For Americans 

The definitive guide to affordable survival gear, hand-picked for your bug out bag.

Survival Gear Guides

We've Done The Research
So You Don't Have To.

The industry is flooded with overpriced gadgets, low grade materials & military knock-offs. With so much to sift through you could easily spend days looking for a good sleeping bag, hiking boot or bushcraft knife, let alone an entire survival list to prepare your family. We know because we’ve been there and done that. That’s why we decided to share our knowledge on this website.

Our survival gear list is comprised of what we believe is truly the best survival gear for your money. We’ve done thousands of product comparisons and countless hours of research against a rigorous criteria to ensure the gear is reliable, affordable and easy to order.

Our bottom line is that we only recommend gear that we personally believe in, gear that we trust for our own families, so all you’ll find here is the best of the best.

Our Story

Fox Survival Gear was created to help families get prepared for the event of an emergency evacuation of our homes. We started small, taking care of basic water, food and shelter considerations for our own family. We didn’t have much money so we were always on the hunt for inexpensive high quality survival gear, which often led us to military surplus stores as well as great finds on big online stores like Amazon and Ebay. As that developed we began sharing and deepening our survival gear list and skill set with our friends and their families. Over the years we amassed so much knowledge and experience that we decided to share that information publicly.

About Fox Survival Gear

Hi I’m James Emry, founder of the Fox Survival Gear website. I’ve always enjoyed camping and spending time outdoors. I’m a hands-on, practical man who enjoys learning new things and developing new skills.

It became clear to me in the recent years (as it has to many of us) that life as we know it could easily change beyond our control, and quite possibly without warning. Natural disaster, nuclear war, solar flares, unexpected pandemics and so on, are all possible occurrences, yet in our modern fast paced life we don’t really believe they will happen.

Many of us are not even prepared for a car break down on a cold winter’s day. Most of us certainly don’t plan for survival scenarios. However, just because emergencies are unlikely to occur doesn’t mean they can’t occur. Because of that realization I decided that while I live my comfortable and secure life as it is now, I also have a responsibility to develop my skills and acquire the means to continue my life should things take a turn for the worse.

As a family man, it’s important to me to be able to take care of my family whatever happens, and to me that logically translates into a level of preparedness for the ‘worst’. I began to read about other people preparing in this way and benefited from their insights. Just considering the ‘what if’ scenarios was a significant eye opener. I’m not interested in pessimism, paranoia or scare mongering. Just being intelligently well-informed and practically prepared (like a grown up boy scout).

I started collecting gear that was not only practical in my present life but that would also sustain my family and I in more challenging times. With like-minded friends we slowly began to develop a list of well researched and tried-and-tested items that would be essential in an emergency situation.

I have always appreciated well-made, high quality gear but I can’t afford to spend top dollar. So for me it’s crucial to spend my money on gear that works really well and stands the test of time. 

Survival gear, like all gear is of varying quality intended for different scenarios. Without thorough testing and comparing, it’s hard to know what your best options are. It takes time to assess each item’s best qualities, and then decide what is most beneficial for a long term survival scenario. We believe that each piece of gear could help save a life in the right the circumstance, so we take our research very seriously.

Over the years, what initially started as a small list of “essentials” grew immensely, and we decided to share that list publicly with the hopes that other people could benefit from our research. 

Our list was influenced and inspired by great minds like Mors Kochanski—wilderness survival instructor—who teaches that gear should always be well thought out, multi-functional as possible and well-suited to a life in the outdoors. 

If you’re relatively new to emergency and survival preparedness, a good place to begin is your government’s emergency preparedness guidelines. We’ve posted information and links below to get you started:

Preparedness in the US

Americans can access official emergency preparedness guidance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Website: “Ready – Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed” at www.ready.gov (opens in new tab).

Topics include “Prepare for Natural Disasters”, “Technological & Accidental Hazards”, “Terrorist Hazards”, and “Recovering from Disaster.”

Preparedness in Canada

An excellent resource for beginners in Canada is the Canadian Government’s “Get Prepared” website at www.getprepared.gc.ca (opens in new tab).

The website aims to help you prepare yourself and your family for a minimum of 72 hours, including in-depth guidance broken down into 3 areas: “Know the Risks“, “Make a Plan” and “Get a Kit“.

Preparedness in the UK

If you’re in the UK, the British Red Cross Website has a host of useful articles under the section “How To Prepare For Emergencies(opens in new tab)

It covers Crisis, Drought, School & Business Emergencies, Fire Prevention, First Aid, Heatwaves, Poverty, Terrorist Attacks, Thunderstorm Blackouts, Traveling, Chemicals, Winter Prep, Car Breakdowns and more.

We’ve put a lot of work into the Fox Survival Gear website and there’s still much more to come. We’ll be adding more gear to our Survival Gear List, more in-depth reviews to our Gear Guides, as well as video tutorials and reviews to our YouTube Channel (opens in new tab).

If you’d like to get email notifications about the latest gear, tips and more you can Subscribe Here. If you just want to buy survival gear you can head to our Gear Shop (which includes every item from our survival gear list with shipping options to US, Canada & UK).

While the items on our survival gear list were chosen for worst-case scenarios, the list can also be used as a guide for high quality, inexpensive camping gear for outdoor recreation and adventures.

We may receive a small commission from sales (at no extra cost to you) and we only recommend products that we believe in. We have not been paid to promote particular products. We warmly appreciate your support.

All the best!
James Emry

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