If you are looking for products having to do with general emergency preparedness, the following list of preparedness-related items will provide you with some ideas:
30-Day Emergency Food Storage Pail
Augason Farms Lunch & Dinner Emergency Food Supply
Pinto Beans Emergency Food Storage Pail
White Rice Emergency Food Storage Pail
Big Berkey Tabletop Water Filter
550 Paracord (550lb, 7 Strand)
PRI-G Gasoline Treatment (for long term gas storage)
PRI-D Diesel Treatment (for long term diesel storage)
Coleman Expedition 205-Piece All Purpose First Aid Kit
TP Stash! Quilted Northern Ultra Plush Double Rolls, 48 Count
Flashlight – Streamlight Pen Light
Survival Blankets (Mylar – Camo)
Handheld FRS/GMRS 2-Way Radios
Solar Charger (for smartphone’s & devices)
Solar Battery Charger (C.Crane)
Best AA Rechargeable Batteries
Battery Charger (for Eight AA/AAA/C/D NiMH Batteries)
Wonder Junior Deluxe Hand Grain / Flour Mill
55-gallon Emergency Water Storage Supply Kit
The Encyclopedia of Country Living
Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival
KA-BAR Full Size US Marine Corps Knife
Datrex 3600 calorie Emergency Food Bar Pack
Generator – Super Quiet Portable ‘Yamaha EF2000iSv2’ 1600/2000 Watts
Mr. Heater Buddy (Indoor-Safe Emergency Portable Heater)
FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing System
Presto 23-Quart Pressure Canner
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Leatherman – Wingman Multi-Tool
Solo Stove (compact wood burning rocket stove)
Swiss Army Pocket Knife (Victorinox)
Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Bottle
resqme The Original Keychain Car Escape Tool
Portable AM/FM/Shortwave Receiver
Very Bright Flashlights:
Rayovac The BEAST (2000 Lumens)
Streamlight Pro Tac (2200 Lumens)
ROMER Handheld Searchlight (6000 Lumens)
Ken, are you aware of the portable FoodSaver unit which is designed to be used in the field? There are a lot of great books to give, a very good one (IMO) on food storage: Food Storage for Self-Sufficiency and Survival by Angela Paskett.
That rabbit is a gift that keeps on giving. Talk about sustainability.
Some people really need a compass these days – not to expensive and never need to be recharged.
homebody
Love your analogy on the rabbit, made me laugh.
Ready made fertilizer or fuel pellets,,,
Actually it requires two of them, my wife and I just got a breeding pair to add to our chickens….mmmmmm…..goats coming next I think.
Years ago I got 4 unrelated does and before long the number was up to 32 – hmmmm Do you think a buck was mistaken for a doe? At 6-10 in each litter every 4-6 months, building cages takes on new meaning. I now plan better.
Life finds a way….
Trouble with our house rabbit is every time I sit down it wants to jump into my lap and than leave a deposit of pellets. The DW thinks it’s hilarious that it just only happens to me. If he wasn’t a bottle raised runt and now pet I guess we could always eat him.
They can be litter box trained – even in my cages I provide a rubber straw filled litter box that each one uses – about 98% of the time. This makes cleaning much easier. I know people with house rabbits that have no unwanted gifts with train rabbits.
Like I said, Bunny Fufu must have a problem with me being the alpha male other than that, he is litter trained.
I’m giving solo stoves and fire steels. Stocking stuffers will include storm proof matches, whistles, etc. I’m sending Ken’s list to Santa for myself! Christmas is coming :D, Beach’n
Im going to be making gifts this year, hope everybody likes leather!
Love the rabbit, spare rations?
I usually give handmade gifts and food storage items to family, but this year they get my homemade crabapple/grape jelly, blankets, and LED hat/cap flashlights for the survival category. My daughter requested a necklace urn for my mom’s ashes to carry her close to her heart, so survival items are few since the little urn cost me a half months wages.
I’m surprised that a quality folding knife has not been mentioned.
I’m never without mine.
The list certainly is not all-inclusive 😉
Hopefully it will present some ideas to get you all thinking about it… and to participate in the fun.
The folding knife is an excellent choice for a gift!
We got very lucky hitting our local Cabela’s, they had a close out on quality folding knives, got one for each adult child and in=law in the family.
Whenever I am able to visit a Cabellas, I always spend a bit of time at their knife counter area… lots of nice stuff and a big selection to be able to handle and hold in your hand!
I’ve always wondered why no one was making a camo mylar blanket. Sometimes you want to be seen and sometimes you might not want to be seen. I will definitely be ordering a 5 pack of the TITAN mylar blankets. They are a little bit pricey at about $5.oo each and they are imported. They are imported by an American Veteran owned business and they are offering a no questions asked lifetime guarantee. Now if only someone would offer an all weather space blanket in camo and an quality bivy sack in camo.
‘Grabber’ makes a dark green space blanket (green on one side, silver on the other). Sold under the name “The original Space brand emergency blanket”. USA made, grabberworld dot com.
Walker, Guess I wasn’t clear. I have one of the green all weather blankets and really like it. TITAN is importing a regular mylar blanket, silver on one side and what they are calling a woodland camo print on the other side. I’d really like to see a woodland camo all weather blanket. For those not clear on the difference. The all weather blanket is much heavier duty and has grommets in the corners. The most often encountered kind costs a lot less but is not as durable. No grommets and it can tear fairly easy. It’s essentially the same material they make those shiny balloons out of.
TITAN Extra-Thick Emergency Mylar Sleeping Bag, Dark-Earth
Silver American Eagle 1-ounce coins of the current year can also make good birthday gifts too.
Yes, I’ve done the same thing. A unique gift indeed, and not too expensive. Recipients seem to marvel at the ‘barbaric relic’ 😉
How about, for the serious hiker, camper, outdoorsman:
A set of Dog Tags to wear around neck, with Name, Emergency Contact Number, Blood Type.
Dog tags are now chips embedded under the skin – I guess that might work for people too – ha ha New language on a first date – Hi my name is bob, can I scan you with my new Christmas gift?
I like the ones by Road ID–dog tags, bracelets and anklets, and ones that go on your shoes. They even make ones that are actually for your dog. They’re having a sale that ends tonight if you want to check them out.
My Christmas List (so far)
No Cry Resistant Gloves
Kwik Sip (turns a faucet into drinking fountain with a push button. Really saves on dirty glasses.)
Snugpak Patrol Poncho (waterproof and has extra fabric for covering a backpack)
Israeli Battle Dressing
Tick Twister Tick Remover
Mini Cree Flashlights (5for $25)
Luci Outdoor Inflatable Lantern
“I Survived……” children’s series
Slip on leather boots for quick dressing during a power outage
A bottle of Scotch (the most appreciated gift)
UV Paqlite products, glow in the dark crystal products that require no battery power and are weightless, waterproof and compact. They don’t cast a beam, but their glow, recharged from ANY light source, is a great backup. Life span – forever.
Yep, this is accurate. My sister is getting me a Ka-bar knife this Christmas as a matter of fact :).
I hope she gets you an authentic ‘K-Bar’.
The cheaper knock-offs are absolute Crap!
YOUNGSTER:
Just how old are you, ‘Youngster’?
K-Bar is not a knife for Youngsters.
(I was 19 when I was issued mine.) A true Combat Knife.
There are better knives for Outdoorsmen.
Firstly, 18. Secondly, I understand that there may be better knives to look at, but my family wasn’t about to look at the specific knife I asked for—when I was asked “hey would you be okay with a ka-bar?” I wasn’t about to say no.
I have both a full-size & a 3/4 size stacked leather Ka-Bar, got them from Tomar’s. Yes there are better knives out there (like my ESEE LS), but man nothing feels quite like those old school Ka-Bars. A true combat knife indeed.
Whistles…
I have taken to carrying them, after reading this blog, and the sad incident of the woman hiker who ventured off trail, and ended up dead. Apparently the searches had searched quite close to her location, while she was still alive, and easily would have found her (or the search dogs would have) if she had blown a whistle every so often.
Maybe you have some links to whistles….
also (and I don’t know if there is), maybe there is some sort of small whistle size sort of gadget around which one could hook on similar to a whistle, and it could emit some loud piercing noise, either on push, or intermittent.. (that way it would signal for help even if person passed out)????
@Anon, I very much agree that a whistle should be in every backpackers kit. You’ll probably never need it, but if you ever did – …very helpful for Search & Rescue.
Related article: Loudest Whistle for your Kit
The 30 day food supply looks like a good deal. Menu items are not really on my normal list but it would keep you alive and fairly healthy for a month. If you scroll down on the same page you see the same bucket listed for about $20.00 less. Same amount of servings and the same amount of calories. It’s nice to see a supplier being up front on the calories contained. some suppliers used to be somewhat misleading. People would see a listing for 30 servings and think they were buying 30 meals…
Silver Eagles,
I tell anyone who wants to buy something and isn’t sure– buy me an Eagle.
For our many children, as Christmas stocking stuffers, for their bug out or get home bags we am adding a hobo tool. Found it in an Akron Ohio Walmart. Has can opener, corkscrew, knife, fork, spoon, awl. Knife cuts onions well enough. Spoon and fork are much better than plastic cutlery.
Water purification tablets….great stocking stuffer
for Christmas here I am putting together personal boxes. Included will be socks, deodorant, shampoo, soap, candles, flashlight, etc. etc.
Also am giving jars of fresh cracked walnuts!
Items on my list, metal detector.
Home crafted and useful items, such as Dish towels, shave towels,house slippers, knitted socks or leg warmers. also tissue cover boxes..which can make for good hiding spots for other items, if made special…
Stainless steel bottle / cook kit from Pathfinder, an item that can be used to purify water from field sources, as well cook your meal.
David Canterbury has many videos of how to thrive in the woods – might want to check them out and learn something worth knowing.
…like the 10 C’s of Survivability
I plan on giving gifts with “MERRY CHRISTMAS” on them. Instead of ‘happy holidays’.
Always practical and useful longlasting meaningful gifts that are given with ‘thought’ in mind of the person whom I’m gifting to. Not just some lame spur of the moment whimsical grab anything off the shelf gift.