I’ll make my list of the first nine survival items that you should buy really simple for you.
The first two big-dollar items that you should buy are the Self Reliance Outfitters Canteen set and heavy duty space blanker/tarp. These two items are really must-have items. Dave Canterbury of Self Reliance Outfitters had these items custom-made. They are industrial strength and designed just like I would have done so myself.
The canteen. It is similar to the old metal army canteen setup. But it is bigger and has a bigger mouth. It is nested in a canteen cup with a handle for drinking from and to use for cooking food and boiling water. You get a cooking cover too, to go over the canteen cup. Then you get another stacking cup with holes in it that serves as your cooking stove. So you can cook with twigs. The idea is that the canteen cup sits on top of the Stove. A ferro rod is included with the canteen along with some sort of cordage.
The canvas canteen cover has a pocket so that you can put in a little bottle of water purification pills and some lifeboat matches and packets of tea or coffee. All things considered, this is a lot of problem solving for the buck, $89.99. There is a dumbed-down version but you want the fully stocked one. But you gotta make sure that you add a sealed plastic bag of some dryer lint, fire-starting pellets or fire-starting pads for use in the rain.
The canteen’s canvas cover, with strap, allows you to soak it in water to cool it off. You can boil water either in the single walled canteen or the canteen cup.
The lifeboat matches that you buy separately are big matches covered in a wax-like substance. You can light them and put them under water and they go out, but pull them out of the water and they magically light up on their own again.
I buy these canteens in multiples for various cars and trucks and for members of my future survival tribe to use. I’m hoping that they are not ever discontinued.
Now the space blanket is called The Pathfinder Survival Blanket for $22.99. It is available in green or orange. I get the green ones. It is silver (mylar) on one side to reflect the heat. It is 5’ x 7’ and has a heavy seam around it with heavy-duty grommets. So it can be used to wrap up in or to make a lean-to or pup tent. The problem with the other space blankets is that they are lightweight and tear. In Sweden the smaller, thinner ones are banned because so many people have counted on them for survival, only to freeze to death as they are too flimsy.
I would consider getting two of these blanket/tarps. One to make a lean-to/pup tent from and one to wrap up in inside of that shelter.
I assume that all of his products have the same build quality, but I have not purchased or tried all of them yet.
The third item would be a haversack by Blackie Thomas. He recently began making these. They are top quality and well thought-out. He uses very nice zippers. Put some silicone lubricant on the zippers. The sewing quality is good. But you gotta order and pay and wait for the next run to be made and come in. But it is well worth the wait. You are probably looking at $60.
These are better than backpacks for me since I load up my big backpacks to 80 pounds with “just one more thing”. With the haversack, you can only stuff it with so much and then it is full, keeping the weight down to a reasonable limit. I just can’t help myself. I like to add in “just one more thing”.
These haversacks vary in design and price but are a good deal at twice the price. Let’s face it, you cannot carry everything that you possibly would need. You’ve got to at least minimally hit the high points: Fire, shelter, first aid, food, cooking, and self-defense.
I like to listen to the section of the audiobook of David Brin’s novel The Postman where the protagonist goes through a list of his haversack’s contents: A .38 revolver with just three remaining cartridges, a toothbrush, tooth powder, a bit of food, etc. And he is making it, out in the woods. This kind of puts things in perspective.
Fourth is the big My Medic First Aid Kit. This has actual supplies for serious injuries, not just a bunch of little Band-aids. The large My Medic IFAK at $169.95 would be my choice.
Fifth is the Grayl water filtration kit. This filters out just about anything. And it serves as a canteen as well. You’ll need some kind of a pre-filter like a milbank bag so that your Grayl filter doesn’t clog up. Around $200.
Sixth is several cases of MREs, Meals Ready To Eat. Just make sure that the expiration date is at least three years out. This will be around a $200.
Seventh is the original Ruger LCP .380 semi-auto compact pistol. I carry mine in my right front jeans pocket. It is an up close “me-to-you” distance gun. Its advantage is that people do not know that you are armed. It’s nice to carry a second magazine. And they also make slightly longer magazines with a finger rest to let you get a better grip on the gun. Ruger has come out with a bigger version of this gun, dubbed The Max. But I’ll stick with my smaller original version. I used to carry a round in the chamber, but a friend said this gun can go off unexpectedly, so I quit doing that. Around $400.
Eighth is a big full-tang fighting/utility knife with a belt sheath. Get a good quality one. A big one. (Ka-Bar size, or larger.) Say $300.
Ninth, a Leatherman multitool and/or a Swiss Army knife. Say $70. I would get both if you can.
So, together with sales tax and shipping you are looking at around $1,900. So I suggest that you have a garage sale to raise some cash and order these nine items online. With them, you are 90% there in being ready for short-term emergencies except for prescription medications.