Everyday Carry UK: Keep It Legal

We often emphasise that good prepping is about being prepared for just about any crisis or emergency. It’s not going to be the Apocalypse just around the corner, but the risk of all manner of more mundane and commonplace disruptions to normal life – from minor inconveniences to potentially life-threatening episodes.

Quite simply, many of the incidents for which you are preparing are going to be what have become everyday setbacks and inconveniences – from being stuck on the train overnight or being unable to get home because of the travel disruption caused by a terrorist incident or other civil unrest.

Whether it’s for that everyday emergency or for something altogether more serious your first line of defence and preparedness is going to be your Every Day Carry (EDC) – in a bag or items in your pockets or otherwise about your person.

What is an Every Day Carry (EDC)?

The clue is in the title, of course. Your Every Day Carry is whatever you are likely to need to carry around with you each day. They are items you use frequently in the normal course of events – plus items that you might not usually need but which could prove critical in an emergency or crisis situation.

When we’re talking about emergencies and crises, though, we do not have in mind any end of the world kind of scenario – rather, the almost mundane disruption caused to your usual travel plans, some event that means you need to get home quickly, or the shutdown of services following some civil unrest.

Everyone’s reaction in any such situation is going to be different. So, what any one person is likely to need may also be different to the next person. As we said in a previous blog, the Every Day Carry needed by one person may be quite different to the EDC carried by another.

What’s in your Every Day Carry?

Allowing for those individual differences and personal tastes, though, here are some of the items most likely to feature in anyone’s Every Day Carry:

wallet – you probably never leave home without it anyway, since it has in it your cash, cards, and driving licence (for ID);

smartphone – you probably don’t feel properly dressed unless you have your mobile phone to hand, and which has a wealth of contact information, copies of important documents, a GPS, and a torch;

charger/battery pack – your smartphone is soon going to be next to useless unless you can recharge it or have a spare battery;

swiss army knife – multiple tools in a single gadget;

several days’ supply of any medicine you are taking;

water filtration/purification bottle;

hand sanitiser/antiseptic gel and face masks; and

emergency rations – such as nuts, dried fruit, or protein bars.

Here at Prepper Weekly, we are nothing if not gender-equal. In a posting on the 11^th of March, we recognised that females might have different needs for their Every Day Carry – but typically have the advantage of a (largish) handbag in which to store such items.

Keep it legal

Whenever we talk around the subject of an Every Day Carry, a bug-out bag, or other survival items you might have put together, we recognise that some fundamentalists are going to insist on packing self-defence items such as knives, machetes, or even guns.

Almost all of these are likely to be illegal in the UK, where the strict legal controls on selling, buying, and carrying knives are set out on the relevant website.

To have peace of mind that you will be able to defend yourself should you need to, it can make sense to be prepared by learning the relevant defence and situational awareness skills.

Using your Every Day Carry

No amount of survival equipment or even the basics that will comprise your Every Day Carry is going to get you any distance at all unless you know how to use every piece of kit.

As you assemble the items for your Every Day Carry, therefore, know exactly why you have chosen each item, when and where you are likely to need it, and precisely how you are going to use it – practice those skills now!

About The Author

Article by the Prepper Weekly editor. Prepper Weekly covers practical, UK-focused preparedness – from emergency planning, power cuts and flooding to food, water, kit and outdoor skills – without the fear-mongering. Find out more about Prepper Weekly.