A lot of preppers have the basics in clothes, shelter, food+water, and firearms.
I have a buddy with a giant underground bunker (hardcore survivalist) who showed me that his new $995 FLIR is vastly better than my old, hand-cranked Soviet-era night-vision (still, something is better than nothing...even a $30 IR automobile “dashcam” offers *some* night-vision if your budget is extremely tight).
And I showed him my body armor.
FLIR and body armor offer advantages that you can buy today over what you will typically be expected to encounter during TSHTF.
You might want or need those advantages, or you might not. FLIR needs a solar charger or wind charger or generator to keep it charged. That might be more than you expect to be able to carry in a bug-out situation...and who wants to be left with *only* the bug-in option??
I’m also a fan of caltrops for mobile defense and orchards instead of crops that need re-planting every year. I’ve got apple trees and pear trees and masses of muscadine grape vines for my bug-in option. I’m working on growing kiwis, likewise.
A still for alcohol (medicinal, sanitary, trade, and recreational value) and a tin-can refinery for turning waste motor oil into gasoline.
If you can’t afford simple body armor to stuff inside the interior panels of your bug-out vehicle, then at least consider filling up the empty space with those thick Yellow Pages books that you would otherwise throw away.
Bonus points if you put a small grate over your exhaust (prevents car-jackers killing your motor with a potato up your tailpipe at a stop) and deep sea flotation bags under your bumpers for fjording on top of the water instead of trying to drive underneath.
Other than that, think clean and sanitary. Latrines far away from food and water. Use lime juice or soap or alcohol or iodine for sanitary hands and wounds. Boil your water after filtering through a white towel by soaking from a high placed jug to a low sitting clean container.
Learn CPR, cardio-thump, and how to set broken bones (pull first!). If a wound bleeds, then clean plus apply pressure to stop the bleeding. Tournacut as a last resort only.
Use raw honey daily to build up your immune system. Use sambucus (black elderberry) in the throat of anyone who has caught a virus to slow its reproduction.
Carry an N95 cheap $1 surgical mask in your wallet and in your various automobile glove boxes in case you see coughing outbreaks.
Oils and proteins and the best part is since in the hull they don't look anything like what you see in the store they have less chance of being poached.
Some good ideas I had not prepared for!
I guess the mask in the trunk first aid kit might be too hard to reach quickly...adding one to the glove box.
Bug out for a single person is not my plan. Shelter in place on a barrier island is better for me.
Alcohol and iodine will be increased.
I can not see a need for night vision...but maybe if extreme
situation.
Thanks