I’m sure at this point everyone has seen this list, it has circulated all over the internet for years now. I don’t agree with the original list, so I am updating the list based on information from actual events such as the collapse of USSR, Greece financial meltdown and Iraq, along with other events and situations I could can locate information about online. I condensed the list down to only 70 items and categorized them to give you a better overview.
Food & Supplies
- Chickens, Cows (diary and beefers) and all other forms of livestock will be hoarded, stolen, traded and sold for insane prices. After a month or so you will not be able to purchase any.
- Deer and wild game will be shot and wiped from existence quickly.
- Water (Bottled, Gallon and 5 Gallon)
- Water Filters/Purifiers including bleach will be impossible to find after a week or so. People will be selling spring water and public springs will have lines hours long.
- Salt – this is a vital nutrient and will be used to preserve meat. Don’t be surprised to see this used as currency, it has been used as such in the past and in a SHTF situation it will be used that way again.
- Cast iron cookware – long lasting and can be used over an open fire.
- Rice, Beans, Wheat, Flour and Yeast. All these basic ingredients will be purchased in mass and quickly hoarded. Expect these to be purchased faster than canned goods.
- Cooking Oils
- Charcoal – city folk will hoard this immediately as they will see it as the only way to cook their food.
- Everything Gardening (Seeds, books & videos, supplies and tools)
- Canned Foods of all types. People will just shove them into their carts without even looking at the labels. These will also be used as currency as in a few months everyone will be tired of consuming canned goods but they have value so they will barter with these.
- Canning supplies (Jars/lids/wax) – Most stores carry very little if any canning supplies so one person can easily clean out the entire store’s inventory.
- Jerky and other long lasting meats
- Teas, Coffee, Gatoraide and Koolaides
- Milk – Powdered & Condensed
Medicine & Health
- Hygiene supplies: Shampoo, Toothbrush/paste, Tampons, Mouthwash/floss, nail clippers, etc
- Vitamins and Supplements – Some foods like bananas will be hard to come by so pills will be the only source of many needed nutrients.
- Tylenol, Advil, cough syrup etc …
- Wine/Liquors (for bribes, medicinal, etc…)
- First aid kits
- Gas masks
- Medical guides, books and magazines – Knowledge is power
- Toilet Paper, Kleenex, Paper Towels
- Infant/Toddler Supplies (formula, cloth diapers, wash cloths)
Outdoors Gear
- Survival Magazines, Books and Guides – Knowledge is power and Americans lack the basic skills needed to grow food and survive
- Fishing supplies/tools – Need meat? Everyone will be wiping out the fish in all public rivers, lakes etc …
- Bug and Rodent killers, repellents and treatments.
- Tarps/stakes/twine/nails/rope/spikes
- Lumber (all types)
- Wagons & carts (for transport to and from)
- Bow saws, axes and hatchets, Wedges (also, honing oil)
- Gasoline Containers (Plastic & Metal)
- Clothes pins/line/hangers (A MUST)
- Body Armor
- Insulated ice chests (good for keeping items from freezing in Wintertime.)
- Potting mix
- Flashlights/LIGHTSTICKS & torches, “No. 76 Dietz” Lanterns
- Gloves: Work/warming/gardening, etc…
- Work boots, belts, Levis & durable shirts
- Cold weather clothing and weather clothing
Household Goods
- Candles (Long burning)
- Backpacks, Duffel Bags
- Large garbage cans – Can be used for trash, storage, water collection, hauling goods etc … and garbage bags (so many uses for them)
- Bleach (plain, NOT scented: 4 to 6% sodium hypochlorite)
- Knives & Sharpening tools: files, stones, steel
- Sleeping Bags, Blankets, Pillows, Mats and Inflatable Mattresses
- Animal Control Products (Mousetraps, Bug repellents etc …)
- Cleaning materials both personal and for the home
- Plastic Wrap and Home Insulation Kits
- Glue, nails, nuts, bolts, screws, etc …
- Portable Toilets
- Weapons – Guns, Ammunition, Pepper Spray, Knives, Clubs, Bats, Tasers & Slingshots.
- Washboards, Mop Bucket w/wringer (for Laundry)
- Aluminum Foil Reg. & Heavy Duty (Great Cooking and Barter Item)
- Writing paper, pads, pencils and solar calculators
- Brooms
- Air Filtration Units (Room based and portable;Blue Air is the best)
Misc Goods
- Bibles – When I was in boot camp no one wanted a Bible when they offered them to us numerous times while in processing. After a week of being in the barracks suddenly everyone was coming up to me asking to borrow mine or read over my shoulder. People like to bash Christians but when the goings get tough, my experiences show that they always turn to God for answer, help and support.
- Duct Tape and Electrical Tape
- Bicycles…Tires/tubes/pumps/chains, etc most efficient method of transportation. If you think about it, standard bikes will become extremely valuable.
- Hand pumps & siphons – Gas, water, etc …
- Cigarettes – People will always need stress release and if you haven’t noticed even the poorest people on all types of government assistance always can find money to buy cigarettes. This will continue to ring true in a SHTF situation.
- Generators (Solar, Gas, Diesel, Propane, Kerosene) – Buy solar now cause nothing will be available when they are needed. People will kill over generators so be warned.
- Seasoned Firewood – Wood takes about 6 – 12 months to become dried, for home uses. There are ways to speed up the process but it will still take time. People will begin cutting down all trees they can access in order to provide warmth and fire for cooking.
- Lamps, Candles, Flash Lights, Matches etc …
- Batteries (all sizes…buy furthest-out for Expiration Dates) rechargeable batteries are ideal. Don’t forget car batteries.
- Big Dogs (and plenty of dog food) – Valuable as looters and robbers will be plentiful. Dogs can see and hear what we can’t. The more vicious the better.
- Country Land – Good farming land will be nearly impossible to find as the cities and suburbs empty. You will also need to defend your property from large groups of people demanding that you share and make your land a community garden and all that communist bullshit …
- Gold and Silver – This will be the new currency when things begin to settle
- Motorcycles – There is a reason they are so popular in 3rd world nations, they are cheap, easy to maintain and gas goes a long way.
And finally something to think about:
When the shit hits the fan, where will you live? Where will your parents live? Where will your adult children live? When the USSR collapsed, 3 generations all moved into the same home, why? Your immediate family is the most trusted people in your life, they would give their lives for you and you for them (hopefully). People living in the USSR during the collapse where a custom to hardship, they were secretly self sufficient as if they didn’t produce their own food they would starve to death. While in comparison the last election shows that most Americans feel they are entitled to everything. Americans are no longer producers, we are a service based economy. If the economy were to collapse, most Americans wouldn’t even know how to grow an ear of corn much less achieving self sufficientness. We pay someone for almost everything, thus depriving us of important essential skills that will be needed in a SHTF situation so it is important to hoard knowledge and begin becoming as self sufficient as possible.
Survival Food Prepping Ideas/ULTIMATE Top Skills 2017
Discover how to survive: Most complete survival tactics, tips, skills and ideas like how to make pemmican, snow shoes, knives, soap, beer, smoke houses, bullets, survival bread, water wheels, herbal poultices, Indian round houses, root cellars, primitive navigation, and much more at: The Lost Ways
Here’s just a glimpse of what you’ll find in The Lost Ways:
From Ruff Simons, an old west history expert and former deputy, you’ll learn the techniques and methods used by the wise sheriffs from the frontiers to defend an entire village despite being outnumbered and outgunned by gangs of robbers and bandits, and how you can use their wisdom to defend your home against looters when you’ll be surrounded.
Native American ERIK BAINBRIDGE – who took part in the reconstruction of the native village of Kule Loklo in California, will show you how Native Americans build the subterranean roundhouse, an underground house that today will serve you as a storm shelter, a perfectly camouflaged hideout, or a bunker. It can easily shelter three to four families, so how will you feel if, when all hell breaks loose, you’ll be able to call all your loved ones and offer them guidance and shelter? Besides that, the subterranean roundhouse makes an awesome root cellar where you can keep all your food and water reserves year-round.
From Shannon Azares you’ll learn how sailors from the XVII century preserved water in their ships for months on end, even years and how you can use this method to preserve clean water for your family cost-free.
Mike Searson – who is a Firearm and Old West history expert – will show you what to do when there is no more ammo to be had, how people who wandered the West managed to hunt eight deer with six bullets, and why their supply of ammo never ran out. Remember the panic buying in the first half of 2013? That was nothing compared to what’s going to precede the collapse.
From Susan Morrow, an ex-science teacher and chemist, you’ll master “The Art of Poultice.” She says, “If you really explore the ingredients from which our forefathers made poultices, you’ll be totally surprised by the similarities with modern medicines.” Well…how would you feel in a crisis to be the only one from the group knowledgeable about this lost skill? When there are no more antibiotics, people will turn to you to save their ill children’s lives.
If you liked our video tutorial on how to make Pemmican, then you’ll love this: I will show you how to make another superfood that our troops were using in the Independence war, and even George Washington ate on several occasions. This food never goes bad. And I’m not talking about honey or vinegar. I’m talking about real food! The awesome part is that you can make this food in just 10 minutes and I’m pretty sure that you already have the ingredients in your house right now.
Really, this is all just a peek.
The Lost Ways is a far-reaching book with chapters ranging from simple things like making tasty bark-bread-like people did when there was no food-to building a traditional backyard smokehouse… and many, many, many more!
And believe it or not, this is not all…
Table Of Contents:
The Most Important Thing
Making Your Own Beverages: Beer to Stronger Stuff
Ginger Beer: Making Soda the Old Fashioned Way
How North American Indians and Early Pioneers Made Pemmican
Spycraft: Military Correspondence During The 1700’s to 1900’s
Wild West Guns for SHTF and a Guide to Rolling Your Own Ammo
How Our Forefathers Built Their Sawmills, Grain Mills,and Stamping Mills
How Our Ancestors Made Herbal Poultice to Heal Their Wounds
What Our Ancestors Were Foraging For? or How to Wildcraft Your Table
How Our Ancestors Navigated Without Using a GPS System
How Our Forefathers Made Knives
How Our Forefathers Made Snow shoes for Survival
How North California Native Americans Built Their Semi-subterranean Roundhouses
Our Ancestors’Guide to Root Cellars
Good Old Fashioned Cooking on an Open Flame
Learning from Our Ancestors How to Preserve Water
Learning from Our Ancestors How to Take Care of Our Hygiene When There Isn’t Anything to Buy
How and Why I Prefer to Make Soap with Modern Ingredients
Temporarily Installing a Wood-Burning Stove during Emergencies
Making Traditional and Survival Bark Bread…….
Trapping in Winter for Beaver and Muskrat Just like Our Forefathers Did
How to Make a Smokehouse and Smoke Fish
Survival Lessons From The Donner Party
Books can be your best pre-collapse investment.
Carnivore’s Bible (is a wellknown meat processor providing custom meat processing services locally andacross the state of Montana and more. Whether your needs are for domestic meator wild game meat processing)
The Lost Book of Remedies PDF ( contains a series of medicinal andherbal recipes to make home made remedies from medicinal plants and herbs.Chromic diseases and maladies can be overcome by taking the remediesoutlined in this book. The writer claims that his grandfather was taughtherbalism and healing whilst in active service during world war twoand that he has treated many soldiers with his home made cures. )
Easy Cellar(Info about building and managing your root cellar, plus printable plans. The book on building and using root cellars – The Complete Root Cellar Book.)
The Lost Ways (Learn the long forgotten secrets that helped our forefathers survive famines,wars,economic crisis and anything else life threw at them)
LOST WAYS 2 ( Wordof the day: Prepare! And do it the old fashion way, like our fore-fathers did it and succeed longbefore us,because what lies ahead of us will require all the help we can get. Watch this video and learn the 3 skills that ensured our ancestors survival in hard times offamine and war.)
I think something like blacksmith, leather worker, or pottery would be an excellent trade to learn. I’ve got back into gardening, took a class on canning, and l’m beginning to keep bees.
I am glad to see that you did not overemphasize firearms in your article. You also wrote about working with others. I’ve noticed in a lot of prepper articles; hardly anyone mentions sharing and working with others. Sharing and working together has helped this Country last 244 years. We need to inspire people to use those ideas again.