7 Unusual Multi-Purpose Items For Survival

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It’s common knowledge that you should stockpile items like water, food and bleach but there are also items that you probably already have in your house that you can use for survival. Another great thing about these items is that, for all of you thrifty shoppers out there, you can often get these for very little money, or even for free if you coupon and watch sales. Free and multi-purpose? What a deal!

We’ve included some regular household uses, too because we’re all about repurposing and saving some money!

Maxi Pads

These pads are made to be absorbent and they’re also wrapped individually so that they stay clean until you use them. They have several different uses that have nothing to do with feminine hygiene, though you should definitely stock them for that purpose too if you have a woman in the house, or even if you don’t. Think barter.

Wound dressing
Staunching blood flow
Cut to make an eye patch
Starting fires (tinder)
Cold or hot compress
Shoe lining to absorb moisture and add padding
Blocking drafts around windows or doors
Barter

You can get regular maxi pads or you can get mini pads. The minis take up much less space but don’t absorb as much. If you have the room, get both.

Clear Plastic Garbage Bags

It’s waterproof, clear and a bit stretchy. Clear plastic garbage bags have so many uses for both survival and everyday living that you should stock several roles.

Solar still for your water
Water collection
Rain poncho
Shelter
Hanging your food if in the woods
Keep wound dressings dry
Cover a broken window
Lay underneath your sleeping bag to keep it dry and to keep from losing heat
Mark trails
Keep weeds out of your garden – lay bags over soil
Boot covering to keep your shoes dry
Carrying items to keep them dry
Collecting and disposing of human waste
Blow them up and they float or make a good pillow

Trash bags are, of course, useful just to have around the house and serve a wide variety of purposes even in everyday circumstances.

Aluminum Foil

Aluminum foil is the bomb. Around the house it has dozens of uses and is an integral part of food prep and cleanup for many households. When you add these to the survival uses of aluminum foil, this shiny product is a must-have multi-purpose item to keep in your BOB or in your pantry. It takes up little space and is re-usable as long as you buy the heavy duty version.

Line your pans or oven to make clean-up easy
Clean your cast iron skillets with aluminum foil and salt
Make a cup
Place petroleum jelly-coated cotton ball on a cupped piece of foil to keep the jelly from melting into the ground. It will burn much longer.
Use for signaling
Mark camp with it so that your light reflects off of it. Just stick it to a tree or something at eye level.
Sharpen scissors by cutting through a few layers of foil
Make cooking packs for open-fire cooking
Keep your pie crusts from burning
Make a cooking vessel
Hang pieces around your garden to keep birds and critters out
Clean your grill with a wadded up piece of foil

Pantyhose

Pantyhose are extremely inexpensive and have about a million uses, both for survival and for everyday living.

Water filtration
Rope, and it won’t leave rope burns or damage
Making an herb or tea sachet so you don’t have to strain the concoction
Polishing your shoes
Tie up your plants without damaging the stalks
Keep your wrapping paper organized – just slide the roll into a leg.
Make homemade stuffed toys by stuffing them with cotton or old T-shirts
Store onions, potatoes, garlic, flower bulbs and herbs. Keeping them off the ground keeps them from spoiling so fast
Cover your rolling pin to keep dough from sticking to it
Place melons and squash in them as they grow to keep animals from eating them
Put your bar soap in the toe to keep it from getting nasty and to keep from wasting it
Put a piece over the end of your vacuum cleaner hose to find lost earring backs or other small items
Put human or dog hair in a foot and tie around your garden to keep deer and other foragers from scarfing down your goods. Replace every month or so because the hair loses the scent.

Video first seen on Howcast.

Steel Wool

These handy little pads are another example of a multi-purpose item that every household should have. Sure they’re great for scrubbing pots, but they can help keep you from freezing to death too. Read on and you’ll never toss another piece in the trash!

Throw a couple of sparks from your farro stick into a wad of steel wool to get a quick fire going
If you don’t want something to reflect, buff it with steel wool to remove the shine
Peel carrots or potatoes by scrubbing with steel wool
Put steel wool around pipes or in seep holes in your house to keep mice and other rodents out. They can’t chew through it

Fine Mesh Strainer

In addition to being handy to have in the kitchen, a fine mesh strainer is a great multi-purpose survival tool, too. You can often pick these up at a garage sale for a little bit of nothing and they’re so handy that we recommend having a spare and an heir. Yeah, you may use it that much. Make sure you get the fine mesh.

Filtering water. Double your power by adding a coffee filter to it
Straining oil to make biodiesel
Straining rendered fat for cooking, candle-making, soap making, etc.
Straining herbs from medicinal concoctions
Filtering fresh milk
Separating curds and whey when making cheese

Sarong

OK, we admit that this might be the most unique item that we’ve listed to date but keeping a few sarongs on hand isn’t a bad idea. Sure they’re typically worn as a dress but when you look at one, it’s actually just a large piece of cloth that you can do whatever you want to with. You’ll usually find bandanas on survival lists, and this is sort of just a BIG bandana.

Making bandages
Making a carry bag
Make a sling
Make a hammock
Use as a light blanket
Barter
Filter water
Use as a towel
Tablecloth
Curtains for windows or to divide a room
Hang to make a sunscreen/shelter

When it comes right down to it, you need to pick items that you can use now, and that you will find useful should the world as we know it cease to be. The entire goal of prepping is to have everything on hand that you’ll need to survive. What that consists of varies depending upon your location, your needs and your knowledge.

Our goal is to provide you with ideas to help you live independently and to be prepared should something happen. Repurposing items is not only great for your wallet, it’s great for the environment. Items that we can use for many different purposes are the best and when we find them, we love to share them.

If you can think of any more good uses for the items that we’ve described, or if you have other good multi-purpose survival items that we missed, please share with us in the comments section below!

This article has been written by Theresa Crouse for Survivopedia.

About Theresa Crouse
Theresa Crouse is a full-time writer currently living in central Florida. She was born and raised in the hills of West Virginia, where she learned to farm, hunt, fish, and live off the land from an early age. She prefers to live off the grid as much as possible and does her best to follow the “leave nothing behind but footprints” philosophy. For fun, she enjoys shooting, kayaking, tinkering on her car and motorcycle, and just about anything else that involves water, going fast, or the outdoors. You can send Theresa a message at theresa.crouse [at] survivopedia.com.