12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need

12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need Introduction 

12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need. You’ve decided to prepare, which is awesome! Now, where do you start? 

Starting out as a novice or beginner to prepping is making a lifestyle change to be more self-reliant. This can be both stressful and overwhelming. We all have to start somewhere, which is what inspired me to write this 12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need list to help you get started. 

No matter where you are in your prepping journey, there are always going to be the fundamentals and a basic foundation that you build from. These things are essential for any kind of conceivable disaster, and the place to start is always at the beginning. 

While many people think that most preppers are waiting for some exotic or catastrophic threat like a nuclear strike, zombie apocalypse, or whatever other end of the world scenario you can think of, that isn’t actually the case most of the time. 

Because those things are unlikely to actually be a thing or happen, but hey, imaginations can keep things interesting, at the very least. 

But the real reasons to prepare are just as deadly and often catastrophic, but far more mundane. Think about what is a true emergency for you and your family, and what is likely. Disastrous weather that causes power outages, hurricanes, flooding and mudslides, major blackouts, and even civil disturbances, an earthquake, the list goes on. None of which qualify as “exciting” but are certainly major events that can disrupt our lives, the supply chains to stores, and much more. 

These 12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need essentials will give you the best chance for survival and help you weather a disaster much easier. This removes some of the stress that comes with disasters. 

Are you ready to get started with these 12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need? Let’s go! 

12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need 

Water 

Water is life, it is just that simple. The standard is 1 gallon of water per person, per day, and having three days worth of water, but a week is much better. 

Think about how much water you use in a day. Start with the amount you consume, then think about hygiene like showers and handwashing, and on to sanitation tasks like cleaning dishes, laundry, and toilet flushing. Then move on to cooking, and pets. 

Take your pets into consideration as well. Not only should you have a bug out bag made for them, you should have water stocked for them too. The standard measuring stick for animals is one ounce of water per pound of their body weight. 

Both humans and animals vary in the amount of water they need to consume. Puppies and kittens, and any other baby animals will consume more water than their adult counterparts. Humans who are more active will need more water than those who aren’t very active. The climate will also play a part. Someone in Arizona is likely going to need more water than someone in Alaska, just because it is hotter and the threat of dehydration is higher.

There is no one size fits all answer, but you know your family, your household, and those you are prepping for. Take all of these things into consideration when thinking about how much water you need to store. 

I have a good supply of water stocked up, and I still used a considerable amount in the last two weeks after a main water pipe burst down the street from me and I spent the day without water. The next one happened when we lost power due to an ice storm and the water was compromised because the treatment facility lost power. 

Light 

During almost any disaster that you can think of, you can expect a loss of power. We had an ice storm in January, and people are going on two weeks without power, and there is still no time frame for when everyone will be returned to normal and have power restored. The power grid is a very temperamental thing, and is almost always the first thing to fail. 

Humans are very reliant on our sight and darkness will often hold a lot more dangers during a disaster. That is why I have a blackout box stashed in several places around my home, making it easy to find when the lights go out. 

It is also important to have flashlights with batteries, a headlamp, and candles so that you can see your way around easier in a disaster. 

Hygiene Needs 

Hygiene is not a luxury in an emergency. Not only does staying clean help you maintain your mindset and a good attitude, it also helps prevent the spread of disease, infection, and other ailments that can turn into real life-threatening ailments. 

Besides showers, you still need to go to the bathroom to pee and poop. Let’s just be honest here, as these are important needs. You can’t stop doing these things in an emergency. Women are also going to have their periods. The universe and our bodies don’t give a damn if there is an emergency going on. So we just have to be prepared for those needs. 

Your hygiene kit should include clean rags, soap, body powder, deodorant, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and feminine care items like pads or tampons. 

You should also have the supplies to create your own emergency toilet if necessary. I was incredibly grateful that my water issues didn’t come to this a couple of weeks ago, but I was also really glad that I had the supplies in case it did. 

Emergency Radio 

When the power goes out, your phone, internet, and anything else electronic is going with it. Which means that it will become a whole lot harder to receive updates on severe weather and warnings. You can’t just open the weather app or open Facebook and see what everyone else is doing. What now? 

Having a battery or crank-powered radio will allow you to receive updates on severe weather and other emergency conditions even when most other forms of communication go down. 

The more modern examples of this classic and essential piece of emergency equipment have been updated and enhanced to include flashlights and even USB chargers to help keep your phone on. 

This is an absolute essential, in my opinion. If you choose a battery powered radio, always keep spare batteries and don’t store batteries inside the radio. Batteries corrode, and will ruin your radio without you knowing it until you’re ready to use it. 

If you choose a hand-crank one, as long as your arm muscles hold out, you’ll be able to rely on this piece of equipment. 

Tarp 

Tarps are one of the most basic, humble, and multi-purpose preps that you can have. A good tarp and some paracord allow you to create shelter from the sun, wind, and water, or use it as a ground cover to help keep things cleaner and dryer. 

A tarp can even help you stay warm inside a cold house by making a simple microclimate that is far easier to keep warm with body heat. I’ve seen people enclose a space with tarps, and it actually gets hot with just body heat! Think of it like making a fort out of tarps. It really works in an emergency, and will make things a lot more comfortable. 

I really like this for when you have kids and they are cold if the power goes down. You can make a game out of it, creating a fort in the house with tarps, blankets, and pillows to help keep everyone warm. Tell stories, read a book to them, and suddenly their morale is boosted, and your stress level goes down a notch. 

Maps 

If you have to evacuate, Google maps and GPS based navigation may not be an option. Neither are wrong turns, guessing games, and getting lost. That is a waste of time, energy, and gas. It is also just really stressful, which is the last thing you need in an emergency. 

You need to know where you are going, what your options are, and how to get there. Going old school with a paper map of your area is the most logical and reliable way to get from point A to point B when necessary. 

Food 

The general rule for food is 2,000 calories per day. While we don’t always need food for short-term emergencies, food is still vital for survival. 

Food is also a morale booster. Think about what happens when you become “hangry” and how you act. If you have kids, this can be a much bigger problem, and add to your stress levels. 

My pantry is stocked and has three levels to it. The perishable foods, the boxed and canned goods that require minimal prep, and then the long-term foods that are freeze dried. I like having a combination of all of them, because it gives me a lot of flexibility, and allows me to be prepared for both short and long-term emergencies. Food storage and organization is essential.

I love cooking everything from scratch and not using boxed or prepared items, but I also recognize where they have their place in an emergency. 

Don’t forget to watch the expiration dates, and be sure to have a can opener, disposable plates, utensils, and cups. For as much as I despise disposable anything, it does have its place. 

This is also where home canning and learning about it will come in very handy. Think about learning to can and having more shelf-stable foods available to you. This can also save you a lot of time and money if the power goes out and keeps you from losing everything in your freezer. 

Also think about food for your pets. Explaining food issues to either small children or pets is pretty much impossible. They depend on you for survival, and it is up to you to make that happen. Always make sure that you have ways to feed everyone in your household and are ready. 

First Aid Kit 

As you start preparing and becoming more self-sufficient in an emergency, you will come to understand that you are your own first responder. 

Part of understanding that means you know how to deal with injuries that often result from a close encounter with a disaster or violent event. 

A good quality first aid kit should be able to deal with all kinds of minor injuries and the most common kinds of trauma. 

Things like band-aids, gauze, ace wraps, antiseptics, burn cream, pain medicine, nausea, and other similar ailments. Pressure dressings and tourniquets and more for trauma type injuries is something you should learn more about if necessary and stock things to take care of that as well. 

Think about the things that you deal with often. For me, migraines are something I have at least monthly, and it is miserable. I am not a nice person when it happens, life sucks, and so this is something I keep medicine stocked up to handle during an emergency. It is high on my personal priority list. Think about your personal priority list in that regard, and then stock up for that. 

Also make sure that you take prescription medications into consideration. Do you have a 90-day supply? Most doctors will prescribe that long, the last time I knew anything. If yours doesn’t, have a talk with them about it and wanting to prepare for your own personal needs. They should be able to give you some advice and help you be better prepared. 

This category is also an excellent time to mention knowledge. These supplies are useless if you don’t know how to use them. Make sure you learn CPR, take a basic first aid course, and essential trauma care. Expand on your knowledge, because knowledge is power! 

When disasters happen, you can count on EMS, police, and all first responders being swamped, overextended, and even immobilized beyond what they can handle. Be ready by learning to become your own first responder. 

Work Clothes 

When an emergency happens, you can likely expect to get wet, dirty, muddy, and maybe even bloody in the course of things. Even if you don’t, when things get dangerous, you don’t want to be outside trying to fix it in the dead of winter wearing shorts and flip flops, or while trying to get home if you end up stranded somewhere. 

You need to have good quality clothes, footwear, and even work gloves that will offer protection and allow you to get what you need done. Having a dedicated set of work clothes for emergencies will also allow you to change once you get dirty into clean clothes. 

Think about having seasonally appropriate clothes like pants, shirts, boots, socks, underwear, gloves, and hats. 

Tool Kit 

If disasters didn’t cause damage, they wouldn’t be disasters. Having a basic tool kit is a great idea for helping to cope with the aftermath and allows you to fix, build, and improvise in order to cope with whatever disaster is going on. 

A basic tool kit should include manual muscle-powered tools like a hammer, pry bar, hand saw, duct tape, screwdrivers, pliers, a utility knife, screws and nails, super glue, wire cutters, and more. 

If you’re handy with tools and fixing things already, you likely have these things on hand anyways. You’re set. But if you aren’t, don’t go overboard and waste a bunch of money here. All you need are the basics to help you fix something that is leaking or broken, shut off utilities like water, or nail up boards for shelter and security. 

Backup Documents 

In this day and age, everything is digital and electronic. Which is great, right up until we can’t access it because the power is out. 

It is essential to have your identification, titles to homes and cars, birth certificates, passports, bank information, will, marriage license, phone numbers and contact information, and more in both hard copy and digital format. 

Keep hard copies in a fireproof safe that you can access if necessary. Keep digital copies on a flash drive and make sure that it is encrypted so you don’t give anyone else access to stealing your identity and making life even more difficult in an emergency. 

Self-Defense Means/Tools 

Self Defense is absolutely essential in an emergency. Because sadly, emergencies bring out both the best and the worst in people. Think back to hurricane Katrina and looters destroying and emptying stores in mere minutes. 

It is really easy to find vulnerable people who are easy targets when it comes to criminal activity because they are unprepared, scared, and desperate to save themselves and their family. It may come down to they want what you have, and you have to stop them from taking it. 

There are many options for self defense, and it is up to you, your skill levels, and your confidence levels to pick which is the best for you. If you are concerned about this, think back to the part where I mentioned being your own first responder. This is another example of that, as police are going to be swamped. 

12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need Notes 

There is so much to learn about being better prepared, and it can be really scary, overwhelming, and even somewhat paralyzing for beginners, which is why I created the 12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need.

But this isn’t meant to scare you in the slightest. It is meant to give you the tools and foundation to get started with the essentials and thinking about it all. 

The best part is that once you have the basics, you can expand from there. If the power is out, how do you cook food? Do you have alternative power sources to create the heat to cook? There is a lot more to it all. But you don’t worry about the roof of a home before the foundation, right? Start with the 12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need basics and expand. 

I should also mention that you don’t need to run out and blow your savings account on these things either. Start by slowly stocking up and making simple changes. Buy an extra bag of flour on your next grocery store trip, or a case of water. Keep building each week and each month, and you’ll be more ready than you realize just by doing those simple things. 

12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need Discussion 

Have these 12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need helped you be able to get started on your journey to being better prepared? Is there anything you would deem absolutely necessary to start with that I left out? Let me know your thoughts and how the 12 Easy Essentials All New Preppers Need helped you in the comments!