# What to store before a crisis: water, food, medicine, tools, seeds, knowledge

> An 8-step list for preparing at home: water, light, food for a month, first aid, tools, a seed set, energy and an offline library. Step by step.

## Quick answer

Build in steps: 14 days of water and light, a month of food, a real first-aid kit, basic tools, a seed set of open-pollinated varieties, a small solar kit, and two copies of an offline library. Each step helps on its own.

*Part of [Day Zero](/day-zero), the plan for an AI-related crisis that gets out of control. [Why it exists](/day-zero/purpose). General information, not medical advice: [how these guides are reviewed](/day-zero/review).*

## What to store before it happens

Prepare in steps. Each step is useful by itself, and you can stop at any step and be better off than you were.

## Step 1: water and light (one weekend)

- **Water:** 4 litres per person per day for 14 days, in food-grade containers. A **filter** (ceramic or hollow-fibre) and **unscented bleach** or tablets.
- **Light:** torches and a head torch with spare batteries, candles, a lantern.
- **Warmth:** blankets, a sleeping bag for each person, warm clothes.
- **Fire:** lighters, matches in a waterproof tube, a ferrocerium rod.

## Step 2: food for a month (one month)

- Rice, oats, flour, pasta, lentils, dried beans, sugar, salt, oil, powdered milk, tinned vegetables, fish, fruit, nut butter, honey. Eat and rotate it so it never expires.
- **Multivitamins** and iodised salt.
- A camping **stove** and fuel, a pot, a can opener, a hand-crank grinder.

## Step 3: medicine and hygiene

- A real **first-aid kit**: bandages, gauze, tape, tourniquet, scissors, tweezers, thermometer, gloves, antiseptic, burn dressings, oral rehydration salts.
- Your own **prescription** stock as far as the law and your doctor allow; ask the pharmacist how to store it.
- Soap, toothbrushes, toilet paper, bin bags, a bucket with a lid.
- A printed **medical guide** (for example *Where There Is No Doctor*).

## Step 4: tools

- Axe, handsaw, hammer, screwdrivers, pliers, wrench, file, utility knife, tape, wire, rope, nails, screws, tarp.
- Gardening: spade, fork, hoe, trowel, watering can, buckets.
- Sewing kit and spare needles; a sharpening stone.

## Step 5: seeds, the long-term food

**Buy open-pollinated (heirloom) varieties suited to your climate.** Hybrids (F1) do not produce seed that grows true. Ask local gardeners and local seed banks which varieties do well where you live.

A seed set that covers calories, protein, vitamins and storage:

| Role | Plants |
|---|---|
| **Calories** | potatoes (tubers, not seed), maize, wheat, barley, oats, rye, buckwheat, squash |
| **Protein** | beans (bush and runner), peas, lentils, chickpeas, soya where it grows, sunflower |
| **Roots and storage** | carrots, beets, parsnip, turnip, swede, onions, garlic, leeks |
| **Greens** | kale, cabbage, spinach, chard, lettuce, radish |
| **Fruit crops** | tomato, pepper, cucumber, melon where the climate allows |
| **Oil and fibre** | sunflower, flax |
| **Herbs** | mint, thyme, sage, calendula, chamomile, yarrow, basil |

- Keep **two to three growing seasons** of seed in different places.
- **Storage:** dry, cool, dark. Seed with a few percent of moisture, sealed in jars or foil with a desiccant sachet, in a cool room. Most vegetable seed keeps 3 to 5 years; onion and parsnip seed 1 to 2; beans, peas and tomato often longer. **Test germination every year** on damp paper and replace what fails.
- **Learn seed saving** now, in your own garden: it is a craft.

## Step 6: energy and communication

- A **small solar panel**, a charge controller and a battery; a hand-crank or solar radio; rechargeable batteries. See [reader power](/day-zero/reader-power).
- A **handheld radio** with the local emergency frequencies programmed. See [communication](/day-zero/communication).

## Step 7: knowledge

- Put the [Downloads](/downloads) kit on **two drives in two places**, with a small low-power device and a spare charger that can read them.
- **Print** the pages you cannot lose: first aid, water, food preservation, seed saving, basic tools, maps of your area.

## Step 8: practise

- Once a year, spend a weekend without mains power, water or shops. You will find what is missing for less than it costs when it matters.
- Learn first aid with a certified course. Learn one craft from a person.

## Common questions

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Source: https://www.toswo.com/day-zero/stockpile
Published by TOSWO Research (https://www.toswo.com/research). Free to cite with attribution: https://www.toswo.com/cite