Survivalist Emergency Backpack Recommendations

[SkinBasket]

Need to remember to get a can opener. Don't want to happen upon a stash of hundred of cans of food and not be able to open it without shooting it.

[Iron Mike]

This might not be a bad thing to get a hold of:

http://www.epipen.com/

[MJZiggy]

Why don't you just go to the Army Surplus store and get everything at once. Don't forget a pup tent and for godssakes a DS. Otherwise you'll have to entertain the children during the apocalypse. And lots of batteries.

[red]

It's not a flashlight. It's a headlamp. As in hands free. I own one. And a bunch of other lights. And this is the one that I grab most often. I use the headlamps all the time.

If you want to spend less, then this is very good too.

http://www.princetontec.com/?q=eos

But it doesn't tail stand.

Or you could order some cheap Chinese stuff from DX. Some of it is pretty good too.


But when the Apocalypse comes, you will all covet my Zebralight.

during the apocalypse, i'm gonna wander around and beat the hell out of everyone i see with a head lamp with my 6 cell maglite. just because i think they look stupid

[SkinBasket]

If we have to use the backpack it means we will be mobile in a disastrous situation, leaving the stored food, water, shelter, safety and ammunition of our residence, which would mean things are not going well for the world, or at least our part of the world. A tent screams, "Come kill us and take our stuff." The 1 pound tarp will be fine.

I might get up in the attic this fall to build a kind of safe room/hidden storage area in case we need to fall back for safety or leave our stuff behind and hopefully be able to return for it later.

[3irty1]

More thoughts:

Geiger counter? Don't know what these cost and will only be useful in a very specific apocalyptic situation but a) You're not going to be able to loot one. b) It'll save all of your bacon.

Bacon. In the post apocalyptic world, bacon just might be the new currency. Worst case scenario is you get to eat bacon.

Everclear. You've got a whole bunch of liquids you are talking about and I'm pretty sure most of them can be replaced with a bottle of everclear. You can sanitize wounds or drinking water with it. You can get drunk off of it. You can clean a firearm with it. You can make a wicked Molotov cocktail with it. You could even use it to fuel a car for 10 miles. Lets say you are stranded in a building surrounded by zombies and you find a chainsaw but no gas... Not a problem. Take a swig, fill up your motoraxe and hope that one of them is your old boss.

Folding shovel. The more I think about this the better of an idea it is. A shovel could be really useful for digging pitfall traps, shelters, burying your family, and could make a decent weapon. If I'm not mistaken there was an agreement made in WWI not to use bayonets and the soldiers instead started shoveling Nazi's in the windpipe when they tried to get cute storming trenches and such.

You should also study this picture:

Pictured is a log fall trap but clearly displays the trigger mechanism. The log can obviously be replaced with anything else that would hurt if it fell on you--one of the easiest traps to make in an urban environment. Using this basic trigger you can replace the weight of the log with any number of other traps. You can bend a tree down and attach a snare to it, you could bend a limb back and lash a knife to it, etc.

Fishing line and hooks. I already suggested this but consider that there are several apocalyptic scenarios where fish are the only things safe to eat. They don't take up much room or contribute much weight. You can use the line as an invisible trip wire in the above booby traps. You could even use the hook/line for sewing to perform surgery or repair clothing.

Instead of an axe or hatchet consider a cleaver. It'll be quite a bit more compact and lighter, more useful as a knife and still heavy enough to do some light chopping. You can always lash something to it to give yourself a mechanical advantage and have an axe or halberd or something. Plus you'll look really bad ass as the only guy walking around with a cleaver.

[SkinBasket]

Geiger counter starts @ $200, $500 average. I'm going to have to wing that one and just look for two headed fish.

Bacon is already in storage.

Everclear looks perfect. Thanks.

I've considered the shovel. Not decided yet.

The traps I might be fucked on. Not very good with that kind of stuff and I would probably kill myself. I'm also not a good fisherman., but you're right. Line and hooks and some wire for rings would add no noticeable weight. They're in.

I think the utility knife might be my only blade.

[MJZiggy]

If we have to use the backpack it means we will be mobile in a disastrous situation, leaving the stored food, water, shelter, safety and ammunition of our residence, which would mean things are not going well for the world, or at least our part of the world. A tent screams, "Come kill us and take our stuff." The 1 pound tarp will be fine.

I might get up in the attic this fall to build a kind of safe room/hidden storage area in case we need to fall back for safety or leave our stuff behind and hopefully be able to return for it later.

Doesn't having all of you sleeping in the open scream "come kill us and take our stuff?" Also give someone with a gun something to aim at from a distance whereas in a tent they have to come right up into it to find out where to shoot and by that time, they're dead because you're just that paranoid. Besides, in a tent, you're not sleeping in fallout rain. Imagine how the kids would do trying to sleep in the rain...

[3irty1]

You might want to bring a salt and sugar mixture. Salt is pretty hard to come by in nature unless you have access to seawater. You only need to bring a couple of ounces for it to be pretty useful. You can use it to cure or brine to preserve any meat you can get a hold of without refrigeration. With sugar mixed in it can also preserve any fruit you might happen upon (confit). In a pinch a 1% solution can be mixed with water and taken orally or intravenously to replenish nutrients should someone lose a lot of blood. You could use it to help thaw ice or help prevent frostbite. It could also be mixed with ice to achieve temperatures below freezing which could be useful for primitive anesthesia or for freezing and removing radiation burn and other skin lesions. Should you hijack a concrete truck with the plans of pouring yourself a bunker, you can add your mixture to the readymix which will retard the curing so you can get it where you want it, construct a mold, and pour it before its unusable.

Edit, use coarse salt and sugar if possible. Then you can use it to make non-lethal shotgun shells as well.

Edit again, you can use your sugar/salt mixture to create a white smoke bomb if combined with gun powder or with potassium nitrate fertilizer and magnesium shavings from your army flint.

[3irty1]

Check out an indian reservation between now and July 4th and you can get yourself some pretty potent chinese skycandy. M80's can make fishing foolproof, be used as a weapon or as a signal.

[GrnBay007]

I might get up in the attic this fall to build a kind of safe room/hidden storage area in case we need to fall back for safety or leave our stuff behind and hopefully be able to return for it later.

I think u are in serious need of a night out with Nutz. Go watch some strippers or something.

[SkinBasket]

Doesn't having all of you sleeping in the open scream "come kill us and take our stuff?" Also give someone with a gun something to aim at from a distance whereas in a tent they have to come right up into it to find out where to shoot and by that time, they're dead because you're just that paranoid. Besides, in a tent, you're not sleeping in fallout rain. Imagine how the kids would do trying to sleep in the rain...

No one's going to be out in the open. This isn't a camping trip. Black tarp pitched low and covered by ambient junk for camo. Debris, branches, whatever. I would rather use that weight and space for a couple sleeping bags. Only pansies would be in a tent post apocalypse. You do know tents aren't bulletproof right?

[MJZiggy]

No one's going to be out in the open. This isn't a camping trip. Black tarp pitched low and covered by ambient junk for camo. Debris, branches, whatever. I would rather use that weight and space for a couple sleeping bags. Only pansies would be in a tent post apocalypse. You do know tents aren't bulletproof right?

I know tents aren't bulletproof, but you also can't see exactly where the people are inside them. How are you planning on camouflaging the whining children when the emergency happens in the winter and it's snow mixed with rain and they are wet and getting frostbite? Not all apocalypses happen in dry summer, you know.

[mraynrand]

I know tents aren't bulletproof, but you also can't see exactly where the people are inside them. How are you planning on camouflaging the whining children when the emergency happens in the winter and it's snow mixed with rain and they are wet and getting frostbite? Not all apocalypses happen in dry summer, you know.

They have two choices: STFU or die

[mraynrand]

You might want to bring a salt and sugar mixture. Salt is pretty hard to come by in nature unless you have access to seawater. You only need to bring a couple of ounces for it to be pretty useful. You can use it to cure or brine to preserve any meat you can get a hold of without refrigeration. With sugar mixed in it can also preserve any fruit you might happen upon (confit). In a pinch a 1% solution can be mixed with water and taken orally or intravenously to replenish nutrients should someone lose a lot of blood. You could use it to help thaw ice or help prevent frostbite. It could also be mixed with ice to achieve temperatures below freezing which could be useful for primitive anesthesia or for freezing and removing radiation burn and other skin lesions. Should you hijack a concrete truck with the plans of pouring yourself a bunker, you can add your mixture to the readymix which will retard the curing so you can get it where you want it, construct a mold, and pour it before its unusable.

Edit, use coarse salt and sugar if possible. Then you can use it to make non-lethal shotgun shells as well.

Edit again, you can use your sugar/salt mixture to create a white smoke bomb if combined with gun powder or with potassium nitrate fertilizer and magnesium shavings from your army flint.

You just earned yourself a spot in my bunker. I have plenty of salt pork, a solar array with batteries, and a water purifier.