Not Your Typical Preparedness Gift Guide
Some last minute gift ideas
I fully acknowledge that any kind of holiday gift-giving and the consumerism that goes along with it is part of what has gotten us into this climate mess. The black Friday deals, the stream of commercials for all the newest gadgets, the Amazon catalog that somehow your kid finds and circles every damn thing in there before you can recycle it. It's just another way to get us to buy a bunch of shit that will very soon go into the landfill. It’s peak late-stage capitalism at its worst.
And when we’re talking about preparedness gifts, there’s a whole consumerist prepper-industrial-complex that’s built to selling scared people a bunch of stuff that they think they might need to keep themselves safe in an apocalypse. In fact, the prepper market is an over $2 Billion industry (as an aside I found this post about how to advertise to the prepper market which is just so interesting).
That all being said, gift giving can fun and meaningful if done thoughtfully. I love the look on someone’s face when they open this surprising but perfect gift for them. It’s a way to show love. While my family has opted not to get gifts for anyone but the children in the family (keeping the adult gifts between spouses and for our annual White Elephant gift exchange), I still love to think about what kind of gift I’d get for someone in the fam.
So if you’re still trying to figure out what to get your loved one in your life, here’s an atypical preparedness gift guide for your last minute shopping (or for that person’s next birthday).
1. Books About a the Future
I fully realize that speculative fiction, science fiction, and climate fiction are not for everyone. I went on a getaway with some friends this weekend, and half of the group mentioned actively not reading those books right now, opting for the kind of books that wrap up with something good. I get it, they can be hard to take, especially climate fiction.
However, in the right mindset, a lot of these books about the future or even about different worlds can give a reader a lot of hope. Not everyone is in a place where they can read climate fiction and I get that, but for those who can handle it, climate fiction can show resilience-in-action, it shows the possibility of solutions, and it shows that there is potential for a good and/or different future.
From this list of cli-fi books that I posted awhile back, my favorites that fit into the more optimistic category include The Future by Naomi Alderman, Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang, Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, and The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton. I’ll give a caveat to The Light Pirate in that not everyone will think of it as optimistic or hopeful, but someone in a more practical mindset could see it that way. I would also add Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future to that list (and which I wrote about here) and Hum by Helen Phillips which I read recently and loved.
In the sci-fi camp, I’d also recommend almost anything by Ursula K. Le Guin, but especially The Dispossessed which was the book that actually brought me to sci-fi.
2. A Go-Bag
This, of course, is something that would show up on the “typical” prepper gift guide, but I think it’s helpful to get something along these lines for the person who doesn’t want to think about preparedness. I specifically thought of
told me on her fantastic podcast Live Like the World is Dying when mentioned that she often gets her family members gifts for preparedness because they don’t want to think about it. They might not even think about it the day after it’s gifted, but at least you know it’s there in case they need it.While many of us may still think that disaster is still far away from us, I hope Hurricane Helene’s devastation of parts of Appalachia can show us that there is no place that’s immune to disaster. And one way to at the very least ease your mind about your family or friend’s preparedness, you can help them out by gifting them a Go-Bag.
You can get yourself a ready-made Go-Bag. I’d recommend Cascadia Quake Kits for this. This is a Portland-based company started by a woman who realized that one of the ways to get her family and friends prepared for the upcoming earthquake here was to help them with a ready-made kit because it can take a lot of effort. They not only have go-bags but other ready-made kits.
You can also go the make-your-own-Go-Bag direction. Here’s mine and
’s post about making evacuation plans, complete with a Go-Bag checklist. I’ve removed the paywall so anyone can read this story.3. Analog Leisure Activities
Puzzles, games, adult coloring books, and more! This is not just a great gift in general, but these are excellent to have on hand in case the power goes out or even for a go-bag. They are also just great gifts that don’t involve screens!
4. Books on Farming and Food
For anyone who’s interested in food or gardening, there’s always a trove of options for resources. The fantastic food publication Civil Eats has you covered with their “2024 Food and Farming Holiday Book Gift Guide.”
The list is wide-ranging include books to make you hopeful about the future of food such as From the Ground Up: The Women Revolutionizing Regenerative Agriculture by Stephanie Anderson and Against the Grain: How Farmers Around the Globe Are Transforming Agriculture to Nourish the World and Heal the Planet by Roger Thurow. For the home cooks, there are the cookbooks such as Big Vegan Flavor: Techniques and 150 Recipes to Master Vegan Cooking by Nisha Vora and The Memory of Taste: Vietnamese American Recipes from Phú Quoc, Oakland, and the Spaces Between by Tu David Phu and Soleil Ho. And then there are also the how-to guides like the book I reviewed for the list, Beekeeping for Gardeners by Richard Rickett.
There’s a lot more where these came from, so seriously look through the whole guide because I’ve already added many of these to my to-read list.
5. Good Quality Instant Coffee
Last night my husband said to me, “someday there won’t be any coffee” after detailing the extra bags of coffee he stocked up on while I was gone over the weekend. It’s our major personal luxury that we revel in day-to-day. It’s also the gift we give each other the most. Plus, it’s the perfect stocking stuffer.
As such, if you’re in our camp, a great gift (whether it’s for your prep pantry or your day-to-day drinking) is instant coffee. Not just any instant coffee, though, but the instant specialty coffee. It ain’t cheap, but it’s worth it. It’s also nice when, for your second cup, you don’t want to go through the whole coffee-making process. Just heat up some water and stir in the instant coffee powder.
Wirecutter published their rankings recently, so this is a great place to start. I’ve stocked up on Verve’s instant coffee and it’s goooood. In addition to their blend, they have some single origin options which are really special.
And keep an eye out for instant coffee from your local specialty roaster because those are becoming a thing. When my friends and I were in Bend, OR for a weekend trip, we found some delicious instant coffee from the local roaster, Backporch Coffee.
What you all would add to this list? What’s your favorite preparedness gift to friends and family?