Let’s face it, prepping can be expensive. That one problem has kept a lot of people from prepping through the years. It also makes things difficult for those of us who have decided to go ahead and prep, even though it is a strain on our finances. Even so, there are many things that we can do to stretch our prepping budget and get the most for our money.
One way to get the most for our money is to shop at places where we can get things cheap. Granted, those cheaper things probably aren’t as good quality as the high-dollar ones; but it’s better to have something than to have nothing because we’re waiting to have enough money to buy the expensive one. With the rise of dollar stores and the wide variety of merchandise they carry, chances are we can put a pretty good bug out bag together at the local dollar store, without spending a lot of money.
What Do We Need?
For our dollar store bug out bag to be effective, it’s going to have to cover all the major areas of our survival needs. So, let’s take a quick review of what those are. Our primary survival needs are:
- Keeping warm – This includes shelter, insulation (clothing) and heat (fire)
- Clean water – This has to include some means of transporting water, as well as a way of purifying it
- Food – Probably the easiest of the three, but we’ll need some way of cooking it
Of course, to accomplish these things, we’re probably going to need a few other things as well, such as:
- First aid – If we get injured, we’ll need to patch ourselves up
- Tools – To be able to accomplish the three primary requirements, we’re probably going to need a few basic tools
I’m going to leave self-defense out of this, mostly due to the cost factor; besides, you really can’t do much about defense in a dollar store, except buy wasp spray. However, if you’re out in the woods, you can always use man’s oldest weapons, the stick and the rock. While they might not be ideal against someone with a gun, or even against a wolf’s teeth, they do qualify as weapons. A better one is a burning brand from your fire. That will scare off both men and animals when wielded properly.
The Bag Itself
All bug out bags have to start with something that holds and allows you to carry the gear and supplies you buy. Normally, we’d want to go for a nice backpack, but that may not be available from the dollar store. However, there are a few items which can be used for this:
- Children’s school backpack
- Barrel bag
- Plastic bin
While none of those are perfect, they will do the job. So will the plastic bags that they pack your order in at the checkout. Ask nice, and they might even give you some extras. Even if you don’t need them to be the bug out bag itself, those bags can be useful to organize your supplies, inside your bug out bag.
Keeping Warm
This is our number one survival priority and the most complicated to accomplish. Basically, keeping warm consists of three separate areas: shelter, clothing and fire. Fortunately, we can come up with all three of them at the dollar store; although I will have to say that you probably already have clothing, without having to go buy it.
Shelter
Few people bother with a tent in their bug out bag, as it is bulky and expensive. But you can make a respectable tent out of an inexpensive tarp. Fortunately, that’s also something you can buy cheap at your local dollar store. I use the inexpensive blue plastic tarps and have found them to be more than adequate.
To go along with the tarp, I’d recommend picking up some light rope and some duct tape. I found small rolls of duct tape in my local dollar store, which are ideal for a bug out bag or survival kit. While I couldn’t find paracord, I did find clothes line, which is a good approximation. As long as I don’t try to put any heavy weight on it, that should work fine for making a tent.
Related: 13 Shelters That You Can Build With A Military Poncho
Clothing
We’re not going to get into a full wardrobe here, but there are a couple of things I would like to recommend you pick up. The first is a hat. If there is any article of clothing which will help you keep warm, a hat is it. That’s because a fourth of your body’s blood supply goes to the head. So in cold weather, your head could be radiating a lot of heat. Putting a stocking cap on will help keep you warm all over.
The other important thing to look for here is a rain poncho. You should be able to find one in most dollar stores. They won’t be heavy-duty, but they will keep you dry. That’s important, as when most clothing gets wet it will drain your body heat faster than if you were naked.
Fire
Your best and cheapest fire starter is a disposable butane lighter, available for a buck. With care, you should be able to start about 1,000 fires with the average disposable lighter. The only problem with them is that they don’t work well in the cold, so if you end up bugging out in winter keep it inside your clothing, where your body heat can keep it warm.
Some of the best homemade tinder around is cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly, both of which you can buy at the dollar store. Work about a teaspoon of petroleum jelly into each cotton ball, ensuring that it is thoroughly soaked. Keep them in an airtight container. When you really need to get a fire going, like when it is raining, use one.
Clean Water
Hopefully you’ll be able to find water along the way as you are bugging out. But you’ll need something to carry it in. Grab yourself a large sports bottle in the kitchen section of the dollar store to use as a canteen.
The other thing you’re going to need is some means of purifying water. One of the best water purifiers there is just happens to be chlorine – or in other words, chlorine bleach. Eight drops will purify a gallon of water. Just make sure you buy the cheap stuff and not the scented or color safe kinds.
Related: 100-Year-Old Way to Filter Rainwater in a Barrel
Food
There’s lots of food in your typical dollar store; but most of it is junk food. Nevertheless, I was able to find some great buys in the food department, which are ideal for a bug out bag:
- Granola bars
- Canned food in plastic containers (less weight)
- Peanut butter crackers
- Spam, tuna and chicken in pouches
- Ramen
- Rice-a-Roni
- Instant coffee
By the way, you’ll need to make sure you pick up some sort of small saucepan for cooking in. I’d also recommend some disposable cutlery, as well as a plastic bowl and cup.
First Aid
There are actually a fair amount of first-aid supplies in your average dollar store. You can get over-the-counter medicines, adhesive bandages and medical tape easily. They don’t have large bandages, but you can use sanitary napkins for that. They are sterile and designed to absorb a lot of blood.
Don’t forget that duct tape can also be used as medical tape. While not the most comfortable tape to take off, it does stick well, which is what you need.
You can also find a lot of personal hygiene products at the dollar store. While those may not be considered first-aid supplies by most people, keeping yourself clean is an important part of keeping yourself healthy. So grab a toothbrush, some toothpaste and a bar of soap, if nothing else.
Tools
You’re going to end up having to go rather light on the tools to keep in budget. Besides, the average dollar store doesn’t carry much in the way of tools. But there is one thing you have to have, and that’s a good knife. If nothing else, you can find a kitchen knife there. But you may be able to buy a multi-tool, which will include a knife.
So there you are. I didn’t actually add up the amount spent here, as a lot will depend on how much of each thing you buy, especially for the food. But the point is, it’s doable. This might not be your ideal bug out bag, but it will provide everything you need to survive. As time goes on, you can always add to this or even replace some items with better ones.
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Something, is always better than nothing, to be sure. That being said, I would urge those who need a knife to get a good one. I was at a gun show a few years back with my son-in-law and he purchased three knives out of a bucket for $5.00. He gave one to me, and I quickly found out it wasn’t worth the gunpowder to blow it up with. A good knife is a MORAKNIV. And, they don’t cost an arm and a leg.
Regarding water, Walmart has portable water filters in their sporting goods dept. for under $20.
You are completely right about the MoraKniv. The cheaper ones don’t look very serious, with bright plastic handles, but they have the same Swedish steel razor-sharp blades,
Here in the PDRK if you want a bag in a grocery store you have to buy it. No more free t-handle bags. Of course, at 10¢ each you can buy as many as you want.The sheeple voters bought the big grocers’ “save the planet” story and now they are not only saving tens of thousands of dollars a year, they are actually selling what used to be free. So much for getting free bags. Remember when we switched from paper bags to save the planet?
With a little ingenuity, you can fashion a fairly decent spear from the 99¢ store kitchen knife. All you need is the duct tape and a branch from a tree that is an appropriate length and thickness. Use the knife to flatten one side of the stick and duct tape the knife to the end of the stick. Not quite the same a a 15 round Glock, but it will be effective. With another knife in your belt you will be reasonably armed.
Don’t forget to pick up a can opener while you are there. Maybe two of them. Two is one, one is none.
You can also pick up rubbing alcohol which can be used to start fires and clean wounds. If they have it, get 70% alcohol, not the 30%. You might check for hand sanitizer while you are there.
If they have $1 multi-tools, get several because they will break easily and loose their edge but they will still be handy.
In addition to a hat be sure to pick up a couple of pairs of gloves. And some kitchen rubber gloves too. If it is cold and rainy and you are stuck outdoors cheap cotton gloves inside a pair of kitchen rubber gloves will keep your hands much warmer so that you will be able to do fine tasks like lighting a fire when it is cold and miserable out. You fingers won’t be so stiff you can’t work the child safe cigarette lighter.
If it gets that bad, I don’t want to survive. I’ve lived 71 yrs and had a full life. For those of you with a long road ahead…………..good luck!
I’m old but still purchase these items and food because if I never use them my children and certainly grand children will.
Re. the rain poncho–a large plastic garbage bag will also work. Cut a T-shaped slit in the center bottom (for your head), one at each corner for your arms. Sure, your arms will get wet, but still.
Also with the plastic garbage bags and staying warm–they can help you when it’s cold. Cut one the same way, but put it on UNDER your other clothing, next to the skin. You can also use plastic grocery bags under your socks. Yes, the plastic goes next to the skin, not over clothing! That way, you create a warm micro-climate next to the skin, and the clothing over it insulates that warmth–but if you put the plastic over the clothing, the moisture your body produces wicks/evaporates through that clothing, hits the plastic on the outside, condenses, and in a short while your clothing is damp and cold–a potentially lethal combination in a survival situation.
But the plastic next to skin will still keep your feet wet since there’s no evaporation.
One time when attending a football playoff game in a blizzard, I had 2 pairs of regular, athletic, cotton socks on. I wore one pair as normal, put on the plastic bags & tied them outside the first pair, then put the 2nd pair over the bags. My feet were pretty toasty & dry compared to the rest of me.
Yes, your skin will be moist–but insulated from the cold by the outer layers. In fact that’s what worked with your double layer of socks with the plastic in between–even if the inner socks got damp, the outer pair stayed dry and maintained their insulating quality.
In any case–in a serious survival situation, avoid cotton. It wicks up moisture but doesn’t release it, so you actually feel colder. Not sure you’ll find wool in a dollar store, but maybe a wool blend–wool retains at least some of its insulating qualities even wen wet.
Rhonda, I use to race sailboats on the upper Chesapeake Bay in winter. We would wear panty hose rather than long johns. They kept us warmer and if we did go over board the wouldn’t drag us down like cotton would. Mike
Pantyhose work beautifully under riding breeches, too–no folds to rub!
Depending on the Temperature doing such can cause Immersion Foot or Trench Foot!
A better thing to to do is clean and dry your feet as best you can, and use foot powder as appropriate.
Put on a pair of thin socks and then a pair of Thick socks. Preferably Wool thick socks. Then the bag and keep watch and take of your feet.
The thin socks will absorb the moisture and the Thick Preferably Wool socks will whisk the moisture from the thin socks.
Change out the wet (Both pair of socks) socks and dry your feet as often as you can and be sure to USE foot powder.
You only have Two of them and you NEED BOTH OF THEM in the best shape you can keep them!
Rhonda, have you tried using plastic in direct contact with your skin, under your other layers? If so, at what temperatures, doing what, and for how long? I grew up on the Oregon coast and have always used layered methods for staying both warm and dry, and I do not think I would ever want a plastic layer directly against the skin, especially if I might sweat from exertion, which will really boost your heat loss and possible hypothermia, and it does not even have to be below freezing, getting hypothermia with temperatures in the forties or even fifties will kill you also.
I don’t think that the TOP JOB bleach will work for purifying water!
Why not?
Yes it does. It is sodium hypoclorite in the same concentration as the more expensive brands, with no unwanted additives. Simple, cheap, effective.
Top Job is plain generic chlorine bleach and is the type you want to use for sanitizing water. Do not use any bleach with additives for purifying water – read the label before using. And 8 drops of bleach per gallon of water.
Nail clippers, good pair of sissors, toothbrush, baking soda (many uses), anti itch cream, sun blocksmall can of shaving cream, disposable razors, travel mirror
I agree some great bargains but beware sometimes the product is just smaller or even diluted like the bleach. Note there are places now where everything is a dollar, keep them in mind for certain items
This is genius! One more cheap thing! Rummage around in your junk drawers! Will probably find some other things you can use for cheap! Such as! Old prescription bottles to keep your vaseline cotton balls in!
tampons are good for 1st aid bag too. dual uses (besides as tampons) 1st aid plug up punture wounds, and as a fire starter
Please do not plug wounds with a tampon. That is a stopgap measure used by EMTs for deep puncture wounds. BUT they know that you are going to be in a fully staffed emergency room in short order where the tampon will be removed and the wound irrigated with an antibiotic solution.
In an end of the world situation or any emergency where you are going to be days or never to an emergency room plugging up a penetrating wound with a tampon is going to trap any foreign material that has been introduced in the wound channel where it will fester and cause infection. A penetrating wound will at a minimum introduce bits of clothing into the wound channel. It will introduce any dirt or grime on your skin including any bacteria that might be on your skin. Those bacteria may be harmless on the outside of your skin, but once introduced into the interior of the body and trapped inside with a tampon a non-fatal wound could indeed turn fatal from infection.
Kotex or gauze pads on the outside of the wound applied with pressure to the wound is the most you should do to stop bleeding from a puncture wound.
Without advanced medical care, some wounds are just fatal. Either you will bleed to death or you will die a lingering death from infection. Not a nice choice. In an EOTW scenario, there are a lot of wounds that are easily survivable now that in years past were fatal and in a breakdown situation are once again going to be fatal.
Modern ER techniques where the body is opened and surgically repaired by skilled ER surgeons will be a fond memory only. Even if an ER doctor happens to be on scene and comes to your aid, without all the apparatus available to him to stabilize you and assist him, your wound will be fatal. The fictional scene where the doc puts the patient on the kitchen table and orders up sheets and boiling water to save the wounded hero makes for good reading but is just that, fiction. If you survive his ministrations it will be because of your latent good health being able to overcome loss of blood, shock and infection. He may be able to keep you from bleeding to death, but from there on, it will be up to mother nature.
In emergency situations, cayenne powder will help to slow/stop bleeding. Then use activated charcoal for the wound (and a lot more; brushing teeth, upset stomach, bites, etc.). Use activated charcoal by making a thin paste (preferably with distilled water, but at least clean water) and applying to the wound. Then cover with a suitable material. You will be amazed at how fast this works… I’ve seen it heal a gash on a horses neck with only two applications over a two week period in less than ideal conditions. There may be tattooing of the skin due to the charcoal, but you’ll be alive.
I have also heard in Emergencies, Plain Corn Starch is also Great at stopping Bleeding.
Perhaps other can either Clear this up or confirm or debunk this as a fallacy.
A killer in the 19th century was a few microscopic threads in a gunshot wound that would be otherwise clean. Any would taken thru cloth or leather–especially brain tanned leather (made with decaying brains)–had to be closely monitored for what was called the green rot. niio
Please don’t use the word sterile unless you are referring to actual sterile items. Sanitary napkins are very clean but they are NOT sterile. Great for wounds yes. But NOT sterile.
Rebecca: That was my thought also but forgot to mention it. They are not the same as sterile gauze pads but they are cleaner than the handkerchief in my back pocket or the tail end of my shirt, both of which will work if there is absolutely positively nothing else — on the further consideration maybe you would be better off without my handkerchief on your deep penetrating wound.
Buy an extra one of those cheap blue tarps to tie over your pile of firewood in rainy or snowy weather. I have used one on the firewood pile behind my garage, and it worked great until someone stole it.
The drugstore section provides lots of ideas. I have added two dental-repair kits to my BOB, and talked a prepper friend into picking some up, too. They are no substitute for a dentist, but they can blunt the pain from the loss of a deep filling that exposes a nerve when it falls out.
I also check over the seasonal discounted items at these stores, which are often marked down 75% or even more. A lot of the stuff is bric-a-brac that they’d have to pay me to cart away, but I often find something useful in those jumbled bins. This year sometime in the fall, I got vegetable seeds for 5 cents a pack, and yes by the time I need them, they will be at least a year out of date and won’t be high quality, but they sure will be better than nothing in many possible SHTF scenarios.
Stored someplace where it is neither too hot nor too cold and is dark, your seeds should do adequately for a fairly long period. You may not get 100% germination, but as you say, better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
A good container to use for storing stuff like that is a cheap styrofoam ice chest. It will be dark inside and it will moderate the temperature swings. Stored in the corner of a closet should avoid any extreme temperature swings.
When I buy food on line and it comes in a styrofoam chest, I save the chest and the cardboard box it fits in. I use those chests to store emergency food supplies in, even stuff that may be in jars or cans because it moderates wide temperature swings.
To Black Swan, someone must have been hard up to steal a tarp from your wood pile. Sure feel sorry for them.
I once had a wooden door stolen off my storage building, hinges and all.
Great article.
A less messy (and just as available) fire starter option is to put a mothball inside a cotton ball. Works even in wet conditions.
To the food portion of this kit, I would add sardines and kipper snacks that the dollar stores carry. These are not only a great source of protein and calories, but are also rich in omega 3 fatty acids.
Just my two cents.
In the local DG Store I frequent They have Canned Chicken, Canned Turkey which need something added to give them some Flavor to try to get around the canned taste.
Also small Danish Hams as well as canned ham about the size of regular Tuna cans.
They also have BBQ Pulled Pork and Roast Beef and Gravy in cans.
Of course they have canned Corned Beef one can use to make sandwiches, OR Corned Beef Hash, or Corned Beef and Cabbage or other things,
They also have caned Smoked Baby Clams and same type oysters…canned Crabmeat .
They also have SPAM.
They also have canned Mackerel and canned Salmon.
I don’t know of many (or if any) recipes for canned Mackerel. I suppose one could use it like canned Salmon and mix it as one would and make “cakes” with it. Other than that I don’t know of any recipes for it.
Anyone have any recipes they would care to share???
Don’t forget dried various Peas, Beans, (Lima’s, Pintos, Navy, Black, etc) Rice, (Yellow or white or Brown) and or
Other Dry Goods.. such as Flour, Sugar, Corn meal, Seasonings such as Salt/Garlic Salt. Garlic powder, Pepper, Whatever, etc. Or get them elsewhere.
Yosemite, my wife is from the Philippines, and she buys canned Mackerel and Sardines, and eats them quite often, sometimes making a soup or sautéing them with vegetables, and always with rice as a main side dish from her rice cooker, although I myself do not like or eat either mackerel or sardines. You might want to do an online search for Asian recipes with mackerel.
put a hatchet in the tool list; about $8 at Harbor Ft.
Just remember, if we buy cheap we get cheap. A dollar for shampoo is just that. Does not clean well unless you use a lot of it and does not last long. A cheap bug out bag will rip easy and is certainly not water resustent let alone water proof. A love saving a buck but maybe a bug out bag and it’s contents is not the place to save. It could be a matter of life or death. A cheap tarp will rip easy a cheap knife can break. Just something to think about
Those are valid comments; sure, we all know you get what you pay for, and dollar store stuff isn’t going to be the same quality as you’d get if you spent serious money. The thing is a lot of people CAN’T spend serious money, because they just don’t have it. If you’re short of cash you’re better with a dollar store multi-tool than nothing. Yes, if you get the chance to replace it with a Leatherman later you want to do that, but the dollar store tool is a good thing to have until you can afford a better one.
Wannabe: I agree with you 100% that if you want Cadillac, you have to pay for a Cadillac. If you pay for a yugo that’s what you get. On the other hand, sometimes you just have to buy a Yugo because that’s all you can afford.
The local dollar store was selling 10 inch butcher knives for 50¢ each. Are they made from 1095 steel? Of course not. They are stainless and they are sharper than a sharp stick. In a pinch they can be made into spear blades. I made sheaths for them out of stapled cereal boxes and duct tape. Are the sheaths as good as a hand-tooled bullhide leather sheath? Not by a long shot. Are they serviceable? You betcha. So if somebody deserving shows up without anything to defend themselves with, even against a feral dog, at least they can be armed with either a sheath knife or a spear. Total cost to me was $5.00 for ten of them, plus the cost of the duct tape and staples which may have raised the cost to 51¢ each.
Is a bug out bag from the dollar star better than no bug out bag at all? Well, that answers itself. For the cost of just a good quality bag alone, the dollar store shopper can supply him or herself with something that is better than nothing. Instant ramen is a terrible dietary product. If you haven’t eaten for three or more days, how delicious would a hot cup of instant ramen taste? I bought the ramen some time ago, but I think a case of ramen cost 10¢ a package bought in a 50 pack case. I hope I never have to use it, but should, unfortunately, that time ever come will I ever be happy to have that ramen. I am not relying on ramen as my stored food source, but a 50 pack of ramen weighs little compared to other foods and that is a consideration should I have to bug out with the bare minimum. Plus if you come to my door and are, in my opinion, somehow deserving, you might be very happy to get a gratis cup of hot ramen or maybe even exchange some labor for a cup of hot ramen with a slice of Spam in it.
LCC: I like the way you think.
Thanks Triumphant1. I know I have a tendency to run on but sometimes you just can’t say what needs to be said with a two sentence reply.
Ramen is good to have, I don’t care swho you are! I spent 17 years in Army Special Forces and Ramen was ALWAYS good to have in the ruck!
I eat it to this day from time to time. Toss in fresh chopped peppers, some cut cooked chicken and a beaten raw egg and you have something to fill the gut.
LCC, after three days with no food those old Ramen noodles (hopefully with flavoring) will be mighty tasty with some boiled pigeon, lizard, or local rodent, and a few wild greens tossed in.
With the ramen, you can also add powdered eggs as you make them. You can either make the powered eggs yourself or you can buy them at the local store.
Actually you can add a lot of things to ramen. Some canned peas and carrots. Canned corn, lots of different canned meats. I use canned soup as my soup base and go from there adding extra meat and retables. That’s part of my bug out/bug in plan for food. Extending canned soup. Yeah, I know, it has lots of sodium in it but as hard as I anticipate I will be working I will need the extra sodium to replace that lost through sweat. Canned soup give you lots of varieties and with added goodies, the menu is almost endless. Same with ramen but not to such a great extent. You can always add the ramen to chicken noodle soup to add more noodles to the soup.
I don’t buy condensed soup because it needs water. I buy soup that is ready to go right out of the can. That also helps with my daily need for fluids.
Thrift stores and yard sales have been gold mines for me. Yep, I do buy goods from the dollar stores; but I can get sturdy canvas backpacks with padded straps for $1-4 at the thrift store that will hold more, last longer, and be more comfortable than the $1 store trick.
A small Bible!
Add silk embroidery floss to first aid kit. It subs well for sutures. Dental floss will, too, but not as well.
A great purchase at 99 cent store is the hand-cranked flashlight. No batteries needed!!
And being a Cheap Chick, I look for free stuff: Hotel coffee packs, soap and shampoo. (Most will give you free toothbrush, razor, and shower cap, too.) Rubberbands for my hair. Free single samples in magazines and mail of shampoo, scent, baby formula, laundry soap etc. Crayons from a restaurant become instant candles.
Something IMPORTANT to make for free at home: spice straws. Cut plastic straws into 3 sections. Heat fuse one end. Fill with season salt, steak rub, cinnamon sugar, etc. Heat seal other end. Label. These take no space, weigh nothing, and make bland/prepackaged food tasty.
Include a few copies of cherished photos. You may never get back home to pick them up, and you may never see these loved ones again. PAPER photos, people. The batteries in your phone won’t last forever.
Did anyone mention utensils to eat with? The old Military Issue P-38 can openers are the best if you can find them….
I would add a couple of bags of hard candy such as butterscotch or whatever your favorite may be…….
Good Hygiene is extremely important especially in such an environments. Study up on Field Hygiene if you do not know know anything about it
Baby Wipes and or Toilet paper will make you and your bottom happier…..
One can find folding shovels such as E-Tools Military Issue or knock offs of them or completely different camping ones. Digging “Cat-Holes” to “take care of your business” and bury it practice proper sanitation….
Don’t forget items to relieve boredom….someone mentioned a small Bible used to get them FREE from the Gideons…….
Deck of cards and or dice or travel games such as checkers chess Othello etc among other things also a notebook and pencils and cheap sharpener or sharpen with pocket knife or pens. They do not take u much space or weight….
The notebooks can be used for different things from keeping a journal or leaving instructions or messages to loved ones/ friends to drawing maps or even making a game such as Battle Ship.etc. etc.
The cheap children’s pencil sharpeners ALSO are good for SHAVING dry, or semi-dry, TWIGS into paper-thin shavings for fire starting!
Thank you for mentioning to bring a Bible. Your greatest alley is a prayer away. The evidence is overwhelming and He who promises is faithful and true. Non-Christians, do your homework.
Yosemite, I totally agree about the wipes, but please look for them in the toilet paper section also, not just the baby section where they are often higher priced for less wipes per pack, although I just looked on WalMart.com and right now the Equate baby wipes (240 Total Wipes) cost less per wipe, here’s the link: https://www.walmart.com/search?q=equate%20wipes%20flushable%20wipes&typeahead=Equate%20wipes
I also agree with the poster who said to get the Sawyer water filters from the WalMart camping section, and along with a stainless-steel water bottle, makes a lot more sense than trying to pack a bottle of bleach in your BOB. Bleach is for when you are in a stable location or using a vehicle to pack a LOT of supplies and roll on down the highway.
I would also prefer a stainless steel or even a plastic “spork” to eat with over taking up valuable space in the Bug Out Bag (BOB) with packs of disposable spoons and such. Space is as critical as weight when packing your BOB – remember, you will be walking while carrying your BOB, which is vastly different than stocking your Bug in Place shelves, or loading a vehicle where you have a lot more room and can carry a lot more weight. My BOB has a very small fold-up rocket stove, but my truck will have a propane fueled camp stove with several 5-gallon bottles of propane, as well as a much larger rocket stove, and both stainless steel and cast-iron cookware, and so much more loaded in it than I can carry in just a BOB.
Re: Ramen… a house guest left behind a case of Ramen noodles a few years ago, having eaten 1 or 2 packages. I doubt he even remembers having bought them. Being a frugal sort, I vacuum sealed each package, put them back into the cardboard case, added a label with the expiration date (What!? Those things expire?!) and put them on a shelf with the rest of the long-term food. We might eat them, we might give them away. Who knows? But they don’t weigh much, don’t take up that much space and, being vacuum sealed, they should last longer than most marriages. Back in college, when Ramen noodles first appeared in the stores, we would cut up a small onion, boil it in the water, add the soup base, put in some frozen peas, turn off the heat, add the noodles and dinner was done. If we had some leftover meat, so much the better. That got my roommate and me through some hungry days and nights on a very tight budget. Back then, I think the noodle packs were about 7 cents a piece and you could buy a 5# bag of onions for under a dollar. Frozen peas were also cheap and we only needed an ounce or two per serving of soup. Heck of a bargain even if not the healthiest food in the world.
Be aware that not all dollar stores are alike. Some have everything for 99 cents or $1. The packaging might be smaller or the quality might not be top notch. At other dollar stores, some things cost more than a dollar, some might even be less. I bought off-brand baking soda, thinking it would be $1, turned out it was 50 cents a box. Bonus! At one store in town, a broom was $1, at the other store, a broom was $3. Either way, that is cheaper than Walmart. The $1 broom has a shorter handle but it is kept in the tack room and doesn’t need to be very heavy duty. But some dollar stores are actually just bargain stores. Also, check out Big Lots stores. But never assume that just because you are at a dollar or discount store that everything is a bargain. Sometimes, Walmart really is cheaper. You need to keep track of the regular prices for things at your regular stores. Also, sometimes the discount stores won’t have the same product the next time you go in. That is also true of the warehouse clubs (Sam’s and Costco).
Also, Dollar General stores sell Rexall Drug Store brand first aid supplies. A known brand name.
I have been saving toiletries from motels for many years. Before we started prepping, I used to pass them on to an acquaintance who donated them to a battered women’s shelter. Now, I save them and have assembled 50 or so “charity packages” – a Ziplock sandwich bag with a bottle each of shampoo, conditioner and moisturizer lotion, a bar of soap, a couple of “Wisp” disposable toothbrushes, a couple of peppermints, a pair of tea bags, two packs of sugar and a small plastic jar (empty vitamin bottles) with a tablespoon or two of salt. If/when the SHTF, they might end up getting used for charity or for barter or they might go to a local church for them to pass out, but since the nearest church is 25 miles away, that probably won’t happen. I now save the coffee packs from motels too. We don’t drink coffee but they may come in handy for barter someday. Caffeine addicts will be jonesing for their cup o’ Joe. We have also stocked up on the little bottles of alcohol, as well as large bottles Vodka has multiple uses, medicinally, as a sterilizer, as a fire starter, a pain killer, a preservative, a basis for tinctures. And of course, for barter.
While vodka and distilled alcoholic beverage will act as a fire starter, pain killer, preservative and a basis for tinctures, unless they are higher than 120 proof, they are NOT STERILIZERS. They are clean and may be used to wash out a wound and won’t infect the wound with introduced bacteria but they will not kill bacteria on contact. Distilled alcoholic beverages must be greater than 120 proof or 60% ethanol. Everklear, the clear high proof alcoholic drink in some states comes in at 180 proof or 90% ethanol. That WILL KILL bacteria. Some rums are higher than 120 proof and they will kill bacteria and sterilize medical instruments.
I think this particular topic pre-dates the great plague of 2019/2020. At the beginning of the discussions regarding the plague and bactericides and viricides, there was great discussion regarding what would and would not kill bacteria. If your ethanol beverage is just 120 proof, that is the bare minimum you need to kill bacteria. To be safe, it is better to have your beverage at 126 or higher proof to provide a minimal safety margin.
In buying hand sanitizer, make sure it is above 63% ethanol or isopropanol to be effective.
Yes, I know in the prepper novels, the movies and television, the script calls for the hero to pour whiskey over his wound to prevent infection. That’s entertainment, fiction, lies. We need to stamp out the false urban rumor that any old whiskey will kill bacteria or sterilize medical instruments. That is just plain wrong.