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We walk you through all the essentials you want to cross off your list as your prep, stock, and store for the future.
Locksmith. Outdoorsman. Author of 3 books on survival & prepping
Whether you’re brand-new to prepping or have been in the game for quite some time, it’s always worthwhile to go back through a checklist to ensure that you have your bases covered.
There’s a reason that even seasoned pilots still go through their pre-flight checklist before they ever leave the ground: it’s easy to make simple mistakes, and some mistakes can be deadly.
To assist you in your endeavors, we’ve compiled an emergency preparedness checklist to help you ensure that you’re as squared away for future disasters as possible.
Keep in mind that these are our baseline suggestions. A lot of people advocate for or prep much more than this. That’s absolutely fine, and in many cases, it's what you’ll want to do as well.
This piece is mainly for those who are just jumping into the prepping boat and need a little help getting started.
Here are our thoughts…
I would start with a one-month supply of calories for your family at a minimum. This can be accomplished relatively easily and will boost you over what 99% of the rest of America keeps stocked at home.
Assuming you’ll need 2,500 calories/day means you’d need 75,000 calories/month for one adult per month.
I personally feel like it is wise to stock more than a month’s worth of food, but if you’re just starting, reach the one-month checkpoint first.
Don’t want to buy expensive “survival” food? Check out our article on long-term food storage.
In normal times, you should reach most of your daily vitamin and mineral needs from your diet.
In long-term times of disaster, you’ll probably be eating what’s on hand. If you’ve primarily stocked beans and rice, multivitamins will ensure that you don’t end up with scurvy or some other form of disease caused by a deficiency.
A flat top wood stove, rocket stove, and propane grill are examples of off-grid equipment.
Unfortunately, your Keurig won’t work without electricity.
You might want to look into something that will still make your happy juice without power. I use a French press, though I’m not opposed to an old-fashioned cup o’ cowboy coffee.
In case you need to skedaddle, every member of your family needs to be able to eat while out in the woods. You can’t pack your fine china, so everybody is going to need a backpacker’s mess kit.
I don’t think it’s feasible for many families to store much more than this in their homes. This amount allows you to go for two weeks.
If you have the space to store more, go for it, but 14 gallons/adult is a good baseline.
For more on how to store your water, check out our list of the best Water Storage Containers.
If you’ve ever done any form of long-distance hike whatsoever, you know that a single water bottle will not cut it.
A larger purification unit for your home and a portable unit you can carry on your person are both vital here.
Consider the West Virginia chemical spill or Flint, Michigan’s water crisis. Nobody’s bugging out, but you still need the means to purify your water.
This is where a filter like an EPIC Nano or a Berkey comes into play.
If you have to head for the hills, you will want something portable like a Sawyer MINI or Lifestraw.
Anytime there’s a disaster, people start to catch hygiene-related diseases — and die from them too.
These are nasty little bugs that you need to be able to protect yourself against and only require minimal preparation to avoid.
Unless otherwise stated, I would just buy two of everything here as a good starting point.
The threat of nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare is a possibility, so it's best to prepare.
Perhaps you’ll think these preparations are severe, but these are very real threats that are only increasing in potential use. Although I would focus on the rest of the preps first, it would be prudent to be prepared.
Seriously, don’t buy anything else --- MIRA is 100% the best gas mask on the planet.
Also, I believe this is the best piece of gear you can own to protect you against the majority of biological and chemical threats you are likely to face.
Yeah, nerve agents and blister agents only require skin contact to ruin your day, but if we’re following the Pareto Principle here, a gas mask is the way to go.
Have kids? They require particular preparations --- especially babies.
This will vary wildly depending on the individual and if they have any pre-existing health conditions, but this is a pretty good stock of standard OTC medications that will help you battle the majority of what life throws your way.
Antibiotics can help stave off severe infections and diseases that would otherwise be untreatable with OTC medicine. If you can swing the price, I highly recommend picking up a box of antibiotics from Jase Medical.
Here are a few basic items that can help treat the standard day-to-day injuries that may occur in a post-disaster environment. Additionally, I recommend a few items that can help diagnose injury and illness so that you can get ahead of the curve when it comes to treatment options.
Plenty of flashlights help ensure that nobody gets injured stumbling about through the dark.
This is a good starting point. It allows you to spread light sources about the house in the event of a power outage. The bigger your home, the more LED lanterns you should consider.
This one is pretty straightforward, but you'd be surprised how often it is forgotten. Keeping your core temperature regulated is essential to survival -- so make sure you don't freeze.
If you ever have to leave the comfort of your own home, having appropriate sleeping amenities will prevent you and your family from getting caught in the elements.
Whether it is preparing, repairing, building, destroying, or even defensive usage in a pinch, tools are vital to being able to tackle unexpected situations.
If you are wearing pants, you should be carrying a pocketknife --- full-stop.
As you may well know, knives are one of the most utilitarian things you can carry. If you are planning on stashing some away for bug-out or survival usage, look into blades that have good toughness and high corrosion resistance.
Whether it’s rioters, EMP, wildfires, or a clogged chimney, you will want to keep fire extinguishers in your home. Fires can be devastating and can easily destroy your entire emergency stores and shelter if you don't have a way to combat them.
This one depends on where you live...
If you live in an apartment or condo, you don’t need one of these. However, if you live in a house, have a woodstove, or live out in the sticks, owning a chainsaw is warranted.
Your use case may vary depending on the type of disaster and where you live, but being armed is essential.
You can find plenty of survival-oriented rifles, but there’s something to be said about the ubiquity of the AR-15 platform and its flexibility for all-purpose use. At the end of the day, make sure you pick something you can find ammo for.
This article is a meta-analysis based on our experiences as preppers and survivalists. Spearheading this article is former Pew Pew Tactical author Aden Tate. Aden is a prepper with extensive experience in homesteading and survivalism. He’s written several articles for Pew Pew Tactical and other publications on prepping, first aid, and survival topics.
Editing this article is Pew Pew Tactical Editor, Wyatt Sloan. Wyatt is an NRA-certified instructor and also has experience with competition shooting, hunting, advanced land navigation training, and outdoor survival training. Wyatt personally owns over 200 firearms and has 10 years of home-based FFL firearm sales.
Also editing this article is Pew Pew Tactical Editor-in-Chief, Jacki Billings. She is a National Rifle Association Basic Pistol Instructor as well as a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, ACES: Society for Editing, and the Professional Outdoor Media Association. Jacki has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and has worked as a media professional for close to 20 years, specializing in gun media for almost 10 years. With 2,000+ articles to her name, she uses her professional journalism and editing experience to set testing protocols and editorial standards for Pew Pew Tactical.
You’ll be prepared for the bulk of disasters if you have this list squared away.
Again, this isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, but it is a good place to start before adding other things down the road.
My advice?
Hammer out your food and water before you do anything else. Get a month of those two items stocked away, and then move on through the rest.
Are there other preparations that you think should be on this list? Let us know in the comments below. If you are interested in more prepping resources, check out our article on the best survival and prepping books.
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