We all look at lists online of the basics to prep.  We all prep what we and our fam­i­lies will eat and con­sume.  But what about those things that we might for­get about?  The ancil­lary items we pick up occa­sion­al­ly at the con­ve­nient store or the phar­ma­cy?  I am com­pil­ing a list of those things that I use, but take for grant­ed, and would be won­der­ing how I would do with­out them after a bug out or bug in with no access to them in the out­side world.

Here we go:

• Sticks of deodor­ant
• Sham­poo
• Liq­uid dish soap
• Bar soap
• Iodized and non-iodized salt
• match­es
• Ibupro­fen
• mouth­wash
• den­tal floss
• tooth­paste
• razor blades
• shav­ing cream
• duct tape
• tooth­brush­es (sup­pos­ed­ly they should be replaced after 3 months of use)
• cot­ton balls (these com­press down great espe­cial­ly if vac­u­um packed)
• shop rags
• Band-aids
• neosporin
• benedryl
• bleach (bleach will kill vir­tu­al­ly any­thing and you can use drops of it for water purifi­ca­tion)
• skin lotion
• baby wipes (at least you can clean up a lit­tle if there is no water to bathe in)
• bak­ing soda (use for both cook­ing, teeth brush­ing & gen­er­al clean­ing)
• vine­gar (I always for­get about vine­gar)
• vit­a­mins (vac­u­um seal to last)
• vac­u­um seal­er and bags
• aller­gy med­i­cine (over the counter, cheap stuff at Cost­co)
• caf­feine pills
• man­u­al can open­ers (think about it!)
• pow­dered drink mix (to make puri­fied water taste better–including sug­ared mix­es because you’ll need the calo­ries)
• match­es (1000 match­es in match­books are $1.00 and can be vac­u­um sealed–very good for barter)
• spices (gar­lic salt, hot sauce (get at the Dol­lar Store), minced onion, meat ten­der­iz­er (for game meat))
• tin foil (make solar ovens with it)
• liquor (for use, con­sump­tion, and barter)
• blankets/socks/thermal underwear/winter cloth­ing items
• sewing sup­plies
• zip ties (like 100mph tape can be used to fix or make a ton of things)
• sur­gi­cal tub­ing (very ver­si­tile stuff)
• awl nee­dles
• pen­e­trat­ing oil
• build­ing sup­plies (nails, screws, sta­ples, etc.)

I am sure there is more I for­got to men­tion, as I went down a men­tal list as I was going.  If you have more items that you would add to the list feel free to com­ment on them below.  I am mak­ing the assump­tion you have your food preps, gun and ammo preps, bug out bag preps, etc.  These are the lit­tle extras we may not think of when prep­ping until it might be too late…