The following article is a guest post by Sam Peters
A survival cache is a container of items that will be useful for survival in the midst of an emergency situation. It is a good idea to build one ahead of time in case of a natural disaster or other emergency that would force you to evacuate your home or apartment. Including enough supplies for you and your family is important to ensure that everyone will be able to survive in case of an emergency. Even more important is making sure everyone in your family knows how to use these tools.
What should you include in a survival cache?
There are many different items that people choose to set aside in case of an emergency, and you can never be too prepared. Some common items include: food, medical supplies, water, weapons, spare clothes and a small fire-starting kit. A well-constructed cache should be able to get you through several weeks – even months – of survival before you are able to stock up on additional supplies. If you have infants or small children in your family, you may also want to pack a baby-carrier or sling, cloth diapers and medicine, since young children are more susceptible to disease or illness.
What container should you use to store your emergency supplies?
You can use any container to build a cache, as long as the supplies are able to fit. Most people use PVC pipe to make enclosed tubes. You can buy the supplies from any local home improvement store, and you’ll want to make sure the container is completely sealed and waterproof. These containers are relatively inexpensive and easy to make. Proper food storage is essential to ensuring that your supply of food lasts until you are able to find more.
Canned goods are perishable, but they do last a long time and their lifespan doubles when stored in a cool place. Pickling food also allows normally perishable items to be preserved. Dehydrated foods are probably the best way to go, as dried foods can safely be eaten for up to a year after they are dried, and this method of food preservation allows for a lot of food to be stored in a smaller space.
Where should you store your emergency supplies?
It is best to store your survival cache away from your home, because if your home is destroyed, and you must evacuate quickly, you won’t lose everything. Most people choose to bury their container in the ground somewhere along a route that may be easily accessed when traveling. Doing this provides you with an opportunity to enact a mock disaster event, during which you and your family members can spend some time learning how to use all of the tools in your survival kit.
Everyone in your party should know how to start a fire and how to disperse food and water evenly so that it lasts as long as possible while still allowing everyone to be adequately nourished. Knowing how to use weapons, hunt and fish for meat is also essential. Both adults and children should be schooled in basic first aid procedures in case someone gets hurt. If only one person knows what to do in an emergency situation and something happens to that person, the rest of the group will be left scrambling. Remember, there is solidarity in numbers.
Guest Post is written by Sam Peters – blogger, freelance writer, and manager of theeducationupdate.com.
For beginning preppers
Gotta love a little cache action! I made a little micro-cache about a year ago out of ABS (although I thought it was PVC at the time). It is a good little size although I doubt it would sustain me and my fam for “several weeks or even months” like the author mentions. 🙂 For anybody else making a micro-cache or two, I would suggest that the main utility of a small sized cache is to store INFORMATION. Maps, disaster plans, an encrypted USB drive with scans of important documents, etc. Other small tools, not a bad idea either (knives, fishooks, snare wires, multitools, etc), but probably not optimal for food and water. If interested in checking out the vid I did in my carport, here it is: https://thedailyprep.com/how-to-make-a-pvc-pipe-cache/
Keep up the goodies!
-Dan