Gear Lookup
Find what you need. Not more than you need.
This is a map, not a store. Choose your scenario and we'll show you what the gear is, why it matters, and where to start.
Choose your scenario
What are you preparing for?
Each scenario has different gear requirements. Start with the one that matches where you are right now.
First 72 Hours
Acute phase. You need to act in the first three days — water, first aid, communication, go-bag.
See gear →
Staying Home
Shelter-in-place phase. Two weeks or more — water storage, food supply, power, heat and cooling.
See gear →
Long-Term
Capability phase. Skills, tools, garden, independent water and energy. Building real capacity over time.
See gear →
Get Home
Walking-home scenario. You're at work or away when something happens and you need to get back on foot.
See gear →
Scenario 01
First 72 hours.
The acute window. Power may be out, roads may be closed, stores may be empty. You need water, a way to signal, and a plan. This gear is the baseline.
The Full 72-Hour Kit
Every item for every member of your household. Assembled once, maintained annually. Start here if you have nothing.
Kit Library →
Water, Fast
Filters, purification tablets, and how to store the 1 gallon per person per day baseline before something happens.
Water gear →
First Aid
What to buy, what to skip, and what actually gets used in the first 72 hours after a major event. CAT tourniquet, hemostatic gauze, burn care.
First aid kit →
Power When the Grid Goes Down
Hand-crank lights, portable power stations, and what you actually need for three days versus two weeks of outage.
Energy gear →
Communication
NOAA weather radio, GMRS handhelds, and why a dedicated weather radio outperforms your phone in the first hours of an event.
Communication gear →
Go-Bag Basics
The bag you grab when you need to leave in 10 minutes. What goes in it, how heavy it should be, and how it differs from a get-home kit.
Go-bag gear →
Scenario 02
Staying home.
Two weeks or longer, sheltering in place. This is where most people underestimate the gap between what they have and what they need. Water storage, food supply, and power are the three pillars.
Water Storage
WaterBOBs, food-grade barrels, gravity filters, and the math behind storing two weeks of water before a hurricane warning is issued.
Water storage gear →
Food Storage
From a two-week rotating pantry to long-term freeze-dried supply. What to buy, what shelf life actually means, and how to rotate without waste.
Food storage gear →
Power & Energy
Portable power stations, generator sizing, solar basics, and the generator interlock that keeps utility workers safe when you're running backup power.
Power gear →
Heat Without Power
Propane heaters, wood heat, and the one-room-warm strategy. What Mr. Heater actually costs to run per night and when it makes sense.
Heating gear →
Sanitation
The part of shelter-in-place most people skip. Waste disposal, hand hygiene without running water, and what happens to your plumbing in an earthquake.
Sanitation gear →
Shelter & Air Quality
N95 masks for wildfire smoke, window sealing for contamination events, and the difference between sheltering from wind and sheltering from airborne hazards.
Shelter gear →
Scenario 03
Long-term resilience.
This is not a product category. It's a capability category. The gear here is in service of skills: growing, preserving, generating, repairing. You're building competence, not inventory.
Garden & Growing
What to plant, what tools you actually need, and why seed-saving matters more than a 25-year freeze-dried bucket once you're thinking long-term.
Garden gear →
Food Preservation
Pressure canning, water-bath canning, dehydrating, and fermenting. The All American 921 versus the Presto 23qt, with honest guidance on which to buy first.
Preservation gear →
Water Independence
Rain barrel systems, gravity filtration, and well maintenance. Moving from stored water toward a water supply that replenishes itself.
Water systems →
Energy Independence
200W solar panels, battery banks, and the step-by-step path from a single portable station to a system that runs critical loads indefinitely.
Solar & energy →
Skills & Tools
The multi-tool that earns its weight. Hand saws, basic plumbing and electrical tools, and the difference between owning tools and being able to use them.
Tools & skills →
The Practical Tool Library
A curated set of hand and power tools that cover home repair, field first aid, camp cooking, and basic construction. No tactical gear. No redundancy.
Tool library →
Scenario 04
Get home.
You're at work, at school, or on the road when something happens. Public transit is down. You're going to walk. This is the gear for that scenario, organized by how far away you are.
The Get-Home Bag
Lives in your car or at your desk. Sized for a day's walk, not a weekend. The key difference from a go-bag: you know exactly where you're going.
Get-home kit →
Navigation
Paper maps, a compass, and why a printed street map of your route home is the one thing your phone cannot replace when cell service is gone.
Navigation gear →
Footwear & Clothing
Walking shoes kept at your office, a change of socks, and the one jacket that works in rain and cold. What to keep at your desk versus in the car.
Footwear guide →
Car Kit
Jump cables, a tire plug kit, and the supplies that turn your car from a liability into a resource when the road network is stressed.
Car kit →
With Kids or Pets
The math changes with a dog or a five-year-old. What gear you need, what distance is realistic, and how to plan for a multi-leg return with children.
Family get-home →
Gear Reviews
Side-by-side comparisons of bags, filters, power stations, and more. Honest, tested, with a budget pick and a best-in-class pick for every category.
Read the reviews →
What to read next
"The best time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining."
— John F. Kennedy
Go deeper
Books, videos, and gear.
Affiliate disclosure: New World Survival earns a small commission on purchases made through links on this page, at no cost to you. We only recommend gear we'd put in our own kit.