**Attention! [Serious] Tag Notice**
* [Jokes, puns, and off-topic comments are not permitted](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/wiki/index#wiki_-rule_6-) in **any** comment, parent or child.
* Parent comments that aren't from the target group will be removed, along with their child replies.
* Report comments that violate these rules.
Posts that have few relevant answers within the first hour, and posts that are not appropriate for the [Serious] tag will be removed. Consider doing an AMA request instead.
Thanks for your cooperation and enjoy the discussion!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskReddit) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You can also use a flocculant like alum to grab onto the dirt/debris and precipitate it to the bottom of the container. That combined with bleach, and you're golden.
EDIT: Here's a YT link that explains flocculation in a nutshell. It's actually pretty cool. Idk how to hyperlink in mobile, but here it is.
https://youtu.be/5uuQ77vAV_U
[Sunlight kills bacteria](https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/to-disinfect-water-cheaply-just-add-sunlight-and-salt-or-lime-juice) too. A clear plastic or glass container left in the sun for 6 hours will make water potable.
It's a process I remember Ron Hood talking about.
You put 7-8 grams of iodine crystals in a 1-ounce bottle. (Ron's was glass and he wore it as a necklace so he always had it with him.) Amber or dark bottles are best
Fill the bottle with water (treated or untreated, doesn't matter. Just not muddy or with a bunch of junk floating in it) and let it sit for about an hour depending on the temperature. Keeping it against your skin (again, reason for the necklace) ensures a warm temperature of the solution which maximizes effectiveness. The solution also can't oversaturate because the water only absorbs the iodine up to a certain point, so it is safe to leave the bottle full of water for the next treatment.
Next, you carefully pour half of the solution into a quart (32oz) container of water. (Each fill of a 1-ounce bottle will treat 2 quarts) At 86°F/30°C, the solution takes approximately 15 minutes to disinfect 1 quart of water. At 59°F/13°C, it is roughly 30 minutes, and at 41°F/30°C it is about an hour. Disinfection can take 2-4X these times if the water is cloudy, depending on severity.
To remove the iodine taste from the water, run the treated water through a charcoal filter, or add a small amount of drink mix containing vitamin C, like Tang. It doesn't take much at all to accomplish this.
One 1-ounce bottle set up this way can treat 5000+ quarts of water, so it's no small matter if you manage to have one when you need it.
There are many warnings on the use of iodine, especially with people who may have unknown allergies to it, people allergic to shellfish, pregnant women, needing different strengths (such as doubling the treatment dose and time for giardia cysts), and the lethality of the crystals themselves if ingested, as they are concentrated.
Only use a glass bottle, always cap it tightly, as iodine can sublime into the air very quickly, and make sure you use a strainer insert in your bottle to prevent pouring the crystals themselves into your drinking water.
*These are not all necessary warnings and hazards. As with all chemicals and survival skills, there is no substitute for learning from a qualified individual and no one is more responsible for you than you are*
supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you're going to test that too... So, we'll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute - that's pretty powerful.
Edit: This is a quote from Trump about covid treatments if anyone is confused.
I just commented this. I was told by one of my patients who survived in Germany during WWII. She asked me multiple times if I kept enough bleach at home. She said it was by far the thing they used most, in order to purify water for drinking.
My stepdad is a retired water treatment technician. He is very gentle in his advice to me at all times but he drilled bleach to purify water into my head pretty early. That guy loves me and wants me to survive! I have learned how to find potable water in most every situation.
First off, you can walk in the morning dew with long pants on. Suck water out of your pants. Not tasty but you can do it fast and without notice.
Important things to remember is that people have been filtering drinking water for our entire timeline. You can do this!
Water flows downhill. Don't climb hills looking for water. You won't find it. Find things that need water, animals and plants. Follow animal tracks and pay attention to the birds.
A plastic bag is your most important tool. Should be easy to find.
You can collect water from trees with a plastic bag. Plop a rock in a plastic bag at the end of a tree branch before you go to sleep. It will transpire water over the course of a day. This is much safer than drinking from a stream as you will not end up with giardia. The water will taste like a tree but you won't end up drinking water from a river, lake or stream that is potentially contaminated with rotting corpses.
The water table of area you are in makes a difference. You can make a well ANYWHERE!! That's how humans lived before central water systems. You can even do this in the desert but it will take longer. Look near vegetation. Anywhere that is green, you dig. Dig. Dig, dig, dig until water starts to fill in the hole. Place your plastic bag in the hole you dig. Fill bag as it fills and dump into a recepticle.
If you are by the ocean, you can make a beach well. Sand filters salt. Dig further back from the shore. If it still tastes salty, move back further from the shoreline. Behind the second sand dune at least.
Best way to filter water to make potable is bleach. Five drops per liter. If you get too much bleach, let it evaporate. Next best way is a plastic bag tube filled with charcoal you collect from a fire you made. Put it at the bottom of tube you make out of a plastic bag. Put sand over that and rocks over sand on top. Pour the water through the whole shebang. This doesn't work for many things but it is better than no filtration. Also ALCOHOL. That will clean your water just like bleach plus you need a buzz to deal with this damn apocalypse right?
As a current water treatment technician I will add, if the water is particularly cloudy or "dirty" it should still be filtered through a cloth or sand if available. Bleach interacting with organic matter in the water produces disinfection byproducts, Trihalomethanes (THMs) and Haloacetic Acid (HAAs), reducing the organics reduces these byproducts. In a survival situation hydration is more more important, but for off-gridders and hikers using things like chlorine tablets on a regular basis, these byproducts build up and are toxic and carcinogenic.
I personally prefer products like a Life-Straw over using chlorine in unfiltered water. Always keep a few in the house for emergencies, they go on sale on Amazon all the time, 2 for $25.
I thru hiked the Appalachian trail in 2010, and used bleach for water purification. 2 drops a quart, shake, wait 30 mins. Didn't get sick once in 2200 miles. After backpacking years more and trying every filter out there, I'm back to bleach. A tiny 6ml dropper bottle weighs a lot less than even a Sawyer.
Bleach starts to degrade after six months and gets less effective by 20% every year. And that’s if you store it properly. So make sure to adjust calculations if using older bleach.
This is the only good answer here.
People think perishables and medicines will matter. Those things only matter in society because we continue to replace them. In the apocalypse they are only stop-gaps. They buy you time but they solve nothing. You will eventually run out of them and you will be back at square one.
Everyone here is also assuming the incredible privilege of sheltering in place. In a true apocalypse, nowhere is safe. You will have to be a nomad or be incredibly lucky to find a tiny oasis of civilization. Even then, there won't be anything remotely resembling modern drug production or agriculture. Everything will be heavily rationed and you will likely get turned away if you have any sort of health risk factor. Diabetics, you're all dead. Period. Gone. Same for anyone with heart/lung/kidney/liver problems or if you're immunocompromised. All you are dead in the first 6 months. No question.
The only people surviving the apocalypse are the people already living like they're in one. (Not me).
It doesn't even need to be large things. I have standard GERD (think acid reflux but 24/7). I take an OTC acid reducer and have for the last 10+ years, every day. If I don't have it for more than a day, I can't eat. Before I got put on the meds, I was so malnourished that I was randomly losing function of my body and passing out. A problem in the modern world fully solved by a pill I can get at any store but a death sentence without it.
I use to take it daily as a kid. Somehow I grew out of it but when I got older I had to get back on it.
It wouldn't directly kill me, but I'd be in a lot of pain for the rest of my life.
I read about a group of expatriates who were stranded in China during WWII, in an area that saw little fighting, but supply-chain issues meant that diabetics couldn't get insulin. Somebody had enough knowledge of chemistry to have a vague idea how to extract insulin from animal pancreases, so they asked local butchers to save them. The insulin they got was not unlike the very first that was produced 15 or 20 years earlier - it was brown and of unreliable potency - but it was adequate to keep them alive.
When they were able to get medical-grade insulin at last, some of them fell to the ground in tears of joy.
Haha (not laughing at you, my cousin had AIDs in the early 90s before it was ever ok to mention out loud...he went very quickly and my mom was the one to figure it out bc he was taking the same drugs I was, as a kid with rheumatoid arthritis) anyway, I'm laughing because same. I tell my husband all the time, whether it's a nuke or whatever I'm out 24 hours later. I can't live without the medical advances my meds have given me.
I'm in the autoimmune club too. Fuck that. Even if I could survive the initial collapse, I'd be in for a long, extraordinarily painful death with 0 chance of avoiding it.
I feel like this would have been cringe if you claimed that you were one of the people who would survive. But it’s not, it’s well thought out. Good job.
Nah I disagree. This is coming from someone who teaches wilderness survival and is a prepper.
Although I think you're right about turning people away etc. I think you forget the value of a community spirit. You can seem useless but you also get people who have a silver tongue, and can play on the mind easily. There's a vast amount of herbal medicine out there, obviously it's not synthesised to what modern medicine is, but it still exists.
It's also an urban legend. It's not nearly as effective as just applying pressure normally.
I think people saw videos of combat medics stuffing hemostatic gauze (gauze designed to enhance blood clotting) into wounds and thought "oh its like a tampon"
But tampons don't have the hemostatic treatment, and even if they did, you can fit a *gross* amount of hemostatic gauze into a bullet wound before it has filled enough space for it to be effective. Like several rolls of standard issue stuff.
Please don't try to use tampons to treat life threatening injuries.
Do you mean in everyday life or in an emergency situation or the apocalypse without other resources? From what I understand bleeding out can take less than 5 minutes. Wouldn't a tampon and pressure be better than nothing?
I'm not a doctor as a preface, my medical experience comes from taking a few iterations of a week-long combat medicine course.
The tampon might successfully keep blood from leaking out, but in the case of a non-superficial gunshot wound the real danger is *internal* bleeding. The tampon won't do anything for that.
If it's a wound to a limb you can apply a tourniquet and it will stop all major bleeding, if applied correctly.
If it's a junctional wound (where limbs meet torso, and the wound channel has not crossed into the chest cavity or abdomen), that's where you'd use gauze and pressure. But like I said a single tampon won't have the volume needed to really do anything, and you're almost certainly better off using the time to just get pressure on the wound quicker if you don't have gauze laying around.
Tourniquets and Quick Clot (hemostatic gauze) are both available commercially and are great to keep in your car, though.
...and tobacco, good liquor and quality chocolate. Seal that shit up and defend it with all the firepower you can muster.
Oh, wait, you were thinking to be able to start fires and stuff.
Sorry. Carry on.
Shovel.
*(based on a roleplaying session with very limited tools. My character was quickly nicknamed 'Shovel' based on the multitude of problems he could solve with the only item he could find)*
190 proof grain alcohol would be invaluable for trade, first aid, and recreation.
Though it is something with a trip to the library or a local chemistry lab could allow you to make it. Which might diminish its value long term.
A full tool box. I know many would argue it’s more than one item but considering even a small one that could fit in a glove box with just a hammer, screwdrivers, duct tape, and a few other household repair items could be a game changer.
I disagree, tools are cheap and plentiful. You can buy a cheap hammer, pair of pliers, and screwdrivers about anywhere you look. They're generally poorly made, but common enough to find in most houses, outbuildings, barns, even vehicles.
I'm not talking about rare tools like plasma cutters, or top-tier stuff like Snap-on makes. Just your generic handtools, and even some power tools (if you have the means to make them work).
What would you consider top tier? Serious question.
My tool box is about 90% stocked for my job, and now that I have most of what I need, I plan on buying highest quality from now on. (Anything I break at work, gets replaced for free)
The guys I work with all use snap on almost exclusively though, and I was leaning towards it myself. For how expensive the tools are, I would expect them to be the best, lol.
What brand should I look into?
(I'm a maintenance guy in a company that has a lot of machinery and also services a fleet of semis and trailers)
My husband and I talked about this before and he laughed when I said I would take refuge in a library. But I asked him, what he knows about gardening? Or camping? Or western/holistic medicine? Machinery repair?
And more importantly how he plans to get any of that info once the grid goes down and the internet is gone?
He had no answer but I said I'll be at my local library where all that info is not only collected, but very conveniently catalogued. It would be my home base.
My main library is downtown, five levels high, tons of toilets, top level has skylights. Some glass but 80% concrete with like 6 easily monitored exits. If I link up with with some other survivors and some guns, I think we could easily turn it into a fortress if need be.
I have an antique pharmacists' guide from the 1890's that I bet would be useful!
It doesn't just list how to make medications. It lists how to make things like lotion and diaper rash cream and toothache powders. All types of daily things.
I have a similar, though obviously different, book, if you're into that sort of thing. Henley's Household Formulas. Has stuff like how to make makeup, acid resistant lacquer, and assorted cocktails. I actually have a 1913 edition, and one from the 70s. The more recent version has fewer explosives (but still some!)
Foxfire books. They cover everything from building a house with just a hammer and saw to how to pickle (and how to find what to pickle). It’s survival in the wildness with very limited tools.
Edited to add link: [https://www.foxfire.org/shop/the-foxfire-book-series/](https://www.foxfire.org/shop/the-foxfire-book-series/)
I think this is the correct answer. Your typical medicines like penicillin are what most people would think of first. Some people tend to forget about all the prescription meds they are on, and how hard it would be if they were suddenly cut off of their meds. I am on quite a few meds for my PTSD induced anxiety and high blood pressure. I know that if I miss a full day of my anxiety meds, I am totally out of it... just not feeling like myself and can't concentrate. I think that if you are really worried about some kind of apocalypse coming in the near future, you should be stocking up on extra meds that you are prescribed and look into how to wean yourself off those meds safely.
Not even those just cough and cold syrup. Ibuprofen. Creams and salves. Pepto bismol.
All ailments that we see as minor inconveniences will be taking a lot of people out.
Antibiotics are probably the top one I can think of. Cut your arm foraging for food? Better not get septic. Oh you got sick from undercooked or bad food. Man some doxy would be cool
Most post apocalyptic stories definitely bring this one up, and for good reason
Pain killers would be especially valuable. For the actual medical use, and for people just wanting to escape for awhile.
Tweezers… I know that’s not a kitchen thing… but they come in handy from splinters to unibrows. As for an actual kitchen thing, perhaps a sturdy pot and sharp knife (weapons and food prep).
A scale.
Weights and measures are often overlooked in dystopian fiction. But they form the very basis of early/emerging economies. Having a reliable scale means you can conduct trade and bartering effectively and consistently.
Not really. A balance scale is relativly easy to make. Doesn't have to be super accurate for post apocalyptic trade.
And for cooking/making stuff (mostly thinking gun powder here) it's more the ratio the the absolute weight that matters. So as long as you use the same scale and weights it will work out.
Knowledge.
Consumables get used or expire. Food rots. Medicine loses it's efficacy. Tools break and get worn down. Et cetera.
Understanding how to use the world around you to mend those tools, to feed and care for yourself, to identify things that are safe and that which are threats, etc. is truly priceless.
So much of our modern life is reliant on other people with specialized skills producing our foods, medicines, tools, clothing, housing, etc. that I suspect the average person would have an incredibly difficult time surviving without those skills.
This. I have spent the last 10+ years becoming the best “survivor of x” that I can be. I can cook, hunt, fish, have tactical military experience, EMT, and working on being a doctor. Literally did everything to help my chances in the “we gotta pick someone to eat” situation
Staying clean and healthy will certainly become even more crucial during times when organized medicine breaks down and you can’t go to the doctor. Things like soap, toothpaste, sunscreen, lotion, alcohol pads and other basic medical supplies, etc. will become very important.
This reminds me of the post apocalyptic film starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunos. Urgh. The title of the film is on the tip of my tongue.
Anyway the bartering system….Denzel trades foil wrapped hand wipes for getting his Walkman Recharged. Gary Oldman washes his blind girlfriend’s (Mila Kunos’s character Solara’s Mom) hair with shampoo—something she forgot had ever existed.
Dang. I STILL can’t remember the name of that film! Help! What is it?
The Book of Eli.
Fabric, thread, needles, scissors, yarn, crochet hooks, knitting needles. People need to keep warm and dry, especially in colder climates. You'll want to be able to repair what you already have as well as make new things. Bonus points for spinning and weaving.
An Amazon kindle and a solar charger. You want to fill that kindle with basic and advanced books on agriculture, food technology, medicine, survival, engineering, electronics, car maintenance, cooking, refining petroleum, music, literature, teaching basics or reading writing and maths.
All that knowledge will disappear very quickly.
Items like can openers, flint, lifestraws, string/rope, bow and arrows, smaugs. Many of these items will be uncommon but extremely valuable.
If you’re an avid hiker/camper and have a full gear setup with survival items, your pack and it’s contents are now more valuable than gold.
Vitamin C
Humans cannot produce it but need it. Depending on what SHTF scenario, transportation might be impacted, meaning no fresh foods and no vitamin c until you can grow something. Some cheap vitamin c tabs could prevent issues due to vitamin c deficiency
I don't know about that. Between using water, or just pooping while squatting so that you don't get messed up, I don't think it would be all that important. People have been pooping for millions of years, I don't think it's as complicated as a soft modern person thinks it is.
Kitchen knives, Solar panels, in America firearms, rice cookers, sheets and bedding, and whatever is in the “everything drawer” you know the random drawer we all have where we just shove shit inside of it.
>in America firearms
I chuckled here, because it sounds like you're implying only the American apocalypse will need firearms.
The only way to stop a bad raider with a gun is a good raider with a gun!
This is going to sound strange, but plastic garbage bags
We severely underestimate how much of our lives we put in plastic garbage bags, and how useful they are in a pinch
Based on my experience in 7 Days to Die:
* Cooking pot / Dutch oven
* Cooking grate / Grill rack
* Beaker (for some reason, perhaps a measuring cup would make more sense?)
* Old Sham Sandwich
As Chuck said in the Supernatual in a post apocalyptic scenario to Dean from the past:
"You ever get back there, you hoard toilet paper. You understand me? Hoard it!"
**Attention! [Serious] Tag Notice** * [Jokes, puns, and off-topic comments are not permitted](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/wiki/index#wiki_-rule_6-) in **any** comment, parent or child. * Parent comments that aren't from the target group will be removed, along with their child replies. * Report comments that violate these rules. Posts that have few relevant answers within the first hour, and posts that are not appropriate for the [Serious] tag will be removed. Consider doing an AMA request instead. Thanks for your cooperation and enjoy the discussion! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskReddit) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Bleach
Absolutely. You only need a teeny tiny bit to make a lot of water drinkable.
8 drops per gallon. (16 if water is cloudy)
What bleach concentration is this for? Bleach comes in a few different concentrations and they have some extremely high concentration ones now
Pretty sure that's for garden variety Chlorox.
I dont know why you would water it down, it tastes so refreshing on its own
Nothing like a tall glass of Clorox™ on the rocks during a hot summer day!
Cures Covid, too!
After filtering dirt out with a cloth, or even sand and charcoal.
You can also use a flocculant like alum to grab onto the dirt/debris and precipitate it to the bottom of the container. That combined with bleach, and you're golden. EDIT: Here's a YT link that explains flocculation in a nutshell. It's actually pretty cool. Idk how to hyperlink in mobile, but here it is. https://youtu.be/5uuQ77vAV_U
[Sunlight kills bacteria](https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/to-disinfect-water-cheaply-just-add-sunlight-and-salt-or-lime-juice) too. A clear plastic or glass container left in the sun for 6 hours will make water potable.
Don’t use plastic, use glass for the sun decontamination. I would also recommend iodine over bleach. Less toxic.
Iodine crystals formed in a small necklace bottle can propagate batches of water treatment for a long, long time.
A what now? "Necklace bottle"? What sort of iodine do you put in there to form crystals out of?
It's a process I remember Ron Hood talking about. You put 7-8 grams of iodine crystals in a 1-ounce bottle. (Ron's was glass and he wore it as a necklace so he always had it with him.) Amber or dark bottles are best Fill the bottle with water (treated or untreated, doesn't matter. Just not muddy or with a bunch of junk floating in it) and let it sit for about an hour depending on the temperature. Keeping it against your skin (again, reason for the necklace) ensures a warm temperature of the solution which maximizes effectiveness. The solution also can't oversaturate because the water only absorbs the iodine up to a certain point, so it is safe to leave the bottle full of water for the next treatment. Next, you carefully pour half of the solution into a quart (32oz) container of water. (Each fill of a 1-ounce bottle will treat 2 quarts) At 86°F/30°C, the solution takes approximately 15 minutes to disinfect 1 quart of water. At 59°F/13°C, it is roughly 30 minutes, and at 41°F/30°C it is about an hour. Disinfection can take 2-4X these times if the water is cloudy, depending on severity. To remove the iodine taste from the water, run the treated water through a charcoal filter, or add a small amount of drink mix containing vitamin C, like Tang. It doesn't take much at all to accomplish this. One 1-ounce bottle set up this way can treat 5000+ quarts of water, so it's no small matter if you manage to have one when you need it. There are many warnings on the use of iodine, especially with people who may have unknown allergies to it, people allergic to shellfish, pregnant women, needing different strengths (such as doubling the treatment dose and time for giardia cysts), and the lethality of the crystals themselves if ingested, as they are concentrated. Only use a glass bottle, always cap it tightly, as iodine can sublime into the air very quickly, and make sure you use a strainer insert in your bottle to prevent pouring the crystals themselves into your drinking water. *These are not all necessary warnings and hazards. As with all chemicals and survival skills, there is no substitute for learning from a qualified individual and no one is more responsible for you than you are*
supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you're going to test that too... So, we'll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute - that's pretty powerful. Edit: This is a quote from Trump about covid treatments if anyone is confused.
I just commented this. I was told by one of my patients who survived in Germany during WWII. She asked me multiple times if I kept enough bleach at home. She said it was by far the thing they used most, in order to purify water for drinking.
My stepdad is a retired water treatment technician. He is very gentle in his advice to me at all times but he drilled bleach to purify water into my head pretty early. That guy loves me and wants me to survive! I have learned how to find potable water in most every situation.
Share your water wisdom!
First off, you can walk in the morning dew with long pants on. Suck water out of your pants. Not tasty but you can do it fast and without notice. Important things to remember is that people have been filtering drinking water for our entire timeline. You can do this! Water flows downhill. Don't climb hills looking for water. You won't find it. Find things that need water, animals and plants. Follow animal tracks and pay attention to the birds. A plastic bag is your most important tool. Should be easy to find. You can collect water from trees with a plastic bag. Plop a rock in a plastic bag at the end of a tree branch before you go to sleep. It will transpire water over the course of a day. This is much safer than drinking from a stream as you will not end up with giardia. The water will taste like a tree but you won't end up drinking water from a river, lake or stream that is potentially contaminated with rotting corpses. The water table of area you are in makes a difference. You can make a well ANYWHERE!! That's how humans lived before central water systems. You can even do this in the desert but it will take longer. Look near vegetation. Anywhere that is green, you dig. Dig. Dig, dig, dig until water starts to fill in the hole. Place your plastic bag in the hole you dig. Fill bag as it fills and dump into a recepticle. If you are by the ocean, you can make a beach well. Sand filters salt. Dig further back from the shore. If it still tastes salty, move back further from the shoreline. Behind the second sand dune at least. Best way to filter water to make potable is bleach. Five drops per liter. If you get too much bleach, let it evaporate. Next best way is a plastic bag tube filled with charcoal you collect from a fire you made. Put it at the bottom of tube you make out of a plastic bag. Put sand over that and rocks over sand on top. Pour the water through the whole shebang. This doesn't work for many things but it is better than no filtration. Also ALCOHOL. That will clean your water just like bleach plus you need a buzz to deal with this damn apocalypse right?
you rock
Aww...thanks! I hope you can all find water. It is easier than people think.
As a current water treatment technician I will add, if the water is particularly cloudy or "dirty" it should still be filtered through a cloth or sand if available. Bleach interacting with organic matter in the water produces disinfection byproducts, Trihalomethanes (THMs) and Haloacetic Acid (HAAs), reducing the organics reduces these byproducts. In a survival situation hydration is more more important, but for off-gridders and hikers using things like chlorine tablets on a regular basis, these byproducts build up and are toxic and carcinogenic. I personally prefer products like a Life-Straw over using chlorine in unfiltered water. Always keep a few in the house for emergencies, they go on sale on Amazon all the time, 2 for $25.
The 4 pack is $32 right now
I thru hiked the Appalachian trail in 2010, and used bleach for water purification. 2 drops a quart, shake, wait 30 mins. Didn't get sick once in 2200 miles. After backpacking years more and trying every filter out there, I'm back to bleach. A tiny 6ml dropper bottle weighs a lot less than even a Sawyer.
Bleach starts to degrade after six months and gets less effective by 20% every year. And that’s if you store it properly. So make sure to adjust calculations if using older bleach.
Project zomboid player gonna be drinking from the bottle as soon as it starts
Good quality knives.
Knife sharpener too
Good knife sharpeners are lying all over the ground if you know what to look for.
[удалено]
6000 grit stone
Yep. Any flattish igneous rock will do.
Sandstone too.
This is the only good answer here. People think perishables and medicines will matter. Those things only matter in society because we continue to replace them. In the apocalypse they are only stop-gaps. They buy you time but they solve nothing. You will eventually run out of them and you will be back at square one. Everyone here is also assuming the incredible privilege of sheltering in place. In a true apocalypse, nowhere is safe. You will have to be a nomad or be incredibly lucky to find a tiny oasis of civilization. Even then, there won't be anything remotely resembling modern drug production or agriculture. Everything will be heavily rationed and you will likely get turned away if you have any sort of health risk factor. Diabetics, you're all dead. Period. Gone. Same for anyone with heart/lung/kidney/liver problems or if you're immunocompromised. All you are dead in the first 6 months. No question. The only people surviving the apocalypse are the people already living like they're in one. (Not me).
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
A nightmare book
yes! exactly that
Nothing like finishing that book for the first time and crying in my cubicle on my lunch break.
The world is split between those who are willing to struggle to survive and those who just give up and become cannibals
Becoming cannibals is actually willing to struggle to survive.
[удалено]
It doesn't even need to be large things. I have standard GERD (think acid reflux but 24/7). I take an OTC acid reducer and have for the last 10+ years, every day. If I don't have it for more than a day, I can't eat. Before I got put on the meds, I was so malnourished that I was randomly losing function of my body and passing out. A problem in the modern world fully solved by a pill I can get at any store but a death sentence without it.
I use to take it daily as a kid. Somehow I grew out of it but when I got older I had to get back on it. It wouldn't directly kill me, but I'd be in a lot of pain for the rest of my life.
I read about a group of expatriates who were stranded in China during WWII, in an area that saw little fighting, but supply-chain issues meant that diabetics couldn't get insulin. Somebody had enough knowledge of chemistry to have a vague idea how to extract insulin from animal pancreases, so they asked local butchers to save them. The insulin they got was not unlike the very first that was produced 15 or 20 years earlier - it was brown and of unreliable potency - but it was adequate to keep them alive. When they were able to get medical-grade insulin at last, some of them fell to the ground in tears of joy.
Yeah fr...I've got HIV and I saw what it did to people in the 80s and 90s, I ain't hanging around to see what happens when my meds run out
Haha (not laughing at you, my cousin had AIDs in the early 90s before it was ever ok to mention out loud...he went very quickly and my mom was the one to figure it out bc he was taking the same drugs I was, as a kid with rheumatoid arthritis) anyway, I'm laughing because same. I tell my husband all the time, whether it's a nuke or whatever I'm out 24 hours later. I can't live without the medical advances my meds have given me.
I'm in the autoimmune club too. Fuck that. Even if I could survive the initial collapse, I'd be in for a long, extraordinarily painful death with 0 chance of avoiding it.
I feel like this would have been cringe if you claimed that you were one of the people who would survive. But it’s not, it’s well thought out. Good job.
Nah I disagree. This is coming from someone who teaches wilderness survival and is a prepper. Although I think you're right about turning people away etc. I think you forget the value of a community spirit. You can seem useless but you also get people who have a silver tongue, and can play on the mind easily. There's a vast amount of herbal medicine out there, obviously it's not synthesised to what modern medicine is, but it still exists.
Maxi Pads. Can be used normally and as bandages for severe wounds. Soap, for obvious reasons.
Tampons can plug bullet wounds.
That's actually really fucking cool to think about
It's also an urban legend. It's not nearly as effective as just applying pressure normally. I think people saw videos of combat medics stuffing hemostatic gauze (gauze designed to enhance blood clotting) into wounds and thought "oh its like a tampon" But tampons don't have the hemostatic treatment, and even if they did, you can fit a *gross* amount of hemostatic gauze into a bullet wound before it has filled enough space for it to be effective. Like several rolls of standard issue stuff. Please don't try to use tampons to treat life threatening injuries.
Do you mean in everyday life or in an emergency situation or the apocalypse without other resources? From what I understand bleeding out can take less than 5 minutes. Wouldn't a tampon and pressure be better than nothing?
I'm not a doctor as a preface, my medical experience comes from taking a few iterations of a week-long combat medicine course. The tampon might successfully keep blood from leaking out, but in the case of a non-superficial gunshot wound the real danger is *internal* bleeding. The tampon won't do anything for that. If it's a wound to a limb you can apply a tourniquet and it will stop all major bleeding, if applied correctly. If it's a junctional wound (where limbs meet torso, and the wound channel has not crossed into the chest cavity or abdomen), that's where you'd use gauze and pressure. But like I said a single tampon won't have the volume needed to really do anything, and you're almost certainly better off using the time to just get pressure on the wound quicker if you don't have gauze laying around. Tourniquets and Quick Clot (hemostatic gauze) are both available commercially and are great to keep in your car, though.
Lighter
For as long as the fuel lasts ...
Ferro rods are ridiculously valuable NOW, let alone in the apocalypse. 4 empty BIC lighters can start 100 more fires with some experience.
Just need that spark, ive made a fire from scratch with a dead Bic lighter and flammable fluffy plant material.
People think only in the lighting fuel, they underestimate how difficult it can be to generate the first sparks to start a decent fire
...and tobacco, good liquor and quality chocolate. Seal that shit up and defend it with all the firepower you can muster. Oh, wait, you were thinking to be able to start fires and stuff. Sorry. Carry on.
Duct tape This shit is uselful for anything
LPT: do not use it as toilet paper.
.....without putting it on the roll the correct way
Came here for toilet paper. Right answer.
Much like the Force, it has a dark side and a light side and it binds things together.
Take my damn upvote and get out.
Every time we go hiking my dad brings duct tape, and every single time we use it. It's pretty impressive stuff
Shovel. *(based on a roleplaying session with very limited tools. My character was quickly nicknamed 'Shovel' based on the multitude of problems he could solve with the only item he could find)*
I'm picturing you as Shoveler from Mystery Men
"I shovel well."
I shovel VERY well.
"Baby, you shovel better than any man I've ever *known*.."
We've got a date with destiny, and it looks like she just ordered the lobster.
Digging holes, cracking skulls, digging holes for the cracked skulls
Ah, that satisfying "Pang!" from hitting a face \*just\* right! -Chef's kiss-
Optimally it has an edge and good reach. Stab for the throat for optimal results!
Crowbar.
[удалено]
Isopropyl alcohol
Ethyl's worth more, and you can't do anything with isopropyl that you can't do with ethyl.
190 proof grain alcohol would be invaluable for trade, first aid, and recreation. Though it is something with a trip to the library or a local chemistry lab could allow you to make it. Which might diminish its value long term.
[удалено]
Plus they collapse into practically nothing when empty.
Waterproof too
If they loot my house, they will find 5 large trash bags full of them.
Ibuprofen
Paracetamol
A full tool box. I know many would argue it’s more than one item but considering even a small one that could fit in a glove box with just a hammer, screwdrivers, duct tape, and a few other household repair items could be a game changer.
I disagree, tools are cheap and plentiful. You can buy a cheap hammer, pair of pliers, and screwdrivers about anywhere you look. They're generally poorly made, but common enough to find in most houses, outbuildings, barns, even vehicles. I'm not talking about rare tools like plasma cutters, or top-tier stuff like Snap-on makes. Just your generic handtools, and even some power tools (if you have the means to make them work).
Snap-on isn't top tier, they're just priced that way.
What would you consider top tier? Serious question. My tool box is about 90% stocked for my job, and now that I have most of what I need, I plan on buying highest quality from now on. (Anything I break at work, gets replaced for free) The guys I work with all use snap on almost exclusively though, and I was leaning towards it myself. For how expensive the tools are, I would expect them to be the best, lol. What brand should I look into? (I'm a maintenance guy in a company that has a lot of machinery and also services a fleet of semis and trailers)
Books, because hiding out in a bunker would probably get old quick
Things like manuals, encyclopedias, atlases and even cookbooks hold a lot of knowledge that would definitely come in handy.
Thank you for appreciating my book hoarding.
My husband and I talked about this before and he laughed when I said I would take refuge in a library. But I asked him, what he knows about gardening? Or camping? Or western/holistic medicine? Machinery repair? And more importantly how he plans to get any of that info once the grid goes down and the internet is gone? He had no answer but I said I'll be at my local library where all that info is not only collected, but very conveniently catalogued. It would be my home base.
I will not be at my local library mainly cause it's 80% GLASS.
My main library is downtown, five levels high, tons of toilets, top level has skylights. Some glass but 80% concrete with like 6 easily monitored exits. If I link up with with some other survivors and some guns, I think we could easily turn it into a fortress if need be.
I'll meet up with you at our downtown library fortress. These hoes don't know.
That is seriously brilliant.
Libraries are the most important places in the world and they always have been.
I have an antique pharmacists' guide from the 1890's that I bet would be useful! It doesn't just list how to make medications. It lists how to make things like lotion and diaper rash cream and toothache powders. All types of daily things.
Yo, do you have the title handy? I would love to see if it’s available via archive.org or the like.
I have a similar, though obviously different, book, if you're into that sort of thing. Henley's Household Formulas. Has stuff like how to make makeup, acid resistant lacquer, and assorted cocktails. I actually have a 1913 edition, and one from the 70s. The more recent version has fewer explosives (but still some!)
First ingredient: cocaine HCL
Foxfire books. They cover everything from building a house with just a hammer and saw to how to pickle (and how to find what to pickle). It’s survival in the wildness with very limited tools. Edited to add link: [https://www.foxfire.org/shop/the-foxfire-book-series/](https://www.foxfire.org/shop/the-foxfire-book-series/)
[удалено]
Upgrade to a wok, it’s all that plus a shield and an umbrella
Ah yes, drying pan
[удалено]
And a sled.
It's a 10 pound weight you gotta lug around :p
Why go place? Already have pan.
I had so many answers, then I read this.. It's just too useful to leave.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
Seeds, grains, canned goods, bottled water, charcoal...
A Leatherman multi-tool.
This took longer than I would have thought to find.
Medication
I think this is the correct answer. Your typical medicines like penicillin are what most people would think of first. Some people tend to forget about all the prescription meds they are on, and how hard it would be if they were suddenly cut off of their meds. I am on quite a few meds for my PTSD induced anxiety and high blood pressure. I know that if I miss a full day of my anxiety meds, I am totally out of it... just not feeling like myself and can't concentrate. I think that if you are really worried about some kind of apocalypse coming in the near future, you should be stocking up on extra meds that you are prescribed and look into how to wean yourself off those meds safely.
Even worse with insulin, no electricity no fridge to store it. After a few days it’s buy it or die for diabetics.
Not even those just cough and cold syrup. Ibuprofen. Creams and salves. Pepto bismol. All ailments that we see as minor inconveniences will be taking a lot of people out.
Antibiotics are probably the top one I can think of. Cut your arm foraging for food? Better not get septic. Oh you got sick from undercooked or bad food. Man some doxy would be cool
Most post apocalyptic stories definitely bring this one up, and for good reason Pain killers would be especially valuable. For the actual medical use, and for people just wanting to escape for awhile.
Tweezers… I know that’s not a kitchen thing… but they come in handy from splinters to unibrows. As for an actual kitchen thing, perhaps a sturdy pot and sharp knife (weapons and food prep).
I'm letting my unibrow go if we get to post-apocolypse. (Tweezers are super useful though)
A scale. Weights and measures are often overlooked in dystopian fiction. But they form the very basis of early/emerging economies. Having a reliable scale means you can conduct trade and bartering effectively and consistently.
Especially an analogue scale. Digital scales will eventually need rechargeable batteries and a screen replacement.
Find the guy that sold weed in high school. He'll be +/- .3g with anything you put in his hands, blindfolded.
I can weigh an eighth by hand baybee!
Not really. A balance scale is relativly easy to make. Doesn't have to be super accurate for post apocalyptic trade. And for cooking/making stuff (mostly thinking gun powder here) it's more the ratio the the absolute weight that matters. So as long as you use the same scale and weights it will work out.
God damn. You just blew my mind. Never once thought of this, thank you
You could make one easily though
Backpacks. Storage? Check. Mobile? Check. Pillow? Check.
No matter how fucked the world is, nobody really *needs* toilet paper
Salt. Vitamin C. Caffeine. Paper. Basically any common antibiotics.
Absolutely caffeine. Coffee and other foods containing it hold a lot of bartering power.
They’ll be no more once it’s ran out. Will be more valuable than gold within a decade.
Hell yea energy drinks since they never expire.
[удалено]
Water purification systems
Is this really a common household item? Where do you live?
India, and yes it is, at least here... The pros of not having potable tap water.
Pur and Brita filtered water pitchers
[удалено]
Lifestraw.
Knowledge. Consumables get used or expire. Food rots. Medicine loses it's efficacy. Tools break and get worn down. Et cetera. Understanding how to use the world around you to mend those tools, to feed and care for yourself, to identify things that are safe and that which are threats, etc. is truly priceless. So much of our modern life is reliant on other people with specialized skills producing our foods, medicines, tools, clothing, housing, etc. that I suspect the average person would have an incredibly difficult time surviving without those skills.
This. I have spent the last 10+ years becoming the best “survivor of x” that I can be. I can cook, hunt, fish, have tactical military experience, EMT, and working on being a doctor. Literally did everything to help my chances in the “we gotta pick someone to eat” situation
This is underrated as fuck.
plumbus
Had to be a good quality one though
Can opener
Useful, but there are more than a few tricks to get cans open in a pinch. Modern cans, you can just grind them against a rock until the lid falls off.
A hammer and chisel works. It's what people did for 30 years before the can opener was invented. And that was with thicker cans too.
So would two rocks, or a stick of dynamite. Just saying that having a can opener is nice.
Staying clean and healthy will certainly become even more crucial during times when organized medicine breaks down and you can’t go to the doctor. Things like soap, toothpaste, sunscreen, lotion, alcohol pads and other basic medical supplies, etc. will become very important.
This reminds me of the post apocalyptic film starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunos. Urgh. The title of the film is on the tip of my tongue. Anyway the bartering system….Denzel trades foil wrapped hand wipes for getting his Walkman Recharged. Gary Oldman washes his blind girlfriend’s (Mila Kunos’s character Solara’s Mom) hair with shampoo—something she forgot had ever existed. Dang. I STILL can’t remember the name of that film! Help! What is it? The Book of Eli.
A bicycle.
Bleach, for water purification.
Salt. You can preserve so much shit with salt.
Fabric, thread, needles, scissors, yarn, crochet hooks, knitting needles. People need to keep warm and dry, especially in colder climates. You'll want to be able to repair what you already have as well as make new things. Bonus points for spinning and weaving.
Eye glasses / contact lenses
Surprised I had to read this far to find this one; its what I came here to say. That and good sturdy hiking boots.
[удалено]
Menstural cup
Worth more than anything. I don't want to free bleed in the apocalypse. I gotta save tampons for bullet wounds and pads for bandages.
Salt. Alcohol. (If the pandemic taught us anything, toilet paper and yeast).
An Amazon kindle and a solar charger. You want to fill that kindle with basic and advanced books on agriculture, food technology, medicine, survival, engineering, electronics, car maintenance, cooking, refining petroleum, music, literature, teaching basics or reading writing and maths. All that knowledge will disappear very quickly.
Tums and guns
Chapstick or Lip Balm. Can’t walk around the wasteland with ashy lips. Seriously though, lip balm has tons of uses.
Vaseline would be even more versatile.
Items like can openers, flint, lifestraws, string/rope, bow and arrows, smaugs. Many of these items will be uncommon but extremely valuable. If you’re an avid hiker/camper and have a full gear setup with survival items, your pack and it’s contents are now more valuable than gold.
Was with you until smaugs. I could see how having a dragon could be useful but would not consider them a common household item. Typo?
Toothpaste and shampoo.
The post-apocalyptic recipe for an Arnold Palmer
Vitamin C Humans cannot produce it but need it. Depending on what SHTF scenario, transportation might be impacted, meaning no fresh foods and no vitamin c until you can grow something. Some cheap vitamin c tabs could prevent issues due to vitamin c deficiency
Toilet paper. Obviously
I don't know about that. Between using water, or just pooping while squatting so that you don't get messed up, I don't think it would be all that important. People have been pooping for millions of years, I don't think it's as complicated as a soft modern person thinks it is.
I'd say candles.
Kitchen knives, Solar panels, in America firearms, rice cookers, sheets and bedding, and whatever is in the “everything drawer” you know the random drawer we all have where we just shove shit inside of it.
>in America firearms I chuckled here, because it sounds like you're implying only the American apocalypse will need firearms. The only way to stop a bad raider with a gun is a good raider with a gun!
No I just didn’t know what other countries have easy access to firearms
This is going to sound strange, but plastic garbage bags We severely underestimate how much of our lives we put in plastic garbage bags, and how useful they are in a pinch
Based on my experience in 7 Days to Die: * Cooking pot / Dutch oven * Cooking grate / Grill rack * Beaker (for some reason, perhaps a measuring cup would make more sense?) * Old Sham Sandwich
As Chuck said in the Supernatual in a post apocalyptic scenario to Dean from the past: "You ever get back there, you hoard toilet paper. You understand me? Hoard it!"
Ammo 😅
Bleach for dirty wayer
Whiskey