There are a few really critical things that every Prepper Survival kit should have stashed in it. Obviously you can’t prepare for “everything” and you can’t take tons of stuff with you when you “bug out” but having these Top Ten Survival Items in your bug out pack should be high on your todo list.

It goes without saying that you will be taking and/or stashing a decent quantity of water, water containers and a purification kit along with that so I’m not going to include that standard item.

The following items are more or less “tools” or necessities rather than consumables. Here they are in no particular order:

• A quality Squeeze or Crank LED flashlight.
  I say quality as I’ve seen examples of both junk (they strip the gears or break after a couple of uses) and pricey (over priced due to hype or brand name). The one you choose should give excellent bright white light that lasts for good amount of time, illuminates a fairly wide swath of area and is easily charged up by 5-10 mins of hand pumping or crank turning.
• A Fire Starting Kit.
  Needs to have a good quality Ferro Cerium rod, a waterproof tinder box, tinder (in the form of purchased tinder tabs).
  Possibly a small quantity of waterproof matches would be a good addition.
• Mylar Thermal Blankets
  Be sure to include enough of these for every member of your family or group. They are light weight and easily stored so the more the better. They can also be used to protect from rain and to help keep supplies dry.
• At least one High Quality Multi-Tool
  It must have an excellent set of pliers, one knife, a file, an awl, a saw blade, wire cutter and possibly Phillips, star and flat screw driver blades. It must be stainless steel and of a quality that you believe your life could depend on it.
• Indestructible Compass
  Get a good quality, light but tough compass that will be easy to read night or day. You never know just when you are going to need to backroad it (with no iPhone, Google maps or GPS!)
• Several Quantities and Sizes of Paracord 550 or even Poly Rope
  You are going to need rope for 100’s of different tasks so ensure you have a couple of different thicknesses of polyethylene rope, a small ball of string and obviously some nylon line. Paracord would be the ultimate rope to have due to it’s strength, endurance, multiple ways of using it.
• Basic First Aid Kit
  You won’t be able to cover every problem you run in to with this but you do need to have the basics (gauze, cotton balls, band-aids, medical tape, antiseptic ointment and disinfectant, tensor bandages, etc).
• Needles, Pins & Safety Pins
  Take a variety of sewing needles (straight and curved), a few straight pins and a handful of different sized safety pins.
• Duct Tape
  Although it is a heavy addition, duct tape can be invaluable when repairing shelters, fixing pipes and even for emergency first aid.
• Flexible Pipe
  Clear Fexible tubing that can be used for water transfer/siphoning and then rubber tubing that can be used to siphon petroleum based liquids. 4-5 ft of each should suffice.

Those are the Top Ten (10) but there are definitely some other important but not critical items to have in your kit. These are things that may not keep you alive but will make your experience less stressful or your survival experience simpler.

• Several writing instruments
  Always have 4-5 pencils in your stash (easier to write with in cold, wet, upside down, etc) as well as a few good tough stick pens. It is vital to keep track of things, log your days and know days/months/seasons.
• Fishing Tackle
  Ensure you have several sizes of simple barbed hooks, several lead sinkers and obviously a good quantity of different strengths/diameters of line.
• Snare Wire
  A ball of snare or small gauge steel wire is essential for creating snares, shelter building, fixing broken items and so much more. Good to excellent quality steel or stainless steel is preferred.
• Extra Clothing (different seasons)
  You don’t know when you will need to bug out or grab your kit and go so having several different seasons of clothing will make your life and your survival a lot easier (snow, rain, heat, etc.)

So those are my important items I have in my kit… what do you have that I may have missed?