Additional Supplies & Gear (Level 2 Prepping & Preparedness)

Supplies and Gear. Enough to cover a period of time up to 1 month at home.

So you’ve graduated from the requirements of Level 1 Preparedness. You have also addressed other topic issues for Level 2 (see below for links to other articles in the series). Now lets address this one:

Supplies & Gear For 1 Month Survival At Home

Level 2 preparedness is not the end of the world. The presumption here is a regional or local event. There’s major disruption of your lifestyle and external re-supply for more than a week. And worst case up to several weeks – even a month. The power will likely be out for the duration.

This happens more than you may realize in areas around the country. Most often it’s caused by severe weather of some sort.

Though it could get ugly out there, you’re going to be alright, so long as you have enough supplies to make it through. Provided that you don’t live in a potentially dangerous area, you will likely be relatively safe at home. Though that might change if you actually reach week 3 or week 4.

In the case of a local or regional disaster, there will likely be some form of assistance and help out there. But, don’t count on it. Don’t depend on it. Rather, be self reliant and depend on yourself!

Consumable Supplies

We’ve already covered water, food, and security in other Level 2 articles (see below). So that leaves supplies and gear. Here’s how I see it…

You will already have the normal supplies for ordinary living. But simply consider additional inventory in a few categories. General priorities are to include having “enough” of the following to last up to a month:

TOILET PAPER!
Disposable Paper Plates, Cups, Utensils
Trash Bags
Hygiene Products

Gear

Gear that may be unique to a survival-at-home situation. Stuff that you might not ordinarily have, or have enough of, may include the following:

Portable Stove, extra fuel for it

Generator, Xtra Fuel, Xtra gas jugs (stored safely)

Portable Propane Heater, Xtra Fuel

Countertop Water Filter

Portable Toilet & Bags

Water Jugs

Wagon or Yard Cart

Sleeping Bag, Xtra Warm Blankets (wintertime?)

Buckets, Basins (washing, cleaning, sanitary)

Solar Charger for common consumer devices

Rechargeable Batteries

Solar Battery Charger

Candles (operate with caution)

Headlamp

LED Lantern

Battery Operated Long Range AM Radio

Portable Shortwave Radio

I could continue and brainstorm more thoughts of helpful gear unique to surviving at home for several weeks without external re-supply. However all you need to do is sit back and think for awhile. Picture your day-to-day during this period. What would you be doing and what gear might you need to help get through the period?

Remember, this is not an all out end-of-the-world disaster. But you do need to make it for several weeks (or possibly up to a month) on your own. Most ordinary people today probably could not. And a scary portion probably wouldn’t even make through Level 1 without external help.

[ Read: Preparedness Level 1 – 4 Series Overview ]