This article was originally published by Sara Tipton at Tess Pennington’s ReadyNutrition.com
Tess is the author of The Prepper’s Blueprint: How To Survive ANY Disaster
We’ve done some digging and came across some of the best survival kits offered on Amazon, making the purchasing of prepping gear easy. Depending on your needs and the size of your family, consider adding a small kit to your car or splitting up these kits to upgrade your bug out bag or add to your home prepping stash.
When preparing for a disaster, many overlook the possibility of something happening while in a car and away from home. That’s why some of the kits below can be purchased and left in your car so you’ll never be left without at least some survival gear.
The peace of mind offered once you’ve got your car outfitted is difficult to describe, that’s why some of these kits offer bags that are light enough they can be moved around (in and out of a car if you choose to not store survival gear in your vehicle) or stored neatly under a bed.
1. Tianer Survival Gear 11 in 1 Kit
Tianers Professional Outdoor Emergency Survival Gear Kit offers 11 tools, including a military compass, survival (multi-function) knife, saber card, fire starter, whistle, wire saw, flashlight, signal mirror, scraper, tungsten steel pen, and a box to keep it all in.
At only $23.99, this little survival kit is inexpensive considering what’s in it and perfect to toss in a vehicle or set on the shelf with your other prepping tools. You could also take several of the items and add them to your bug out bag if you happen to be missing a few of the essentials, and for the price, wouldn’t have to worry about splitting up the kit.
If you don’t want to split this kit up, don’t worry. It’s small and easy to carry. The dimensions of the box containing the other ten items 4.1 x 1.8 x 6.3 inches and it weighs only 0.65 pounds. The box is touted as “sturdy enough to be waterproof and protect the products inside.”
2. Emergency Case Premium Family 4 Person 4 Days Emergency Kit
This kit will set you back $800, but it has everything you need for a family of four to survive for four days. It comes in an easy to pull waterproof, durable, and lockable container. This kit is perfect to grab and toss in the car in the event of an immediate natural disaster such as an earthquake or hurricane.
It can be stored anywhere and decreases evacuation time to 60 seconds. Easy rolling, mobile, highly durable, lockable, and waterproof case contains a 5 kit emergency system. In that system are a food & water kit, sleep & shelter kit, advanced medical kit, tools & safety kit, and health & hygiene kit. It contains a tent and sleeping bags and includes a water filtration system.
If you live in one of the nation’s “disaster zones” and are ill-prepared for a quick evacuation, though a little expensive, this kit could be a lifesaver.
3. Emergency Zone Family Prep Emergency Survival 72 Hour Kit
Available in both a two-person and a four-person kit, the survival gear comes in a discrete red backpack and all supplies are conveniently packaged in a discrete and nondescript red pack. This kit is only $179.99 for a four-person kit and $139.99 for the two-person version.
The items come well-organized ziplock bags to keep everything organized and dry and the convenient backpack includes a 48-page emergency preparedness guide. It also comes with a hygiene kit and some basic medical supplies and a flashlight. This pre-made bug out bag could be the perfect solution to the previous more expensive kit and would be excellent for the beginning prepper.
4. Get Ready Now Deluxe Car Emergency Kit
This compact, convenient sized kit is designed to fit under the front seat, in door panels, or backseat pockets. Basically, you could toss this thing in any vehicle without losing too much space, and at only $125.99, you could feel confident in having at least some survival gear should you get lost or break down.
This kit will offer you the best supplies for a worst-case scenario. The kit includes critical gear often omitted in DIY kits including light, first aid, utility tools, warmth & cooling, sanitation, and food and water products.
5. Survival Frog All-in-One LifeShield Survival Bug Out Bag
At $299.99, this kit certainly is not the cheapest on the list, but it’s a good one for those with minimal prepping under their belt. Even though this kit contains a wide selection of essential survival gear, it still weighs less than 15 lbs. This means that preppers who purchase with this pack will get the best of both worlds – a complete bug out bag that you can actually carry around comfortably.
Purchased individually, the items included in this kit would retail for over $500, but Survival Frog wanted to eliminate any barriers that would prevent customers from being fully prepared. The lifeshield bug out pack is incredibly spacious, offers 2,400 cubic inch survival gear capacity in six organized compartments, and is also insanely durable.
The options are endless, but good and lightweight supplies should be at the forefront of a prepper’s mind. Remember, these kits are great on their own or they can be broken up to make the perfect bag or kit for your personal situation. You are limited only by your imagination! The important thing to remember is you must consider your personal situation. Many may not desire a bug out bag, preferring to “bug in” but can use the individual items in some of the kits to add to a car kit or enhance a home prepping stash.
Tess Pennington is the author of The Prepper’s Blueprint, a comprehensive guide that uses real-life scenarios to help you prepare for any disaster. Because a crisis rarely stops with a triggering event the aftermath can spiral, having the capacity to cripple our normal ways of life. The well-rounded, multi-layered approach outlined in the Blueprint helps you make sense of a wide array of preparedness concepts through easily digestible action items and supply lists.
Tess is also the author of the highly rated Prepper’s Cookbook, which helps you to create a plan for stocking, organizing and maintaining a proper emergency food supply and includes over 300 recipes for nutritious, delicious, life-saving meals.
Visit her website at ReadyNutrition.com for an extensive compilation of free information on preparedness, homesteading, and healthy living.
While the kits look impressive, I created my own survival kit based upon my own personal needs. Those needs will vary to some degree from one person to the next. What works for one prepper might not for the next prepper. No 2 preppers are exactly the same. Create your own bugout kit based upon your own needs. I’ve done that for the past 25 years and it’s worked like a charm for me.
I agree that you need to build your own kit to suit what you need. There is always one thing missing from kits that I never understood. Nail clippers. I couldn’t imagine trying to walk very far with long toenails. People are asking for a lot of pain without them……Nothing but trouble waiting to happen. Sore toes make for a crappy walk.
Redwinger, good point about the nail clippers. I keep my toenails and fingernails trimmed at all times. There’s two pairs in my bugout bag.
Well said.
You echo my sentiments exactly.
My pockets don’t bulge! Don’t understand why men walk around with nothing in their pockets. Left front pocket, car keys, right front pocket, change, nail clippers, lock blade Kershaw knife and Bic lighter. Left side belt, Leatherman Multi tool, right side belt, S&W 9MM Shield. Guess I’m my own survival kit, specially if I have on my winter coat, and I won’t go into what I carry in it. Trekker Out. It is rather heavy!
Anyone who thinks any so-called survival kit is going to really make much of a difference is nuts. You should have the best ‘kit’ between your ears and know how to make-do with whatever the hell you find yourself with during the time of need. I’m reminded of an old great-uncle who rode the rails back in the Depression. He was what we call a hobo. He prided himself on not being a ‘bindlestiff’. A guy who carried baggage. Amazing man. What he had in his pockets always seemed to be just the right thing.
I got a pair of raggedy old stained jeans,sneakers,an extra pair of socks,long and short sleeved shirt,and a woolen watch cap.I got non-perihable food to see me through a long walk home,not exactly gourment,but will see me through a long walk home. The most important thing is “go gray”.
I read a few of the comments on Amazon for these items. Many seemed to feel protected now that they have the kit of their choice. I didn’t find any comments saying they would try out the goods such as the tent or hand tools to see how they worked. Having set up a tent in the dark at different times, I know the value of being familiar with your equipment.
Thought it was interesting that various of the kits had tools that included a bottle opener as one of their functions. When is the last time you needed to pop the cap off a bottle?
I agree with others. Best to assemble your own to suit your needs. Even cheapo Walmart stuff would suffice for short term needs. I did a quick check just now of Walmart online and saw their basic tents start at $25. I wouldn’t have guessed not being a Walmart shopper.
If you are in the market for a “survival kit”, you ain’t gonna make it.
PERFECT response to this drivel! you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him THINK…. i just used my kneck-knife a couple days ago to save my OWN life, that, and quick thinking. i was riding my mountain bike through the desert with my son and a new guy i just met. a dog came running out from a homeless camp, barking and snapping at us, so we had to stop and get off our bikes…..then 5 or 6 more showed up…pit bulls, and several other big breeds, all with serious intent. so i pick up a rock and throw it. as luck would have it, it landed right between the eyes of one of them. so a woman from 150 or 200 feet away comes running out toward us, yelling “stop throwing rocks at my dogs!”. my son and the other guy get on their bikes and face the dogs wrath, and just ride on down the trail, as i was trying to do, just to get away from this crazy woman. but the dogs full attention is now on me, and i only made it 50 feet, and am encircled by this pack, with a man now running at me. they are calling their dogs, but they are more interested in biting me….so the guy gets to me, 3 feet away, with dogs lunging, snapping, and i hit one with my front tire. that sends this guy into orbit, and he lunges at me, and i see a hunting knife in his hand, close to his chest. so i pull off my little 2″ neck knife, and put the bike between me and him, and start yelling “call the cops, call the cops!”….my son and friend are gone, but maybe in earshot. i don’t know whether it was the yelling cops, or the knife, but i am SURE he would have stabbed me if i hadn’t done those 3 things. twice he lunged at me, with bike keeping him away, before he “woke up” to the fact he was going to jail if he stabs me. i did call the cops, and they will go out there and kick him off that site, but i learned some valuable lessons there…..NEXT time, i keep riding, and get bit, before letting a rabbid owner get close to me…..and bear spray is on my crissmuss list too.
BTW, ALL my coats have gloves, multi-tool, napkins, flashlight, 550 cord, firestarter, electrical tape in the pockets.
why do they always have to make so much emergency gear bright orange? Some of do not want to be found!!!
You would usually *want to be found, where the hunting ranges are overcrowded.
That’s why making your own kit is the way to go. People who like the orange stuff want to be found and taken care of. The rest of us are happier without outside help.
Edmund Hillary is credited as the first white person, to climb Everest. Frivolous tent zippers, bearing his name, are now made you-know-where.
What have the survivors used to climb the Alps, or to cross deserts or oceans. What about your guides. How did they live, full time.
At $300, these things, which you are showing, here, have all the heft of a disposable, plastic water bottle. If that was the last one on Earth, or for some days, I would still try. I would be very happy for the convenience of it and thinking of how to upcycle it, as it fell apart, one piece at a time.
That first one is pretty well useless.