Discover eight subscription boxes that may help you in your emergency preparedness efforts, day-to-day homestead living, or hiking ventures.
I looked everywhere for a good subscription box for my husband as a gift to him, but didn't want to bore him with funky socks, jade rollers, or cologne soaps. I wanted him to have something that would benefit his day-to-day as well as his prepping efforts. I landed on Bespoke Post—which we both still love! Through Bespoke, we've gotten tactical and hunting knives, harvesting bags, survival guides, cookware, and more. The ability to skip or swap boxes has made it so we can select the monthly box that most meets our outdoor and survival lifestyle.
I also like that you're able to see what's inside each box before you commit that month — and you can easily swap for another box or cancel that shipment altogether. This means we're not getting duplicates of things we already have and we're not getting things that won't add real value to our emergency preparedness efforts.
This isn't the case with all subscription boxes. Many of them are shipped with surprise products that you may or may not have use for. Others have no option to cancel one month's shipment without closing your account entirely. I'm not a fan of these types of boxes — and will likely never subscribe without the kind of flexibility offered by Bespoke.
We already have a lot of gear and we're specific about our emergency preparedness and homesteading needs. We also have a detailed emergency preparedness list so we can stock up on those things that contribute to our day-to-day and long term survival needs.
Is an SHTF subscription box a good fit for you?
If you're not sure where to start with
survival gear, you like surprises, or you're just looking for opportunities to try new or unfamiliar products or brands, you'll probably enjoy the experience. You'll likely even discover new favorites. If you're able to influence which preparedness gear will be included in your subscription box (as we're able to with Bespoke), you can fill in specific pieces of gear with incredible discounts and discover brands you'll become loyal to in the future.
We had this experience when Bespoke shipped us our first Damascus steel knife by Barebones. Barebones has now become one of our go-to brands for knives, foraging supplies, and gardening tools — perfect for our emergency preparedness. And now we're finding great new gear through Battl Box.
Subscription boxes for peppers
These are in no particular order — except that I'm partial to Bespoke if we're being totally honest — and costs are based on the advertised subscription cost at the time this was written. Several of these site also have a store where you can purchase individual products outright.
1. Bespoke Post
When you sign up, you answer a series of questions to establish the type of subscription box that best suits your lifestyle. Depending on your answers, you could be in for swim trunks and t-shirts, or if you answer correctly, you'll be on a path toward hunting and tactical knives, camping gear, cast iron cookware, hatchets, foraging tools, and axes. They have a large selection of quality emergency preparedness supplies that are often useful for day-to-day use. We've also gotten more foraging gear from this subscription box than we'd imagined and it's all been great quality!
Watch our Bespoke Post unboxing video.
Frequency: Monthly
Cost: $49
2. Battl Box
Pick your box when you sign up: basic, advanced, pro, or pro plus subscriptions. This means your box could range from beginning prepper supplies to camp equipment, EDC gear, sleeping bags, backpacks, and tents. Brands in the pro plus subscription include TOPS, Kershaw, Spyderco, CRKT, Gerber, and others. We've tried this box too and it's a great option for emergency preparedness gear. We've gotten knives, hiking gear, camping gear, and more.
Watch our BattlBox unboxing video.
Frequency: Monthly
Cost: $30–160
3. Crate Club
The gear in these subscription boxes is hand-picked and field-tested, so you get quality tactical gear in each shipment. And, they promise there's no filler junk. Get brands like Gerber, Bushnell, CRKT, Magpie, Sig Sauer, and others. As part of the membership, you also have access to other survivalists, product launches, and exclusive gear.
Frequency: Quarterly or Annually
Cost: $50–1,400
4. Barrel & Blade
Select from two levels or a knife of the month club. The two levels contain tested tactical and survival gear with brands such as Spyderco, 5.11, and Oakley. Survival supplies include tactical bags, flashlights, binoculars, and more. The knife of the month club ships you a knife valued far above the monthly subscription fee and contains brands from Spyderco, Kershaw, Boker, and more.
Frequency: Monthly
Cost: $50–100
5. Survival Box
Choose from two subscription boxes, the emergency preparedness box or the outdoor adventures box. The emergency preparedness box helps you prepare for man-made disasters, EMP attacks, natural disasters, and a zombie apocalypse, to name a few. The outdoor adventures box provides supplies for camping, hiking, trekking, hunting, and general emergency preparedness.
Frequency: Monthly
Cost: $50–100
6. Cairn
Choose from monthly or quarterly boxes worth up to $50 or $350 all curated with the outdoors in mind. These emergency preparedness subscription boxes contain camping, hiking, and backpacking supplies such as flashlights, dry bags, hammocks, hydration packs, hatchets, apparel, etc.
Frequency: Monthly or Quarterly
Cost: $35–250
7. Club Tac
Select your box and the duration of your subscription and get hand-picked survival and prepping gear. Crates come in standard, pro, premium, and legendary — and contain practical survival and tactical gear. The higher level boxes contain armor, ballistic masks, and custom survival gear you won't find in stores. The gear in these boxes is handpicked and tested by their team of former marine snipers, survivalist experts, and technology experts, so you know you're getting the real deal!
Frequency: Monthly and Quarterly
Cost: $39–550
8. Apocabox
Choose from themed subscription boxes or project-only. These boxes are custom made with emergency preparedness products that can't be found anywhere else. What also makes this different is that each box teaches a real survival skill — anything from starting a cooking fire to foraging for food — with in-box manuals, instructions, and online videos.
Frequency: Bi-Monthly, Yearly, Etc.
Cost: $50
Topics
Foraging, Gardening, Homesteading, Self sufficiency, SHTF, Tactical