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Prepping doesn’t have to cost a lot of money if you know how to look for bargains. Garage sales and yard sales are great places to scoop up cheap survival items you might need for an emergency. The old saying that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure certainly applies here.
Many people holding garage sales don’t know the true value of what they’re selling, or they simply don’t see items for how useful they are and end up selling them for next to nothing. Yard sale season is here, so now is the time to get out there and start hunting down the things you need.
Make a list and take it with you. Don’t assume you will remember because there are quite a few prepper items to look for. Here are just 20 of them…
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1. Cast Iron Cookware
This stuff tends to be pretty pricey when buying brand new, but you can get it for about half the price at a garage sale. Cast iron pans are exactly what you need for cooking over an open fire, which is going to take the place of your kitchen stove when the power is out.
Keep in mind that if you buy used cast iron cookware, it will probably be very old and in need of restoration and seasoning. Here’s how to do that.
2. Camping Gear
Anything that has to do with camping, i.e. cookstoves, tents, lanterns, sleeping bags, and so on can all be major assets to your emergency stash. When the power is out or you are forced to bug out, camping will be the way of life and any gear you can bring along will make life easier.
Related Article: 15 Camping Essentials for Beginners
3. Winter Clothing
Old flannel shirts, coats, gloves, and hats are very inexpensive at garage sales. Stock up on these things when you can. Buy several in varying sizes, especially if you have children that are going to be growing like weeds.
Having plenty of coats ensures you will always have something dry to put on if you have to go out and chop wood, hunt, or look for water.
4. Gardening Tools
Buy extra hoes, rakes, shovels and other gardening equipment. Your prepper garden will need tending and you will likely not have gasoline to run your equipment.
These tools tend to break after time so you want to have backups. You also want to have plenty of tools so more than one person can tackle a big job at the same time.
5. Board Games and Puzzles
You need something to do during the long hours without electricity and all of those gadgets we’ve come to depend on. Good old-fashioned board games and puzzles will be an ideal way to pass the time.
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You can find these for under a dollar in most cases. The more you have on hand, the less you will be dealing with bored family members.
6. Emergency Supplies
Look for things like candles, lighters, flashlights, radios, first aid kits, and so on. Even the half-used candles can be bought for cheap and melted down to make larger candles.
Related Article: 50 Survival Supplies You Can Never Have Enough Of
7. Tools
After a major storm, you will need to take care of any repairs around your house. You may even need to build a shelter. Pick up extra screws, nails, hammers, wrenches, axes, screwdrivers and so on.
Keep in mind that you can never have too many tools. If you have six hammers, you could always use one to barter with to get something else you need.
8. Manual Kitchen Tools
Visit garage sales where older people have lived. You are sure to find old hand grinders and a variety of other hand kitchen tools that will come in handy when you don’t have electricity. Look for can openers, meat grinders, graters, manual hand mixers, and so forth.
9. Medical Supplies
Garage sales that are held following someone passing away who had a long illness are great places to find unused medical supplies. You can often find crutches, splints, slings, and bandages that are all unopened.
Look for boxes of gloves, face masks, and unopened packages of alcohol wipes and syringes. People will typically sell these items for very cheap just to get rid of the evidence of a loved one’s illness and passing.
Related Article: 11 First Aid Supplies You Can’t Have Too Much Of
10. Canning Supplies
There are plenty of people who don’t want grandma’s old canning jars, canner, and all the tools that go with it. Home preservation is something preppers need to do in order to store up enough food to last them for several months. Jars can also be used to store water.
11. Hunting Gear
When there are no grocery stores, you may have to hunt for your food. Buying new hunting gear at a big box store can be very expensive.
Fortunately, there are plenty of hunters who grow tired of the sport and prefer to rely on the market for their meat. Look for bows, ammunition, trapping supplies, and camouflage gear.
12. Silver and Gold Jewelry
If the dollar fails, silver and gold will be the only currency that has any value. You wouldn’t want to exchange a silver dollar for something like a pack of toilet paper, which is why you want those bits and pieces of old jewelry.
Handing over an earring or a broken silver necklace makes much more sense. You could also melt down the broken silver and gold jewelry and make your own bars.
13. Bug Out Bag Gear
You are sure to find things like lighters, matches, rain ponchos, knives, and other things you can put into your bug out bag. You could also look for small tarps and even backpacks that can be used to make a bug out bag.
Related Article: 5 Things to Consider When Choosing a Bug Out Bag
14. Firearms and Ammunition
These are extremely difficult to find at garage sales for real steals, but you can always look. Consider saving up some cash and setting it aside so you can make a purchase when you do happen to come across a really good deal. Look for reloading equipment as well.
Want to prep but not sure where to begin?
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15. Bicycles
If an EMP attack were to knock out most vehicles, or if gasoline were to become scarce and expensive, bicycles would become a decent option for transportation. And while you can purchase bicycles at virtually any grocery store with a sports aisle, you will spend significantly less money buying used bikes in good condition from a garage sale.
16. Storage Buckets
Storage buckets of varying sizes are among the most useful items a prepper can have. They can be used for storing literally anything (food, water, coffee, flour, herbs, soil, etc.) while keeping them protected from the elements. You’re also likely to spend significantly less money per bucket when you go through a garage sale as well.
Related Article: 15 Brilliant Uses for Buckets
17. Sewing Supplies
While stocking up on spare clothing is essential, just as critical is purchasing sewing supplies so you can repair clothing, blankets, towels, and anything else made out of fabric. Look for old sewing machines in good condition, needles, canvas, fabric, and so on.
Remember, when disaster strikes, your clothing will inevitably become torn and dirty, and there won’t be any resupply from online or physical department stores. Learning how to repair your clothing, and having the necessary supplies to do so is not something to overlook.
18. Lawn Mowers
You may be surprised by how many people decide to sell off their old lawnmowers, and for a significantly discounted price than if you were to purchase one new. While keeping your lawn in good condition may not be high on your list of needs after a disaster happens, you also most likely won’t want your lawn turning into a jungle either.
In addition to lawnmowers, you can also look for other pieces of equipment such as weed eaters, leaf blowers, hedge clippers, and so forth.
19. Quality Knives
It’s no secret that quality knives can be very expensive. But again, it’s possible to find quality blades for discounted prices when you go to garage sales. Even if the blades have become rather dull (hence why people may be selling them), you can still easily sharpen them yourself if you know or learn how to do so.
In addition to knives, look for machetes, axes, hatchets, tomahawks, scythes, and other bladed weapons or tools.
20. Food Dehydrator
You may have to look extra hard for this one at garage sales, but old food dehydrators in good condition will be available for only a fraction of the cost than if you were to purchase them new.
A food dehydrator is essential to have because it removes moisture from food (meats, fruits, vegetables, etc.) in order to preserve them so they last significantly longer for storage purposes.
We hope you found this list helpful. If you’re a homesteader, check out these 17 Homestead Items to Look For at Yard Sales.
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If you buy a dehydrator; Buy a square one. One that has it’s fans and heating elements in the back. If possible; get an EXCALIBUR one.
The best cast Iron pans are made by LODGE(100% American made). I once read a comment by a chef. He has a 100 year old Lodge cast iron pan in his work kitchen.
Just a word of caution: If you pick up games, puzzles and card games (Crazy8’s, Go Fish, etc) make sure they have ALL the pieces. Had a person “assure” me all the pieces were in the taped up box. Nope it was missing 4 pieces of the puzzle. My grandkids love it when Gramma goes garaging because they “test” all the games and puzzles when they come to visit. Grandson was a bit disappointed when the puzzle he was working on came up missing pieces but they were edge pieces so he wasn’t too unhappy.Now I actually stand there and count pieces, most people don’t mind too much but I’ve learned to check things out.
In all honesty,the vast majority of people that aren’t respectful hunters won’t use the hide or they’ll kill for the hide and take very little meat. It will be like it used to be with buffalo,but we’ll have scavenger types running through the woods shooting anything they can and half of the game they wound they’ll be too lazy to chase leaving the animals to suffer and die with everything being wasted or they’ll take huge chunks and let the rest spoil. Face it,we’re in a throwaway society and we would have more luck stealthily following the idiotic hunters and saving as much of what they’ve left as possible. They’ll also never think of the bones as a way to make tools or the bladder of a deer to make a great carry sack. And if they cow for my dog….haha I’ll leave them as food for the bear population tied to a tree
GOOD COMMENT I AGREE 100%
If I catch you stalking me, I am going to assume you have evil intentions and many more will think not only that but will take action against potential ambushers. Dumb move to stalk hunters hoping to get a piece of it like a vulture or a hyena.
Being DISABLED, A USMC VETERAN, when I hunt, I only do neck shots. I have had to track my deer in chest high weeds on crutches, I am an above knee amputee. after that agonizing experience. I only shoot right behind the jaw. it will drop them and it is much easier on my body. I am required to have someone available to help me if needed. but I’ve never had a problem getting help. and then I will share my animal or offer something to that person. I always help someone if I can! That’s how we all should be. Help each other, we are all in this together!
Love the talk! You guys are knowledgeable and funny. My son’s and I have a lot covered.I’m don’t fish or hunt;but believe me when I tell you that if you give a can of trash I can make something useful out all of it.I learned from my grandparents generation & I am a literary cannibal with a mind that holds onto ‘useless’ knowledge.Between us-we got it covered. I told my oldest-they will make you King. ‘Cause mama knows how to make toilet paper.
good luck eating your can of trash and toiletpaper
I fill Tide , not rinsed, plastic containers with water and mark them” FOR CLEANSING PURPOSES”You would be surprised at the soap remaining in them. I asked for a 3.5 water brick for Christmas and
received it. Plan to continue adding to it.
I live in the desert. I slice carrots and celery, place them on a cookie sheet with a dish towel over them place them in the back window of my car. In the summer your car is 150 degrees in a short time. After their dry I store them in glass jars in the freezer.
Great idea for a dehydrator! I never thought of using my car but I’m going to now.
I can imagine you’re car will smell like the dehydrated food afterwards, so that could be nice.
Also look for reference books on building, cooking, canning, first aid, gardening, skilled trades like welding, carpentry, blacksmithing & raising livestock. Look for old Boy Scouts manuals & gear. I also like to see if I can find old history books before 1970’s. Sometimes you can find maps.
I also have found livestock equipment… we live in a rural area, where farms are slowly being turned into residential mini farms.
Thrift stores & yard sales are my favorite prepping places.
Yes, yes, yes! You cannot have too many books, including old history books! The Left is constantly trying to re-write history and sanitize it to make it either fit an agenda-politically “correct” or warm and fuzzy for the snowflake masses. Our current education system is so dumbed down. I see it every day as a community college instructor. Our kids aren’t being taught much more than how to be good Marxists. Old sets of encyclopedias, home-school books like A Beka books, etc. will be valuable for teaching our children and young people. I have a library of how-to books, old reading books, medical books, and so-forth for reference. If our grid goes down, we won’t have easy access to our most trusted information websites, so I print articles that I find useful, and when I retire in a year, I plan on doing a better job of organizing them. You can also find notebooks in good shape at goodwill type stores. My husband actually gave me cash for Mothers Day and told me to take it to the thrift stores! Older relatives, especially those that endured the Great Depression are great resources on survival!
Your comment is ridiculous.
Got any proof?
Didn’t think so.
I agree with the commentator. When I was in school we learned cursive, Roman numerals, current events, the basics, had art and music and so on. By the time I was in 6th grade we were working at is now a high school level and we didn’t start school until after Labor Day. The education these kids receive today is sub-par.
LOL, are you sure YOU teach? The schools are “dumbed down” because the GOP will not spend money to fund education. They like their peons uneducated and blindly loyal! I’m a dem and a prepper, WE use common sense!
A dumorat and common sense don’t go together !
Hate to turn this political…but you’re absolutely 100% correct!
I was fortunate enough to inherit a lot of these things mentioned when my grandparents passed. They did a lot of things by hand because that’s the way they were taught and raised. Since their own children never used them, they are still in really good condition as they were well taken care of originally. They also lovingly passed on some of their common sense. Really good ideas you have passed on here.
Does anyone on here ever can/bottle butter. It will last up to 3 years. Quite simple.
SEMPER FI !!
you bet, I probably have 24-30 pints now. Be sure you use UNsalted butter
Please share your recipe and technique. Thank you kindly, Dawn
The only safe way to can butter is to make Ghee–it will last for years. Google is your friend!
Yep! I have probably eight pint jars, myself. I agree- use unsalted butter! The finished product can be briny if you don’t. I mixed a little salted with mostly unsalted, and that’s enough!
Respirator masks and replacement filters
I have a large stock pile of N-95
Military souvenirs by those who served. US GI mess kits, bayonets, combat knives like the USAF pilot’s knife, sometimes even gas masks and survival water filters.
folding shovel in my vehicle always! WWII era,Great condition for $7.Mil.Surplus Store
I’d like to find some old-fashioned gas cans with vent holes. Washington bureaucrats should be forced to stand at the side of a highway in 25-degree cold or 110-degree heat and hold up a 5-gallon can with 3 hands while it trickles into the the tank.
If you have plastic gas cans, place a screw behind the back of the handle at the top of the can. When it is fully screwed in, it’s pretty well sealed. Screw it out, and you’ve got your vent hole! We’ve done all of ours like that now.
I’m not really a prepper per se (If Yellowstone blows, I live too close to have any chance of survival) but I AM prudent and keep a supply of basics handy, as well as do my own canning. Flour, sugar and yeast are some of the basics I keep on hand always, I buy flour and sugar 25 lbs. at a time. A 25 lb. bag of sugar lasts me about a year, flour about 4 months. I keep them in plastic storage buckets I get free from supermarket bakeries. I also have a non electric pasta maker. A meat grinder would be useful as well. (though I don;t have one). A solar dehydrator would be an excellent thing to have as well. The dehydrator I have is electric, but in the summer you can get enough fruit and vegetables to dehydrate enough to last quite a while, if you are prepping for a major disaster. Vegetable seeds would also be an excellent thing to stock up on. My husband and I are planning to build a cabin in the Rockies in a year or so, and it will be off grid, using solar and wind, so I honestly don’t see electricity being a real problem for us, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for any eventuality, so a fireplace or wood stove is absolutely in the plans, along with an old fashioned root cellar. A working knowledge of natural remedies would also be helpful.
you won’t be healthy trying to survive on flour and sugar, they are two of the reasons the hospitals are so full these days. Better go with brown rice or quinoa and beans. Honey will be better than sugar, it will disinfect wounds and infections and do a lot of other healthful things for your as long as it is unprocessed wild honey.
Great ideas. If you have not done it already, learn how to wire up your solar battery storage and wind power generators before you make the move. Most people just pay contractors and are unable to diagnose or fix a problem on the future. Also, do not forget your faraday cages.
Faraday Cages are a joke. Most everything will be fried anyway. So you can talk and listen to yourself. Think about it !
Geee lets see. Believe an idiot like you or believe everything written about Faraday Cages………Decisions Decisions……..
There’s an old saying…”Prepare for the worst and hope for the best!” I prefer to follow this type of advice rather than give up before we know what may or may not happen. Most flashlights these days have a electrical circuit built into them, and I’m sure I’d rather have flashlights working than not.
If you do not follow this good advice-Good luck! also if you do not have buckets of grain and a hand grain grinder, better luck. Get hurricane lamps and oil/karosene at yard sales
Hurriane lamps are in such high demand here. i can buy them just as cheap at Wallyworld
Anything made of 100% wool. Blankets, scarves, socks, gloves and mittens, hats, coats, shirts, pants. Wool stays warm when wet. If wool is scratchy on your feet, invest in some cashmere socks to go next to your skin or you could wear cotton ones, they just take longer to dry.
Also linens. Can be used for bandages or slings
Add books to your board games and puzzles and also manual toys if there are small children in the family.
Material, yarn, sewing supplies
Thankful to have my grandmother’s old treadle sewing machine! She kept it in tip-top shape, and that thing will sew through most anything. Have needles, threads, bobbins and extra leather loops to make the machine work…
Please remember that evrry home has emergancy water the tank of your toilet is clear water also your hot water tank!
You can also tap Maple trees and a few others for water. 97% what comes out is water, the rest is sugar which helps to maintain glucose levels in the body. Spring will get you the most; we got about 5 gallons a day out of 1 tree. Summer through winter won’t yield as much but you will get some AND you don’t have to purify it. It’s already pure. You can also get water from swimming pools. Can’t drink it cause of the chemicals but you can use it for washing.
Birch trees also have a pleasant sap to drink. Native Americans (The Naturals-I prefer to call them ) used to drink it. It has a slight wintergreen flavor. A natural sweetener can also be made by rendering down the sap. Similar to maple syrup candy. I believe it is called Zylatol by some people. FIY
I agree with everything on this list. Recently, an older relative of ours passed away. Her sons are trying to clear the house and have donated a lot to thrift shops (without asking us if we wanted anything) The house was built by all our great grandfather so there is sentimental stuff. Anyway, my brother is staying in our cottage next door, and went and picked through their trash and grabbed stuff. He made a whole box for me. The relative had been a nurse so he grabbed me two stethoscopes which went right in to the first aid kit I’ve been putting together.
I am looking to start my own hydroponics so I can at least have fish and vegtables I have read some on adding ducks, chickens or rabbits to this mix but the down load I got did not give any detail on how this is done any body know?
I don’t but google it while we have electricity. Print the pages or buy a book on it.
Unless the disaster that wipes out grocery stores also kills of hundreds of millions US citizens and billions world wide almost instantly, there will not be any game to hunt after only a few weeks. Billions of hunters will head into the wild looking to provide food for their families. It won’t take long to bring most species to the brink extinction. If you want meat to eat you need to raise it yourself and have a plan for defending it.
Obviously, you are a prepper with a plan.
First off, if we just look at the US (because game animals do not hop from continent to continent), there are not even billions of people. Next, out of the 300 million people in the US, only about 1/4 or less of them are even capable of hunting (would be the same for most countries with some having more and some having less capable hunters). Most households would be able to last a week or two with the food that is currently in their homes before even having to hunt. Next, most people who are able to survive will also supplement their food with plants and fish as well as game animals (which outnumber people). I know you read this and believed it without any thought, but there would be game animals for a long time to come.
Blueman,
I’m not sure what part of the country you are in, but I’m sitting out here on the left coast in Southern California. There are over 10 million people here in Los Angeles County alone. There are nearly 40 million state wide. If even only 1 out of 10 took the field that is going to put 4 million people out in the field just here California. When most of our ancestors started arriving from Europe a few centuries ago there were roughly only about 5 million people living in the entire country. Even then many tribes were abandoning a strict hunter gather life style and turning to farming due to diminishing resources.
I belong to a wild life conservation group and we work hard to maintain
huntable numbers of game animals. The reason most states put limits on every
game animal out there is so that they can keep sustainable populations.
It’s the same with fishing. If not for stocking programs and bag limits we
would have run out of fresh water fish a century ago. Even our salt water
fisheries are only a fraction of what they were just 90 years ago.
Next we need to look at what kind of disaster can wipe out all grocery stores on a nationwide or worldwide basis. An economic collapse is not going to wipe out
the stores but can diminish what is on the shelves. A pandemic that kills much
of humanity can get into the animal populations as well. Yellowstone and other
super volcanoes going off which just might be triggered with our current
reversal of the magnetic poles, destroys 80 percent of all life on the planet
every time it occurs, due to lack of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface. It also
plunges the planet into ice ages.
Considering all this if you want to base any long term survival plans on
hunting and fishing please feel free.
I agree with you 100%, you need a good storage plan and the ability to strart growing food asap. those 1 in 10 may not be able to hunt but they will fill the woods and drive game off, and when they get hungry they will come for what you have. Hunting is nto something to plan one for the first 4-5 years.
check your facts, in 1500 before the small pox plague decimated the Indians around what now is St. Louis held about 3 million people. When the settlers started arriving many years later a city with roads were found abandoned.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/03227b67de5827d398ac21ac9b2013d38c0d6b49fa4ebe6ee12e86b49e27ffd7.jpg
This is because they burned all the trees for fuel with in a 3 day walk and depleted all the crop lands. Same reason for moving all the other Indian civilizations that
had to move.
I feel bad for the people around or in the big inter cities like you mentioned. Once the super markets are empty looters will be in the thousands and bad things will start. Why people won’t help educate others into prepping just a little is beyond me. Spread what you know and hope some will listen and learn. I live in the Tennessee mountains and I’d have to say almost all if not all people up here in the mountains know what to do and are willing to bend over backwards to help their fellow neighbors. We hunt, we trap, we fish and we grow most of our food. Almost all of the women can food and cold pack meat. Jerky is as norm as breathing. Survival is nothing more then good “ole” country living and a ton of common sense. People must forget all these fancy do-dads and go back to the basics.
SEMPER FI !!
Most of the time, when you try to teach or educate someone on how important it is to prep or learn to take care of themselves, I get the “Your one of those crazy preppers’ aren’t you? or, “I have family that will take care of me, I dont need to do anything”. Also got the “I’ll just come to your house” and when enlightened that they better not come empty handed I get a look. It is not the lack of trying it is more of the lack of others not wanting to learn.
When the mobs come ,I’m ready. Every thing is stashed. ( food ,water, guns ,etc.) l want to look poor and sickly.il even leave my door open ,then I won’t have to fix it .Oh, and beg for help .I’m shore you won’t get any ,but they ‘l move on.
This morning I had 7 deer and 15 turkeys in my field
Can i hunt at your fields?
I bought a boat for my bugout solution. My reasoning is I can get out off harms way easier with all of my supplies on the boat. I can also fish to survive and follow the food source as well as reduce the weather impact on survival. Security issues should be minimized with the ability to move into deep water during a crisis. Have any of you considered a boat as your bugout solution.
You are correct in your thinking. Modern man may be smart but wild deer are smarter. Most people will starve before they figure out how to be skillfully hunters. Most folks don’t have a clue what it takes to bag and field dress a deer. Much less how valuable those intestines are for sausage!
Heck, we don’t know how lucky we are! This country still has wilderness areas that are sparsely populated. Beware- those that are “out there” already are ready to defend it!! But my point is, most of the population of the world are NOT ALLOWED to own guns and/or ammunition, and probably are heavily restricted on ownership of hunting bows, knives, etc. Only thugs and terrorists have them!
I’ll eat human if need be 😉
I have a list of people you can start on
Cannibals make great compost.
I’ll be shooting your kind first
Maybe you see me coming maybe you don’t 😉
We won’t have to see anything because your neighbors will be screaming, “Those guys are cannibals!!”
I doubt it. Those that don’t already hunt either won’t or won’t be successful. Dogs and cats will vanish before turkey
An EMP will kill 90% of the population in 6 months to a year.
Most yard sales around where I live have at least a little fishing gear and some have quite a bit.
Don’t need much. just fishing pole for every member of your family. A few floaters and some hooks. Hand full of worms in a can and if lucky to have some crickets. We’re not one of these $35,000 boat fishermen on TV. Canoes work as well as a flat-bottom boat (john-boat).
SEMPER FI !!
Depending on your family you might need quite a bit.
The best reply I have read considering the subject matter at hand.