When disaster strikes the consequences could be devastating for those who aren’t properly prepared. Unfortunately, you can’t prep enough for the entire population, so you need to be ready to protect the resources you’ve gathered to keep yourself and your family alive. Sometimes the best way to protect yourself is to stay unseen.

Survival prepping is serious work. There are so many things to think about. After all, the whole point is to be prepared for absolutely anything. This is a list of survival tools that are essential to have on hand but are often passed over or simply forgotten.

If disaster strikes, you want to be prepared with solid self defense skills. Unfortunately, tough times don’t always bring people together. This is especially true if resources are scarce and families are starving. Being prepared to defend yourself and your family from other people is a sadly necessary skill. Good self defense tricks are also useful in day to day life.

We’re not talking about natural disasters here. Yes, hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes can be devastating, but their effects are localized. We’re talking about massive events. Events that will literally change the world as we know it. Events that will impact everyone and take years if not decades to recover from.

In a survival situation, personal protection can be just as important as supplies of food and water. After all, your stores aren’t worth much if they are taken from you. Under many circumstances, a quality guard dog is worth even more than a firearm. And when you are not under attack, these dogs still go to work, protecting your livestock, patrolling your property and discouraging nosy passersby.

Bugging out is often talked about in the prepper community and everyone has a strong opinion on whether to stay put or to get out of town if things go haywire. While we all have strong opinions on the matter these are just some possible areas that I thought would be good selections based on getting away from the mass population, not natural disasters.

Bunkers aren’t just for doomsday freaks. In addition to being essential in the case of an epidemic, nuclear disaster or a war on our home turf, they also come in handy as storm shelters or safe rooms. While an underground bunker is a large investment that is not realistic financially for many people, it never hurts to dream. If you can afford it, building a bunker under your home or yard is an investment in your families future safety.