I have two items in there that I don't often see on the prepared lists. First is Wet Ones...or just baby wipes. I'm not going dirty because using a
baby-wipe isn't "manly" and nothing feels better after some time camping or spent out in nature than a fresh clean face and clean hands to eat
with. Sure nothing worth wasting precious drinking water for, though. Wet ones also come in an antiseptic or aloe version and I pack both for the
different things they offer in a pinch.
The other thing I can't talk about enough with people is information. All the information you can print and pack! Not flashy plastic reference cards
at $5 a piece that are a pain to constantly work around in a bag and serve as more of a place mat than a reference to anything. No.... No one is
better than our own selves for knowing what we need to carry in that way. Some suggestions of what to find, print and pack:
1: Making Soap from BASE raw materials. W/o soap, no one is clean. Without hygiene, no one lives long.
2. Filtering water with NO man made devices to help. Same as above... No clean water is worse than NO water. I'd rather dehydrate than die losing
everything to being sick from bad water.
3. What plants are safe to eat..but more important..which are NOT. You'll mistakenly eat 100 non-toxic plants and learn. You'll eat the wrong one
only once...and die ignorant. I can't stress THIS and which side is the focus enough.
4. Maps for...everything. A fun and enlightening exercise is to shut down your TV, Computer and phone. Without any of those available.....Where are
the medical facilities OTHER than major Hospitals? Where are the gun stores, police facilities, national guard armories and civil defense shelters
from the bad old days when they were actually maintained and stocked? Most places still have them...they're just not signed and being used for
basement storage. All EASY EASY things to find now...with the net. Impossible and priceless information AFTER it's all gone.
5. Misc to round things out. Information is free, ink is cheap and paper is light if pretty graphics aren't included to overstuff printouts. Things
like making matches (that material does more than peacefully make fire to cook with), basic car mechanics for likely causes a vehicle would be
disabled..yet fixable. Even something as mundane and seemingly simple as the growing seasons and basic planting data is worth throwing in.
How to carry it is easy and waterproof without spending a dime. We all have them and a little creativity goes a long way. Standard printer paper rolls
up neatly and fits into......cardboard paper towel tubes. A roll of saran wrap and packing tape to wrap over the outside and the tube is a waterproof
container in need of whatever end cap a person prefers. I use a near perm. cap on a couple because those are info sheets on things like weapons that I
won't likely need out and don't want any chance of opening by mistake and being ruined. The rolls are also perfect for labels running down the
length to show what data is on the printouts rolled up inside.
Anyway.. sorry to be so long, but occasionally a topic hits on this board that I want to take a moment to really try and contribute to. After all,
perhaps I run into someone from here in some distant circumstance on the other side of TSHTF...and that person knowing a few tricks helps us both as
much as them alone.
Ya never know.