Help me Prepare a Meltdown Kit

I figure I need something for barter and I need survival gear. For barter, I was thinking of investing in silver rounds. Maybe five thousand bucks worth. More if silver is a good investment. Then if meltdown never comes, maybe I can make some money.

Then for survival gear, just standard camping equipment to start with? Maybe a .22 and an off-road vehicle? Then maybe some medical supplies, food, water. Basically a standard emergency preparedness kit plus barter and camping and hunting gear, eh? What else do you guys think?

[edit on 4-8-2010 by Student X]

For bartering, skills also will go a long way. Knowing about growing things, building things, fixing things. First aid skills.

Water purification tablets might be needed. Plus, how do you ensure access to gas, what if electrical is down. Unless truck is run on bio-diesal, and you have a set up to produce it.

reply to post by Student X


Go backpacking and you will have the gear you need and the understanding of how hard it is to be mobile with 50lbs on your back.

99% of the people in here have gear lists that are not realistic because they couldn't carry them. Hopefully they can drive to where ever they plan on bugging out to or they are in for a rude awakening.

I wouldn't think of bartering because you probably wont be able to barter for awhile. People will just shoot you and take your stuff.

Go watch "the road"

jR's got it. If you want to know what to have then go live like the worlds already over with. Solo backpacking and ultralight camping or solo long distance bike tours.

Everyone has too much crap. Too many gadgets and gizmos and gear that when push comes to shove isn't worth anything to anyone.

Sooner or late that silver you have would only be useful in a sock to beat somebody with.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Those long fishing boots. helpful to cross watery paths.

Also, all purpose knife, one of those screw drivers with all of the bits in the handle, mini hand saw, mini bolt cutters, as many batteries as you can carry of all types, wire, lots of cheap string, any explosive powder if possible, hand gun or rifle if owned, and most of all, a handheld gps if conditions are right.

Have a group always ready to go, family included. Bigger the group, less the chance (or greater in some cases) of attack.

make everything waterproof. If you can, get a large self inflatable raft. With all those people, you should be able to carry some helpful tools. Also keep in mind, when in a group in this scenario, nothing is yours, everything is the groups. Greed and drama are the last things you want on your plate.

Also, in situations like this, remember, guns were made 200 years ago, they can be made today too. Find the right peaces, have some powder of some sort, throw some small nails in the barrel, blammo, you have a crappy shot gun.

You could go into the wilderness by yourself, and in 2 years, have an amazing home with all the necessities and a lot of luxuries of modern life.

Problem is, you don't know how. Learn my friend, know how to heal before learn to kill. Learn to build before you decide to do anything. Knowing basic carpentry is one of the utmost biggest things you will need for your retirement of the wasteland of unknown origin.

A good thing to do to practice is pretend something happened, and run off with you kit and act it out for a few months. Fun, educating, exciting experience!

Thats my 2 dollars.

Forget the precious metals...
If the meltdown occurs, precious metals and other similar commodities will lose their value instantly.
You can't eat them, they won't help you start fires, or keep you dry.

Water, Food, Shelter, clothing Transport will be the new precious items. In that order.



[edit on 4-8-2010 by dampnickers]

Meltdown currency covers alot of things but I wouldn't stock up on just gold and silver. As I've told others about how things will work in the event of a meltdown, and crime is rampant, "If I have a gun and you have an ounce of gold, then I have a gun and an ounce of gold". There are plenty of on the fly currencies that can also be used for barter. Food, ammo, medical supplies, guns, gas, survival gear, etc. Some are compact and light, while others are bulky. Silver is a good idea, but in bulk it's pretty heavy. It wouldn't hurt to have a couple ounces of gold stashed away.
In a survival situation, all you really need is food, water, and comfortable shelter. My pack weighs about 25 lbs and has everything I'll need on the run, and I could probably narrow the necessities down to a military butt pack. Here's my little list:

Poncho (that can be made into a tent or a tarp)
Emergency blanket
extra lighter
firestick
bowie knife
canteen
small binoculars
3 power bars & small pack beef jerkey
small fishing kit
extra ammo
1st aid kit
spool of 40lb fishing line (for many uses)

It would keep me cozy until I set up a shelter-camp. There's not much bartering with this but I don't plan on doing too much of that. Where there are populations, there will be crime and looting. Whatever you decide, make sure you can carry it comfortably over distances. Camping is supposed to be living without luxuries and 'roughing it'. It isn't hard, but it takes getting used to.
And also, as mentioned above, your skills are a good bartering tool too. You may run across a guy who needs his car fixed, and has some food to trade.

Edit to add: Another barter item to consider is seeds. Good organic veggie seeds. Modern agriculture will end up getting raided by the masses in the event of a food shartage, so having tradeable seeds is a plus, and they're light. Just keep them cool and dry.

[edit on 4-8-2010 by OuttaTime]

Depends on what your expecting.. if your expencting total survival metals will be of no use, however silver does have some antibacterial properties.. However if you believe like i do that society will collapse due to a currency related issue .. metals will be well like gold.. look at Zimbabwe .. they want gold or silver for payment, or barters of other usefull items or services.. gold and silver have always been money and always will be.

I have a grand or so in silver 1oz rounds, i also horde pre 82 pennies since there 95% copper and actually worth more melted than there face value, i also horde Nickles.. they are 75% copper and 25% nickle... and worth more than face value..

Look at pre 1964 quarters.. they were worth a quarter now there worth $3-$4 just in silver contnet..

I'm betting society wont totally collapse but I am betting that inflation will make the penny obsolete and then i can melt them.. same goes for nickles.. Te best thing about old pennies and nickles is your only risk is the time you take now to collect them you can always cash them in for face value if nothing bad happens. However if society does collapse having nickles and copper pennies are great becuase people do know there metal contnent and copper is a very useful metal for many things. SIlver is usefull also .. more so than gold..

However best bet for metal is lead.. as in ammo.. that and food .. lots of non parisable food , rice and whole grains and canned goods etc..

Also think of how your going to haul all those supplies and or if your going to hunker down where you are.. have plans in place.. for whatever you plan is.. and test it uut.. one day for entire day , cut off your power and see what your going to need to do your daily activities.. most people don't even have supplie sin place to cook or even heat there home if the power goes out.. let alone flashlights or other absolute needs..

Barter items should be things that ya can't make at home...

matches, toilet paper,alcohol, cigarettes, sugar, canning lids, etc

basic stuff for kit is a good first aid kit, bush axe/ brush axe, good knife, rope, tarps, can opener..manual, flashlight, topo maps of area you live in and going to, pocket knife, cast iron frying pan, water purifiers, extra socks, deck of cards, matches...and more matches, couple of fishing gear...bobs...extra line...weights, compass, backup power bars/ dried foods...nuts, blanket...thats about it

Weapons will be high in demand, eventually you and everyone will run out of ammunition.

Ammo these days are mass produced

Hmm, lets see.... you're getting some great advice, like your #1 commodity for a survival kit doesn't weigh an ounce, no one can steal it and you will have it forever; that's knowledge. Can you build/repair a shelter, can you plant and sustain a garden, hoe many ways can you turn dirty water into clean drinkable water? Things like that are going to be paramount when the shtf!! All of this information can still be found on the internet, which we won't have after meltdown, so use it now!

A few things that my family has in our hip-pocket for the big whamoo: bicycles for each of us with a hand held tire pump, 2 spare tubes for each bike, candles and "water proof matches" (we'll see lol), UV sunglasses (which were only a $1 each @ Dollar Tree) and simple face masks. My husband's pack weighs about 5 lbs and mine and our three son's weigh about 3 lbs.

Now we know this isn't everything we need, but it's our "Oh &%$#, RUN" pack, in case fleeing becomes necessary.

Oh yeah, one more thing we just found out about and added, steel wool and a 9 volt battery. Just touch the steel wool to the battery and voila; fire! Also, we know how to garden, build/repair and collect rain water at least.

i recommend you get a water micro filter, you can find them by using google shopping, most are similar. you can use it on the move.

also stock up on foods and make sure you have a source of electricity and fuel, like solar panels, fuel cans, etc.

get your passport. you may want to /or need to leave. thats why i like some gold.
but right - you may met entirely different circumstances and want to stay put,
and you have lots of good advice.- a single shot h&r shotgun is around 100 bucks.
#4 buck has 27 good size pellets in it. a makarov pistol is 200 or less..
i like henkel kitchen knives i find at the thrift store- the best light axe is an estwing.
i like my machete alot. watch the slingshot channel guy-amazing.
i have bolt cutters. a dog is good to have around, get a mutt at the pound.
dry stores- nuts raisins oats honey rice beans. i could go several months or more
with the stuff i have tucked away.
bet you could barter with booze, cigarettes,pills or whatnot.
watch "the road"..






[edit on 4-8-2010 by p51mustang]

What are you all expecting to happen to the 129 million houses we have dotted all over the landscape? You're going to stockpile all the equipment you need to live in a hole covered by a tarp when there's a house every 100 feet in most parts of the country?

Originally posted by snowspirit
For bartering, skills also will go a long way. Knowing about growing things, building things, fixing things. First aid skills.

Water purification tablets might be needed. Plus, how do you ensure access to gas, what if electrical is down. Unless truck is run on bio-diesal, and you have a set up to produce it.

Purification tablets run out.

Things that work long term are slow sand filter, solar water
disinfection(SODIS), boiling water, solar stills, solar ovens.

The tablets are good if you are on the move and do not have time
to stop and setup one of the above.

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe
What are you all expecting to happen to the 129 million houses we have dotted all over the landscape? You're going to stockpile all the equipment you need to live in a hole covered by a tarp when there's a house every 100 feet in most parts of the country?

Some of the 129 million homes are being bulldozed to try to
get property values back up.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

During the depression the one thing that kept dropping was
things related to housing because ppl just went homeless.

The Great Rent Strike War of 1932 One such incident to gain notoriety was the Battle of the Bronx and is detailed in Mark Naison’s “From eviction resistance to rent control: tenant activism in the Great Depression” (in “The Tenant Movement in New York City, 1904-1984”). Naison points to a quiet section of the Bronx as the starting point for the Great Rent Strike War of 1932. There the Unemployed Councils led rent strikes at three different large apartment buildings in the early part of January. The majority of tenants in each building withheld their rent and demanded a moratorium on evictions, reductions in rent prices and recognition of the tenants’ committee for bargaining purposes. Landlords responded with widespread evictions, especially targeted toward those leading the strike. Judges quickly approved the eviction notices. The evictions were met with strong resistance when police and marshals attempted to force tenants from the buildings. Hundreds of protestors fought the police hand-to-hand and with sticks and stones when the officers would attempt to remove furniture from the buildings.

History is just repeating itself.

Originally posted by AlreadyGone
Barter items should be things that ya can't make at home...

matches, toilet paper,alcohol, cigarettes, sugar, canning lids, etc

basic stuff for kit is a good first aid kit, bush axe/ brush axe, good knife, rope, tarps, can opener..manual, flashlight, topo maps of area you live in and going to, pocket knife, cast iron frying pan, water purifiers, extra socks, deck of cards, matches...and more matches, couple of fishing gear...bobs...extra line...weights, compass, backup power bars/ dried foods...nuts, blanket...thats about it

Some good info you posted.

A good survival kit can save your life.

The primary survival issues for me...

1) Knowledge - how to maintain and do the other 4 below
2) Self Defense - panicked ppl may take all you have
3) Shelter - extreme heat and cold can kill
4) Water - 3 days without water is about it, make sure it is clean
5) Food - some stored as backup, but ways to gather or grow it as well


55 gallon trash bags make a good emergency rain poncho.

Water and wind are primary means to lose a lot of body heat.

Water filtration bottle for being on the run.

Read up on SODIS on wikipedia, and slow sand filters,
and solar stills, and water boiling via a solar oven.

Firewood will likely become scarce and may draw unwanted
attention, a fire may make hungry ppl think food.

a pocket SAS survival guide has a lot of good info, it will have you
thinking about leaving the city though.

A folding saw vs. a hatchet wins in cutting wood.

Instead of sugar get honey, it has an infinite shelf life in stable
temperatures.

Laminated visual guide for edible wild plants, and medicinal ones.

having some long shelf life food is a good idea, some way to
grow a victory garden like they did in WW2 helps too, have
a heirloom seed pack that does not have Frankenstein seeds.

22 gauge stainless steel snare wire will help catch small game
while it lasts.

Get a crank flashlight with 5 or more LEDs, no batteries to deal with.

Instead of matches get fire steel, it last for 8,000 strikes.

A map magnifier fresnel lens can start fire infinitely as can
aluminum foil shaped in parabola.

Learn the firebow method for making fires.

During the depression alcohol and cigarettes did well, ppl keep their vices.

On the compass get a lensatic compass and read up on how they work,
and you might even learn how to find true north via the sun.

If you are a brainiac read up on an armillary sphere and spherical
geometry.

For firearms I have .22 LR, .30-06, .45 ACP pistol, would like to
have a 12 gauge shotgun but I already have plenty to carry.

If firearms are illegal where you are learn how to make a staff sling,
and a bow and arrows, get a stainless steel machete, it won't rust.

A stainless steel multi-tool is nice to have as well.

Have a survival cache hidden well somewhere, maybe more than one.

This way if you are robbed you got the basics for survival.


[edit on 5-8-2010 by Ex_MislTech]

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe
What are you all expecting to happen to the 129 million houses we have dotted all over the landscape? You're going to stockpile all the equipment you need to live in a hole covered by a tarp when there's a house every 100 feet in most parts of the country?

Good point. Personally I would try to avoid congregations of people in the beginning until some kind of order was maintained. Sure, most of the houses will be occupied and many will become transient homes. Many will end up getting trashed. But when the smoke settles and things return to normal, the lien holders of those properties will have to start over with lending, financing, and remodeling (provided there are jobs that pay a decent salary).

The last water filter you'll ever buy!

www.backcountry.com...:trackingCode=134FBF82-BE 68-DF11-9DA0-002219319097&mr:referralID=NA&CMP_ID=GAN_k232270&ganid=bc_322126558

It will filter 39,000 gallons. That is enough water for a family of four to last 23 years!

I can tell you what to put in and what to keep out of your kit but it would make no difference because there are so many resources out there for this situation and that situation etc...

I am a firm believer that just making up a kit is not enough. Training is key. Just like everyone thinks they know how to drive a car the first time in their life but need some training before they crash and burn, this is the same gamble. Most of the equipment is easy to use but there are some small things to know before using them that people skip over. I.E. Filtering muddy water in coffee filter before the 0.2 micron filter so that it doesn't clog up and go to waste fast.

It's important to remember that outdoor survival is not easy. It is something that many humans have forgotten to do because or urbanization. Everything has been so easily accessible for so long that people forget how to do simple things like hunt (and all things connected like skinning, butchering and such), pick the right plants to eat, watch out for predators, etc...

My suggestion? Go take a 10 day survival class. I liked mine. I was aloud a coffee can filled with 10 items that fell under the 5 important categories of survival :

Water
Food
Fire
Shelter
First Aid

For water I brought condoms to carry it in after researching survival kits and found out that pilots use them... I figured out pretty quick out there that lubricated condoms were a no no...

For food I brought fishing line and hooks.

For fire I brought a Magnesium stick, and waterproof matches which I ran out of very fast because I had to re-learn how to make fire, the internet version was no good... Especially in the rain.

For shelter I brought a heat sheet (for hypothermia) and thought of using fishing line.

For first aid I brought a small first aid kit

Add items : compass

We weren't aloud to wear watches.

The trip was super fun and I learned that my internet learned navigation was a little off when we got lost while looking for water and got picked up by a police officer after flagging him down. We were told the direction of the water, but went past it and somehow ended up in the middle of nowhere. When we got back to camp and everyone was looking for us, we found out that we had been lost for over 8 hours and walked off around 10 Km... I learned how to navigate the real way after that....

I was confident that everything was good until I started to get dehydrated and didn't even realize it. My instructor took one look at me, asked me the color of my pee, and gave me lots of water to drink. Carrying almost nothing, walking a lot in October (near Montreal), and making shelter dries you up real fast. And you don't even realize it...

When we built our shelter, we had picked a great spot, but missed out on the roofing... It leaked and flooded the entire side where me and my buddy were sleeping. Funny that it spared the ladies inside... We had to build a fire in the rain to keep us warm and attempt to dry our clothes... Try that frozen in 5˚C weather, at night in the dark, in the rain... It's not easy to find what you need in that kind of weather...

So my suggestion, from my own experience, is to take some kind of course to familiarize yourself on the equipment, skills, and mindset needed to survive in a meltdown. It's not all about what you got, but about the will to live and know how.

The 5 rules of survival

Rule 1 of survival : Winning mentality
Rule 2 of survival : Winning mentality
Rule 3 of survival : Winning mentality
Rule 4 of survival : Innate natural survival skills/behavior
Rule 5 of survival : Acquired survival skills

I hope I was some help!

Magnum