now I am in the city, so I make sure I have cash and a few ways to get money, water, and canned foods. In each case I have an extra good first aid kit.

[Teacher Terry]

I have never had one.

[happystuff]

I've had a small grab and go back (and one for each of the family members) for years. Even now that the kids are grown, they still each have one. I also have a small one in each of the cars - all are backpacks for traveling/walking if necessary. They all should probably be gone through and updated. Have had them a long time and probably need to check on batteries, etc. Thanks for the reminder!

[bae]

I have a lot of various kits, for various circumstances: power outages, wildfire, wind storms, snow storms, earthquake, invasion by tourists.

The one I have in a bag in my truck which is perhaps well outside the normal envelope is my "Ebola bag". I'm on our infectious disease control team - we handle patient monitoring and transport for folks with "really bad" things, like Ebola. The bag consists of:

- water
- power bars
- biohazard suit: about a dozen sets of nitrile gloves, overgloves, boots, boot liners, boot covers, two sets of scrubs, two of the tyvek-like suits, masks, face shield, duct-tape for sealing things up, male external catheter, clipboard, forms, pens, checklists, ...
- disinfecting agents, pads, hazmat trash bag
- warning tape
- spare batteries for radios and other gear

[herbgeek]

I too have lots of kits. Most are not for disaster scenarios, but those items that make life more comfortable. In the car I have stuff to sleep comfortably overnight and heat food. I have pocket kits with Advil, bandaids, bobby pins, earplugs and that sort of thing. I also have a portable picnic kit with glasses, knife, cutting board, salt and pepper, napkins...

[Zoe Girl]

I have a lot of various kits, for various circumstances: power outages, wildfire, wind storms, snow storms, earthquake, invasion by tourists.



tourists! that must be an interesting kit. I wonder what I would include?

I have my backpack ready for basic meditation hiking. It includes the regular hiking gear, a TP kit, a notepad, and an inflatable pad from REI for sitting.

[Williamsmith]

Did I miss it, Tea. I didn’t see any mention of firearms, ammo, wristwatch and knives.

[Tea]

It is interesting reading about the different areas different people focus on in terms of preparedness.

Zoe Girl - The fondue pot and Sterno sound like a clever combination. I am fortunate in that my regular kitchen stove doesn't use electricity at all, so as long as my house is still standing, my cooking options are barely even effected by power outages. The oven is the only thing in my kitchen that uses electricity, and that's only for the thermostat. In a pinch I can set it on broil, and regulate the temperature manually by turning it on and off. The longest power outage we've experienced in this house lasted seventeen days (after a winter ice storm) and the longest summer power outage was eight days. Given where we live, we've been careful to structure things so electricity is a convenience and not a necessity! I also liked your idea of having a second checking account.

bae - Well, an Ebola kit definitely counts as unusual! Though given your job it makes perfect sense. Please clarify, do you actually have a tourist invasion kit? Maybe it was a voice to text mistake or something and you have a terrorist invasion kit. . . If it is tourist what's in it? The only thing coming to my mind is mosquitoes to loose on them to make them go home and quit annoying the locals :laff:

herbgeek - Your picnic kit sounds lovely - do you keep it in your car in case of impromptu picnics, or is it just what you pack when planning a picnic?

Williamsmith - What am I going to do, shoot the tornado for destroying my home?:laff: I live in a small rural community that comes together wonderfully during any short-term emergency, and this is not an apocalypse or long term wilderness survival kit. The more cut off from the outside world we are, the LESS worried we need to be about crime, and the last thing I would want to have to worry about would be someone's child getting a hold of the gun in the kit while my back was turned. Nor would being stored in a somewhat damp basement be good for a gun in the first place. No wrist watch either - working wind-up wrist watches are hard to find these days, and the few we have are packed away in BOBs. The tornado kit is just meant to keep everyone comfortable for a day or two, during which our cell phones would still have power if we for some reason really need to know the time. There is actually a knife in the tornado kit though, thanks for reminding me! I forgot to list an entire small tool kit consisting of:
-A sturdy hunting knife
-Pruners
-Folding saw
-Bailing twine
-Wire
-Pliers
-Pry-bar
-Hammer
-A box of nails

Obviously I would hope we would still have access to an entire basement with lots of additional tools, but the kit is just a few basics in case debris makes going in and out of the basement unsafe.

[herbgeek]

I keep my picnic kit in my road trip bag.

[Williamsmith]

I’d be interested in an explanation as to why you only pack a limited basic first aid kit for a natural disaster such as a tornado. There are lots of injuries of a severe nature that occur with the flying debris. Unless I missed it.

As far as the insignificance of rural crime, if you live in a neighborhood where you can trust all your neighbors during a crisis ....I tip my hat to you. Desperate people do desperate things. Prepared people are often targeted for theft and plunder. That’s why I was surprised you felt no need for security measures.

[Tea]

Space, cost (most of my more expensive first aid stuff is stored in the car kits, where I feel it's over all more likely to be needed) and the fact that we have a very safe roofed over storm bunker built in to the bottom of a deep basement, so the worst injuries members of my household would likely encounter would be getting cut on broken glass afterward or something. Sure, it would be great to have a more comprehensive first aid kit for helping neighbors in need, but it's not really my responsibility to spend a fortune stockpiling gear for other people, either. When you have as many different emergency kits tucked around as I do, and put them together on a tight budget, they cannot all have the best of everything, and compromises need to be made. Also, the seven houses that are close enough I think of them as "neighbors" include two police officers and one firefighter/EMT so it's not as if we're the only ones with first aid supplies on hand.

And yes, I trust people I've known all my life not to kill me for food that I'm willing to share anyway. At least, not in the hours immediately after an event like a tornado that only strikes a small area, when they know that help is on the way. . . What a sad world it would be if that were a real concern. We've experienced severe weather and prolonged power outages before, and everyone came together most admirably, as people generally do in such situations.

[bae]

.... it's not really my responsibility to spend a fortune stockpiling gear for other people, ...


Also, the seven houses that are close enough I think of them as "neighbors" include two police officers and one firefighter/EMT so it's not as if we're the only ones with first aid supplies on hand.


Hmmm.

One of these things is not like the other.

[bae]

Another preparedness kit:

The active shooter kit.

Contents:

body armor
spare magazines with ammo
lots of tourniquets and gauze
some NPA airways
needle decompression kits
chest seals
quickclot
spare trauma shears
triage markers
flashlights and chemlights
Sharpie

[Tea]

I wasn't suggesting that WE were counting on their help, more that they should, at a minimum, be able to take care of their own families. Also, some of the gear they have is paid for by state or local government - tax dollars - not out of their own pockets. So yes, when it comes to helping OTHER NEIGHBORS who may be injured and unprepared, it is more the responsibility of the trained professionals who have professional gear on hand, paid for by state and county tax money, than it is mine.

Many people have no after tornado plan whatsoever, and the fact that I have made sure my own household is prepared enough not to be a burden - and to even be a small help to our community - does not in any way obligate me to prepare for any possible emergency that any of the neighbors might have following a storm. That would be a ridiculous burden to put on any individual household.

[silly moo]

We do a lot of outdoor activities during warm weather, so I always keep a light blanket, sunscreen, bug spray, water bottles, and personal fans in the car. I usually have a pair of socks and shoes as well since my daughter tends to walk around either barefoot or in flip flops. We have pulled up to a restaurant and realized my daughter was barefoot, and there have been a few times where she needed socks and/or real shoes and only had sandals. I also keep a spare charger and cords for our phones. My hotel kit is a personal DVD player for the ride there and that cord so we can plug the dvd player into the hotel tv to watch movies, and microwave popcorn. Sometimes I even have to bring a microwave. I bought a small one just for traveling.

I keep a wind-up/battery operated weather radio and spare phone charger with cords in our basement since we are in tornado country. We had a mattress and some patio furniture down there just in case, and then one of my daughter's friends started a rumor that we had a hostage so my husband put an end to the mattress and furniture. Lol. All of our camping supplies are down there, so we could just pull out the sleeping bags and air mattresses if we needed to. I just wanted something that would soften the blow if things started flying around and a mattress might work for that.

I use a smallish tackle bag to keep our first aid kit in our car. I use it more than I thought I would although it is usually for someone else's kid.

[Tea]

I used to have one of those wind-up radios, but it only lasted a year before being stored in a cold basement ruined it's rechargeable battery. I was pretty annoyed, as the thing was not cheap!>:( Maybe someday I will try again with a different model, and hope for better results. Meanwhile my plug in weather radio that's in use all the time has a long lasting lithium back-up battery, so works during power outages, but it is up in the main house where batteries actually keep. Our basement is weird and deep like some sort of cave/bomb shelter/I don't know what, lol, so not a lot of things store well down there. It probably would not have been my choice if having one put in myself, but it's good to know we are completely and totally safe from any storm, at least.

If you have a basement where things could start flying around, I can see why you liked having a mattress for extra protection. Another thing I have seen recommended is to put an old/spare bike helmet or sports helmet for each member of the family in your storm shelter. Put them on during a tornado to help prevent head injuries. I believe that's particularly recommended if you don't have any basement and have to resort to using a closet as a shelter, but hey, if you don't feel like your basement is deep enough or it's not reinforced overhead, it couldn't hurt to take extra precautions, right? It seems like most people with kids have more helmets lying around than they are actually using regularly.

Personal fans - good idea, could come in useful if you ever ended up sitting in a bad traffic jam on a hot day, and your air conditioning wasn't working well. And, of course, for regular use at public events.

Kudos for packing shoes for your daughter - I remember my sister doing that all the time when we were kids, getting to a restaurant with our grandparents or something, and the grownups realizing too late that she had no shoes! You are a thoughtful and prepared parent.:)

[Williamsmith]

I would adjust your kit to incorporate security or self defense options. Add a tactical pen made of aerospace grade aluminum with a sharp point you could use to discourage an unexpected visitor with bad intentions. A multi tool with an impact end for breaking out windshields and a cutting tool for seatbelt extractions. A reliable folding knife with a clip for everyday carry on your person at all times. A flashlight that is rechargeable by USB and small enough to comfortably carry everyday clipped inside your other pocket. I have a 600 lumen O-light that has a strobe setting and two intensity settings. The strobe is a great self defense tool as well as a locator for searchers. A watch for everyday carry as well. A small pistol that could be stored in a secured safe inside your vehicle and accessed if needed. Small enough to be carried on your person in a disaster situation and never available to any children.

[catherine]

As far as the insignificance of rural crime, if you live in a neighborhood where you can trust all your neighbors during a crisis ....I tip my hat to you. Desperate people do desperate things. Prepared people are often targeted for theft and plunder. That’s why I was surprised you felt no need for security measures.



And yes, I trust people I've known all my life not to kill me for food that I'm willing to share anyway. At least, not in the hours immediately after an event like a tornado that only strikes a small area, when they know that help is on the way. . . What a sad world it would be if that were a real concern. We've experienced severe weather and prolonged power outages before, and everyone came together most admirably, as people generally do in such situations.

I'm more closely aligned with Tea on this. I'm thinking about my Vermont neighborhood, where we have 9 neighbors. As most of you know, I've only known my new neighbors for one year, but I've already said something like "If there were ever a nuclear war, I'm glad I'm up here with these guys." They are so savvy with survival skills. Whereas our neighbors in New Jersey would call AAA to jump a car battery (even I can do that!), these guys hunt for dinner, chop wood for winter fuel, they know how to pull lake water up for greywater use in their homes, they can build a shed with electricity over the course of two weekends. One's a roofer, one's an electrician, and they all have tremendous "smarts" when it comes to these basic living skills. Even their 13 year old kids are amazingly savvy. I honestly don't know what I have to offer, except some veggies, fruits and herbs from my home garden.

And, if it came to a short-term weather event, I know they would have my back. I don't know what would happen if society decayed to a Lord of the Flies environment, but I'm certainly not prepping for that.

ETA: In answer to the OP question, I actually have no preparedness kit except for overstock from Costco and a bunch of tea lights. The omission is not intentional. I should get around to it at some point. I'd start with a solar emergency radio. I've been meaning to get one ever since Hurricane Sandy. DH and I have never owned a gun, but I do have mace from when I ordered 3-4 different kinds for my daughter when she lived in a quasi-shady neighborhood in DC.

[Tybee]

Zoe, I am kind of inspired by the Sterno fondue pot comment. I occasionally see wonderful Copco fondue set ups from the 70's and have wanted an excuse to buy one, so you have given me one. I saw a nice copper one at the Goodwill yesterday, but I'd prefer one of those excellent ones from the 70.s, for nostalgia reasons. I have a mid-century vibe going with my dishes and it would fit in very well. Kind of recreating nice tables I remember from the early 70's when I was in college in Massachusetts.

I keep blankets in my car and food and dog chews ever since we got stuck for three hours once waiting for AAA. Also extra shorts and shirts and shoes in the summer for when we go swimming.

Emergency prednisone in my purse for anaphylactic allergy reactions. Also epi pens. I do try to stockpile medicine.

We keep water in the house and some food and no guns; if the folks across the street with the little kid want our food, I'd rather give it to the little kid than keep it for myself, as I am getting old.

Like Catherine, I don't want to shoot it out with the zombies who arrive in the apocalypse; there is no way I can keep up with that sort of firepower, and it presents its own problems. We had a difficult time getting rid of the 40 or so firearms in my folks' house; they keep showing up in the oddest places, and I am so relieved that they are finally out of there. On the plus side, I think they paid for a month or two of assisted living for my parents. But there is no way I am telling Mom her favorite pistol is gone.

ETA I have a crank up emergency radio that I gave to my parents about 25 years ago and found at their house, still in the box. I took that back and we'll see if it works.

[Teacher Terry]

When we lived in Kansas we bought a weather radio because we were sleeping through tornadoes. We purposefully had the kids bedrooms in the basement so they were safe with walk out windows with a ladder.

[silly moo]

I prefer bear spray instead of mace. It shoots a stream instead of a cloud so it is more accurate, and you can start spraying while the threat is farther away from you. It would be my luck that a wind would whip up just as I sprayed, and it would go straight into my eyes. The bear spray I have had a much longer expiration date compared to the mace it replaced, but maybe I was sold an older can of mace. The only drawback is that the can is a lot larger, but that might be a deterrent to up-to-no-good humans. I carry it when I walk at night because we have a large pack of coyotes. They are not impressed by the size of my can.

I'm at a loss as to what to do for my daughter. I had a belt strap in her backpack and showed her how to strap it on to the piston thingy on her door at school so an intruder couldn't open it without a lot of force. I also had a menacing key chain in her bag but a teacher told her to leave it at home. I'm lucky she didn't get suspended, but teachers are just as concerned as parents. I was even considering buying a ballistic plate for her backpack, but it wouldn't help now that she is in middle school. They are required to keep their bags in lockers outside of the classrooms. I don't even think that they have to old style doors with the arm pistons, either. At least she would be able to keep the belt in a small purse. Maybe add a tactical pen, but I don't want her to get suspended.

[saguaro]

When we lived in Kansas we bought a weather radio because we were sleeping through tornadoes. We purposefully had the kids bedrooms in the basement so they were safe with walk out windows with a ladder.

We are in an area that doesn't get a lot of tornadoes but we do get them. After one especially active season, in which we had some active warnings after nightfall, we got the weather radio.