100 Items To Store For Survival
I’ve been thinking about putting a list together for you of 100 items you should store for survival. We can all use a reminder, right? You may have a few of these, or some of you may have all of them. Hopefully, some of these items you can pick up at a dollar-type store.
I just started a Food Storage Moms FaceBook Group if you are interested in a private group setting. My idea is for people to be able to ask questions and post good sales or ideas they have for preparedness. This is different than the regular Food Storage Mom Facebook.
Here’s the link, you just have to ask to join it. It’s easy, I promise. Food Storage Moms FaceBook Group
It’s all about buying smart and with the least amount of money. Sometimes you can pick up some of these on clearance tables on super sales days at your local grocery stores. One Can At a Time or Canned Food I Recommend
Stores Can Close Without Warning
Either way, start gathering some of these items slowly and you can check them off as you go. My biggest fear is having the stores close at the last minute and me being out of something I need, like aspirin.
I tend to get really bad headaches and the only thing that cuts the pain is good old aspirin. So you can probably picture, I have three bottles stored at all times. I own it.
I’m not a doomsday prepper, but I am an expert preparedness chick. In other words, I’m prepared for the unexpected. It’s a way of life for me, and I’m sure for many of you. I tip my hat to you for learning the skills as you go along.
By the way, when I pick up extra bottles of anything I always look at the expiration date. I’m not here to talk about the legitimacy of expiration dates. I only buy what I can use during that period of time. If it goes a little over that date I’m fine with it.
We know we need fuel, cooking pans and ways to cook food outside. These are simple items we can pick up throughout the year.
100 Items To Store For Survival
Water
1. Water is number one, my suggestion is four gallons of water per person per day.
Food Items
2. Rice How to Cook Rice
3. Pasta (you can stretch any meal with a little extra macaroni). Your family’s favorite grain could be a great substitute.
4. Beans, canned or bags of dry beans.
5. Snack Ramen noodles (these are filling, and you can add your own spices).
6. Canned vegetables, be sure and buy the ones your family will eat.
7. Canned fruits, and be sure to choose your favorite ones so the family will eat them.
8. Pancake mix, yes you can make them from scratch, but it’s nice to have some that you just add water. Don’t forget the syrup, but jam will do.
9. Biscuit Mixes, yes they are processed, but if we have an emergency I can just add water and bake.
10. Cold Cereal, be sure and choose the ones you will eat.
11. Instant milk
12. Peanut butter and jam (Peanut butter powder, thanks, Arthur).
13. Crackers, if you can’t make bread, you can eat crackers with peanut butter and jam or tuna with mayo on crackers.
14. Kool-Aid mixes or Tang (just add water).
15. Salt and Pepper
16. Spaghetti Sauce
17. Chili
18. Canned meats (mayo and Miracle Whip)
19. Canned Soups (if you have instant milk and water, soup can be made in no time).
20. Mac and Cheese (what child doesn’t like this).
21. Flour (if you have the basics you can make bread, biscuits, pancakes, crackers, and tortillas).
22. Yeast (Saf Instant is my favorite)
23. Oil
23. Sugar or honey
24 Cinnamon, chili powder and your favorite spices.
25. Oatmeal, who loves cooked oatmeal, raise your hand!
First Aid Supplies
26. Bandages or Band-aids
27. Neosporin
28. Aspirin
29. Fever reducer for children and adults, and thermometers.
30. Cough syrup
31. Benadryl
32. Cotton balls/Q-Tips
33. Vaseline, you can use this for so many things.
34. Bag Balm or Shea Butter
35. Essential Oils
36. Silver, drops or gel
37. Cough Lozenges
38. Vicks VapoRub
39. Epsom Salts Linda’s post on Uses of Epsom Salts
40. Apple Cider Vinegar Linda’s Apple Cider Vinegar Ideas
Survival Items
41. Phone chargers (preferably solar).
42. Flashlights (store batteries or buy solar).
43. Lanterns
44. Paracord, twine or rope
45. Knife(s)
46. Multi-task knife
47. N-95 masks (various sizes)
48. Matches (waterproof or regular)
49. Garbage bags
50. Baggies
51. Duct tape
Homestead-Garden Needs
52. Shovels (large and small)
53. Garden gloves
54. Soil amendments
55. Garden Seeds, be sure and buy only organic non-GMO ones.
Paper Products
56. Toilet paper
57. Paper towels
58. Plastic silverware
59. Paper bowls
60. Paper cups
61. Napkins
Personal Hygiene Necessities
62. Tampons
63. Menstrual Pads
64. Shampoo
65. Conditioner
66. Razors/Scissors
67. Shaving cream
68. Toothbrushes
69. Brush/Combs
70. Disposable diapers (babies and adults)
71. Baby wipes
72. Hand sanitizer
73. Made up bags for unexpected roomies Bags with Hygiene Items
74. Bars of soap
75. Wash bucket
76. Clothesline
77. Clothespins
78. Clothespin Holder
79. Laundry Detergent (be sure and keep your laundry done, and store at least a years worth of soap).
80. Buckets
81. Chapstick, if it has an SPF number it will protect your lips in the sun, hopefully.
82. Rags, I like to keep clean rags in a drawer to use for emergencies of any kind.
Cleaning Supplies
83. Clorox, if your sewer backs up, you will need bleach to kill the bacteria.
84. 409 Spray
85. Febreze Spray
Miscellaneous
86. Linda’s Book Prepare Your Family For Survival
87. Emergency medical handbook to use when the emergency room is not available Medical Handbook .
88. Headlamps like they use in mines.
89. Chocolate, dark or light works for me.
90. Books that are in hard form, if we lose power we may not be able to use e-books.
91. Playing Cards
92. Children’s books, if we are cooped up in a school, or even our house, having some colored pencils and coloring books or tablets would keep the young ones distracted from most disasters.
93. Bible or book you study as part of your religion.
94. Ax
95. Chainsaw, that neighbor down the street with a chainsaw may be your new best friend.
96. Emergency Colored Tape, I talked about this in another post, red means needs immediate help, yellow means delay/not immediate, green means they are ok to wait for assistance, black means death.
97. Tents or tarps
98. Extra Socks/Shoes
99. Coats, hats, gloves in case of inclement weather.
100. Blankets/Sleeping Bags
101. Coffee filters (they can be used for so many things)
Final Word
I believe the more we see items we need to store for survival the more we will get started adding the items we need now, not next year. Thanks for being prepared for the unexpected. May God bless this world, Linda
Great list. Along with checking the expiration/best by dates on food items, I always use a sharpie and mark the date I purchased the item on the can/box. Just helps me with rotation.
Hi Karl, I have so many black sharpies! Great comment! Linda
I would add coffee filters. I pick up a pack every time I go to the store. I try to keep a couple thousand on hand.
Hi Judy, good idea. I will add that right now. Linda
cc 100 items for survival – My Grandmother always said if you had woods for firewood, a garden and your farm animals, you would survive. Her monthly shopping list consisted of 5 items : coffee, tea, yeast, white flour and oatmeal. Occasionally baking powder. Her ‘extras’ were white sugar (we had honey bees), maybe chocolate. When she ran out of yeast, we had cornbread (grew and ground our own cornmeal). She canned, stored and dried her garden. We gathered nuts, picked berries. Had our own chickens and milk cows. Raised pigs (Remember having to corral the piglets in the backseat of their Ford Fairlane. She bought her feeds at the local feed store (although we didn’t really need to) but she basically did it for the printed feedsacks which became clothes and linens. Made a lot of her own herbal remedies and soaps – even candles. SO-_ that list would work for ‘city folk’ but “country folk would survive”. (I will admit that toilet paper would be on my list)
Hi Judy. I love your comment about your grandmother! That would be my dream, going back to those days. Love it, Linda
Linda, thank you for the list, Very helpful. I wrote it in my survival notebook and was glad I already had some of the things you suggest. I was glad to see water at the top of your list, as we cannot survive long without water. Love all I am learning from you.
My concern with food is we need nutritionally dense foods at all times and also in emergency situations. Thus, our bodies need to be adjusted to the texture and tastes NOW, not in the emergency moment. This is why I started years ago to feed my family more from basic foods. Tastes can be changed with time for absolute certain. My concern with refined foods is they usually do not fill us nor give enough nutrition for decent survival. For instance: if wanting to keep pancake mix on hand, make a whole wheat mix and keep it in the fridge since the whole wheat needs cool to last longer. Ramen ittself is refined, but maybe have some freeze-dried veggies such as peas and corn on hand to add to it? Train self and family to use water for thirst, not sweetened drinks or soda pop (maybe have those on occasion, not everyday). Over time, I chose a few vegetables and fruits, and meats/fish, to be kept on hand either canned or home-bottled. Pasta is also refined, so we make certain to have it with sides of vegetables and/or salad. If we have ONE refined food in a meal, no more is added for that meal, meaning: if we have spaghetti…pasta is refined food……, we have a veggie or two, and a salad, but no garlic bread, as that is a refined food. But if I make red lentil tomato soup, we can opt to have that with garlic bread. Always striving to make meals as nutritionally dense as possible, but taste is also important. My meal rule: taste/nutrition/fiber
Thus my list:
wheat
oatmeal
rice
unbleached flour
pasta
brown rice (keep in fridge as it has essential oils that can go rancid fast)
stoneground cornmeal (Bob’s Red Mill….keep in fridge as it has essential oils that can go rancid fast)
beans
lentils (high in protein)
dry milk
peanut butter
jams, homemade with Cornaby’s E Z Gel (we like to make them with low sugar)
honey / sugar / molasses
oil (usually: avocado oil), olive oil, butter
sea salt, pepper, spices, herbs, flavoring
vegetables/fruits: dried apple slices, dried carrots, dried onions, potato flakes are the basis, but we do store more than these of things we like
Meats/tuna fish
Eggs; also powdered whole eggs and powdered egg whites
yeast/baking powder/baking soda/ non-gmo cornstarch
We keep cans of spaghetti sauce, chili, and soup (mostly home-bottled soup) on hand for easy meals.
I make dry mixes of several recipes to help shorten dinner-prep time
Hi Janet, I’m so glad you shared your list. It reminds me I need to go get some lentils, cornmeal, and Cornaby’s E-Z Gel. I love this because we can compare and remind each other. I love it, Linda
Judy, I love your post!!!!! It reminds me of all I learned from my dear grandma. Thank you!!!!