SHTF Preparedness and single-use gear

So, there's a small push going right now for people to pick up as much survival gear as they can because you never know when your bugout bag might actually become a lifesaving device.

That's great!

But I have a problem with it. Of course I do and I'm posting about it on the Internet because that's where people go to post brain-dumps about their ideas both good and bad. Especially when it's a brain dump about a problem they want to complain about.

Single use survival gear is the least effective thing you can get, and the most wasteful, and worst of all, in a true SHTF (look it up) scenario will be insufficient to meet your needs.

So, when building a survival kit, consider why you might use it, and in the case where you cannot make yourself NOT buy a single-use emergency item, buy SEVERAL. Why? Because when SHTF and you need a solution NOW, you will not have TIME to "figure it out". PRACTICE is a major key to survival. Buying a bag/tent/blanket combo does you precisely jack-all for good if you don't know how to use the thing, and since it's single use you won't want to open it and take a look because you're probably NEVER going to get that thing back in that tiny little pouch!

So what's the solution? Well, you can buy nine of each single-use item, or you can buy the right tools that do the same job in almost the same space that are meant to be used over and over - then you can get your butt over to REI to take a basic survival course so someone can help you figure out how to use that gear.

A proper bugout bag does not have to cost a fortune, in fact you can probably build one on a couple hundred bucks including the bag if you're thrifty.

I guess the biggest point in this tl:dr is this: Don't buy emergency survival gear if you can't afford to figure out how to use it in advance of your needing to use it. Will it be better than nothing? Possibly. Do you have to rely on a "maybe" since you're already planning for SHTF now? No. No you don't. Turn that maybe into a definitely. Give yourself that confidence.

Comments

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