Every week or so I get a customer in the store who is uncertain. They feel the need to become better prepared. They aren’t sure how they are going to do so. So they come in for advice.
Here’s the thing: you can blow thousands of dollars on gear that isn’t going to do you a damn bit of good if you haven’t built the skillset to use it.
The time to learn how to survive is not when the shit has hit the fan. When your family is hungry, cold, and soaking wet, that space blanket you bought isn’t going to do you much good. If you can’t build a fire, or make water potable, or apply a pressure dressing, or build a lean to, or any of a dozen basic tasks, you are going to be out of luck.
I can sell you the latest and greatest survival knife. Hundreds of feet of 550 cord. I can sell you an $80 survival kit, and a $170 medical bag, and a $200 rucksack and thousands of dollars in flashlights and optics and assorted other stuff… but my advice is free and the thing that is going to cost you the most is your time.
Go take a Red Cross Basic First Aid class. Learn CPR. Teach yourself how to tie knots and what they are appropriate for. Get out in the backyard and make a fire every single day – do it in your barbecue if nothing else.
The life you save may be your own. Gear costs money, but skills have to be earned through sweat and blood and practice.