The Supply Cache

What do you do in a survival situation when you had to bug out of home, and your supplies have run thin? You don't want to risk looting or robbing someone else's supplies, or run any risk for that matter unless it is neccesary. With a premade supply cache you eliminate that risk. Firstly, for those of you who don't know what a supply cache is. Think of a bug out bag or something in that nature, in that it has supplies to help you survive. But you have it hidden away so it's not on your person. You run out of supplies or you've been robbed, or you just had to evacuate without any supplies. A well hidden supply cache could be the difference of life and death.


A supply cache could have anything from food, liquid, fire starting materials, or anything else that you can fit inside of your cache container. If you know the location of a cache of supplies that no one else does, you eliminate the possibility of it being looted. Plus you have extra supplies.

In this insturctable, I will show you how to find a proper container, fill it, and hide it for your own future use. The supply cache I will show you was burried at a hidden spot near a river close to home. Your own supply cache, if you decide to use the information from this instructable, can have whatever you like. This cache does not have the necessities to survive, but what it does have is a few simple supplies that could prove useful in a survival situation, and help raise my morale if I don't have many supplies, or if I just haven't had much luck during the situation that calls for the retrieval of my survival caches. Again, I want to stress that this cache is NOT a good cache to save your life but will help your survival situation. Be creative in what you put in your caches. It can be a survival kit even, just not one that you would be carrying around. Below you will see a picture of the things i put in one of my caches.

You will find,
Fishing hooks
Frijole beans
1 glowstick
1 pair of work gloves
1 flashlight
50 feet of paracord
1 bandana
1 bottle of peroxide
1 pair of collapsible binoculars
1 container of flint
1 multitool
2 bic lighters
1 black sharpie
and 1 ace bandage.

Step 1: Choosing Your Container

Choosing the appropriate container for your supply cache is essential. Say you want to put food in your cache like for instance a bit of beef jerky, and your container isn't air tight. That will bring you a lot of problems. You can never go wrong with an air tight container. It will keep out the elements, insects, what have you. Another detail to consider is the ammount of supplies you plan on using. If you want to put the ammount of supplies you would normally keep in your 72 hour survival kit, in your supply cache. You better plan on having a large container.

What you actually plan on putting in the cache can help you decide on the right container. If you are putting in very slim things in, you can fit a lot into a small cylindar container.

You can fit a lot of items into a container if you pack it right, so don't be discouraged if you can't find a large tin like the one I am using. Think of the instructables you have seen with survival kits packed into tiny little altoids tins. You can fit a lot into a small or medium container. It can be like a survival kit you don't carry around with you.

Comments

[sjb321]

I think that a a bottle of providine-Iodine antiseptic would be better then peroxide because it purifies water and it doesn't breakdown into water like peroxide can. It also is a more powerful antiseptic then peroxide. It is about 6-10 dollars in any US pharmacy or dept. Store.

[ihaveguitarskills!]

I'd add some more medical supplies, iodine tablets, and some more food. But nice job!

[Schmidty16]

i like ur container because u can boil water in it

[Schmidty16]

couldnt u hide it in a wall in ur house and put furnitchure in front of the hole

[clarksonchief]

I'm new to instructables but I'll tell you what I have laid back at my regular camp site/BOL. 8in diameter Pvc pipe 3ft long with a sealed endcap on the bottom side, screw off clean out cap on the other sealed with teflon tape. The length should be no longer than your arms length so that you can reach all the way to the bottom . Once this babys been in the ground a while getting it out is a massive under taking. I suggest digging the hole with post hole diggers , its a perfect fit. Bury it 3'3" deep enuff that you can cover it with 3 inches of soil and place a large rock on top of it for a marker... Wow should of done my own post on this one. Anyway a another cheap option to a ammo can is in the boat section of China mart/aka wally world, they have $10 waterproof dry boxes 12"*12"*8" I have a few of those about with vac sealed ammo and such. No leaks yet after 3 years . Thanks good post

[gorth]

A 1 gallon new paint can would work good too.

[UrbanNinjaOokami]

Those would work great, I have some 10 gallon paint buckets I wanna try to use. Place all of the supplies inside, and create an airtight seal.

[djzadjza]

do u think they might have those at a home depot? i've been thinking of that as an option for my caches. Would they have unused cans or do u think just extras that have been used

[gorth]

Yes they are call mixing cans. Usualy sell for $5 to $8

[higginbo]

A really great idea I saw somewhere (I think it was on Instructables) is to use large diameter PVC pipe, and glue on a Clean out fitting (giving you a screw cap). This makes a completely waterproof and Rust Proof tube that you can store underground indefinitely. As I say, I think there is an instructable about this, but I was unable to find it with a quick search.

[UrbanNinjaOokami]

Very good idea :) If you find the link to it let me know, I'd like to know their take on the whole supply cache idea.

[zazenergy]

nice stuff!

[UrbanNinjaOokami]

thank you :)

[iPodGuy]

May I suggest using an ammo can instead of pick up sticks?

[UrbanNinjaOokami]

Works just as well lol. I just wanted to show that you can use almost ANY container for a supply cache. But yes an ammo can would work great, and I don't have one lol.