Here's a controversial topic for preppers: If you're trying to survive a disaster in an urban area, should you take things you need from abandoned cars, homes, and buildings? For me, it depends on the situation. If my child has a deadly infection and I need life-saving antibiotics right away, I think it would be okay to break into an abandoned pharmacy and search for medication. That seems pretty black and white.
Most scenarios, however, are gray areas. If a grocery store has already been looted, what harm is there in searching for items the looters missed? If a vehicle appears to be abandoned, what harm is there in siphoning gasoline from it? Especially if you're out of gas and in a dangerous area?
Then again, taking things from a grocery store is still stealing. And even if you're absolutely convinced the owner of a vehicle will never return, you might be wrong. That's what makes these questions so difficult. I'm not here to answer them for you, but I think they're worth considering.
If you're preparing for an apocalyptic disaster, the kind of scenario where entire cities are mostly abandoned, I think it's a good idea to take what you need. In that case, scavenging might be the only thing that keeps you alive. But if you're going to scavenge, you'll need certain tools.
In this video, The Survival Outpost describes what he calls a “vulture toolkit.” Inside it, he has items he might need to scavenge for supplies–things like bolt cutters, wire cutters, hacksaw, lock pick set, gas siphon pump, trash bags (for collecting items), and more.
You can learn more in his blog post, or you can watch the video below:
