Quick Comparison of Freeze Drying, Canning, and Dehydrating

Before we dive too deep, let’s be clear. Not everyone needs a freeze dryer in their home. These machines are a serious investment that only make sense if they’re going to get serious usage.

In our beginner basics guide, we emphasize the importance of nailing your two-week preparedness to get through the most common emergencies. If you’re just starting, focus on the essentials we outlined in our supermarket prepper guide and mastering FIFO rotation. Or, let someone else buy the pricey machinery and stock up on a couple weeks’ worth of #10 cans, the Best emergency rations, or the Best MRE. High prices, yes. But still a fraction of the cost of going DIY for a short-term supply.

Okay, with the basics covered, if you’re now focused on decades-long food security—for your household, a community initiative, or a business venture—this comparison of freeze drying, canning, and dehydrating quickly recaps why freeze-drying is your best bet.

Note: Flavor and nutrient retention vary significantly based on the specific food or vitamin being preserved. However, the gentle, low-temperature process of freeze drying (more on that below) typically results in superior performance compared to canning and dehydrating.

What is Freeze Drying and How is it Beneficial?

Freeze drying, or lyophilization, is a gentle preservation method that ultimately works by removing moisture from a product. It begins by rapidly freezing the product, turning all of the moisture into ice, followed by placing it under vacuum, causing the ice to evaporate directly into vapor without melting, also known as sublimation.

If we lost you at lyophilization—no judgement, we understand, check out this nifty 40-second video instead where you can see the freeze drying process in action.

Cool video, but how exactly do those steps translate to freeze drying’s superior preservation performance? Great question.

• Rapid freezing: The first step in the process rapidly turns a product’s moisture into ice to minimize large ice crystals that can damage cell walls, preserving its structure. It also slows biochemical reactions like enzymatic activity or oxidation, maintaining quality.
• Evaporating ice under vacuum (sublimation): By removing the ice as vapor and avoiding heat and liquid water, this preserves nutrients and flavor by protecting heat-sensitive compounds and maintains the product’s original shape and texture by preventing structural collapse. Another benefit of bypassing the liquid phase is that it removes moisture more completely than other drying methods, which can leave residual water trapped within the product.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Home Freeze Dryer

• Tray Capacity: Similar to roasting vegetables in the oven or cooking chicken on the stove without overcrowding, the surface area of the trays will be your main constraint for most foods.
• Ice Capacity: For liquids or high water content foods, ice capacity often becomes the limiting factor. Freeze drying is all about turning water into ice, and each machine has a maximum amount of ice it can handle. Most home freeze dryers list a weight limit range per batch, for example 12-18 lbs. This range serves as a useful guide for estimating ice capacity.
  • For low water content foods: You can load up to the higher end of the range (e.g., 18 lbs).
  • For medium water content foods: Aim for the middle of the range (e.g., 14-16 lbs).
  • For liquids and high water content foods: Stay at the lower end or even slightly below (e.g., 10-12 lbs).
• Electrical Requirements: Most small and medium models run fine on standard outlets. Larger models may need a special outlet (NEMA 5-20) or a dedicated circuit (15A or 20A). Confirm your current setup can handle your desired freeze dryer. If modifications are needed, factor potential electrician costs into your decision.
• Ease of Maintenance: Keeping your freeze dryer running smoothly hinges on the vacuum pump, and its oil change schedule is the biggest factor. Depending on the model, oil changes might be due every 5 batches, stretch out to every 30, or be a non-issue with oil-free pumps. Oil-free pumps eliminate this chore but bring their own drawbacks: higher costs, increased noise, and significantly more complex maintenance and repairs. For these reasons, combined with how simple most oil changes are, we strongly recommend against the current oil-free options on the market.
• Noise Level: 52-63 decibels (dB)—like a quiet dishwasher to a normal conversation. For most people, this level of noise isn’t a significant issue. However, it could become noticeable if the freeze dryer is near frequently used areas or if you’re particularly sensitive to background sound. Plan accordingly.
• Cost: Starting at $2,000 and ranging up to $5,000+, a home freeze dryer is a significant outlay, but it can certainly pay for itself and then some if utilized consistently. To maximize your ROI, carefully project your usage. This will help you avoid the wasted investment of an oversized model, or the limitations of a smaller unit that leaves you capacity constrained.
• Warranty, Reliability, and Customer Support: Freeze dryers are expensive, complex, and heavy. Small problems become big ones. Look for a machine with proven build quality, a solid warranty, and responsive support.

Our Picks: The Best Home Freeze Dryers 2025

Our Pick

Best for the casual user:

Harvest Right Home Pro Medium

The Harvest Right Home Pro Medium offers a great balance of capacity and convenience for the price. While not the largest or smallest model, it fits comfortably in most homes, runs on a standard outlet, and simplifies maintenance with Harvest Right's Premier Pump.

• Check Price on Home Depot

For casual users aiming to steadily build long-term food reserves, experiment with unique projects, or capitalize on seasonal deals, the Harvest Right Home Pro Medium is our top pick. Harvest Right recently updated their freeze dryer lineup in 2023 with the Home Pro models. These all come equipped with the Premier Pump, an industrial-grade pump that operates quieter than other models and significantly extends oil change intervals to approximately 20-30 batches, minimizing maintenance and maximizing your freeze-drying time. Additionally, Harvest Right is the most established company in the home freeze dryer market, offering peace of mind through their long-standing presence and experience. Best of all, it offers all of these benefits while running on a standard outlet, making it easy to integrate into your home.

The Workhorse

Great for gardeners & homesteaders:

Harvest Right Home Pro X-Large

The Harvest Right Home Pro X-Large offers unmatched capacity and performance at its price point while still enjoying the benefits of Harvest Right's Premier Pump. It requires a dedicated 20A circuit, but that's par for the course with this size tier.

• Check Price on Home Depot

For those requiring maximum capacity, the Harvest Right Home Pro XL is the clear choice. If you will be racing against time to preserve abundant harvests, running a small freeze-drying business, or processing lots of liquids, this model is designed for you. While the initial investment and electrical requirements are higher, the increased throughput and processing speed, along with the shared advantages of the updated Home Pro lineup, make this workhorse a worthwhile choice for high-volume users.

Early Adopter Pick

Great for limit pushers:

Prep4Life Cube Select (4-Shelf, Expandable)

This expandable freeze dryer offers seriously impressive tray capacity for its price and footprint, but it also has the least established track record of all the models we compared.

• Check Price on Prep4Life

Prep4Life’s Cube Select is a fresh entry into the home freeze-drying market, catering to those eager to maximize capacity within a smaller footprint. Its modular shelving system expands to an impressive 1,332 square inches of tray space, delivering a tray capacity per dollar that’s only surpassed by the significantly larger and more expensive Harvest Right Home Pro XL.

Launched in July 2024 as a more affordable alternative to their 2023 Cube Elite, the Cube Select utilizes an external oil pump, a feature we consider preferable for its potential for increased longevity and repairability, until proven otherwise. This model is ideal for early adopters willing to navigate the potential growing pains of a newer company in exchange for the ability to process large batches of solids and low-water-content foods.

Freeze Dryer Comparison Table

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when looking for the best home freeze dryer. That’s why we put this table together so you could easily compare the things that actually matter for the top models from Harvest Right, Blue Alpine, StayFresh, and Prep4Life.

Meet the Makers: Home Freeze Dryer Manufacturers

Harvest Right is the home preservation pioneer, widely recognized for bringing the first affordable residential freeze dryers to the market over a decade ago. Founded in Utah in 2012, Harvest Right has manufactured over 450,000 units to date. Given their sheer volume of production, it’s not hard to find bad reviews online, but those seem to be the exception not the rule and almost entirely based on the previous generation of machines, not their current Home Pro lineup. While lemons are inevitable with any complex appliance, Harvest Right offers a 1-year full warranty and a 3-year limited warranty, backed by over 6,000 support technicians located throughout the United States, providing a strong safety net for their customers.

Blue Alpine, based in Saint Anthony, Idaho, and founded by three brothers in 2018, also offers a 1-year limited, 3-year full warranty. While they don’t boast an extensive technician network like Harvest Right, they do offer an extremely responsive support team and a robust replacement parts catalog.

Founded in 2022 by Tonghu Jiang, Stay Fresh is a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of freeze dryers. They provide a 1-year limited, 3-year full warranty alongside a highly responsive support team, based on our direct experience.

Prep4Life is the most recent entrant of the freeze-drying manufacturers we reviewed. Based in Bluffdale, Utah and founded in 2023, the founders pride themselves on more than 75 years combined manufacturing experience across a variety of markets. They offer a 90-Day Full, 1-Year Parts, and a 3-Year Limited warranty.

Tip: Regardless of which brand you choose, we strongly recommend using it extensively (50+ cycles) in the first year (90 days for Prep4Life) to surface any potential issues while still covered by the full warranty.

Best Foods to Freeze Dry

Wondering what to toss in your machine next? We’ve got you covered with our favorite foods to freeze dry—ones that taste great as-is or rehydrate like champs. From fruits and veggies to meats and quirky picks like hummus, these stand out for flavor, nutrition, and versatility. Perfect for garden hauls, emergency stashes, or just trying freeze-dried avocado (it’s a thing!), here’s our go-to list.

• Tomato Sauce: Dry into flakes or powder. Rehydrates fast for pasta or pizza—no cans needed.
• Herbs (Basil, Parsley, Cilantro): Fresh to potent sprinkles. Crumble over dishes for a flavor kick.
• Bone Broth: Dry into powder or chunks. Instant soup base or sipping goodness.

• Berries (Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries): These become crisp, flavor-packed bites that taste like candy without added sugar.
• Apples: Slice them thin (1/4 inch or less) for chips or dice them for baking. A sprinkle of cinnamon before drying adds variety.
• Bananas: Freeze-dried bananas turn creamy into crunchy. Slice them into coins for snacks or chunk them for smoothies later.

The post Best Freeze Dryer for Home Use appeared first on The Prepared.

We’ve been testing various prepping memes, like turning oranges into candles and using Doritos to start fires. Around this time of year we often see people share memes about using tealight candles and a terracotta pot to craft a DIY heater.

So we built a couple of different versions ourselves and measured the results.

Yes, you can get a surprising amount of heat from this setup. But it doesn’t work the way some think it does. The same amount of heat is coming out of the candles whether there’s a pot above them or not, so it’s not that you’re ‘making the candle hotter.’

Instead, by concentrating the heat into a small area using a material like terracotta that can hold and radiate heat, you can get enough warmth in a small area (very small) to keep yourself alive — but you won’t be heating up a normal room in your house.

This can work when you want to heat a “personal” amount of space, such as a tent, under a tarp shelter, in a closet or small bathroom, or in a vehicle that’s stuck overnight in winter.

But that small amount of heat comes with big risks. Open-flame candles are already one of the leading causes of house fires. And now you’re creating a potential unstable setup by stacking things on top of each other, etc etc. The wax itself can even reach its flash point — see below for videos of someone burning down their boat this way.

So this is a neat hack to know about, but not something you should choose to rely on. For preparing ahead of time, get a proper portable space heater or candle lantern instead.

Summary:

• Four tealight candles got the exterior of a terracotta pot up to 270°F (132°C), while a single candle got it up to 127°F (53°C).
• It would take nearly 60 candles to effectively heat a 100-square-foot room.
• You could boil water or even cook directly on the terracotta this way.
• Heat is not “amplified” with these devices, only concentrated.
• But that concentrated heat also comes with meaningful dangers.
• That concentrated heat can be enough to warm small spaces.
• So shrink your shelter space instead of expanding your candles.

More: Best emergency candles

The theory

There are several ways to make a terracotta heater. The basic method is to use a couple of bricks to elevate a terracotta pot, place a few tealight candles under the pot, and light the candles.

There are a couple of suggested theories for why this should work. One is that the terracotta pot(s) and the optional bolt somehow amplify the heat from the tealight candles. This is literally impossible, as it violates the first two rules of thermodynamics. Things don’t just magically get hotter without adding extra inputs.

A more realistic theory of the terracotta heater’s operation is that it concentrates the heat from the candles into a smaller space instead of just spreading that energy around the room.

You might see other variations of building these heaters, such as sticking a smaller pot in the big pot and adding a metal bolt in the center — but you shouldn’t do that, since those kinds of bolts are often galvanized, and galvanized metal gives off toxic zinc fumes when heated.

The math behind candle heat

Can a candle heat an entire room? If not, how many candles would it take? Thankfully, we can do some math to find out. Heat is measured in British Thermal Units (BTU). A single candle produces anywhere from 75 to 85 BTU, which we’ll average to 80 for our calculations.

Next, determine the square footage of the room you want to heat. Let’s assume a 10-by-10 square room, so 100 square feet.

Calculating how many BTUs you need per square foot is tricky, because it’s dependent on location. The United States is split into eight climate zones. Zone 1, the warmest, covers the tip of Florida, while Zone 8 covers the coldest parts of Alaska.

Let’s assume your 100-square-foot room is in Zone 4, putting it in the middle of the country. Zone 4 needs 45 BTUs per square foot, so a single candle could effectively heat a room of one foot, nine inches—not even two square feet.

Your 100-square-foot room would need 4,500 BTUs to be heated effectively, which would take over 56 candles. By comparison, a Mr. Heater Big Buddy Portable Heater can put out 18,000 BTUs.

See our guide to the best space heaters for more on determining how many BTUs you need in a heater.

The first test

The original goal was to build and test such a heater to see how well it could actually heat. We started with a tiny four-inch pot and placed four tealight candles underneath, all on top of a sheet of aluminum foil to protect the countertop. We needed something to prop up the pot, but didn’t have bricks laying around. So we decided to just use a few extra tealight candles as a base. This turned out to be foolish, but instructive.

We lit the candles, set the pot on top, and set a timer for ten minutes. We used an infrared thermometer to monitor the temperature of the pot. One snag in the test: after about four minutes, we noticed that one of the candles had gone out. We moved the pot (then so hot that oven mitts were required), relit the candle, and put the pot back.

Despite that snafu, the pot got impressively hot. After 10 minutes, we measured the pot at just under 270°F (132°C), which was way more heat than we had assumed four tealight candles could produce.

We chalked it up as a success, but also a source of concern. Just how hot could one of these pots get? What if someone touched it? Would the heat melt Formica countertops?

The dumb idea to stack extra candles to support the terracotta pot actually gave us a data point to think about. The wax in the unlit candles had melted where it had been inside/under the heated pot. That made us start thinking that perhaps this homemade gadget was getting too hot. We decided to do more research before further experimentation.

Candle wax can get too hot

A potential problem is creating so much concentrated heat underneath the pot that the candle wax itself ignites.

Most candles are made of a substance called paraffin, which is a byproduct of petroleum distillation. While there are some health concerns about soot produced by paraffin candles, it’s a mostly safe substance, used not just in candles, but for preserving food, lubricating machines and bullets, waxing surfboards, making crayons, and it’s even an ingredient in some chewing gums.

Paraffin is mostly safe, assuming it doesn’t get too hot and reach its flash point — the temperature at which its vapors can ignite.

The flash point of paraffin is around 400°F (204°C). You’ll never get close to that temperature from a single candle. But if you put several candles together and cover them with an insulator like a teapot, they could easily get that hot.

This isn’t just theoretical. Miles Weston set his boat on fire after the paraffin in his terracotta heater ignited:

Miles made a video a few years later to demonstrate how paraffin ignites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX28ICxi1s8

The London Fire Brigade warned about these types of heaters in 2013. Fire investigator Charles Pugsley said:

This heating system is unsafe. As a fire investigator, I see dozens of fires every year, including fatal fires, that are caused by people using alternative forms of heating and lighting, most of which include a naked flame. Candles and tealights can be extremely dangerous – a small gust of wind can cause an innocent candle flame to set light to objects nearby if left too close.

As the late author Terry Pratchett said, “Build a man a fire, and he’ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.”

Making a safer tealight heater

We decided to modify the terracotta heater design to make it safer. This time, we set the pot on fire bricks, used an oven thermometer to measure the pot’s internal temperature, and set a stainless water cup on top of the pot to see if it could boil water.

We set up a pot with a single beeswax candle, though we later learned that beeswax has a similar flashpoint to paraffin, so that change wouldn’t help. However, we assumed a single candle wouldn’t get close to the flashpoint temperature. Beeswax also doesn’t put out as much soot and other nastiness as a paraffin candle does, so you can breathe a bit easier when burning one in an enclosed space.

The outside of the pot started at 62.8°F. After 30 minutes, the outside of the pot was 115.3°F, the inside was 90°F, and the water on top was 87°F. After an hour, the outside was 126.7°F, the inside was 101°F, and the water was only 97.2°F.

Not hot enough to boil water. But could it heat up a bathroom? The Inuits would heat an igloo with a wick floating in fat, so it seemed reasonable that it could work. We opened a window to drop the bathroom temperature to 41°F, and then placed the heater inside the bathroom for one hour. The temperature never increased.

We set up the heater on an exterior deck and draped a tarp over the heater and one adult. Despite being 32°F outside, the inside of the tarp quickly rose to 60°F (16°C). The SAS Survival Handbook cites a temperature increase of only four degrees when burning a candle inside a 13.5-foot diameter igloo, so that’s pretty impressive.

In a desperate enough situation, you could use this technique indoors to keep yourself alive. Did you ever make a fort as a kid? Drape a tarp or some other covering over a couple of chairs, and set up a heater.

How could you adapt this to a tent? You probably don’t want to carry a terracotta pot in the field, but a bare candle could suffice. If you have enough room on the floor, you could burn a candle in a metal tin, though there would be a risk you would knock over the candle. A safer alternative would be to hang something like the UCO Candle Lantern from the top of the tent. In fact, that’s one of the usage suggestions UCO makes.

The post Can a flower pot and tealight candle create enough heat to save you in a cold emergency? appeared first on The Prepared.

Maybe you thought you’d never even own a gun until recently. Or you fired your cousin’s shotgun that one time out at the farm 20 years ago and want a refresher before taking on the serious responsibility of gun ownership.

Millions of people of all walks of life have been buying firearms in record numbers as more rational people reject the culture war around this topic and recognize the need for self defense is still very real, even in an ‘advanced’ society. Women, liberals, urbanites, and people of color are some of the fastest growing groups of firearm owners, for example.

Regardless of politics or background, you are welcome here. We believe in modern and responsible gun ownership — and think our communities and civil debates will be much better off if people at least accurately understood the topic of firearms before arguing about or fearing them.

More:

• Best guns for beginners
• Where and how buy ammo
• Best eye and ear protection
• Home hardening
• Hard armor

Critical gun safety rules

Before we talk about anything else, you must commit to these simple but very important rules:

1. Treat every firearm as if it’s loaded until you personally know it isn’t.
2. Only point the firearm at things you are willing to destroy.
3. Always be sure of your target and what’s behind it.
4. Only put your finger on the trigger / inside the trigger guard when you are ready to fire.

Modern, quality firearms do not just fire on their own, even if dropped or bumped. 99.9% of gun accidents are caused by human error. By strictly following those rules, you don’t allow the circumstances where something bad can happen to begin with.

And it’s not the sort of thing where people get more relaxed with those rules as they become more experienced — in fact, the most advanced gun owners are typically the most stubborn about these rules because they know how important this framework is. That’s why you’ll hear old timers angrily call out things like “muzzle discipline!” at the shooting range when someone new waves their barrel in the wrong direction.

It is your responsibility that firearms are safe, secure, and locked away from people or children who shouldn’t get to them. There are 1.7 million children in the US that live in homes with loaded but unlocked firearms. There are often serious legal punishments if you are careless with a gun, like leaving a loaded gun where a small child can access it.

The basic steps and gear you need

If you just want to go from “never had a gun” to “the bare minimum to protect myself and be responsible”, this is a typical set of needed gear and steps to take:

1. 1. Read this guide and the best first guns guide so you have general ideas of what you want to end up with.
   2. Go to a local gun store or shooting range where you can work with a salesperson or instructor to try firing some weapons before choosing which to buy.
   3. Better yet, go with a trusted buddy who can loan you and teach you with their gear.
   4. When you buy, the firearm should come with a wire safety lock that loops through the chamber and magazine, making it physically incapable of firing. It may also come with a good-enough storage/carrying case you can use until buying a proper one.
   5. If you live in a household with at-risk people (kids, suicidal, handicapped), get a lockbox or gun safe to keep the gun and ammo out of the wrong hands.
   6. Buy ammo. You’ll use at least a few hundred rounds to practice with and get to know your weapon. It’s okay to buy cheaper rounds while you’re learning the ropes.
   7. Read the manual to learn how to make your specific firearm safe, how to load and unload it, whether the manufacturer suggests any steps for breaking it in, and how to perform a basic “field cleaning” (the maintenance you’ll do after a day of shooting).
   8. Buy a gun cleaning kit specific to your caliber.
   9. You’ll need ear and eye protection (unless you wear sturdy glasses).
   10. Sign up for a local beginner’s class, which can be as simple as a one-hour lesson on a weekend afternoon. If you go to a shooting range outside of an organized class, don’t be afraid to ask for help.
   11. You don’t need to become a gun-slingin’ marksman, but you do need to feel proficient. A chaotic, emotional emergency is not the time to be fumbling with a gun. Spend a few days learning the basics, and try to dust off the cobwebs once a year — shooting accurately and safely is a diminishable skill, meaning it needs a little practice once in a while.

How to buy a gun

You can buy in person or online. If you’re totally new to firearms, experts suggest you buy in-person because you can feel how different models fit in your hand and ask questions.

Some gun stores and shooting ranges allow you to rent various guns. That’s a great idea for new shooters so you can get a feel before you buy.

Review: Best first guns

And if you’ve never shot before, don’t worry! Stores love new shooters because you’re a new customer that will keep buying new toys. Just say you’re new at this and looking for help.

Don’t be intimidated by going into a gun shop due to cultural differences. Even if you’re the most pride-flag-waving liberal with your Bernie/Warren 2020 shirt on, any store worth your business will treat you with the same respect as a cowboy in an NRA hat.

Thankfully, the vast majority of legit businesses conduct themselves this way. If they don’t, then say thank you, leave, and share your experience on review sites.

If you do buy online, buy something new from a legit source. There are websites where individuals can sell guns to each other (which still goes through a background check). There are bonafide people and good deals in those marketplaces, but as a new shooter you probably don’t know enough yet to spot the really bad deals. And once you find out it’s probably too late. Guns do go through a lot of wear and tear, after all.

Legal process

Different states and cities have wildly different laws about the types of guns you can buy, who can buy them, what you can do with them, and so on. Some places like San Francisco, Chicago, and D.C. try to ban most or all guns altogether.

Be sure to google for your local laws. Wikipedia has a nice breakdown summary by US state.

Some general requirements:

• Over 21. Some areas allow people 18-21 to buy rifles and shotguns for hunting.
• Have not been convicted of a felony.
• Have not been declared mentally incompetent.
• Are not using medications or drugs that will impair your ability.

In almost all cases there will be a criminal background check. You’ll fill out a form and the store will run you through a federal database that usually only takes a few minutes to verify.

Cannabis: Note that even if you live in a state with legal marijuana, it’s still a crime at the federal level. These forms will ask if you are a “user of illegal drugs including marijuana.” There are no drug tests or verification.

Every gun has a serial number. Some states require you to register your gun and serial number in a government database.

Some states require a waiting or “cooling off” period. Which means you pick your gun, pay for it, and do the background check but then you can’t take it home for a while. The political thinking is that if someone is angry and walks into a store to buy a gun, by making them wait 7-10 days to carry it home they will cool off and not commit whatever crime they were intending.

Basic ammo terms: bullets, calibers, and clips vs magazines

Since the whole point of a gun is to make a chunk (or chunks) of metal fly downrange and hit a target, we’ll start there, with the ammunition.

What many people call a bullet is actually called a round. Like a “round” of drinks. But you’ll still hear people use the word bullet as slang for the whole cartridge.

A bullet is the specific part of the round that flies down the barrel and through the air to your target. During the firing process, other parts of the round are left behind and ejected as waste.

Other parts of the round are the casing, which is typically a brass, steel, or plastic housing that holds everything together. “Casing” and “brass” are the two most common lingo names.

Every round has gunpowder inside. That powder is ignited by a primer. That primer is a distinct circle in the middle of the base/rear on most ammo types. The popular and small .22 LR ammo, however, uses “rimfire” where the spark happens from smacking on the outer lip of the casing, rather than a distinct primer in the middle.

Shotgun ammunition is a little different because it fires lots of little projectiles instead of one bullet. That’s why shotguns are used in bird hunting — it’d be too hard to hit a flying bird with just one pellet, so you fire a bunch of pellets at once that spray out in a larger zone.

Shotgun ammunition is called a “shell,” or “shotshell”, and the bullets are called “shot.” But the principles are the same. You have a casing with a primer, gunpowder, and then the projectiles that are launched down the barrel.

Some types of guns — particularly revolvers and shotguns — are designed to hold a few rounds of ammo inside the main body. Other types hold the ammo in a separate, detachable housing that you load into the main body of the gun.

Those detachable containers are called magazines. Many people make the mistake of calling those clips, but a clip is a specific type of old-school housing you likely won’t ever use.

Review: Best magazines

Most states in the US limit the size of magazines to 10, 15, or 30 rounds in a single container. Their thinking is that by limiting how many rounds are in a single magazine, it makes it harder for a criminal to shoot lots of bullets since they have to take the time to replace an empty magazine with a new one. But that also creates limitations in something like a home-defense situation, too.

Bullet sizes (ammunition types and calibers)

Let’s say you know you want to get a pistol. One of the next big decisions is deciding what kind and size of ammunition you want to shoot.

Since the whole point is to sling metal downrange at a target, what metal you’re slinging can have an impact on everything else: how far it can go, how fast, what kind of sound it makes, what kinds of materials it’s meant to punch through, what the kickback feels like on your arm and shoulder, etc.

The way people identify one size versus another is by “caliber”, which is usually defined by the diameter of the casing. eg. a .308 round is wider than a .223.

There are other measurements that might matter as well, such as the length of the casing. So sometimes you’ll see a label like “9×19” which means the diameter is 9 and the length is 19. But usually the length is standardized and implied — eg. people know that a .223 is always 2.26 inches long, so the ammo box only needs to say “.223”.

Unfortunately, it won’t always be measured in millimeters or even follow a logical pattern. Because America is stubborn and refuses to join the rest of the world, sometimes things are measured in imperial and sometimes in metric. You’ll eventually learn the equivalent matches, like how the .223 inch imperial measurement is essentially the same as the 5.56 mm metric measurement — that’s the caliber the NATO military organization has standardized around so they can share supplies across different countries and units.

Sometimes the differences seem small, like the 9 millimeter round vs. the 10 millimeter round. But these are precision-built machines with exploding parts, so every fraction of a millimeter or extra grain of gunpowder matters.

There will often be a word or name after the numerical part of the caliber, like “.223 Remington.” For example, Remington is a gun company and designed the popular .223 Remington round used in AR-15s. But the specs are open source. You don’t have to use that round in a Remington gun and plenty of non-Remington companies now make the .223 round.

Shotgun ammo sizes (gauges) work differently

Shotgun ammo types are simpler in that there’s fewer to choose from (only about eight). But the naming convention is often more confusing than standard pistol or rifle bullets, and in many ways is a leftover from before the industrial revolution.

By far, the two most common shotgun sizes are 12 gauge and 20 gauge. A 12 gauge is bigger than a 20, however.

Imagine you start with a one-pound block of lead and want to make spherical pellets to use as shot in a shotgun shell. The bigger you make each ball, the fewer balls you’ll be able to make from a single one-pound block. That’s why the gauge number goes down as the shot size goes up.

Another way to think about it: it would take 20 lead balls with the same diameter as the barrel of a 20-gauge shotgun to weigh one pound.

There are other words involved in shotshell labeling, such as “Buckshot” or “Birdshot.” We go deeper into this in other guides, but the general idea is the label means what they’re meant to hunt. Taking down a buck (deer) takes more force than a bird, so buckshot is configured differently than birdshot. If you shoot a methed-up home intruder with birdshot, for example, they will bleed but might not be hurt enough to go down.

Types of guns

• Pistols / revolvers / handguns are small enough to be held and fired with one hand (although you should use two). Good for close targets up to 25 yards away (23 meters), but can be effective up to 50 yards (46 meters).
• Shotguns typically require two hands and are held against your shoulder. You might have seen them use by hunters or people who shoot clay targets (the sport where people yell “pull!”) Good for targets up to 50 yards away (46 m), possibly up to 75 yards (68 m).
• Rifles are large, usually requiring both hands and being held against your shoulder. Good for targets up to a mile away (1.6 km), although the most common models are meant for 100-400 yards (91-365 m).

The type of ammo used is typically dependent on the type of gun. Shotgun ammo is always limited to just shotguns. Most pistol and rifle ammo is separate, although there’s a few options that are used in both types.

Since the ammo and goals/role are unique for each category, this is often one of the first decisions new gun owners have to make. Some people might choose a pistol because it’s cheap, simple, and easy to carry, for example, while others might choose a rifle because it’s more versatile and powerful.

Basic gun terms / parts

It’s easy to get in the weeds on all of the little parts and names, but here’s the big stuff you should know as you learn more, make your first purchase, and navigate local laws:

• • Stock is the part that extends back towards your shoulder, with a “butt” on the end where it makes contact with your body.
  • Barrel is the portion from where the unfired bullet sits through the muzzle opening where it flies out.
  • Chamber is the spot where an unfired but loaded bullet sits, waiting.
  • Hammer, striker, and firing pin are the pieces that strike the cartridge primer, igniting the gunpowder.
  • Rear and front sights, which are built into the frame, versus optics/scopes that are added separately.
  • Rails are parts of the frame that make it easy to attach accessories.
  • Magazine and magazine well (where the magazine slides and clicks into). A magazine release is the button you press to drop the magazine out from the frame.
  • Grip is where you hold with your dominant hand. A foregrip is an accessory or part of the frame in front of the trigger where you place your off hand for added stability.

Local gun laws are part of why it’s handy to know these names. Instead of making laws that focus on bad people and what causes them to do bad things, many governments instead regulate the specific mechanical pieces and designs for everyone.

For example, in most places you are not allowed to own a rifle with a barrel less than 16” unless you go through special background checks. And part of what makes the legal difference between a rifle with a short barrel and a pistol with a long barrel is the buttstock — if a gun has a buttstock you hold to your shoulder (creating three points of contact vs. a pistol’s two), it’s generally classified as a rifle and subject to those laws.

Similarly, some places limit or prohibit the use of vertical foregrips or detachable magazines. So if you find yourself in a place like California, you’ll need to learn how local laws regulate “evil features.”

How guns work

Guns work similarly to a car engine:

• Fuel is put into a small enclosed space (the piston cylinder).
• The enclosed fuel is then ignited by the spark plugs.
• Explosions create gas and energy that wants to rapidly expand outwards.
• But since it’s an enclosed space, where does that gas/energy go?
• Engines are designed so that there’s only one direction that energy/gas can go — by pushing the piston away from the explosion.
• The force pushing the piston away is what eventually turns the axle and tires.

That “create an explosion in a tight space with only one way to escape” model is the same for firearms.

When you pull the trigger, a mechanical striker or firing pin hits the primer on the bottom/back of a round, sparking the explosion inside the casing. The explosion pushes against the back of the bullet (or the wad in a shotshell), forcing it to separate from the casing.

That energy keeps building as it continues pushing down the barrel. That’s why you might see “muzzle flashes” or small flames coming out of the end of the barrel as the bullet escapes — that’s the leftover gas quickly burning off now that it has room.

In fact, that’s why bullet speed and barrel length are often correlated. The more time a bullet and the gas/energy behind it are kept in that one-way-escape tube, the more time the bullet has to gain speed (and stability) before the energy is dispersed in the air.

Single shot vs. semi auto vs. full auto

What happens after the explosion pushes the bullet/shot out of the barrel? There has to be some kind of reset to eject the leftover casing and make room for a new round to fire. How that happens is the difference between labels like semi-auto or full-auto.

Think about the old-school guns used back in the 1700-1800s. You’ve seen in movies how people would fire one shot, then take an absurd amount of time to reload the gun. Fire, manually reload, fire, manually reload, repeat.

Those are single-shot guns. The gun doesn’t “do” anything else once it’s fired. You have to do a physical movement with your hand to eject the old round and bring in a new one.

There are still guns like that today. The main benefit is better accuracy since there are fewer moving pieces during the explosion, which should (in theory) help keep the muzzle more stable. That’s why most precision rifles are single-shot “bolt-action” guns.

In a car engine, the momentum gained from the first explosion is what helps the machine rotate around and reset itself for the next cycle.

The fundamental innovation that took us from 1800s-style guns to modern weapons is similar. Instead of letting the gas only escape in one direction (out the barrel), designers add a second escape path in the opposite direction. Newton’s Third Law of Physics says every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So the same force pushing the bullet towards the front is also pushing backwards towards your body.

Semi-automatic and fully-automatic guns take advantage of that rearward force, using it to perform other mechanical actions such as physically ejecting the just-fired waste casing. So it becomes a loop that feeds and resets itself every time a bullet is fired.

Which brings us to semi-auto versus full-auto:

• Semi-automatics reset themselves after firing a round, but then they sit there, waiting for you to pull the trigger again.
• Full-automatics will keep cycling through the loop as long as the trigger is held down. Similar to how your car engine keeps cycling as long as you have your foot pressed down.

A well-trained person using a semi-auto gun in ideal conditions can fire up to 100 rounds per minute. In reality, you might max out at 40-50 rounds per minute (and even then you’ll be limited by magazines etc.)

Full-auto guns can shoot hundreds or even thousands of rounds per minute — just like a car engine that can cycle thousands of times per minute.

More: A great animation of how an AK-47 can fire in semi-auto and full-auto.

But that’s why full-auto guns are illegal basically everywhere. If you have to pull the trigger for each bullet, that theoretically makes things ‘safer’ than if you could just squeeze once and send a lot of bullets firing very quickly.

There are some minor exclusions for older grandfathered weapons (eg. built before 1986), but you have to pay a huge amount of money, go through years-long background checks, your home can be searched at any time without a warrant, you can’t cross state lines without permission, etc. It’s extraordinarily rare for a full-auto weapon to be used in a crime.

Single action vs. double action

Cocking a gun is the process of putting the hammer or striker (basically the same thing) in a spring-loaded position, so that when you pull the trigger, that hammer/striker can fly forward to hit the ammo primer and cause a spark.

So there are two mechanical actions here: spring-loading the striker, and then pulling the trigger to release it.

A weapon will be classified as single action or double action based on whether or not you can do both of those actions in one mechanical motion, or if you have to use your hand to physically cock the gun before pulling the trigger.

Classic revolvers have the hammer protruding out the back, so you can use your thumb to cock the weapon. This gif shows a single action:

A double action firearm is one where you can both cock and release the hammer/striker with just a trigger pull. The first part of the trigger pull cocks the hammer, while the end of the pull releases it. That means you can take a gun from uncocked to cocked and fired with just one finger pull.

For most of the weapons you’ll use, this only matters for the first trigger pull (taking the gun from cold to hot) because the semi-auto reset cycle will cock the trigger for your follow-up shots. That means you might have a double action gun that uses on the first pull but then becomes a SA on the following pulls.

Here’s a decent youtube video if you want more info.

Assault rifles, assault weapons, and AR15s vs AK47s

We’re specifically calling out assault rifles and AR-15s because there is a ton of disinformation in gun conversations (both innocent and intentional).

First, there is no real definition for an “assault weapon” — it’s simply a made up term people use for guns they think are more dangerous than others. Even though two different models might use the same type of bullet that has the same type of power, speed, and capacity, weapons that look like they’re from the military or an action movie often look scarier to people who don’t understand. They’re sometimes referred to as “black guns” because they tend to be a solid black color and made entirely of metal, instead of a more traditional wood design, and that somehow looks more dangerous.

It’s true that some guns have more destructive potential than others. A small revolver, for example, is not designed for large-scale self-defense the way an AR-15 is. But people often let perceptions override logic.

“Assault rifle” does have a definition, but almost everyone misuses the label. In reality, an assault rifle must have certain criteria, such as “select fire” functionality that lets the user switch from semi-auto to full-auto mode — but those features are already very strictly controlled by law and mostly left to the military and law enforcement, so very few civilians actually have an assault rifle.

A civilian AR-15 is a specific type of semi-automatic rifle. The AR does not stand for Assault Rifle. It actually stands for ArmaLite, the company that first designed them. Over time it became the most popular rifle platform in the western world and hundreds of companies now make their own variations of the AR-15 design. You can buy an AR-15 part from one company and it will usually work with an AR-15 part from another company.

So the name AR-15 has become one of those ubiquitous names like Tylenol or Xerox, and it morphed over time to mean any rifle based on that design. Many ignorant media reports will even refer to “scary” guns as an AR-15 even though the specific model is not even in the same category.

An AK-47 is basically the Russian equivalent of the AR-15. It has some design differences (the parts are not interchangeable) but fulfills essentially the same role. The AK-47 was cheap to make and maintain, which was important in the Soviet Union. It became very popular in the former Soviet countries and has since spread on the black market to be the weapon of choice for Middle Eastern terrorists, African warlords, etc.

Suppressors and “silencers”

What movies call “silencers” are actually called suppressors — mostly because you can’t make an explosion silent, you can only muffle it.

Adding a suppressor (or “can” in slang) to a firearm does not make it whisper silent. At best, a suppressor will reduce the overall noise to a level that won’t medically hurt your ears and it eliminates the sonic boom created by some faster-than-sound bullets.
For example, many people’s “bedside gun” uses a naturally-quieter weapon/caliber paired with a suppressor. That way if you have to fend off a home invader, you don’t blow out your and your family’s eardrums or have to rely on putting on earmuffs in the moment.

Review: Best shooting ear protection

In yet another example of the disconnect between reality and the fear/media/legislation around firearms, suppressors are heavily regulated in the US under NFA laws because of this perception that suppressors somehow make the public less safe. This comes in part from movie tropes about stealthy assassins with whisper-quiet pewpews, even though there’s no data to suggest cans correlate with violence.

Contrast that with Europe — which generally has much stricter gun laws than the US — where you can just buy a suppressor over the counter without any fuss.

That’s because the only real value of a can is to make shooting safe on the ears. That’s why some in the US Congress are trying to pass the Hearing Protection Act.

The post Beginner’s guide to guns appeared first on The Prepared.

Parachute cord, popularly known as “paracord,” is the undisputed king of survival cordage — it’s up there with a knife as a must-have, do-it-all prep for everything from wilderness survival to urban EDC emergencies. We spent weeks researching, buying, and intensively testing over 20 types of paracord from popular brands and outlets like REI, Home Depot, Amazon, and specialty online paracord makers, in order to find the absolute best fit for this critical prep.

What makes paracord the Swiss Army Knife of cordage is its composite nature. It’s made up of seven or more inner strands surrounded by a woven shell, and those strands can be removed and used individually when smaller cord or thread is called for. The shell can also be unraveled if you need very fine strands.

A few of the many survival uses for paracord include:

• Building shelters by lashing together wood or random materials
• Hanging food out of bear’s reach
• Tying down loads to a truck or trailer
• Boot laces
• Creating a splint, sling, or stretcher for the injured
• Improvising a tourniquet
• Constructing traps and snares
• For hanging containers, clothing, or game out to dry or cure
• Fishing line or trotline
• Sutures
• Sewing and leather work
• Rappelling, rescue line, or climbing rope (not recommended, but you can do it in a pinch with multiple lines)

We spent over 55 hours working with the leading brands of paracord, performing static load tests, abrasion tests, and chemical tests to verify the material the cord is made from. Here is what we learned:

• The best, strongest paracord is made entirely from nylon, but polyester cord can work almost as well and is even better in some scenarios.
• Survival paracord, which has tinder and possibly other strands inside it, is awesome for crafting worn or woven items, but not ideal as your main cordage supply.
• Cords of similar composition have roughly similar performance, so there’s not a ton of difference between makers once you control for structure and materials.
• There are a lot more “milspec paracord” claims out there than there are genuine milspec paracord products. (“Milspec” is short for “military specification,” which means the product meets a set of requirements published by the US military.)
• Always burn the ends after cutting a section of paracord, because this greatly lessens the odds that the jacket will separate from the inner strands.
• More internal strands are definitely better for load bearing, and if you can afford the weight and bulk of Type IV then you should consider it.
• There is no real rule-of-thumb for how much cordage you should have in an emergency situation. Our research indicates that most preppers carry between 50 and 100 feet in a Get Home Bag or EDC bag, and keep a few hundred feet in a roll at home.
• Sunlight is the enemy of milspec nylon paracord, and it should be kept out of direct sun if possible.
• Soaking wet paracord is slightly weaker than dry paracord, so try to let it dry out before loading it.
• Both nylon and polyester, the two most popular paracord materials, don’t absorb much water, resist mildew and mold, and dry relatively quickly, so moisture isn’t much of a threat to good paracord.
• There are high-tech cords, mostly used for winches, with vastly superior strength/weight ratios on the market, but because of its composite structure, low cost, and versatility, paracord is still the cordage choice of most preppers.
• When using paracord in an application where it will rub up against an object and fray, there are a number of key factors that make a huge difference in how well it holds up — e.g. load at the anchor point, surface texture of the object it’s lashed to, speed at which the cord rubs the object, etc. Subtle changes spell huge differences in durability.

Full details on how we pick the best paracord for emergencies, wilderness survival, general home cordage supplies, and more below the fold.

Our Pick

5col 550 Type 3 Nylon Parachute Paracord

Sturdy, all-nylon, genuine milspec construction. One of the only brands we found that's guaranteed to be safe for use in actual parachutes. Super tough and abrasion resistant, and less expensive than inferior competitors.

• Check price on Amazon

The best paracord for preppers is the milspec 5col 550 Type III MIL-C-5040H Nylon Parachute Paracord. This reasonably priced paracord did well in our load tests, and was a standout in our abrasion tests. It has a good texture and solid structure that makes it easy to work with. Most importantly, the 5col is the only paracord in this roundup that we’re extremely confident is genuine milspec from a US government certified manufacturer as claimed — 5col advertises that this cord is certified for use in parachute lines, and offers a certificate of conformance from the manufacturer on request. In a market awash in false claims and bait-and-switch products, this is the definitely the real deal, and it will be our benchmark cordage in future versions of this review.

If you afford the increased cost and bulk of upgrading to Type IV paracord, with eleven internal strands (vs. Type III’s seven strands) and greater load-bearing capacity, then we recommend the 5col Type IV. Note that we did not test this particular flavor of Type IV — we tested the ToughGrid Type IV, which is excellent but is from a different maker and we’re not as confident in the milspec claim. Still, the 5col Type IV is from the same maker and should be identical in materials and quality to the 5col Type III.

Budget Pick

ParacordGalaxy 550 Paracord

Excellent budget paracord that outperforms some of its supposed "milspec" competition, at a rock-bottom price. Great for everything but extreme loads.

• Buy from Paracord Galazy

The best budget paracord is the Paracord Galaxy Commercial 550, which at $0.05 per foot is an incredible value, especially for its excellent load-bearing ability. If you want to stock up on hundreds of feet of bulk, all-nylon paracord for crafts and general home supplies, this is the best deal going. Even if you add another $6 for shipping, this stuff still wins by a wide margin.

Survival Pick

UST ParaTinder

The ultimate survival cord, with a thick strand of paraffin-waxed jute that lights easily and burns like a candle. Insanely tough, it crushed our abrasion and load tests.

• Check price at Amazon

So-called “survival” paracord has extra strands woven into it — usually tinder, but sometimes fishing line or other specialty wire — and while we don’t recommend it as your main cordage prep (more on this, below), we definitely love it for bracelets and lanyards. The best survival paracord is the all-nylon, ultra-tough UST Paratinder. The internal waxed jute strand is generously sized and easy to light with a firesteel, and the cord itself did great in our static load testing. The Paratinder also dominated our abrasion testing — while we had some issues with the abrasion test setup and are not publishing specific results from it, we can say that the Paratinder was an absolute beast and stood up to more abuse than anything else we tested.

Upgrade Pick

Titan SurvivorCord

The ultimate survival cord upgrade, this was our favorite find of this guide. Turns woven bracelets, rifle slings, zipper pulls, & other backup sources of cordage into mini survival kits.

• $26 on Titan Survival
• Check price on eBay

If you can afford the extra cost, the Titan SurvivorCord 100 feet is an awesome survival cord upgrade. This hybrid nylon/polyester cord features a waxed jute strand, mono fishing line, and conductive metal wire for traps or whatever else you can dream up. Titan SurvivorCord’s internal polyester construction* (the shell is nylon) makes it lighter and less stretchy than our main survival pick, so it’s ideal for some woven items like rifle slings, straps, and belts. You can also get this cordage in more color and length options than the Paratinder, making it easier to match to packs and handles when used for zipper pulls or lanyards.

*Note: Titan SurvivorCord is advertised as all-nylon, but our tests revealed the internal strands to be polyester. We were pretty bummed to find out that this cord currently isn’t what it’s sold as, because it was and still is one of the best cords we tested. We’re still recommending it, though, despite polyester construction. For more on this issue and how Titan is resolving it, see the “Titan Survival” section in the last section of this review.

Also Great

GearAid 550 Reflective

Outstanding commercial paracord, available on the rack at REI and other retailers. The only commercial paracord we tested with the same sturdy construction as real milspec. Great for tent guylines & heavy loads.

• Buy from REI

Everbilt Paracord Rope

Not technically paracord, but insanely strong, with most load-bearing capacity per dollar of anything we tested. Polyester construction lets it withstand direct sun exposure, so stock up for tie-downs & shelter building.

• $4 at Home Depot

Reflective paracord is increasingly popular with outdoor enthusiasts, and for good reason. Whether you’re trying to avoid tripping over tent guylines in the dark, or you’re searching for a paracord-wrapped knife you dropped at dusk, reflective paracord can save you a lot of grief.

The very best reflective paracord for preppers is the Gear Aid paracord that’s widely available on the rack at REI. This is the only commercial paracord we tested that had the same structure as milspec, and it’s extremely tough and a great value at roughly $0.13 per foot. This really rocked our load tests, and we’d use it with total confidence in a survival situation.

The best bulk paracord-like rope is the Everbilt “Paracord” from Home Depot. Though it has “paracord” in the name, it’s not paracord in terms of structure, so it can’t be disassembled and used in parts — but it’s still amazingly tough and ultra-cheap. In terms of load-bearing ability per dollar, this is the best cordage in this guide for things like truck tie-downs or shelter building. And its polyester construction makes it more UV resistant than regular paracord, which means it’ll stay strong after extensive sun exposure.

Paracord 101

Paracord is a kind of kernmantle rope originally intended for use as suspension line in US military parachutes, so there is a military specification document that describes six different types of paracord with different attributes and strength ratings.

In this review, we mainly concern ourselves with Type III paracord, which is rated for 550 pounds and is often called “550 paracord.” The 550 cord is by far the most popular type for everyone from hobbyists to survivalists, and it’s available on the market in the following flavors:

• Milspec: This is paracord that’s manufactured in accordance with the MIL-C-5040H standard, preferably by a certified government contractor.
• Commercial: Sometimes the same as milspec, but without the special colored identification strand required by the spec. Other times, it’s mystery meat cord.
• Craft: A subtype of commercial paracord intended for decorative and lightweight uses, like bracelets and art projects. This is most often cheap polyester cord (contrast to real milspec, which is always nylon).
• Fake milspec: There are a few brands that advertise “milspec” paracord, but it’s not really milspec because it doesn’t meet one requirement or other. Sometimes it’s hard to tell without close inspection or chemical testing whether a particular cord is real milspec or fake.
• Survival: This is commercial paracord with extra strands in it for lighting fires, catching fish, setting snares, and so on.

In this review, we also looked at a few non-550 options that seemed suitable for survival use, like the paracord-style kermantel rope sold as Everbuilt “paracord” at Home Depot, PMI utility cord from REI, and some quality Type IV milspec paracord just for the sake of comparison.

A standard piece of 550 paracord consists of from 7 to 9 strands, wrapped in a woven shell. The individual strands themselves consist of two or three yarns all twisted together to make the yarn. For legitimate milspec paracord, there must be three yarns per strand, while much commercial cord will have only two yarns per strand.

Throughout this guide, we’ll refer to “7/3” construction as a shorthand way of saying, “7 strands, 3 yarns per strand.” Similarly, 7/2 would mean 7 strands and 2 yarns per strand.

Real milspec paracord contains one colored marker strand that identifies the government certified manufacturer. Each marker strand is supposed to be unique to a manufacturer, so two milspec paracord samples with the same marker strand should be from the same maker, no matter how they’re branded and resold. But some makers put a fake marker strand in there, so you can’t really rely on this. Nonetheless, without the marker strand, it’s definitely not milspec.

Milspec cord is made entirely of nylon because it’s important that the cord be able to stretch to support the dynamic load of a human body suspended from parachute lines. The military also likes nylon’s amazing abrasion resistance, oil resistance, and quick drying nature.

Good commercial paracord should be identical to milspec — including the all-nylon construction — but without the marker strand. However, almost all the commercial cord in this roundup is of a 7 threads / 2 yarns construction, and not the required 7/3. This is done to save money and weight. Some commercial paracord will save money and weight by using polyester for either the jacket or the internal strands

Most craft paracord is all-polyester and is openly advertised as such. It may or may not have three yarns per strand, but it almost always has at least seven strands in it. If it’s polyester with 7/2 construction, then it’s likely to be very weak. Given how cheap some of the all-nylon 7/2 paracord is, there’s not much reason to buy the polyester stuff.

If you cut open your paracord and you can’t make out individual strands and yarns, then what you have is just kernmantle rope — this is true even if it says “paracord” on the package, as is the case with the Everbuilt cord at Home Depot.

Regular kernmantle rope can be really great to have in an emergency, and the Home Depot cord we tested is incredibly tough and inexpensive. As long as you know what you’re getting and you understand its limitations (i.e. you can’t easily disassemble it into smaller threads for other uses), it can be a solid, cheap prep.

The image above shows three survival paracord products with the extra strands visible. In our testing, we found that these strands don’t necessarily seem to add much load-bearing capacity, but we can definitely see how they’d be useful in a survival situation.

Paracord materials

Most Paracord is made from one of two main materials: nylon or polyester.

While nylon is widely considered to be the only “real paracord” material, both materials have different strengths and weaknesses that make them good for different applications.

You can tell what kind of material your cord is made of with a simple burn test. The video below compares a polyester craft paracord strand from a PSKOOK with a nylon strand from the UST Paratinder. The strand at the tip of the pliers giving off black smoke is the polyester one.

Polyester has some advantages over nylon, like lighter weight and better UV resistance.

Don’t discount UV resistance as a polyester advantage, because one study shows that polyester can withstand a year of direct sun exposure and still keep 67 percent of its strength. We don’t have comparable numbers for nylon, but we’ve read that nylon is significantly less UV resistant than polyester, so for applications with direct sun exposure polyester wins.

Polyester also doesn’t stretch like nylon, and you may not want nylon’s stretchiness for whatever reason — maybe you’re suspending a load at a particular height as part of a trap and you don’t want it to drop a bit. Or maybe it’s for a rifle sling and you really don’t want any give to it. In these cases, polyester wins.

Choosing the right cordage

It may seem obvious that preppers should buy paracord to fill every possible cordage application they might encounter in an emergency, which means just buying the best paracord based on price and performance. But the diversity in the paracord market — especially the availability of paracord with specialty strands like flax or jute — means that if you’re willing to specialize a bit, you can do better than just using plain paracord for every application.

Milspec paracord and quality commercial paracord

Preppers who can afford it will want to stock up on a few hundred feet of quality milspec Type III or Type IV (or a commercial near equivalent), to form the basis of this part of their preps. This the original survival cordage loved by preppers and soldiers for generations and will serve you well in a wide array of applications.

Lightweight and strong, Type III milspec cord is great for all types of lashing, weaving, and hanging, and is also the right kind of paracord to get if you think you might be heavily loading it with something (i.e. a hammock or stretcher).

Type IV milspec paracord has eleven strands and should be rated to handle up to 750 pounds of load.

Because of the extra internal strands and 11/3 construction, Type IV is slightly bulkier than the seven-strand Type III. This extra bulk is something to consider if you’re putting a hank of cordage in a Bug Out Bag. So you might consider regular Type III in an EDC briefcase or BoB, and Type IV for heavy-duty home use.

Craft paracord

If you’re just using the cord for boot laces, pack lashings, or other relatively low-load applications, there’s no reason to suffer the extra cost and bulk of milspec paracord. Some of the 7/2 all-nylon cord we tested is quite good and will be good enough for the majority of applications in an emergency scenario.

If our budget craft paracord pick makes up the bulk of your emergency cordage supplies, you’re almost certainly going to be fine. So don’t ignore the craft paracord market, especially if you’re using it to make woven products like bracelets and lanyards that are just intended to be spare, light-use emergency cordage.

Survival paracord

None of the survival paracord that we got our hands on is real milspec paracord or even high-quality commercial grade cord — it’s just a turbocharged flavor of craft paracord, and should be used as such.

It’s important to know that you can’t easily extract the specialty strands without taking apart the entire length of cord. And the more of a particular type of strand you’re trying to tease out, the harder that is to do without just disassembling the whole cord. So if you need 20 feet of wire for a snare, then you’ll probably need to undo 20 feet of cord. If that’s 20 feet from a bracelet or weapon sling, that’s not so bad. But if you just unraveled 20 feet of a 50-foot main cordage supply, you may be in trouble.

Because you may have to disassemble your paracord to get at the specialty strands, survival paracord is not ideal as your main prepper cordage supply. Instead, consider it for lightweight applications where you’re using it lengths of a few feet at a time, e.g. lanyards, belts, bracelets, rifle slings, tent ties, zipper pulls, and other secondary roles where it can serve as a backup source of tinder, thread, or fishing line.

Finally, just because you’re hiding these extra strands inside a length of paracord doesn’t make them magically add zero to your pack weight. You’re still carrying a bunch of fishing line, tinder, and whatever else, just in a very inconvenient form that’s hard to get at when you need it. So it’s far better to pack line, thread, wire, and other specialized cordage in separate, more accessible rolls than it is to tangle all that material up inside your main cordage supply, where it can be impossible to extract without totally disassembling the cord.

Starting a fire with survival paracord

The waxed jute tinder strands in survival paracord kick right off with a ferro rod… if you know what you’re doing. Unfortunately, many people don’t know what they’re doing, so it’s easy to find complaints and even videos to the effect that these waxed jute strands are “impossible” to light with a ferro rod. Here’s one example, but there are many more out there:

If you actually know how to use a ferro rod, then you know that the guy in the video clearly does not. Here is me lighting a strand of UST Paratinder with a ferro rod. It’s not rocket science — notice the difference in technique:

The bigger jute strands in the UST Paratinder and the PSKOOK cords are better than the smaller strands in the Titan and Paracord Planet cords. We prefer the waxed tinder to the unwaxed (as in the Paracord Planet tinder). The paraffin wax adds some water resistance — if the cord gets soaked you can more easily wipe it down and get it dry. And it also adds some burn time, making the flame more candle-like and wind-resistant.

In fact, if you leave a waxed jute cord intact and light it with a match or lighter, it burns slowly like a candle and makes a great fire starting aid.

The unwaxed strand in the Paracord Planet tinder frays more easily and is easier to get started with a steel, but it burns faster and doesn’t have the added moisture resistance of waxed line, which is why we didn’t pick it.

Static load testing

Paracord is rated by its ability to handle a static load, so our first and primary test was designed to test that rating.

Summary: There were meaningful differences in the static load-bearing capabilities of the different cords, and these differences had no apparent correlation to cost per foot. Some cheap cords were super tough, and some expensive cords were relatively weak.

Most of the cords broke somewhere inside the bowline knot we tied, which was exactly what we expected. Any place where there are bends in the cord will be stress points that are prone to breakage, so knots will be the most likely point of failure in any realistic cord use.

How we tested static load

We hung a crane load tester from a metal scaffold and used a “come-along” winch on the bottom to steadily increase the load until the cord broke.

We tied bowline knots at each end of the cord and then shackled the bowline loops to the testing harness. (There was a span of about 20 hours between when we tied all the bowline loops and when we load tested the cord, so all the knots had time to set and have whatever impact on load strength.)

We selected the bowline because it’s a very easy knot that many preppers will know and naturally use, and in fact, it’s the one knot we recommend you learn if you’re going to learn only one. The bowline works well enough in break strength tests that it’s a middle-of-the-road choice. We wanted the tests to be realistic, so we didn’t want to use a specialty climbing knot.

With the rope installed in the test rig, we then steadily tightened the winch, filming the crane scale with an iPhone so that we could capture the exact readout when the cord broke.

We tested two samples of each rope and averaged the results. We didn’t see much variation from sample to sample, and the tests were quite consistent from run to run with the same cord, so we feel really good about these numbers.

Wet load test

We selected some representative samples of cord that appeared to be of similar make, tied them with a bowline at each end, and soaked them in water for 20 hours. We then load tested them the same way we did the regular static load tests.

We found that the soaked paracord held roughly 15 to 20 percent less weight than the dry cord, for both polyester and nylon variants. Both polyester and nylon absorb water, and given that we tied the loops on the ends of the cords before soaking them, our guess is that the water quickly swelled the material and put the knots under increased strain for most of the soak time — hence we saw a roughly 20% loss of load-bearing strength at the knot for the soaked cords.

Abrasion testing

We spent over three days designing, redesigning, and tweaking different iterations of an abrasion testing setup, and we ultimately could not come up with a test that gave reliable, consistent results. We’re preppers just like you, and we plan to rely on the results of this testing in our own preps, so we’re not interested in faking or fudging any numbers just for the sake of having some results — we couldn’t make this work to our satisfaction, so we had to ditch it.

Despite the fact that we don’t have a results column to show you for this test, we did learn a ton about how cordage abrades and ruptures over the course of trying and failing at this. This information should be useful for preppers who plan to use cordage in an emergency.

Summary: The ability of any given type of paracord to withstand abrasion without splitting in two is very highly dependent on subtle changes in the following conditions:

• The texture of the object the cord is rubbing against
• The speed of the rubbing
• The tension on the cord
• The distribution of tension on the cord (i.e. is the weight up near the point of abrasion, or is it hanging much lower, with the tension distributed across more cordage.)

Even the smallest changes in any of the above factors have a far larger impact on a cord’s ability to withstand abrasion than the makeup of the cord itself, at least for the different cords in our test batch. Another way of putting this is if you take any care to buy quality paracord (i.e. not craft paracord, but cord intended for survival use), then the conditions where you’re using the cord will be the overwhelming factor in how it holds up.

So if you’re using cordage in a situation where it will abrade, it’s important to be aware of the factors above and to do anything you can to tip the odds in your favor. Per our testing, even the smallest bit of friction reduction or tension reduction at the anchor point will have an outsized impact on the cord’s durability, so don’t shy away from making small tweaks that might help.

How we tested abrasion

All of the test setups involved the same basic mode of operation: a two- or five-pound load (we tried both in different setups), pushed against a rotating drill or Dremel bit to create friction that would abrade the cord until it split and the load dropped. We used a chronograph to measure the time from the start of the bit’s rotating to the time the cord ruptured completely and the weight dropped.

In some setups, the cord was draped over the bit, and in others, it was suspended under it with the bit pressing down on it. Sometimes we used different grits of grinding bits and in others all-metal spade bits. We tried different loads at different heights.

Here’s what we learned in hundreds of test runs:

The amount of load on the cord has a massive impact on the speed of abrasion. This may seem intuitively obvious, but our testing revealed that all the cord types are incredibly sensitive to even the subtlest changes in tension. For instance, the difference between a free hanging cord with a two-pound load and that same setup where the cord is angled slightly over the corner of a piece of wood is a 2X or 3X increase in rupture time.

Subtle changes in grit matter a lot. Some of the grinding bits we used would wear down over the course of ten or so runs, and if we went back and tested against a baseline cord that we started with, we’d find that the rupture time had increased by 50% or more.

For the sturdier drill and Dremel bits that didn’t wear down, these still suffered changes in friction coefficient as material from the test runs was deposited in their grit. To really make these work, we’d need to thoroughly clean the bit with a brush and solution after every single run, and then dry it.

The rotating speed of the bit is very important, and we saw with some cordless drill tests that as the battery wound down just a very small amount, the rupture times would start to stretch out considerably. In fact, even in the case of Dremel and drills with cords, these are not precision instruments and aren’t designed to hold a specific rotational velocity under different friction and load variations, so depending on the amount of heat built up in the motor and other factors peculiar to the test rig (e.g. friction on a support part holding up the bit) they might slow down enough on a particular run to have a noticeable impact on the results.

With the tools and the time constraints we were working with, it was impossible to control all of the above variables to the degree that they’d need to be controlled in order to give reasonably accurate results. We just didn’t feel we could rely on any of our test setups to provide an accurate baseline for comparing all the brands of cord we bought and tested.

And as sensitive as the cordage these factors, it’s likely that a cord that would perform well in one type of controlled test might underperform with a different test setup. So even if we had come up with the ideal test rig and controlled all the variables, we wouldn’t have confidence that the results reflect what you’d find in the field.

Dynamic load testing

We spent some time working on a dynamic load test, but ultimately we were thwarted by our equipment and by some the same variability issues described for the abrasion testing.

To test dynamic load, we’d need a dynamometer that can not only record very brief, transient spikes in load up to 1,000 pounds or more, but that can capture the peak load at the moment of cord failure and keep it on the readout. None of this was something we could accomplish with our crane scale, so we tried a few drop tests with kettlebells of different weights hitched to them.

Full review notes of the top contenders

Some of these cords seem to be rebranded from the same maker. They have the same marker strand, materials, and construction, similar performance, and close visual inspection under a magnifying glass suggest they’re identical.

We have no way of knowing the names of the makers, so we’ve assigned them letters and grouped together with the brands that seem to belong to them, below.

Maker A

Tough Grid Paracord, Type IV: This was my favorite milspec paracord of the whole roundup, and it’s what I’d buy. It has a separate marker strand, the right materials, and beat the rest of the pack on the static load test. Of course, this latter win was to be expected, because it has more strands than the Type III. It is bulkier than the same length of Type III, but you get more material to work with.

The marker strand is one of the 11 strands advertised, but it’s too thin to be a real load-bearing strand, so this is better thought of as a 10-strand product

My favorite thing about this cord is the texture. All of the cord from this maker has a kind of cloth-like texture to the outer shell that feels grippy and natural, which makes it easy and pleasant to work with. It holds a knot well, and generally feels like high-quality cordage.

GOLBERG Mil-C-5040H Mil-Spec: Same in every respect as the ToughGrid Type IV, except in a 7/3 format. Same texture and feel, and good performance. This is milspec nylon/nylon cord with 7/3 construction and a separate marker strand.

ParacordPlanet.com 550 (military grade): Seems identical to the Goldberg — very tough, and has a great feel and good build quality. It’s relatively expensive, though. You definitely can’t go wrong with it, especially if you get it on sale. But watch out, because this vendor also sells commercial grade paracord that’s a little cheaper, so if you want their military-grade cord you need double check what you’re buying.

Maker B

The Paracord Store 550: Good quality milspec cord, claims to be from a certified US government supplier. The ID strand is one of the 7 load-bearing strands, and it has 7/3, nylon/nylon construction. Holds a lot of weight, and has an average feel, texture, and appearance. Very comparable to the ParacordPlanet.com cord, and possibly cheaper depending on shipping. Claims to be made in the USA.

SGT KNOTS: Good all-nylon 7/3 paracord at a great price. Same marker strand as The Paracord Store’s milspec 550 and seems in all respects identical to it, so they’re probably from the same maker. They certainly feel and look the exact same, perform similarly, and are priced identically.

Vigilant Gear 550: Same marker strand as Sgt Knots and The Paracord Store, and same materials, construction, and feel. Similar performance, as well.

Tactical 365 MIL-C-5040H: Close visual inspection and burn testing suggests that this cordage is the exact same as the other milspec 550 that seems to be from this maker, but it noticeably underperformed in our load test and we’re not sure why. We tested this cordage six times and got readings from 300 to 351 pounds — even the high end there is over 30 pounds away from the lowest reading we got out of any other flavor of MIL-C-5040H.

It’s tough to know what’s going on here, but it could be a non-certified maker using a lower grade of nylon and trying to pass it off as the work of a certified maker using a cloned colored marker strand. Or, the cord could’ve been left in the sun and weakened from UV exposure, or we got a bad batch. It’s hard to say.

Maker C

5col 550 Type 3 Nylon Parachute Paracord: This all-nylon cord has 8/3 construction, with a load-bearing ID marker as one of the 8 strands. It claims to be US made and Berry Amendment compliant and is quite tough. It’s not the cheapest, but it’s good cord, and it’s probably the best value on milspec 550 available on Amazon.

Titan Survival

This maker’s cordage is advertised as milspec and all-nylon. Unfortunately, both a burn test and a followup muriatic acid test revealed that the inner strands of this cordage are polyester, and not nylon as advertised.

We contacted Titan, and after a lengthy email exchange and their own internal investigation, it does appear that they were deceived by one of their suppliers. The president tells us they’re fixing their internal QA process so that this doesn’t happen again, and will soon begin shipping confirmed all-nylon cordage into the channel.

They claim they don’t know how much of the polyester cord is currently in retail channels, but it typically takes about two months for all the channel inventory to turn over. So if you want the nylon version of any of their cordage, it’s best to wait at least two months before buying any.

We’ll also be doing a followup purchase in two months, with some testing to confirm that they’ve switched back to nylon as promised.

Titan SurvivorCord: This is a really great concept, and was my favorite specialty cord of the roundup. It outperformed on the load tests, and the extra lines — fishing line, waxed jute tinder, and copper wire — all add a ton of value.

It has a very good texture and feel really nice visual aesthetics, and is attractively packaged. If this stuff was nylon, it would be an absolute beast.

The tinder strand in this cord is paraffin waxed jute and is fairly thin.

Titan WarriorCord: Similar to the Survivor Cord, but without the added specialty strands. When they do fix their supply issue and we can get a nylon version of this stuff, we hope that it performs well enough to match the expensive $0.20/foot price.

PSKOOK

This Chinese maker’s survival paracord competes with Titan Survival Cord, in that it includes the following specialty strands: cotton, waxed flax, 40lb test fishing line. As polyester cord, it’s quite solid and very reasonably priced. So if you’re looking for what is basically craft paracord with specialty survival strands, perhaps as a budget survival cord option, then this is a decent choice.

Be careful, though, because this same cordage is being resold on Amazon as “Power Paracord,” and whoever’s behind “Power Paracord” is advertising it as milspec (i.e. nylon) when it definitely is not. Buying from “Power Paracord” gets you the branded PSKOOK cord, and PSKOOK themselves openly admit that this is polyester cord.

The post Best paracord appeared first on The Prepared.

Picking the best survival backpack is often more challenging than picking most of the stuff that goes inside the bag.

Even when you set aside personal preferences like fit and color, there are tons of considerations that matter in an emergency context: what kind of organizational layout is best for common gear, how well does a bag balance blending in vs. tactical features, weight vs. durability, and so on.

More: Bug out bag checklist and first aid kit checklist

To make matters worse, the market is flooded with options. It’s so easy for companies to make small changes that they can crank out a ton of different models, see what works, and iterate. And since everyone has their own personal quirks when it comes to backpacks, companies rise to meet the demand for so many fragmented choices.

Even in the course of writing the original draft of this guide, between the time we started collecting bags and publication, manufacturers would change things up too quickly for us to keep track.

So this is more of a purchasing guide to help you zero in on the right companies and products, rather than a contest where we pick the single best bug out bag backpack.

There’s a lot of theory down the page — so you can learn and be a better shopper at any time — plus recommendations for popular brands and specific bags we think fit the criteria.

In addition to hands-on reviewing, every bag tested was packed according to our recommended loadout so we could see how well it held common gear. The gear in this kit is pretty close to what we used.

The most important tips, whether you’re considering repurposing a bag you already own or shopping for a new one:

• Two-strap backpacks are the only acceptable type of bag in this role.
• There are no bags we recommend with new MSRP prices under $70 — the quality just isn’t good enough.
• The sweet spot for most people tends to be in the $125-$300 range.
• If you’re on a tight budget, it’s better to buy a better but gently-used bag than a cheaper new one. Check your local craigslist.
• Most people end up with a bag in the 40-55 liter range (2,450-3,350 cubic inches). For the vast majority, over 65L is unnecessary and under 35L is too limiting.
• If you don’t know the size of a bag you already own, try to stuff it with blankets/pillows and measure the outside dimensions. Then multiply for a rough idea of cubic inches, eg. 9” x 14” x 22” = 2,772.
• Backpack fit matters a lot — stop by a local sporting goods store if you want help figuring out your size.
• Have a rough understanding of what you plan to put inside and outside the bag. eg. Are you building a small evacuation bag or a full SHTF bag?
• The best type of bags tend to be mild versions of technical or tactical bags, ie. not too extreme in either direction.
• People who favor comfort and blending in tend to favor more technical bags, while people who value durability and customization tend to lean more tactical.
• You want your bag to blend in regardless of type, so avoid camo, bright colors, too much MOLLE/PALS webbing, etc. and consider the norms around you.
• You want a balanced mix of large main compartments, smaller interior pockets, and external pockets. Only 1-2 large compartments (and nothing else) or lots of smaller specialized compartments are bad.
• Front-loading bags (ie. “panel loaders”) and hybrid types with multiple access points are much better than top-only loaders that require you to dig everything out to get to what you’re looking for.
• Any bag over 30-35L should have a hip belt because you shouldn’t carry heavy loads just on your shoulders.

Contribute! Comment with bags you’ve tried and what you thought. We’ll update this list over time.

Best budget backpacks (< $125)

< 35L:

• Blackhawk 3-Day Assault Pack (32L) (Amazon)
• 5.11 Tactical Backpack – Rush 12 2.0 (24L)

35-45L:

• 3V Gear Paratus 3-Day Operators Pack (40L)
• Kelty Redwing 44

45-55L:

• LA Police Gear Atlas 24 Hour Tactical (52L)
• Teton Scout (55L) (Amazon)

> 55L:

• Teton Scout (65L) (Amazon)
• LA Police Gear Atlas 72 Hour Tactical (70L)

Best mid-tier backpacks ($125-$300)

< 35L:

• 5.11 All Hazards Prime (29L) (Amazon)
• Deuter Trail Pro 33
• Eberlestock F5 Switchblade (28L) (Amazon)
• Mystery Ranch Scree (33L)

35-45L:

• 5.11 AMP72 (40L) (Discontinued – Can Be Found Used)
• Maxpedition Gyrfalcon (36L)
• Tasmanian Tiger Mission Pack Mk II (37L) (Amazon)

45-55L:

• 5.11 RUSH72 2.0 (55L) (Amazon)
• Deuter Women’s Futura Air Trek 45 + 10 SL (55L) (Amazon)
• Kelty Redwing 50 (Amazon)
• Osprey Farpoint Travel Pack 55
• Tactical Tailor Three Day Assault Pack – Gen 2 (51L)

> 55L:

• Gregory Baltoro 65 (REI)
• Deuter Aircontact Core 60 + 10 SL Women’s & 65 + 10 Men’s (REI)
• REI Traverse 60L Women’s

Best premium backpacks (> $300)

< 35L:

• Eberlestock F3M Halftrack (35L)
• Mystery Ranch 3 Day Assault (30L)

35-45L:

• Goruck GR2 (40L)
• Mystery Ranch Komodo Dragon (38L)

45-55L:

• Goruck GR3 (45L)
• Hill People Gear Aston 3 (40L)
• Kifaru 357 Mag (55L)
• Mystery Ranch Terraframe 3-Zip 50
• Tasmanian Tiger Modular Pack 45 Plus (Amazon)

> 55L:

• Tactical Tailor MALICE 2 or MALICE 3 (100L)
• Osprey Ariel 65 (Women’s) & Aether 65 (Men’s)

Why you can trust this review

Besides decades of combined experience as preparedness teachers and outdoor product reviewers, we have 10+ years of experience living out of backpacks for long stretches of time in the military and while traveling, including in places like North Korea and Iraq.

We’ve interviewed various backpack experts, including designers and product managers at top manufacturers, bag repair shops, outfitters, and SERE instructors.

With over 150 hours of total work: We researched and built a spreadsheet of over 500 bags to narrow down the top ~100 for deeper evaluation.

Backpacks are best for survival

The whole point of a primary bug out bag is to be able to survive on foot. Which means you’ll have at least 20-40 pounds of gear that you need to be able to carry over unpredictable terrain and distances — possibly more if you pick up stuff along the way (eg. water or food).

The best way to do that is the humble backpack.

One of the main reasons this method has stood the test of time is that your hips are the best part of your body to hold weight without constant muscle activation. And the best way to hold weight on your hips is a fanny pack backpack.

Price tiers and brands

Within the realm of backpacks that are relevant to prepping (ie. excluding things like a basic school backpack), the new market generally breaks down this way:

• Under $75: Not good enough to depend on
• $75-$125: There are winners, but they’re hard to find
• $125-$300: Middle of the bell curve, most common
• $300-$500: Premium, worthwhile step up in quality
• Over $500: A few winners, but mostly starting to pay for the brand name

Although some brands will have products across a wide price range, you can generally sort common companies by tier.

Budget brands:

• 3V Gear
• Condor
• Explorer
• Fox Outdoor
• Jansport
• LA Police Gear
• Leapers UTG
• Rothco
• Sandpiper of California
• Voodoo Tactical
• “mystery meat” brands you find at stores like Walmart

Mid-tier brands:

• 5.11
• Deuter
• Gregory
• Keltyz
• LL Bean
• London Bridge Trading
• Maxpedition
• North Face
• Osprey
• Patagonia
• REI
• SOG
• Spec-Ops
• Triple Aught Design
• Vertx

Premium brands:

• Arc’teryx
• Eberlestock
• Evergoods
• Goruck
• Hill People Gear
• Kifaru
• Mystery Ranch
• Tactical Tailor

What you get when you spend more

Backpacks are definitely one of those “you get what you pay for” categories — although you start seeing diminishing returns for each extra dollar once you go over $400 or so, depending on the brand name.

The biggest areas where you’ll see differences based on what you spend:

• General build quality, durability, and lifespan
• Warranties and customer service
• Stitching
• Zippers and buckles
• Materials
• Water and tear resistance
• Ergonomics
• More personalized fit adjustment
• Adaptability and custom configurations
• Made in the US/EU vs. made in China/Mexico

Cheaper bags mean companies have less margin to invest in other things like proper customer service, warranty, and build quality. Osprey, for example, is famous for their comprehensive any-reason lifetime warranty. Random Chinese knockoff brands who only sell on Amazon/eBay might not be around in three years, and even if they are, they won’t care about you. Be skeptical if a brand doesn’t have their own dedicated website and support contact.

Cheaper bags will either skip hip belts entirely or include a bare-minimum strip of thin fabric. Similarly, cheaper bags will cut corners on the padding in shoulder straps, again sometimes having nothing more than a thin strip and/or using low-quality cushions that deflate quickly. Premium brands invest in higher-quality cushion materials that will still be springy years from now.

One of the most common problems with cheap bags is poor stitching that falls apart from stress. When evaluating a bag, look at how serious the stitching is around those critical seams and joints. Premium bags will also vary the angle of the doubled and tripled stitching to better hold against forces coming from different angles.

Another common way companies save money is by chain stitching the zippers. Which becomes a problem is one part of that chain breaks, which can pull apart the entire length of the zipper.

Budget brands cut costs through cheaper zippers and buckles. You may not notice the difference at first, but since these are the biggest wear parts, you will as you use the bag more. The zipper should feel substantial, smooth, and solid with no hiccups or snags, no matter what speed you use.

According to expert Luke Fowler, who repairs bags and helps companies like Triple Aught Design create better ones, one of the easiest ways to tell a cheap bag from a quality one is if they have branded zippers (usually “YKK”, the most famous zipper maker).

Premium bags will be more thoughtful with zipper design and placement, too. We love bags with four zippers on the main compartment because you can open little access holes wherever you need them, such as slinging a bag around on one shoulder and accessing from the side while on the move.

Intelligent designers will put zippers in areas less likely to be directly hit with rain — such as not having any zippers that face straight upward — since the zipper and seams around it are the most common entry point for water.

Besides using better materials that won’t fall apart, more expensive buckles are also easier to use. We particularly like the “Osprey-style” adjustment buckles where you pull the tail end of the strap forward / away from your body to tighten the hip belt, which is a much easier motion than trying to pull the tail end backward past your hips.

The higher price tier you buy, the more likely the bag has been intelligently designed for customization. Many brands will also offer in-house pouches and other adaptable gear as part of an overall system.

More expensive packs have attachment points so you can add/remove complimentary packs, which can serve as extra storage when attached or as smaller day packs when you want to leave the big bag behind on a scout. Higher-tier brands often make compatible accessories for their bags so you can kit it out Gucci-like.

If you’re on a tight budget

The backpack might seem like a good place to save a few bucks — especially since the stuff that goes inside the bag will cost at least a few hundred dollars.

But if you are depending on a backpack to survive, that means things are bad and you don’t want the single container that carries all of your critical stuff to fall apart when you need it most — and cheap backpacks will fall apart.

We wish there were no-brainer options under $75, but there just aren’t.

Tips on saving money:

• You can find high-end packs that are used and significantly discounted, but because they’re a premium product, they’re often still more than fine for a bug out bag. Many enthusiasts will upgrade their bags every few years then sell their still-great outgoing model on Craigslist, Facebook Market, local swap meets, etc.
• Buy after the end of a season, whether it’s back to school season, hunting season, etc.
• If you live in an area where outdoor recreation is popular, there may even be physical stores for second-hand gear or repair shops with leads.
• Check your local Play It Again Sports and Goodwill.

Size and shape

To keep things easy and consistent, we think about bag sizes in tandem with our bug out bag checklist, which is broken down into three prioritized levels depending on how big/advanced you want to get with your kit.

Using the gear in that list, we’ve packed the various levels into dozens of bags to figure out what sizes fit what levels. Roughly speaking — design can make a big difference here — minimum bag sizes for able-bodied adults are:

• Level 1 > 25 liters
• Level 2 > 45 liters
• Level 3 > 50 liters

Most of you should end up with a bag in the 45-55 liter range — the size of common airplane carry-ons — which is enough to carry the most popular and critical supplies without overloading, assuming one or two of the bigger items like a sleeping pad are strapped to the outside.

Size considerations:

• One of the most common mistakes we see is going too big. Do not buy a bag over 65 liters unless you already have backpacking experience with those loads.
• You can get a basic kit into small 25-35 liter bags, but frankly we’d never personally use a bag smaller than ~35L. Although smaller bags are obviously easier to carry and blend in better, you probably want some extra volume in your bag so you can add supplies that you find during an emergency.
• If you do go under 35L, then it should be a very “gray man” bag because that’s one of the main reasons to sacrifice and go small.
• If you live in colder climates, you need a little more room for bulky insulated clothing.
• Most people fill the space they have, which can lead to overpacking. Be disciplined.
• Even though our gear list adds 10 pounds of bulky gear from Level 2 to 3, the bag size doesn’t need to get proportionally bigger because some of that advanced gear gets strapped to the outside of a pack (eg. a tent or sleeping pad).
• How a bag is designed makes a big difference in these rules of thumb. For example, some 60 liter bags couldn’t hold the exact same gear we got into other 50 liter packs simply due to organizational layout.

You’ll often see bags labeled as 24 hour, 72 hour, 3-day assault, etc. This is branding shorthand for roughly how large they are for a common three day loadout in a military context. Similarly, labels like “assault pack” generally mean the one backpack a soldier would take with them on a three-day mission, which is a decent proxy for the kind of loadout you’ll have in your BOB.

But those labels don’t mean much in the end, are not standardized, and can trick you. For example, even though both bags have the “24” branding in the name, LA Police Gear’s 24 hour pack is 52L while the 5.11 Rush24 is 37L.

Shape considerations:

• Stick with basic box or tube shapes. Pyramids, ovals, and other designs sacrifice too much storage space.
• You generally want the fully-loaded pack to fit within the area between your shoulders, neck, and hips. It shouldn’t stick way out in any direction.
• Go too tall and you won’t be able to tilt your head back, or it’ll snag on stuff along the way.
• Go too wide and you’ll snag, have trouble getting in vehicles, through crowds, etc.
• Bags that are too deep — where they stick out far away from your back — don’t carry loads as well because the center of gravity is pulled away from your body.
• We love bags that can stand upright on their own on a flat floor. Avoid curvy bottoms.

Importance of fit for your bug out backpack

A backpack works best when it can direct the force of weight to the right spots and in the right proportions (eg. at least 60% on your hips).

But since your body is different than mine — even if we’re both generally a Medium — how a bag sits on the top of my hip bone or curves with my shoulders could be very different than yours.

The better the bag fits on your body, the more weight you can carry for longer and further. That might really matter in an emergency.

Which means pack fit is just as important of a criteria as any other. If you’re deciding between bag A and B, and A is overall slightly more awesome or cheaper but doesn’t fit as well as B, go with B.

Tip: Like buying shoes, sometimes you just won’t know until you try it on. Almost all ecommerce vendors will let you return a bag you bought online, but if you want to save yourself that step, pop into a local outdoor store and try some on. Employees in bag departments at stores like REI and Cabellas are trained to help you find the right fit (just like good shoe salespeople). Be sure there’s some weight in the bag when you do — they often have sandbags near by just for that.

Cheaper or smaller backpacks tend to have more universal sizing (and a lack of fine-tuning customization features) since the designers assume the bag will have lighter loads and only be used for short bursts.

Larger or higher-quality bags tend to include more of those fine-tuning features, such as adjustable spine heights or sternum straps with vertical adjustments.

Women’s survival backpacks

Unless a bag is specifically labeled with a gender, you should assume it’s unisex or cut for men.

Some women don’t care. Others do. Roughly speaking, the curvier and/or bustier you are, the less comfortable a non-female bag will be.

One of the most common areas where companies tweak designs for women is in the shoulder and sternum strap. Designers assume women have narrower shoulders and wider hips than men of the same general size, for example. The straps themselves will also have different curves or positions to accommodate bras and breasts.

A growing number of companies are adding dedicated Women’s versions to their product lines. Sometimes they’ll keep the same model name and add “- Women” to the end, such as the Kelty Coyote. Sometimes they make slightly different model names, such as Osprey’s similar Ather for men and Ariel for women.

The most popular brands for women’s backpacks:

• Dueter
• Kelty
• Osprey

Internal vs. external frame

Backpacks need a rigid frame in order to properly direct weight to the right spots. Without a frame, a backpack has no built-in form and hangs like an empty sack.

Most people end up with an internal frame, which means the structure is either sewn into the fabric and/or has removable inserts (ie. “stays”) stored in the interior (usually a fabric compartment along the spine). Just look around your local store and you’ll likely find 10-20 internal frame models for every external frame.

Stick with internal unless you know you have a specific reason to use externals and/or are already comfortable with them through time in the military.

Pros and cons:

• External frames are often a separate piece you need to buy and combine. Besides extra cost, this adds the complexity of matching bags and frames — and manufacturers don’t always make it easy to figure that out.
• External frames are generally more rigid than internals, which means they can carry weight more comfortably (especially heavy loads). The famous ALICE pack used in the military is a great example.
• Internal packs tend to move better with your body when you’re moving in ways other than just normal standing/walking.
• Internal packs are typically lighter.
• Some external frames act as a customization platform, giving you more room to tweak things your way. For example, some have “shelf space” between the frame and fabric bag where you can carry an ammo can, water jug, or game carcass.
• External packs have more airflow around your back because the frame holds the pack an inch or so out.
• Some external frames even have a flip-down seat built in — picture the seats people bring and lay on top of benches at sports games or concerts — so you can have a place to rest against the weight of your pack while waiting in hours-long refugee lines and so on.

Types: tactical vs. technical vs. travel/EDC

Very few manufacturers make bags specifically marketed for emergency preparedness. Which means you’re usually shopping among these categories:

• Technical bags are what you’d find at a sporting goods store or on a hiking trail
• Tactical bags are built for military and law enforcement scenarios
• Travel bags cover a range from everyday carry to “backpacking through Europe”

Technical and tactical bags are usually better than travel bags because the latter, while great for blending in and EDC/travel, often don’t add any other value as a bug out backpack over the former. The travel bag category is evolving more quickly than the other two, though, so perhaps that will change in a few years.

Storage compartments can sometimes be too big on technical packs and too small on tactical packs.

Technical bags are often just a few large compartments, sometimes even just one large “bucket” compartment with no other pockets or features. They’re designed this way because the company assumes you won’t be going in and out of your bag quickly and frequently to pick and use one piece of gear — rather, they assume you’re carrying recreational gear on a trail and you’ll dump everything out all at once.

On the other hand, some EDC-oriented or tactical bags can get too crazy with micro pockets and overly-optimized organization. You might enjoy specialized individual pockets on your daily work commute for your sunglasses, pencil, pen, business cards, wallet, phone, and bicycle helmet, but that can be too limiting in a BOB.

We tend to dislike compartments that are too big because there’s no inherent organization, especially when you’ve been on foot and things jumble around or get squished.

Some packs have added a feature to minimize this problem: a removable, horizontal divider that creates a “shelf” somewhere in the main compartment, splitting the big compartment into two more manageable areas.

Technical packs often lack external pouches.

In addition to the same reasoning as the big main compartment, designers also try to keep the exterior smooth so there are fewer snag points in the wilderness. That might add a small stretch pocket for a water bottle, but even those aren’t good enough to hold a proper bottle in many cases.

We strongly prefer having at least a few external pockets for things you might frequently want to use without digging into the main pack, such as a canteen, compass, map, knife, multitool, flashlight, etc.

Technical packs are usually more comfortable and ergonomic.

Military grunts are told to “embrace the suck” while consumers looking at a weekend-warrior pack are more picky about comfort. Technical pack designers tend to be more thoughtful about comfort to meet that demand.

Higher-end technical packs will often have preformed hip belts, adjustable lumbars, adjustable spine heights, more cushion on the surface that rests on your back, extreme curves, and mesh webbing to create airflow gaps.

Tactical packs generally have better external attachment points.

You want the ability to attach gear to the outside of your pack. Yet bags intended for everyday carry and activities like day-trip hiking tend to have smooth exteriors. Sometimes it’s just for the sleek look, and sometimes it serves a purpose to reduce snag points when on a trail.

Even when a technical bag does have attachment points, because there’s such a wide range of recreational activities and specialized gear, you may end up with features that looked “attachey” at first glance in the store but were only meant for hanging an ice pick or something else not relevant to prepping.

On the other hand, tactical designers assume tactical people want to add stuff and you essentially only ever see two options: MOLLE or velcro.

Review: US Marine’s ILBE pack

“Gray man” and blending in with your environment

The punchline is easy: You want the ability to blend in with your surroundings when you’re in a situation that requires a go-bag. You don’t want a target on your back when people around you are panicking, nor do you want to draw suspicion from someone like a National Guardsman loading you onto an evac bus that you’re someone who’d have weapons in their bag.

What that means in practice is not so simple.

Consider that even just having a pack at all will in some cases be enough to make you stick out! It could even be the case that what makes you stick out like a sore thumb in one area is what helps you blend into another.

But, like all things, there’s a balance — and we think some people have taken the gray-man goal too far. We’ve seen people use a children’s school backpack (Hello Kitty!) or work briefcase, for example, which sacrifices too much functionality for the sake of blending in.

Think about what “average” means for the people around you.

If you live in lower Manhattan, the chances are higher that the people around you when SHTF will be carrying smaller day packs, professional work gear made of black/brown leather, and so on. A black bag with a sleek exterior will blend in better.

If you live in Bozeman, Montana, the people around you are more likely to be carrying an outdoor technical pack than a leather messenger bag. A green hunting pack may blend in better than a sleek black bag.

It’s easy to see that what even counts as “blending in” greatly depends on the people and norms around you — there is no universal answer.

Avoid camo and bright colors. Stick with solid, neutral earth tones.

Camo is a perfect example where there’s more risk than benefit. Even if you need to hide your bag, you can use materials found around the area, the tarp you’ll have in your bag anyway, etc.

Technical packs often come in bright colors. You may be in a situation where you want to be seen, but the backpack is not the right way to accomplish that.

You want external attachment points without glaring MOLLE/PALS fields.

MOLLE is an attachment system originally used in the military that has since spread into tactical consumer gear. PALS, sometimes used interchangeably with MOLLE, is the webbing weave that MOLLE gear attaches to.

Which is why most people will assume a bag with lots of conspicuous PALS webbing is more of a target than a plain bag. That’s caused some preppers to avoid any and all MOLLE.

We strongly recommend having the ability to attach stuff to the outside of your bag. You’ll likely want to carry your sleeping pad, bag, and/or tent on the outside of your pack. And you may want to add additional pouches, water holsters, and other modular accessories.

The problem is that some manufacturers — especially cheaper brands trying to make their junk seem cooler than it is — will slap as much MOLLE webbing around a pack as they have space for.

So when you’re shopping, be thoughtful about the amount and placement of the PALS fields. How many things do you expect to attach, and where? Is it overkill?

Prime spots for webbing are the bottom (to attach sleeping gear) and sides (for extra side pouches). It’s rare you’ll add something big to the main outward face of the pack, so only a few rows towards the top of that face will be fine for most people.

Some companies have started to include MOLLE attachment points that blend in better with the bag. The most popular version is “laser cut”, where the webbing is cut out of the core pack fabric rather than sewing extra material on top. Look for laser cut MOLLE that has some kind of reinforcement around the cuts so the attached gear doesn’t pull it apart over time.

Morale patches are another “tactical” signal.

Morale patches and other external decorations are common in the military and have spread into prepping circles. They’re fun, and we have plenty ourselves — my favorite is a Pickle Rick patch — but on a bug out backpack they’ll do more harm than good. Leave the “Death From Above” decal on your range bag.

Materials

Besides cost and how you generally get better materials the more you pay, the main spectrum in bag materials is between low weight and high durability. Go too light and your bag can tear from something like a passing tree branch. Go too durable and you’re carrying unnecessary weight.

Denier is a common fabric measurement. The higher the number, the thicker (and presumably more durable) the fabric strands. Silk is 1D while a human hair is 20D, for example.

Tactical packs tend to be in the 500-1000D range, reflecting thicker fibers that take more abuse, while technical packs are usually 210D, 420D, or a patchwork mix (eg. tougher strands on bottom, lighter strands on top) to cut down on weight. Technical designers assume it’s no big deal if you tear a bag on a camping trip, while tactical designers know a bag falling apart on a mission is a quick way to lose contracts.

Although you’ll be okay with anything in the 400-1000D range, current research suggests the sweet spot is around 500-600D. The market seems to be settling in this direction, to the point 1000D bags can come across as trying too hard.

More: Contributing expert Luke Fowler shares a deep Denier test he did on various bag fabrics.

Nylon is the best common material, and Cordura is a special form of nylon with high abrasion resistance.

Avoid polyester in bags over $100 (it’s unavoidable in many cheaper bags) — even if it’s labeled “tactical” or “ballistic” polyester, which is usually a nonsensical marketing label used by cheap brands.

Just like the tarp you’ll carry in your go-bag, a transparent polyurethane (PU) coating is applied at the factory. But the coating is more for seam integrity than for waterproofing — any coating will wear down from water exposure over time.

Cheap coatings will get cloudy, crack, or peel. Pay extra attention to this when buying used.

Other bag features

Common features you should avoid:

• Laptop sleeves are generally a waste of space because you won’t have a laptop or anything of similar size/shape that justifies its own compartment.
• Hydration reservoirs are a similar story — you shouldn’t use a bladder in your go-bag anyway, and there’s nothing else worth having that dedicated pocket for (although it’s usually less wasteful than a laptop sleeve).
• Built-in raincovers aren’t horrible, and it’s fine if you find a great bag with one that isn’t too intrusive. But they’re often too bulky and waste space. You will have a tarp and other rain cover gear if needed.

Buy front-loading bags (or hybrids), not just top-loaders.

One of the most common problems with technical backpacks is the top-loading design, which means the only access hole to the main compartment is at the top of the bag (often hidden under the lid, as in the following picture), looking down to the floor.

Do not buy a technical-style pack without knowing how you get into the compartments. As of this writing, for example, REI’s website has only two out of 72 total bags that can load from the front, and only one out of 72 is even close enough to be a candidate.

That’s fine for hiking and does reduce water penetration (since the entry points are usually hidden), but it sucks in an emergency — you want to be able to access the specific gear you need without having to dig through or dump out everything.

Thoughtful attachment points for shelter/sleeping gear.

Unless you’re carrying a minimalist bag, you’ll probably want to carry a few items on the outside, namely some or all of your sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and tent. They take up too much room on the inside of the pack and there’s no harm in carrying them outside.

We strongly favor packs where the designer considered this and built thoughtful attachments, straps, or other ways to carry that gear in proper spots.

For example, we like when there are built in straps near the bottom but not on the bottom. When the only place you can strap a tent or sleeping bag is underneath the pack, you can’t easily set the pack down on the ground. Straps that hold the gear just off ground level make this easy, and the extra gear even helps stabilize the bag while standing upright on its own.

Removable sub-packs that can also serve double duty.

Technical packs sometimes feature a removable top “lid”, the compartment that sits over top of the bag’s main compartment access. Some models even include an extra strap or two so you can turn the separate lid into a smaller day pack or shoulder sling.

These types of areas are also nice because it’s another space where you can lay bulky external items like rope, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, or rain jackets and then cinch them down between the top lid and main body, holding them flat on top of the bag instead of strapped to a side.

High-visibility interior colors help you find what you’re looking for.

Unlike the exterior, we like bright colors on the inside of pockets because it helps create contrast against your gear. Imagine digging through a solid black bag’s main compartment, at night, looking for your all-black flashlight.

The post The Best Bug Out Bag | Survival Backpack Reviews appeared first on The Prepared.

Pemmican is a traditional Native American food that was used as a nutritious and long-lasting food source. It’s made from lean meat, fat, and dried fruits. Pemmican can last for five years or more without having to be refrigerated and is calorie and nutrient dense. It’s an excellent food for a long hike or in any sort of survival situation. Here’s pemmican recipe that we like:

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of lean meat (beef, bison, venison)
• 1 pound of fat (suet is best, but lard can also be used)
• Optional: 1 cup of dried fruits (like cherries, cranberries, or blueberries)
• Optional: Salt and spices to taste

Instructions:

• Dry the Meat:
  • Slice the meat as thinly as possible, then dehydrate it in a dehydrator or oven at its lowest setting until it’s completely dry and brittle.
  • Alternatively, sun-dry the meat by placing the slices on clean racks and allowing them to dry in the sun. This may take several days, and you’ll need to protect it from insects and animals.
• Grind the Dried Meat:
  • Once dried, grind the meat into a powder using a food processor or mortar and pestle.
• Prepare the Fat:
  • Cut the fat into small pieces and render it over low heat in a pot. Once melted, strain out any solids, so you’re left with clear liquid fat.
• Optional: Prepare the Dried Fruits:
  • If using dried fruits, grind them into a powder as you did with the meat.
• Combine the Ingredients:
  • Mix the ground meat and optional fruit powder in a large bowl.
  • Slowly add the rendered fat, mixing until everything is moistened and sticks together. You may not need all the fat, so add it gradually until you reach the desired consistency.
  • If using salt and spices, add them to taste.
• Form into Bars or Balls:
  • Shape the mixture into bars or balls, pressing firmly to compact the ingredients.
• Cool and Store:
  • Allow the pemmican to cool, which will further solidify the fat and hold everything together.
  • Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. Pemmican can last for years if properly prepared and stored.

Enjoy your pemmican! Pemmican tends to taste a bit like beef jerky and is fine to eat on its own or in a soup. Feel free to tweak this recipe and make it to your liking. Adding the right spices or some berries can really bring out the flavor.

Have you tried making pemmican? Comment below what tricks you have done or how you flavored it to make it more delicious.

The post How to make pemmican appeared first on The Prepared.

When disaster strikes, our lives can be thrown into chaos. However, as pet owners, it’s not just our lives we need to consider; our pets depend on us for their safety, too. Just as we need a disaster plan for ourselves, it’s equally crucial to have one for our pets. This guide provides insight into how pet owners can adequately prepare for emergencies to ensure their pets’ safety.

Understanding the Threats

Every region carries its unique set of risks, from earthquakes and wildfires to hurricanes and tornadoes. In addition, other emergencies, like house fires or power outages, can happen anywhere, anytime. Being aware of the potential disasters that could impact your area is essential for preparing an efficient disaster plan that includes your pets. Research your local disaster risks and plan accordingly.

Crafting a Pet-Inclusive Disaster Plan

Creating a disaster plan for your pets involves addressing different scenarios. These include evacuation events, like wildfires or hurricanes, or shelter-in-place situations that might occur during a severe storm or pandemic. Keep in mind that pets can become highly stressed during such events. By preparing in advance, you’ll be in a better position to manage your pets and ensure their safety.
Identification: Ensuring your pets are easily identifiable is crucial. Alongside traditional collars and tags, consider microchipping your pets. This permanent form of identification could be instrumental in reuniting you with your pets if you get separated. Make sure to register the microchip and keep your contact details updated.
Carriers and Leashes: Always keep pet carriers and sturdy leashes at hand. During an emergency, these items will prove invaluable for safe transportation and control of your pets.
Safe Spaces: In a shelter-in-place situation, you should designate a safe, comfortable, and secure area in your home for your pets. This area should be free from potential hazards, such as windows that could shatter.

Assembling a Pet Emergency Kit

Like your personal emergency kit, a well-stocked pet emergency kit is an integral part of disaster preparedness. Here’s what you should include:
Food and Water: Stock at least a week’s worth of food and water for each pet. Remember to rotate the supplies periodically to maintain freshness.
Medications and Health Supplies: If your pet has specific health needs, ensure that you have an extra supply of their medications. Additionally, items like heartworm medication and any other health supplies should be part of your kit.
Documentation: Store essential documents like your pet’s vaccination records, medical history, registration information, and a recent photograph in a waterproof envelope.
Comfort Items: In stressful times, familiar items can help soothe your pet. Pack their favorite toys and some preferred treats if you have the space.

Evacuation Strategies with Pets

If SHTF and you need to evacuate, always take your pets with you. Disasters can be as life-threatening to them as they are to humans. Here are some steps to make the evacuation process smoother:
Evacuation Locations: Find pet-friendly accommodations in advance. Research local pet-friendly hotels, shelters, or make arrangements with friends or family who wouldn’t mind temporarily housing your pets.
Transportation: Make sure your pets are comfortable with their carriers. Regularly allow your pet to spend time in their carrier to build familiarity and reduce stress during actual emergencies.
Contingency Plan: In the extreme event that you must evacuate without your pets, do not tether or cage them. Instead, leave them with plenty of food and water and post a sign indicating the presence of pets to aid rescue workers.

Training and Socialization

Training your pets can significantly help during emergencies. Teach them basic commands, such as “come,” “stay,” and “quiet,” which could be essential during an evacuation or when meeting strangers in a shelter. Regular socialization will also help your pets stay calm around new people and other animals.

Conclusion

As pet owners, we must protect our furry friends when disasters strike. By incorporating these guidelines into your disaster preparedness plan, you can rest assured that you’re doing your best to keep your pets safe. Remember, preparedness is a continuous process – regularly revisit and revise your plans as needed and with the right preparation, you and your pets will be able to weather any situation.

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