Since everybody is going Prepper, I decided to give it a try. Even though living in a Hurricane Zone makes you somewhat of a prepper, it seems you actually have to mention the word to have some sort of street cred…OK, I am just kidding.
I am not going for the “How to go A-Team and modify your Prius to be a Doomsday Vehicle (quad .50 cals included)” but go simple with a Every Day Carry item: The humble bandana.
You can google “uses for a bandana” and come up with an amazing amount of websites showing ingenious ways to apply the humble 22″x22″ piece of printed cotton. I particularly enjoyed this 180 hiking/camping uses for a bandana even though some are just plain silly like “Chihuahua blanket” or “Cat Cape.”
I carry two with me all the time: one for everything-use and the other for cleaning my glasses and back-up. Found in most places for under a buck a pop, it is the cheapest and possibly the most versatile EDC item you can have.
OK, that was my prepper thing. Am I now an Official Prepper Ready to Master Over The Incoming Doom of The World?
OK, my dyslexia was acting up this morning when I read this post and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how a banana was a ‘prepper’ tool. It wasn’t until I got to “the humble 22″x22″ piece of printed cotton” that it dawned on me what you were actually talking about. Not enough Bustelo infused yet….
But yeah, we in the hurricane bullseye have pretty much been ‘preppers’ before prepping was cool.
+1 on the bandana, but I think my most used/favoritist little cheap “EDC thing” is a pair of nail clippers.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that “living in a hurricane zone makes you somewhat of a prepper” applies. Maybe having been through a hurricane does.
I still read about too many folks in line at Home Depot or Publix as the storm is bearing down. Even worse, people who buy plywood from the Depot and return it after the storm (I know HD allows it, but I still consider it something One Does Not Do). Let’s assume they’re all newbies from New York or someplace and have no idea of what to expect.
Irene, Michelle, Charley, Jeanne, Katrina, Wilma…. and I am not including Tropical Storms
We don’t even bother to bring the patio furniture inside for hurricanes like Sandy.
It’s not really a bandanna unless it’s a Death Bandana! Use it like David did to Goliath. We used to live in an earthquake zone and experienced several major and many minor, now I live in a CCW zone.
Well, I think the cheapest is a book of matches, because they’re free, but I rarely go anywhere without a bandanna or three. I like one of them to be old school full size, 27 to 36″
After that I add 2 to 2 1/2 yards of 45″ wide Osnaburg (sack cloth) fabric. It’s amazing what you can do with it with an open mind and a bit of practice, especially if you’ve got a bit of paracord along. 5 bucks if Chinese, 10 if American. If you don’t like to sew you can bind the cut sides with diluted rubber cement.
Cotton fabric is a wood product. You can make all of these “technical” by soaking them with Thompson’s Water Seal.
All in all plain pieces of fabric are more versatile than fabricated items.