When anyone mentions emergency preparedness thoughts immediately go to food storage and camping gear, but have you ever thought about having essential oils in your camping gear?  Recently I received a list of items to keep in my 72 hour kit and on the list was essential oils which I had never thought of so I did some research and found oils that are good for disinfecting, bruises, insect bites, inflammation, and to purify water.  All of these are great things to have in a first aid kit so it makes sense to have them in my emergency preparedness gear.

When storing essential oils they must be kept in a cool and dark place and are usually kept in dark colored glass bottles.  There are different levels of quality in essential oils so make sure you are only using therapeutic grade oils.  Essential oils are usually good for a few years but it is a good idea to rotate them like food storage, use them and then replace them.

The top five essential oils I now keep with my emergency preparedness gear are:

1. Lavender- This universal oil and is great for almost everything.  You can use this on bug bites, bruises, sleep deprivation, allergies, inflammation, sunburns, lice, ringworm, and many more.  It is the first oil I go to and the number one oil I must have in my survival gear.
2. Lemon- This oil is known for its cleansing ability.  Adding a few drops of this to your water can purify it, I would still use another purification process since this won’t get rid of any sediment.  It is also great for intestinal parasites you might get, it reduces fever, helps your digestive system and liver work, it is a disinfectant and an antiseptic.
3. Peppermint- This essential oil is great for headaches or any muscle aches or pains, it is also a catalyst when mixed with other oils.  Peppermint is anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, can be used for shock, colds, nausea, colic, and heartburn.
4. Helichrysum- This oil is great for bruising, sprains, and swelling.  Any injury, that does not have broken skin, can be treated with helichrysum oil.  This essential oil can be used to treat shock, heal bruises, help with broken bones, help with allergies, and is beneficial against infections and viruses.
5. Purify- This is a blend of many different essential oils such as Lemongrass, Tea Tree, Lavender, and Citronella.  This blend was meant for purification.  You can use it to kill airborne bacteria, viruses, mold, or fungus.  It works great on neutralizing poison from insect bites, bee or wasp stings, or spider bites.  It can treat respiratory conditions, help with skin healing, and repel bugs and mice.

Once I found that each essential oil has so many different uses I decided that this was something worth storing in my survival gear.  There are other oils that would be great to have in an emergency but these are just my top five oils, research the different oils and see what you want to keep around in case of an emergency in your home.