Tips to save $ on setting up you Emergency Kit

1.     The whole idea to an Emergency kit is to have on hand all that you will need to survive without electricity, water, banks, stores, and possibly heat. So the first thing is figure out from your daily living what you absolutely have to have and what you can live without. Make a list of the must haves. The next thing is to take an inventory of things you already have on hand, including their location. While doing the inventory get really creative and think of all the alternative uses common items have. Coffee cans, butter tubs; Cool Whip containers all make excellent containers for many things. Old pill bottles, 35mm film cans, can be used to hold items in a first aid kit such as band aids, needles, and thread. Household tools and utensils have multiple uses as well. For instance if you need to use a large can as a cook pot you can use a set of pliers for a handle. If you carefully plan your kit you can avoid unnecessary purchases.

2.     Buy minute rice, it cooks faster and saves valuable cooking energy. Cooking canned foods in their cans saves pot washing and possibly plate washing as well if you can eat out of the can.

3.     For your kit buy the most inexpensive items you can find when you have to buy. For instance, cheep toilet paper works just as well as expensive.

4.     Buy in bulk when you can. Bulk children’s cereal makes great snack food.

5.     If you want to go the powered milk route grab several cans of condensed milk. Use about 5 – 10 oz per half gallon made. Make the milk with warm water to fully dissolve the powder and mix in the condensed milk then chill.

6.     Depending on how many people you have to feed, canned food should be bought in large cans. Then buy whatever it is your family likes. No use making the emergency more trying than you have to and the empty cans can be used later for many things.

7.     If you are fortunate enough to have a warning, like in the case of bad weather you can boil every egg, and fry up all meats. Boiled eggs last much longer than uncooked ones as long as they are in an unbroken shell. Cooked meat lasts longer than raw meat. Also realize that the food in the refrigerator will have to go first so it won’t spoil. That may give you a day or two of food before starting in on the canned food.

8.     Make sure you have enough variety of food such as canned vegetables, canned fruit, canned meats or meat dishes to get a fairly balanced diet. Both canned vegetables and canned fruit also supply drinkable water. Although canned fruit taste better.

9.     Remember that water from hot the water heater is potable and ready for drinking or cooking. Water from a toilet tank should only be used for hygiene purposes. Also water from water beds can be used for washing as well. All store-bought drinking water can be saved for drinking and cooking.

10. For shelter, camping trailers, motor homes, and large Vans work very nicely. In their absence tents (2 and 3 person size) can be purchased inexpensively on sale at sporting goods stores or Army Surplus outlets. I recommend 2 person tents because of their slightly smaller size. They are easy to transport and provide close quarters for warmer comfort in cold weather. Another good source for tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, pots, pans, and other hardware needed is Thrift Stores.

11. For tools, you can find good hand tools at any hardware/lumber store. A small hand axe, short shovel can usually be found on sale. Also a hammer and a small bow saw will make life easier. Surplus stores usually carry good rope. A couple of hundred feet in 50 and 100 foot lengths comes in very handy.

12. Duct tape is a cure-all for many kinds of repairs of tools, tents, etc. You can pick up bulk sets of rolls in warehouse stores and large office supply stores.

13.  To make a homemade water filter, obtain a back pack hydration bag, place a sink areator screen in the tube opening and line with a bit of coffee filter. Fill the bag with crushed charcoal. Then just pour the water through and what comes out is cleaned and filtered. If you still feel uncertain you can add an unscented bleach, about 16 drops per gallon, stir well and let set for one hour. Still not sure then boil that water for 10 minutes.

14. The next time you get dental floss grab an extra container or two. It is very strong and has many useful applications. It is sterile and can be used as sutures. It can be used for stitching repairs on tents, sleeping bags, blankets etc.

15. Oven racks and bar-b-que grills make excellent open fire pit grills for holding pot and pans while cooking. These can be found in waste dumps, recycle places, Thrift Stores, or any place where people will dump appliances legally or illegally. In other words, dumpster diving for hardware is a very inexpensive way to obtain items for your kit.

16. Rather than buy water you can buy milk in gallon jugs and wash them when they are empty and fill with water for storage.

17. Instead of buying very expensive first aid kits make you own. That way it is tailored to your needs and the needs of your family. Containers of all sizes and shapes can be bought at dollar stores. Fill with band aids, gauze rolls, dressing pads (gauze rolls can double as small dressing pads) cotton balls, Neosporin or better yet the local drug store generic version. Needle, thread, dental floss, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol,  pain killers such as aspirin or ibuprophen, antihistamines, Ben Gay, or Icy Hot, Kotex( for large sterile dressings), ace bandages or strips of cleaned cotton cloths for bandages, Vaseline, vitamins(to supplement the food supply), and a first aid book or instruction pamphlet.

18. Good cotton string roll, nylon string roll, and safety wire rolls will also come in handy. Nylon fishing line is a good substitute for string.  

19. Two liter pop bottles or gallon milk cartons can be cut about and inch or two above the bottom to make bowls. Plastic plates, bowls, and glasses can be purchased inexpensively at dollar stores.

20. Garage sales are a good place to find used items of all kinds that can be used in your kit. That also includes a large container to store it in. Additionally the fold top plastic tubs that stores use to ship supplies in work well and usually have small holes at the sided to add locks to protect your kit.

21. Plastic tags from bread and bun bags make good clothes pins.

22. A large cookie tin makes a good Dutch oven. Make an oven by lining a moving box with aluminum foil and pushing coat hangers through both sides about half way up the box to form your grill. Put coals in a pan and put the pan on three stones on the bottom of the box. Close the doors (lid) and bake away.

23. An old foam exercise pad will make a passable sleeping pad and may be a lot cheaper than a fancy camping sleeping pad. A mattress bag filled with a foam sheet also works well. The bag can be filled with pine boughs as well to add insulation.

24. Rather than buy expensive waterproof matches make your own by dipping the heads of regular wood matches in clear finger nail polish.

25. Keep stored flashlights with batteries put in reversed and a small piece of plastic wrap between the contact points of the batteries and the bulb. Turn them around and pull out the plastic when time to use.

26. Ponchos are not so expensive but a 30 gallon garbage bag with a slit across the closed end center for your head and two more down from the closed end down the sides for your arms works well.

27. Use unscented bleach to purify questionable water, 16 drops per gallon or scant teaspoon per two gallons, shake well and let set one hour.

28. Filling a small 1 gallon bucket with questionable water and placing 6 to 8 charcoal briquettes(plain, NOT the quick lighting kind) in the water to sit for 24 hours will remove chlorine and kill most microbes. Then pass the treated water through your drip coffee maker coffee holder with several layers of coffee filters. The water will be drinkable then or you can boil it for 10 minutes.

29.  Use a five-gallon bucket lined with a plastic bag as a toilet. Just place a toilet seat on top of it for comfort.

30. Old bicycle inner tubes cut into one inch widths make excellent rubber bands for securing larger items or repairs.

31. Balled up old newspaper will dry out wet shoes over night. That paper can be used several times once dried out. Then on the last drying ball it up and stuff it into old paper towel and toilet paper rolls to make fire starters for use in fire pits.

32. Coleman stoves and various other camp stoves can get to be expensive. There are alternatives that can actually be made out of house hold materials. One popular and common one is the Coke can alcohol stove. At "Zen Stoves - http://zenstoves.net/" you can find instructions on how to make one. In a pinch, you can heat water for coffee, tea, or a can of soup right in the can.