Since my family is on a limited prepping budget (and, lets face it maybe we are wrong & nothing will happen) I like to get the most bang for my prepping buck by buying prepping items that also have non-prepping purpose.
Here are some examples
Everclear Corn Whiskey
THERE! Now that I have your attention!Everclear Corn Whiskey is the swiss army knife of liquids. It is sold in small "mickey" style bottles for $10 to $12. It's 180 proof (90%) alcohol, which means there is about as much alcoholin the mickey as there is in a 26 of a regular whiskey, vodka or rum.
It is useful for drinking if diluted properly. It's useful for barter or bribe. It's high alcohol content means it has medicinal uses like
anastetic (alcohol is the oldest anasthetic) or as an alcohol rub for fever reduction. It can also sterilize skin or instruments. It is flammable and can be used for fire starter. We have 10 bottles on hand even though we aren't big drinkers for these reasons. Also 10 bottles is exactly how much it would take to fill the gas tank on our generator if
we had no choice but to run the generator on alcohol.
Hard Candies
A disaster or emergency is hard on the morale of kids and adults both. In such an atomosphere there are few treats. Hard candies have an unlimited shelf life. If you don't need them for an emergency buy them anyway.
You won't need to buy some for thre trick or treaters on Halloween.
Garbage Bags
Besides day to day garbage. They can be used for everything from improvised rain gear to fixing broken windows to an improvised porta potty. Contractor grade are the best if you are thinking about porta potty.
Used Bread Bags
A million uses and free
Extension CordsWhether you are plugging into the generator or setting up the Christmas tree like duct tape you can't have enough.
Duct Tape, Electrical Tape, Clear Packing Tape, Green Painter’s Masking Tape
Plastic Blow Up Kiddie Pool
Our daughter likes to splash around - fine. A kiddie pool can also be used as a make shift bathtub. It's deflatable so it can be packed & stored easily. If it gets torn & deflates you
still have a rubber sheet to keep out rain or a ground sheet.
Plastic Picnic Coolers -
We are in the process of getting rid of all of our Canadian Tire & Wal Mart plastic storage bins in the attic and replacing them with
plastic picnic coolers that we buy at garage sales & thrift stores. We can keep our attic junk in them but in an emergency we can dump out the junk wash them out quick and fill them
with food or drinking water. they are also a lot sturdier than regular storage bins.
2 litre Pop Bottles
Buy your pop but keep the bottles for drinking water. Freeze a few & keep them in your freezer. If the power goes out your freezer will stay cold longer.
If you go camping you have already frozen picnic cooler ice packs without having to buy chemical packs. If no emergency happens and you get sick of having them around
then empty them and take them in for the deposit money.
Salt One of the Mormon 4 foods. Cheap. 100's of uses. A big bag can cure meat in a survival situation or clean ice off a sidewalk in good times.
Fishing Line
Next to duct tape this is one of the best McGuyver resources you can find.
Biggest Felt Tip Marker You Can FindYou can adverise a garage sale or leave a prepper message sign. ex. - "John, had to bug out with kids. Meet us at Uncle Jim's farm." - Mom
Photo AlbumsEveryone wants to put thier pics on digital frames now but some you want in old fashioned hard copy if for no other reason than you don't want to be changing memory storage formats every few years. Get one small enough to fit in a fireproof box. Then in behind the photos you can keep the passports, the insurance papers, land title papers ect ect.
So when the SHTF and you have one moment to grab & go (think Slave Lake) grab the fireproof box (see minifridge below) containing the photo album. Not only will save the pics but your vital info as well.
3 way minifridge
This is a small fridge that can run on 110 volt household A/C current, 12 volt D/C car battery current or propane.
For those with diabetes or M.S. who have injectable medications or anyone with medications that need refrigeration (many children's antibiotics) this is
an indespensible item. Also a fridge is a fine makeshift large fireproof safe. (See photo albums - above).
If you buy it and there is no emergency then it makes a nice bar fridge or camping cooler.
Sweats Good loose fitting all purpose clothing.
Tin Foil
No, not for a hat. For wrapping food, keeping the house or car cool when there is no air conditioning (put it in the windows) ect ect.
For quickly making a Farady cage if you are concerned about the solar flare/electronics thing.
Bicycle
Gold & Silver jewellry
Buy her the gold bracelet she liked for her birthday. A birthday present and a prep. Two birds with one stone.
Shop Vac
It has a pump on it for flooded basements. If your Electrolux goes on the fritz and costs $150 to fix and you haven't got the money. Use the shop vac to clean your house.
Kid's little red wagon.
A toy or a trailer for your bicycle if that is your post disaster mode of transport
Chlorine Bleach (non scented)Sterilizing and water purification
Please give us your "twofers"
Wow i'm loving this post forward i'm pretty new to the prepping lifestyle but thanks for sharing this knowledge man!
One question where do u buy this corn whiskey? Any liquor store?
"It's better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it!"
Wow i'm loving this post forward i'm pretty new to the prepping lifestyle but thanks for sharing this knowledge man!
One question where do u buy this corn whiskey? Any liquor store?
I guess so. I've really only gone to the small family owned liquor store near where I live in Calgary. I expect if they have it others will as well.
If you are just starting out, take my word for it BUY THIS BOOK! "When All Hell Breaks Loose" By Cody Lundin. It will save you time & money in your preps and get you headed in the right direction. There's no Rambo B.S. in here. Real practical advice. The author won't tell you to buy a Humvee, 200 acres of bush land and C-7 rifle.
I liked the book so much I bought two more for friends and loaned mine to a buddy.
You can get it in Chapters in Calgary (probably Indigo & Coles too).
This book is also available through Amazon.ca in hard copy and can be purchased for $9.21 for a kindle edition. As long as you have an item downloaded onto your kindle and don't archive it, you can access it at anytime. They come with a 110 v charger with a USB style adapter which can be used with a solar power charger. I like the kindle format since you can turn off the wireless, WI-FI and everything remains on the machine and you can carry several thousand books in memory. It gives you access to all of your emergency books, survival cookbooks, wild game issues and some recreational reading when you need a mental break in a very small package. Easy to carry and everything is there!
"It's better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret"