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According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the number one cause of death among children and teens occurs from injury. Reduce the consequences of injury by carrying an emergency kit in your pocket or purse. We recommend at the minimum to keep alcohol swabs, bandages, lighters, and key chain flashlights, prepping an emergency kit won’t take more than ten minutes and could save your life.
Here is a broader list of emergency essentials for survival
Another way to reduce the ramifications of injury is to make sure your emergency kits have back up. For example, a few alcohol swabs are useful but adding a mini bottle of rubbing alcohol will make that kit even more effective; especially in an emergency where supplies may be hard to come by.
You should also be prepared with a large bug out bag (BOB) at home and in the car. The DMV highlights how important this preparedness tip is with an official list on their website of what to carry specifically for road side emergencies, saying, “Such protection is something that every vehicle should have…”
* Here are some tips on what to put in your bug out bag.
Another good place to keep a specific emergency kit is under the bed. This kit should include things like a flashlight, a spare set of house and car keys, and an extra cell phone to call for help. This kit is useful in case you get trapped and have to exit from an upstairs window. You should also keep a spare set of clothes, and shoes along with a blanket packed in a suitcase somewhere outside, like in a shed.
If you have the means to set aside a little extra in your prepping budget make small kits designed for short-term assistance. Things like travel sized shampoo,hair elastics and vitamins can really help out a neighbor and create goodwill.
Being prepared to escape fires is crucial but starting them can be equally as important. Saving your dryer lint or dipping cotton balls in petroleum jelly, makes for great kindling that will burn red hot for a while; perfect for a source of heat and a method of cooking.
Matches are essential to any BOB as they provide the best combination of ease, use and reliability. Strike-anywhere matches are useful because you don’t need a special striking surface to ignite them. However, these matches have been made illegal in certain areas because of the concern that they can ignite by accident. Kitchen safety matches require a special striking surface but in an emergency situation sand paper will work just fine. Gluing a piece of sandpaper to the inside lid of a mason jar and filling it with matches is an instant way to waterproof your matches and make sure you have a proper striking surface.
Based on the Palmer Drought Index, 22 percent of the contiguous U.S. fell in the moderate to extreme drought category while severe to extreme drought affected about 7 percent of the US, this year. The most important thing to have in a survival situation is water. Store clean water any way you can, from canning it in mason jars to re-using empty soda bottles, you can even buy extensions for the gutter down spout and use it to fill full sized barrels.
If you find yourself in an emergency situation where no clean water is available then knowing how to distill water will literally save your life. Distillation can be done in several different ways but mainly it involves boiling water to produce vapor. When the water vaporizes entirely, it will leave contaminants behind, once the vapor condenses back into liquid form it will be safe to drink. You can distill water from plants, snow and rain, or even use this process to desalinate seawater. Distillation can be done with a stainless steel pot, on a grill or with glass bottles. They do sell distillation kits or you can opt for the many DIY resources online.