Christmas Wish List

I really like this list of preparedness items to ask for at Christmas. I found the list at Safely Gathered In blog:

In past years, whenever my husband/parents/in-laws asked me what I wanted for Christmas/birthday/anniversary, my mind went blank. Well, this year I know exactly what I'm asking for - food storage and emergency preparedness items!

We have compiled a Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness "Wish List". These are things that you may want to consider purchasing for yourself (or spouse, parents, children) this year, or you can mention these items when someone asks what you want!

We've broken down the items by price, but of course many items range in prices, so some things may be listed under two prices. If you aren't sure what some of these items are, just Google them and they're pretty explanatory. Or, feel free to email us (safelygatheredin (at) gmail.com) and we'll give you more information about a certain product, along with some recommendations.

*Note: these prices are based on quick online research. Shopping around or buying used will help you find the best deal on any of these items.

Under $20
Small first aid kits
Flashlights for the whole family
Jumper cables
Fuel for your camp stoves or grills
water storage containers
spices and herbs
seeds for the garden
bottles/jars for canning

$20 - 50
Water purifiers
good-quality sleeping bag
jumper cables
Dutch oven
Solar-powered radio (or solar radio/flashlight combo)
Wheat grinder (very small, hand cranked - useful if you lose electricity!)

$50-100
Ready-made 72-hour kits
Wheat grinder (small - hand cranked or automatics)
Pressure cooker (small)
Dehydrator
55-gallon drum for water storage

$100-200
Rotating shelf systems (small)
Wheat grinder (small electric)
Good quality electric or hand-crank wheat grinder
Pressure cooker (large)

$200+
Rotating shelf systems (small to large)
Good quality electric wheat grinder
Pressure cooker (huge)
Good quality, large solar oven

$500+
Generators (for information on these, read a Popular Mechanics article here)

You could also just ask for some actual food storage - #10 cans of wheat, rice, beans, oats, powdered milk, etc.... YUM!
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Other ideas would be stuff for camping. My sister has a cool bucket that has gloves, heavy duty spatula, aluminum foil, roasting sticks, salt and pepper, paper towel, hatchet, etc. Everything ready to grab and take when you go camping.

These same items above would help in a 'clean up' situation, if there was a hurricane, fire, earthquake or ? that happened in your neighborhood/city. Here in AZ we get microbursts. Trees are up rooted, telephone polls are downed, etc. Gloves, hatchets, goggles, flashlights, etc would be handy things to have around. (of course don't mess with any downed electric/telephone polls)