10 Things Most Preppers Don't Need

When I read some prepper boards I find that some people have a "Rambo-esque" take on being prepared.  Instead of health and financial fitness that would benefit them in nearly every disaster situation, they focus mostly on gear, and expensive, probably unnecessary gear at that.  Here are the things that should be on the bottom of your prepper gear list:

1. Gas mask.  Many people think they need a gas mask in order to be prepared.  Most people actually don't need a gas mask and don't realize that for many poison gas uses, you need to have the mask in hand when the release happens.  You will need a bunch of filters which expire, you will need to ensure your mask fits properly, and you will have to know that the release has happened (it usually takes a while to ascertain this unless you are in an enclosed area during a sarin release in which case you will probably be dead before you put your mask on).
2. Night vision goggles.  If you absolutely need night vision goggles, you've probably already been issued them.  Other people buy them for hunting/SAR purposes.  Most people don't need them and they will sit on a shelf forever when the money could have been spent on more important things.
3. A complete arsenal of firearms.  Do you want a collection of firearms that looks like this?  I certainly wouldn't turn it down if someone was handing out every gun ever made but is it necessary for survival?  Nope.  Having a few useful firearms is what every prepper needs.  With a few firearms for all of your preparedness needs, it makes them easier to store, easier to care for, easier to stockpile ammo for, easier to evacuate with, etc.
4. Pounds and pounds of gold and other precious metals.  It's good to have some gold and precious metals, it probably isn't a great idea to have lots and lots of the stuff.  You need to store it, protect it, and if you evacuate, take it with you.  Plus if word gets around about your stash you will be a huge target for robbery.
5. Enough MREs to last the next several decades.  Having a pallet of MREs in the off chance that you will eat them for years is a pretty big waste of money.  Most likely you will rarely if ever use them so stockpiling "real" food that you can rotate into your family's regular food supply makes much more financial sense.
6. High-end (think expedition-level) gear that will only be used in the event of a disaster.  There is a lot of nice gear out there--$500 sleeping bags, $400 backpacks--but unless you absolutely need these items and use them regularly, less expensive gear will work just fine and save you a lot of money as well.
7. A ghillie suit.  You have to buy it, you have to store it, you have to have several depending on your environment, and the chances of absolutely needing it is low to never unless you are a hard-core paintballer.
8. Tens of thousands of dollars in cash stuffed in your mattress.  It's always good to have some cash on hand.  Too much cash, however, has the issue of needing to be safely stored, being easily stolen, could catch on fire if your house goes up in flames, may be useless depending on the fiscal/political climate of the disaster, and using it in any great quantity will put undue (federal) attention on you.
9. A stockpile of schedule 2/2N drugs and enough PM/MD-use-only medical supplies to outfit a hospital.  If you are going to stockpile medical supplies you need to know how to use them and many supplies have expiration dates.  Stockpiling unprescribed narcotics and other controlled drugs in quantity can get you arrested--and sent to prison for quite a while--for trafficking.
10. Other things that will get you arrested.  The movies make it look like C4 is a useful and necessary item, the news makes it sound like using plutonium for poisoning a political rival is a thing to do, in reality, having any highly controlled explosive or poisoning substance will get you a swift visit by the FBI/BATF and several other organizations as well as a swift trip to prison.  Better to improvise from legal-to-have items.

Obviously if you have more money than you now what to do with and like hard-core prepper gear, by all means, go shop to your heart's content.  For most financially average people, there are way better things to spend your hard-earned cash on than flashy but generally unnecessary stuff.

Keep These Containers on Hand

Containers are, well, used to contain things.  And unless you are doing a specific task you may not consider the usefulness of having a range of containers on hand.  Have some of these containers on hand to use in case of emergency:

• Ziploc bags of all sizes
• Plastic trash bags of all sizes
• Gas cans
• Water storage containers
• Collapsible water storage containers
• Buckets
• Food-grade plastic buckets
• Food storage container sets
• Large plastic storage bins
• Empty boxes
• 32 gallon garbage cans
• Plastic dish pans

Things You DON'T Need as a New Prepper

On several survival/prepper boards, some new preppers are so excited about the topic they want to jump in with both feet.  On the one hand, that's good.  The more people who are prepared, the better, of course.  On the other hand, some of the things on their shopping lists make me wonder how much of their prepper info they got from the latest action movie.  Here are things that should be FAR down your prepper supplies list:

• Gas mask.  If you absolutely NEED a gas mask, you will already know this and probably be issued one.  In order for a gas mask to save your life you need to carry it with you 24/7/365 because they only work if you can put them on before you are exposed to a toxic nerve agent.  For biological agents, you will probably be exposed long before you even think to use the mask.
• Night vision goggles.  Seriously?  Yes some new preppers somehow put these on their list of stuff they need.  Again, if you actually NEED them, they would have already been issued to you.  There are dozens of things new preppers need before they spend thousands on this sort of gear.  An emergency fund for starters, a month's worth of stored water, six months of stored food, quality outdoor gear...  I like cool/fun gear as much as the next person but getting the basics together first is way more important than having the flashiest tactical gear.
• A .50 Desert Eagle or other fancy firearms.  You need a set of firearms (pistol, shotgun, rifle) that are of high quality, and that you can run a couple hundred rounds through each month.  Once you have all of your debts paid, money saved, and enough food, water, and supplies to last you a good year, then you can spend freely on fancy fun stuff.
• A $500 tactical medic kit.  First aid kits should be built up along with your skills.  A lot of first aid kit items--meds, syringes, ET tubes, etc--actually expire.  You don't want to spend a lot of money for a bunch of stuff you don't know how to use and that will need to be tossed before they ever get used.  The more medical education and skills you have, the more stuff you can reasonably carry in your kit.
• Gold and silver.  Have you ever handed over a gold ingot to a cashier to pay for your groceries?  Yeah, I haven't either.  In a disaster you need food, water, gear, and supplies.  Money is good to have too.  Gold and silver?  Not so much.  It's heavy, you need to protect it, you need to bring it with you, you need to find someone who will exchange it for whatever you are trying to buy with it.  There are a hundred things you will need before you will need actual precious metals.  Not that people shouldn't buy gold and silver, I have some myself, but it's usefulness during 99% of the disasters you will likely face is negligible.
• Ultra high-end gear.  Do you need a $350 backpack or a $700 sleeping bag?  I know people who have this sort of gear, mostly they are the sort to head off to Patagonia or some other far-flung place to hike up very big mountains.  Like your medical kit, your survival gear should increase in quality and price as you can #1 easily afford it, and, more importantly, #2 have the experience using such gear to determine what it is you actually need.  If you have a family of five and have just started prepping with your little bit of discretionary income, you need to buy gear you can afford (five deeply discounted, good enough sleeping bags from SteepAndCheap) and gear that you will use regularly (like on family camping trips).  The more you use your gear in actual survival-type situations (like camping and backpacking), the more you will be able to determine what stuff you actually need, what features you like and dislike, what brands you favor, and what items are worth spending more money on.

So there you have it.  Start with the basics--food and water, get an emergency fund together, educate yourself and get the training you need in order to make informed decisions--and then move forward with the more expensive and specialized survival gear that is "nice to have" and not "have to have".