Chapter 8 – How To Be Sure You Are Properly Equipped

 

Tip #25: Make Sure You Have All The Equipment You Need

 

This last piece of advice is one of the most important. Many preppers have a tendency to focus on storing all that food without giving sufficient thought to how they are actually going to use it.  The key to avoiding this is to always try to use your store as much as possible.  That way you will know very well what you need to make it work.

 

Considering all the cans that are likely to accumulate in your pantry, the number one item you need is a can opener.  Make sure it is a manual can opener and make sure you have more than one. 

 

You also require the essential survival equipment that will allow you to prepare food in the even of a power outage.  The usual items are firewood, charcoal, lighter fuel, candles etc.  Make sure that you use these often and ensure that they are always kept in good condition. 

 

The camp stove is the traditional prepper tool of choice, but you should also consider using a Dutch oven.  Dutch ovens are really versatile and can give you a  regulated heat source and the possibility of baking food even if the electricity is out.

 

Your long-term store is likely to hold some whole grain wheat, to process this you will need to have a grain mill.  A manual hand mill will enable you to grind your own flour even if there is no power. 

 

Remember to store the products that enable you to keep your kitchen and your pantry clean. Another great piece of advice is to keep a stock of disposable paper plates, plastic utensils and cups.

 

Storing vitamin supplement is not an adequate substitute for storing real food.  However, it can still be a good idea to stock some multi-vitamins and also calcium, magnesium and zinc. 

 

A great piece of equipment that makes storing water easier are water-brick containers.  Water-brick containers make moving water easy as they are portable and easy to hold.  Not only that, water-brick containers are easy to stack and can be sued to fill almost any space in your pantry.

 

A rainwater collector is a great piece of kit that can work to ease the pressure on your valuable water store. Food-grade buckets are easily available, cost only about $4, make fantastic air-tight food containers and have a wide-range of other prepping uses.