Shelter, water, fire, food, navigation, and first aid, in priority order.
By the Medical Team Ask a room of preppers who among them could stop a serious bleed, restart a stopped heart, or clear a blocked airway, and far fewer hands go up than should. We stockpile food and debate gear endlessly, yet a medical emergency is one of the most likely things any of us … Read more
By the Gear Team A reliable way to cook and boil water is a fundamental survival and preparedness capability, and the range of stove technologies available today means there is a good option for nearly every situation. From tiny backpacking burners to wood-burning stoves that run on twigs, each type has its strengths, its ideal … Read more
By the Homestead Team When the grid goes down or you are living off it, cooking becomes a genuine challenge, and how efficiently you cook determines how long your fuel lasts. A prepper who can cook a meal on a handful of twigs, or finish it with no fuel at all, stretches limited resources far … Read more
By the Field Skills Team Fire is the great multiplier of survival. It gives you warmth against the exposure that kills faster than thirst, it purifies water, it cooks food, it wards off the dark and the fear that comes with it, and it signals for rescue. A person who can reliably make fire in … Read more
By the Foraging and Hunting Team In a genuine survival situation, trapping is one of the most efficient ways to obtain food, because unlike hunting, a trap works for you continuously without expending your energy. You set it and walk away, and it hunts around the clock while you tend to shelter, water, and fire. … Read more
By the Field Skills Team In a survival situation, fish are one of the most valuable food sources available, offering high-quality protein and fat for relatively little effort, especially compared to hunting. Water bodies concentrate life, and fish are often abundant where game is scarce. Survival fishing differs from recreational angling in a crucial way: … Read more
By the Foraging Team The natural world is full of food for those who know how to find it, and foraging for wild edible plants is a deeply satisfying skill that connects us to how humans fed themselves for most of history. Wild plants can supplement your diet, provide nutrition in a survival situation, and … Read more
By the Field Skills Team The difference between a shelter that keeps you alive through a cold night and one that lets you shiver until dawn comes down to a single factor: insulation. A shelter’s roof and walls block wind and rain, but it is insulation that actually keeps your body heat from escaping into … Read more
By the Field Skills Team An emergency shelter is built to get you through a night or two. A long-term survival shelter is a different undertaking entirely, a structure meant to protect you comfortably for weeks or longer, whether in an extended wilderness situation or as part of a self-reliant retreat. Where the emergency shelter … Read more
By the Field Skills Team Sometimes you do not have hours to build the perfect debris hut. A storm is rolling in, the temperature is dropping, someone is hurt, or darkness is close, and you need to be out of the weather now. The quick emergency shelter is a different discipline from careful shelter building. … Read more
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