Stop 8 · Bearing Ready · Home Base
Emergency Preparedness Gear: Survival to Win
Being ready is the adventure nobody brags about. This is the gear that keeps my family fed, talking, warm, and drinking clean water when the forecast turns.
Every great adventure story has a moment where the plan falls apart — and the prepared crew barely notices. Hope is not a strategy; a stocked shelf is. This is the gear that turns a bad week into a good story.
36. ReadyWise 30-Day Food Supply
296 servings, 25-year shelf life, just add water. Two buckets in the garage mean my family eats well no matter what the forecast says.
Storms, outages, and road closures happen. Two buckets in the garage take food off the worry list.
37. BTECH GMRS-V2 Radio
Five watts, 200 programmable channels, and a NOAA weather receiver — the radio that keeps the crew on one page when the trail, the campsite, or the forecast turns.
When cell service drops, it keeps the family talking across a campsite, a convoy, or a neighborhood. GMRS use in the U.S. requires an FCC license, which covers the whole family.
38. Grand Way 25" Machete with Saw
Clear the brush, the fallen branch, and whatever the storm leaves behind — 25 inches of serrated steel that rides on your hip until the day you need it.
It cuts brush on one side and saws a branch on the other, so it does two jobs after a storm or at camp.
39. 262-Piece Survival Kit
Two hundred sixty-two pieces in one camo sling bag — axe, shovel, shelter, fire, water, and a full first aid pouch. It hangs by the garage door so the only decision on the bad morning is which door to walk out of.
One bag by the door means you aren't hunting through drawers when you need to move fast.
40. Membrane Solutions Water Filter Straws, 4-Pack
Sip straight from a creek, a lake, or the bathtub after the storm — a 0.1-micron membrane that turns muddy water into drinking water on the spot. Each straw is good for 1,320 gallons, so four of them cover the whole crew.
They weigh almost nothing, so there's one for every pack and every glove box.
41. PREPARED4X Survival Torch Fire Starter
One strike and the wick catches — soaking wet, in the wind, at three in the morning. Three hours of continuous flame from a tool smaller than a flashlight, so the fire gets lit no matter what the weather decides.
Matches get wet and lighters run out. A tool like this keeps working when the weather doesn't cooperate.
42. Danner Men's Canadian 10" Gore-Tex 600G Thinsulate Ultra Waterproof Hunting Boot
Ten inches of full-grain leather, a Gore-Tex liner, and 600 grams of Thinsulate standing between your feet and a February creek bank. Built in Portland, Oregon, on a sole soft enough for snow and mud — boots that outlast the trip they were bought for.
Cold mud, snow, and creek crossings are what it's built for. Danner makes boots meant to be resoled, not thrown away.
43. Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner 15002
CPM-S30V steel, stabilized wood handle, leather sheath on the belt — and Benchmade re-sharpens it to a factory edge free for the life of the knife.
S30V holds an edge a long time, and Benchmade's LifeSharp service will re-sharpen it for the life of the knife.
All the Survival to Win picks
ReadyWise 30-Day Food Supply
296 servings, 25-year shelf life, just add water. Two buckets in the garage mean my family eats well no matter what the forecast says.
See it on Amazon →Read Captain Ron's review
BTECH GMRS-V2 Radio
Five watts, 200 programmable channels, and a NOAA weather receiver — the radio that keeps the crew on one page when the trail, the campsite, or the forecast turns.
See it on Amazon →Read Captain Ron's review
Grand Way 25" Machete with Saw
Clear the brush, the fallen branch, and whatever the storm leaves behind — 25 inches of serrated steel that rides on your hip until the day you need it.
See it on Amazon →Read Captain Ron's review
262-Piece Survival Kit
Two hundred sixty-two pieces in one camo sling bag — axe, shovel, shelter, fire, water, and a full first aid pouch. It hangs by the garage door so the only decision on the bad morning is which door to walk out of.
See it on Amazon →Read Captain Ron's review
Membrane Solutions Water Filter Straws, 4-Pack
Sip straight from a creek, a lake, or the bathtub after the storm — a 0.1-micron membrane that turns muddy water into drinking water on the spot. Each straw is good for 1,320 gallons, so four of them cover the whole crew.
See it on Amazon →Read Captain Ron's review
PREPARED4X Survival Torch Fire Starter
One strike and the wick catches — soaking wet, in the wind, at three in the morning. Three hours of continuous flame from a tool smaller than a flashlight, so the fire gets lit no matter what the weather decides.
See it on Amazon →Read Captain Ron's review
Danner Men's Canadian 10" Gore-Tex 600G Thinsulate Ultra Waterproof Hunting Boot
Ten inches of full-grain leather, a Gore-Tex liner, and 600 grams of Thinsulate standing between your feet and a February creek bank. Built in Portland, Oregon, on a sole soft enough for snow and mud — boots that outlast the trip they were bought for.
See it on Amazon →Read Captain Ron's review
Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinner 15002
CPM-S30V steel, stabilized wood handle, leather sheath on the belt — and Benchmade re-sharpens it to a factory edge free for the life of the knife.
See it on Amazon →Read Captain Ron's review