Too Many Gizmos

Sometimes I go down the rabbit hole of YouTube prepper channels. Ho boy. There’s a lot of gizmos for sale. A number of these channels are little more than commercials. (check the affiliate links below!) 

I love gadgets but even I know better than to stock up on all the prepper toys out there. 

What people really need is knowledge and skills. Then they have to practice to keep those skills sharp. 

Focus on the essentials. Fire to keep warm and to cook. Pure water to drink. Food. Decent clothing and shelter to protect from the elements. Know your environment. What conditions are you likely to have to deal with? Rain? Cold? Heat? Wind? You get the idea. Those basic needs can be satisfied fairly cheaply. Heck, if you have the skills it’s possible to go into the forest with basically nothing and survive. 

However, there are a few tools that make things a lot easier. A decent knife is a big one. Keep it sharp. 

You might need to cut some cordage, so let’s add paracord to the list. It’s useful for so many things -if you’ve learned a few basic knots. 

Being able to boil water is a big deal. Get something big enough to at least heat a couple of cups of water. Not only is it useful for cooking, boiled water is much safer to drink. 

Making fire is essential. I happen to like larger sized ferro rods. They can be soaking wet and still be able to put out a spark. Turning that spark into a blazing fire is another of those skill things. Don’t just throw one in your go bag and call it good. Practice. 

Personally, I like a good sized heavy duty rain poncho. I’ve even successfully strung one up with some  paracord and made a decent shelter out of mine. It kept the rain off and I got a decent night’s sleep. 

As you can see my choices tend to be fairly simple. I didn’t include stuff like the stove that also charges your cell phone or other gizmos like that. 

-Sixbears