17 Prepping Items to Vacuum Seal for SHTF 

My wife dislikes you now, I used all her bags sealing stuff lol.

Just a quick technique tip - I don’t pack/store anything I’ve sealed for about a week. Sometimes you don’t get a good seal, but you don’t know it. By waiting about a week, you’ll see if your bags are still tight. If they’re loose, air has gotten in. I also check all of my vacuum sealed preps every 6 months. It only takes a teeny tiny hole to break the seal, so sometimes you find something that needs to be re-sealed or used.

I V.Sealed the Wife : I do plan on using her later

Vacuum pack your vacuum packer, too keep you from impulse vacuum packing the cat or... your wife or something like that.

I'll put my vacuum sealed bags inside a ziplok bag to give it a layer of protection against getting punctured , plus it gives the items a resealing option once it is opened.

We live on the coast so hurricanes are a big threat for us. I vacuum seal anything I can just in the event we get flooded. So many people we know lost everything last September so I take no chances

Just a note here on fire arms. I personally have made a weapons cache in a PVC tube which I had buried for over 10 years before removing to inspect. I used food saver bags for the broken down components which were coated with military grade Cosmoline grease. The grease was in contact with the bag the whole time and none of the seals failed over this period. Two things to watch out for with weapons is during the vacuum pull don’t get any grease in the seal area and you may need to manually stop the vacuum prematurely in case sharp corners start digging into the bag too much. In fact, A tight vacuum probably is not necessary as long as your components are grease coated. The bag is mainly for a moisture barrier in case of water intrusion. I had to move this cache was the reason I dug it up and inspected. The weapons bags looked fine so I never unsealed them and put them back in a new tube and reburied it and it’s still in the ground today. Was originally sealed back in 1998 and inspected around 08-09.

An extra tip, write down on a piece of paper the date you sealed the item and add it to the pack, even if you can't see it, when you crack it open you'll know exactly how old it is.

My wife has a device that sounds just like that . It dims the lights .

I vacuum sealed an entire AR. Actually I double sealed it and buried it somewhere on my 30 acres. Along with 1000 rounds.... er, I mean I accidentally dropped em of the side of my boat somewhere up the river!

Vacuum sealing a set of walkie-talkies seem like a good idea.

Maybe a silly idear but if you have trouble saving you can vacpac cash for storage, secure for water dmg and the trouble of unpacking prevents impulse spending

Love the PVC cache reference. "As long as you want" pew pew

Awesome video Now want to add that vacuum sealing clothing. You want to make sure first that the clothing needs to be washed and dried free of any contaminats, sweat etc And not all fabrics can be stored in vacuum seal bags Like wool, leather and others do to they need to be in a well ventilated area free of moist etc If u pack those fabric materials They will break or damage their fibres in your clothing. You can find info on this topic online to know what fabric materials can be stored for long periods of time and the ones that will get damage overtime

Its 2020. Its time to unseal all 17 items. The SHTF has started.

As far as writing instruments go, I've always carried a nitrogen-charged pen, since I was about 12, and I found one at the Ontario Science Center. Hit SpacePen.ca and choose the one(s) you like best, and make sure to snag a bunch of refills! With a 100 year estimated shelf life, that's REALLY a no-brainer! If you leave it on the dash in the hot sun, it does NOT melt and leave a puddle of ink on the dash! If you leave it in the glove box in the middle of winter, it does NOT freeze, and it is instantly usable, without fumbling around for a lighter to melt the ink! I personally prefer the bullet pens, as I think they're weighted and balanced very nicely, you can carry one in your pocket or bag in a smaller-than-average form factor, and it expands to a full-sized pen when it comes time to use it. NOTE: Get yours engraved! Getting a few for family? Get THEM engraved as well! If you don't do that, my experience tells me that they seem to "spontaneously dematerialize or slip into other timelines/dimensions" without any warning...but for some reason, with just getting your name engraved on it, I've somehow managed to completely prevent "interdimensional/time-slippage pen losses", and I've kept the same pen for 30 years now! Interesting how that works, innit? \\=^D

I can stand behind vacuum sealing important tools. Back during the Y2K scare, I made a bugout cache of tools that I stored in my basement. I actually used a cheap vacuum sealer I bought off the TV. Along with the usual tools, I also vacuum sealed two of my 9mm pistols with three fully loaded clips for each one as part of the cache. Since then, I moved three times in the last 20 years since and those two pistols are still in their vacuum packs just as tightly as the day I sealed them. I also made bricks of spare 9mm ammo too. Currently, I have a Pelican Footlocker that's full of my vehicle bugout equipment and it's packed with a few items that I originally vacuum sealed 20 years ago. A few years ago, while rotating my stock, I opened the ammo bricks to cycle them out and that 20yo ammo was perfectly fine. I don't have any doubt about the reliability of the two vacuum sealed pistols and spare clips or their ammo. However, when my vacuum sealer broke, I never thought about replacing it since everything I wanted to seal was already sealed. Now that I live in a moist and humid climate, I think it's about time I rethink it and start rebuilding my cache. I have a few pieces of equipment that will probably be more reliable and live longer if they were vacuum sealed. Great video CP, thanks for sharing!

When I first purchased my vacuum sealer.... I think I tried to vac seal everything i could get my hands on. In fact you just inspired me to break it out now. :)

Careful with lithiums, dont seal tight or they will leak. Lost about 10 CR123’s that way.

Pro Tip: (from my own experience) with the foodsaver, I have learned to always seal each bag twice, one just next to the other. (so that there is two seal lines close to each other) I have found this to improve the success rate of keeping the seal greatly. "Your mileage may vary..." ;)

You know why the Walrus went to the Tupperware party? He was looking for a tight seal

On clothing. Get a board that will bring your bag to level with the sealing device. Use a rolling pin from back of bag to forward and you will have as flat a bag as you can get. The bags are so well flattened they become stackable.

Excellent tutorial! Thank you so much. I learned a lot from you! The only thing I do differently for food items is that I have a B&W copier (not color ink because it fades over time) and I copy the item logo and the instructions/ingredient area. Then clip one of each of the copies of instruction/ingredient area into small label sizes and duplicate enough of them to make an entire sheet (creating multiple labels). Make a master sheet of each type of food and keep the PDF for future use (until computers no longer work LOL) You can also use 2x4" avery labels and just stick the duplicated labels to the paper sacks.

good video. I have been vacuum sealing for several years. One thing I have done is make my own ice bags for my cooler. I vacuum seal ice then let it melt so it lays flat. It stays colder longer without having to dump the water every time I clean out the cooler. Just put it back in the freezer until I need it again. I would like to make one comment. Vacuum sealing pulls AIR out, not just oxygen. The air we breath is only 20% oxygen. The rest is Nitrogen. Keep up the good work and keep your powder dry

sealing pain management meds antibiotics etc absolutely benefit fom vac seal....i use the heavier freezer bags ...jus sa w he mentioned meds !

Might be a stupid question but could you seal canned food trying to save room and weight

Something that wasn't mentioned here is every day over the counter pain medication, cold medication, anti nausea and any others that you may need should you begin to feel unwell. Also, Benadryl and hay fever/ allergy medication. A high quality multivitamin may also be a good idea.

Like watching my mom when she first got her vacuum seal. Started sealing everything lol

i have taken a larger section, 10" or so, of the vacuum bag roll and sealed in half way down to create 2 sections opened on each end. Put tea, hot coco, cup of soup, instant oatmeal packets on one side and bandages, aspirin, ibuprofen, sanitizing wipes, matches, flat utility knife on the other. It folds in half easy and is pretty compact and keeps everything together without mixing food items with the other stuff. Nothing too extravagant but its something quick to throw in our emergency vehicle bags (or purse) so if my wife and son are trapped in the truck over night they have some hot fluids and whatnot.

Canadian prepper can you make a video for teens that are trying to get into prepping. Please and thank you.... I have DM ed you on Instagram about it more to detail.

Hi! When sealing the toilet paper and the first aide kit, probably a lot of other things...include a ziplock bag before you seal it up! Then you can store the items and keep them water resistant.

I'm wondering if that "crimper" is a curling iron?

It's the prepper's home shopping network?

I didn’t see this in the comments so if I missed it I apologize. One thing I do is I take a heavy duty freezer bag that does a double Ziploc and I will roll it up tight and put it in the bottom of whatever it is I am sealing. That way when I cut open the seal, I have a ready-made Ziploc bag. Obviously this works best for dry goods versus wet! Love your videos Nate, keep up the great work

Adorable hearing the kiddos in the background. It is all about helping our children. Pointless to save a single person, the point is to save our families should things get rough.

Disposable lighters!!!! You can sometimes buy them in cheap boxes of 100 or such. Maybe 20% would fail somehow. None the less there then still is the fluid inside. Everybody that has smoked anything in life, probably once has used one lighter to ignite the other. But the point is, there will be MANY people that have no ideas how to make fire. You can sell/trade them, as you still have 600 or so. I do smoke but I've got a box full of old lighters that still work. Mostly the 'expensive' BIC lighters, but I bought a box of 50 recently for a nice price. Now they are worth near to nothing, but when you would need it.... priceless.

Recommendation for vacuum sealing ammunition: 1) seal in the boxes 2) double bag the ammo (they poke holes even at slow speed). And throw in your me of the silica packets that come in your medication bottles, etc.

I was just thinking, if you buy frozen meals, as I do for convenience, (I live alone), if you take the meal out of all the packaging it comes in and just write on the bag what it is, it will save a lot of space in your freezer. I vacuum seal mu cooked dog food and it allows me to flatten it out leaving me with a much smaller pack than just putting it in a ziplock bag.

Also I forgot to tell you because of the you I bought that big freeze dryer that's made here in Utah I live here in Utah so it was easy for me to get it but the pricing wow ! but I'll tell you what I've already probably down a Year's worth of food just in the last 6 weeks Thanks again. 👍👍

You did clean water, but how about water purification tablets or iodine?

Haha I read the thumbnail as 17 items to STEAL for shtf. I was like, only 17? XD However I think you failed to mention to add DESSICANTS to these items to be sure to wick away any leftover moisture.

Years ago, when I just started using the FoodSaver, I vacuumed cat food in a 'bag'. Didn't put too much priority on it, and put it on a shelf in the garage. Mice found it and chewed into it. Lesson learned; everything goes in a 'jar' now. Yes it cost a little more, but last longer, and re-usable, stack-able, less likely to leak.

This is one thing I was waiting for! I just ordered food dehydrating machine and sealing machine! This was right on time! Thank you for your time!👍🇺🇸

I'd be pretty sure those that don't like plastic they probably not like starving and seeing their family starving a whole lot less

I have three points. 1) I wash out potato chip bags (they're mylar). If I use them for food storage, I put the food into a Ziploc, then into the potato chip bag and use a crimper. 2) When I put up water for storage, I put a couple of drops of ammonia bleach per liter. 3) Don't vacuum seal clothing for your bug out bag. Compress it as much as you can by hand, into a Ziploc bag. Besides keeping it dry, the air you're not able to remove enables you to use your bug out bag as a floatation device if you have to cross a river or other body of water.

If I *REALLY* wanted to make something secure for the long term, I might toss in a silica gel pack, too.

Since you mentioned PVC pipe and having a second barrier, I'd like to toss in my 2¢. As a numismatist (coin collector) I know that being around PVC for an extended period of time is harmful to coins. Apparently it gives off vapors that then condense on metal surfaces and leave a sticky substance behind. I'm not sure how harmful it is to other things.

Dried and vacuum sealed fruits, vegetables, starches and meats. That's a real start. CP, would you be willing to make a favorite meal, dry it and seal it? That way everyone could see the process for camping and general prepping.

Vakpak your kayak, kayak motor, tent, toyota, ....

I like to vacuum seal everything too, there's something incredibly satisfying about it :-)))

Never vacuum seal English muffins (or bread). I ruined some perfectly good English Muffins by vacuum packing them and then putting them in the freezer. They were still edible but they never resumed their fluffy appearance after I thawed them out. Oh well - sometimes I need to learn the hard way.

My husband thought I was nuts for vacuum sealing matches and toothpicks! He'll not be laughing when SHTF!!!

Guys you should invest in machining. Just so you can make anything you need in the future

I saw the thumbnail and thought it said “top things to steal” lol

Guessing vacuum pack money/ bills since they get wet! $$$. Pet food? Coffee/tea/hot chocolate etc . Extra set of keys flashlight if not waterproof! Emergency radio etc. basically anything you don’t want to get wet! 😎

Actually water expands when it freezes so if you're vacuum sealing it in it's frozen state you don't have to worry about expansion.

Am I ok to vacum seal medicine prescribed by my doc. Such as pain medication, anxiety meds, antibiotics, and so on? I'm mostly concerned with the antibiotics being I'm allergic to penicillin which means I as well am allergic to the amoxicillin you showed here. As well, just plain old o.t.c meds like advil, tylenol, antacids, etc etc? I'm guessing by your video that it would be ok but I'm very very new to prepping and would rather risk looking like a fool now by asking over looking like a fool down the road during shtf and finding out I did everything wrong with sesling

Is it just me or did you fall into " all American prepper " for a line or two in this video ?

FYI. Instant potatoes make a great improvised clotting agent.

Pencils. Pens that I tried bleed out. Vac a pack of pencils/w a pack of paper and sharpener.

5:12 American Prepper "Oh yeah baby!"

I make a lot of soup and seal a lot with may sealer. I have a set of plastic containers that are the perfect size for the 8 inch bags. First, I freeze the soup in bowls then I transfer them ( without the bowls) and seal the bags. Using the Cuisinart bags, I have the option of boiling in the bag if needs be.

Got a good one for ya. Seal both ends on an empty reg. Vac. bag You can cut a corner off when needed and carry water. Reg. vacuum seals back with a lighter or back edge hot knife 😊

Exactly right -- QuickClot does not ever expire as long as it is sealed, because it's hydroscopic (hygroscopic). It staunches bleading by absorption, so it's going to work 100 years from now, as long as it's still dry.

O toilet paper pill god, please save my bum hole when shtf. Thanks :] for the videos... i member the toilet paper vid lol

Hey I just want to say thanks I got the Kodiak and I think I got like five or six of their hundred Watts panels and then I also bought the sealer so I just want to say thank you enjoy your videos.

I clicked on it thinking it said “Items to Steal”...I got excited for nothing

I also LOVE the FoodSaver and use it every day, several times a day! The resealable bags work great for those foods you want to grab out of the freezer (like mini-cheesecakes, bacon grease, muffin-sized ground meats, etc) and the heal-sealed ones work great for portions of meals (freeze the portions first or they will get flattened). Each time I cut the heat sealed portion off, I can still use the bag again and again, until there is not enough left to heat seal, so I get at least 3 uses out of each heat-sealed bag. It's quite economical to get a big block of cheese, cut it and heat-seal the portion; they freeze well.

in usa we have dollar tree shelf milk. i was wondering if it could be sealed

On vacuum sealing the medication... Why not include the container & lid so that you have something to keep the medication in after breaking the vacuum seal? Just a thought. Great video 👍

I"ve got that foodsaver. It works great, and has a large variety of bag options. I've "saved" everything with it, from fatwood shavings to survival gear to ammo to next weeks dinner. Most of all, for long term food prep storage. Thanks for sharing, keep up the good work!

A few things about Vac sealing I've found. I also have a 5 deck food dehydrator that works amazingly well and removes virtually all the moisture. I found out right away that for dehydrating say tomatoes or similar veggies, they need to be sliced evenly for them to finish all at the same time. I bought an electric slicer (deli style) at Princess Auto for 99 bucks and it solves the drying problem as everything finishes at the same time. (Don't bother with the manual slicers as they are a total PITA to use). Great video CP as the whole idea of long term food storage can now be done at home and can save you a ton of money. The results are comparable to the ultra expensive alternative of freeze drying.

Freezer lock bags can be used as well, also reuse cereal bags, also candy bags with the zipper type. Are you getting a kickback????

Those vacuum sealers are addictive!!! Many things I seal I have in a open zip lock bag inside the vacuum bag, when I open it I already got a resealable storage bag for the item, The heavy duty vaccum bag can be reused or used for several other things, helps the multiple use theory.

Well damn I'm late here. Recommended video now. No need to vacuum seal ammo. Keep it in a sealed ammo container and use a silica pack. I use silica cat litter that is pure silica. A coffee filter is great to make your own silica pack. 12 bucks for a 6lb bag of silica cat litter. Exactly the same stuff as the commercial silica packs without the ridiculous price.

Great video! One tip I got from David Paulides (Missing 411) regarding firestarter prep is to collect regular lint from your clothes dryer and mix in a little petroleum jelly / vaseline and a match into a pill bottle and he says it lights everytime. Might be good to seal up some of these as well!

I didn't scroll through all the comments but I didn't see mentioned, for SHTF, books and magazines. Either for educational or entertainment purposes, once they get wet, even just from excess humidity, they are just about useless.

Sealing ferrocerium rods (Ferro rods) is a very good idea especially if you live along a coast and will be around salt water. Salt water can destroy them.

This is going to sound strange but i was wondering if one could vacuum seal a power tool such as drills etc while maintaining the integrity/actual shape of the tools? The reason being i want to make negative silicone casts of certain tools without the liquid ruining the tools or machines. That way i can make durable molds that i can hydro carbon or plastic dip for tool box holders instead of shadow foaming. Which never last as long or get really dirty fast. Thank you in advance.

I vacuum seal my preps in mason jars using the attachments.🙌🙌🙌 I put rice and pasta in freezer first to kill off any bugs that may be in there. Bring to room temperature then seal them in jars.

Gauze, medical tools like forceps, blades dental tools, etc (after they are cleaned, boiled, dried do not touch with bare hands to keep sterile)

Excellent tool. Note for backpacking/cacheing: for items to be reused but still needing a degree of waterproofness, first place object in a ziplock, then seal inside another heat seal vacuum bag. The outer vacuum bag will take the wear and tear, and once opened you’ll have the ziplock bag there ready to continue further duty waterproofing said object.

Vac sealing is good for a lot of things. Just be sure to think things through. Had this conversation before. If you vac seal clothing for a pack be sure to leave room for the clothing unsealed. Once you break out the vac sealed clothing what you were wearing has to go back in the pack somewhere. Ziploc bags can help, but they will no compress the clothing as much and I doubt anyone will include a vac sealer in a pack.

Great Vid CP but, never vacuum seal ammunition. Over time you will slowly transfer that vacuum to the interior of the cartridge. Not a big deal until you open it. Then, again, over time the cartridge will draw outside air in--not good if that air happens to be moist. Also, I've witnessed a few damaged primers with shotgun ammo--click no boom. Better way? Add a small desiccant, apply vacuum until air is just drawn out and seal.

Can you power a medium Harvest Right Freeze dryer with the Inergy Kodiak? Also, can you vacuum seal those freeze dried gaseous vegetables that you aren’t supposed to if it’s not freeze dried? Note: do not freeze dry your water!!!

I’d love to see you address long term prep and bug out gearing up specific to women’s needs (I don’t see that often enough!), and especially for families with infants.

Something else you should consider sealing is instant coffee and powdered drink mixes. If SHTF you may want something to drink other than water the whole time.

Vacuum sealing medication is fine, but make sure you know what is in the bag. Putting a piece of the box label in the bag before sealing would help.

Ok I have sealed sock and underwear, food maps, books, matches. But sealing ammo I don't do any more during my first sealing session l seal 4 boxes of 22LR put them on my dresser to put away later 24 hrs later the vacuum bag was no longer under a vacuum? As best as I can figure the air in the cartridge cases vented in to the sealed bag. I could've seal these repeatedly until the cartridges are fully in a vacuum but what occurred to me is that cartridges are designed and tested to be fired in the atmosphere. I have heard that they will fire in a total vacuum, but another concern is that some primers have been reported to have been killed by storage in an ultra dry environment boxed primers stored in a sealed ammo can with gypsum desiccant. A Vacuum is the ultimate dry envronment because there is no atmosphere and no humidity and just like vacuum degassing casting plastics it will draw down the 3-4% humidity that is left in the priming compound. Also a vacuum could cause trapped atmosphere to push out loose primers or projectiles. So what l do now is store ammo and components in a sealed plastic bag in an ammo can. I store my ammo can close to the ground not directly on concrete but on a sheet of plastic to take advantage of the thermal mass of the concrete. Also some chemical compounds that dry out become unstuck together and turn to a powder.

Using the mylar bags are also good to keep light out and away from the food for long periods. You didn't mention that but saw that in an ad before I saw your video. I like all that you said though.

Fish Mox is required to be more pure than the Amoxicillin we take. Doctors and pharmacists have written that medicines 10 years out of date still retains 90 to 95 percent of it’s strength.

Thank you so much for doing these videos! I appreciate your time , efforts, and sharing. I have learned a lot.

ssd and memory cards and thumb drives containing critical info. Spare power adapters for your laptops phones and tablets. Boxes of letter sized paper. Get a portable printer+scanner. Get a dedicated GPS navigation unit. Spare phone batteries and a phone with swappable batteries.

Items to vacuum seal....an extra pair scissors, knives...prevent rust

Pool chlorine. Makes great water purifier but gives off corrosive fumes that destroy all metal items in your pack. These will penetrate a "sealed" bottle. All the same, double bag it to make sure.

Like you have talked about having in your bag, I would seal small hardware supplies for long term storage. Nails, screws, bolts, ect. will be need at some point to start the rebuilding process. The sealing would greatly protect against things like rust. Just don't how to best seal such items because of the sharp edges/end. Maybe inside a cloth or heavy plastic bag would work.

Radio BATTERYS. Big jars of tea, candles, extra meds, and even under ware, socks, drawers, t shirts. Silly you think couldn't be better. That way I can keep an eye. On my things. Now let's move on to a computer for my auto. vacuum Pack it out. Then put in secure case. EMP safe. And PVC pipe can store roll toilet paper. And even if ambitious pump it down. ?? 22 cal shorts, longs,. And shot shells. ??? Pills mine are on a short leash. Maby I put one a week a way.and seal a bunch. Tks you are good. Sgt williams.

I want to like you, but I can't stand the sales pitches.

I wish people would stop calling those things generators. They don't generate a dang thing. They are just a battery for storage and inverter to convert to household power. The solar panels are the 'generators'. You can vacuum seal dry tinder (Hamster bedding works), Oak heating pellets. Some warn against vacuum sealing ammo. Why not just put the medicine bottle in the bag, with cap slightly loosely attached, pull your vacuum, and manually double seal? Far less chance of pills getting crushed. Vacuuming markers can evaporate the carrier out of the marker ink. Note on rechargeable batteries - they need to be topped off about every 3 months. When SHTF, why bother with ID's and other junk? None will be worth anything when we collapse. Just remember, pulling the air out of clothing does not reduce it's weight! A blanket will still weight the same with or without a vacuum. To the author - you did not mention the benefits of using your foodsaver on mason jars to store things. Manually double sealing is a safer way to store things. I did single sealing and later discovered a tiny hole developed along the seal. From then on, I double sealed and no more problems so far. Good video.

Note on the meds: you introduce oxygen and moisture (and bacteria) when you open the bottle. It is better to vacuum seal the bottle than to take them out and seal them. Also, capsules are made from gelatin, and you could open that up to a package of fish mox powder