- Your home-repair tool kit(s). Yes, you CAN get by with a multi tool and a rock, but real tools work a lot better for their intended uses. Get a couple gooseneck crowbars, if you don’t have them already.
- Your kitchen tools. You CAN peel potatoes with a machete, and cook ’em in a canteen cup, but why not think up a way to bring along your favorites? (I have a knife/tool roll that I bring to cooking jobs, but a quick yank can pull 2 magnetic strips out of a sheetrock wall to pack them, too…..)
- Your water heater. About 20 gal. of clean water you can get to, even if utilities are out.
- Manual pencil sharpeners (the cast aluminum ones from an art or craft work better than the slightly-cheaper plastic ones). Quickly put points on sticks/darts, make your own fire tinder rapidly.
- Picnic/Party coolers. There’s almost always a need to keep cold things cool, and hot things warm, without external power.
- Zip-top storage bags–at least a zillion uses.
- Ground cayenne pepper (or hotter chiles). Season food (obviously), repel deer and various other pests, use as a blood-coagulant on wounds (not fun, but does work), steep in warm veg oil for a day or so and fill a dollar store spray bottle when the commercial pepper spray runs out.
- Rope, cord, string, twine. Need I say more?
- Your kids’ old BB guns/slingshots/bows and arrows. Cheap and quiet small game-getters, and there’s an old saying “It hurts a lot more to be hit by a BB, than missed by a .44 Magnum”.
- Electrical extension cords. If there is power available, you’ll need ’em. If not, more cordage.