The Guide
One manual. One hundred systems. A month of grid-down, covered.
Water, food, heat, cooking, power, light, sanitation, medical, security, communication, travel — and the long emergencies. Fourteen sections, one hundred numbered systems, each with the materials, the current 2026 prices, and the step-by-step. Most are built with one hardware store trip.
Illustrated PDF · 312 pages · 15 diagrams · Edition 2026
Everything your household needs for a real week — or month — without power.
The first twenty minutes, written to be followed under stress. The bathtub bladder — 100 gallons for $32. Choosing and sealing the one warm room when the furnace is dead in January. The refrigerator and freezer clock. Retained heat cooking that cuts fuel use 60 to 80 percent. The two-bucket system. Bleeding control with a real tourniquet, not a belt. One hundred systems, numbered №01 through №100, in the order you should build them — with exact materials and current 2026 prices for every one. It opens with the First 72 Hours and closes with a one-page first-weekend build order.
What you get for $47:
- David Hale's Survival Guide — 312-page illustrated PDF, 100 numbered systems, materials lists, 2026 prices, step-by-step builds $47
- Two editions included — standard 6×9 and a phone-sized edition, same content, no pinch-zooming Included
- 15 line diagrams — the filter stack, the rocket stove cross-section, door reinforcement, the two-bucket build, stove clearances, and ten more Included
- Edition updates — every revision of the 2026 edition, free Included
Instant download · Checkout by Gumroad · 7-day keep-the-book guarantee
The Math
What one unprepared week actually costs.
When a storm or a substation failure takes the power out for a week, the bill lands on a household twice — once in money, once in fear. Here is the same week, twice, without a single invented number.
Figured out on the fly One week
- A refrigerator and freezer of food, gone by day twoSpoiled
- A generator bought in a parking lot, marked up, sized wrongPanic price
- Hotel nights when the house goes coldPer night
- Bottled water at whatever the last store asksSurge price
- A week of takeout, gas-station meals, and guessworkAll week
No invented totals here — your numbers depend on your house, your outage, and your luck. That is the point: you don't get to pick the week.
Planned in advance One week
- David Hale's Survival Guide$47
- One hardware store trip for the first weekendOne trip
- The rest of the 100 systems, built in order, at your paceYour pace
- Spoiled food, hotel nights, panic purchasesNone
- The week itselfUncomfortable, not dangerous
Every line has a numbered system in the Guide with materials, prices, and steps.
The money gap is real, but it isn't the point. The part a ledger can't show is a household that's calm on night one — because the plan is written down and the water is already in the closet.
The Honest Manual
What this book gets right that others don't.
This niche runs on inflated claims and recycled myths. The Guide's rule is simpler: check the number, cite the source, and say plainly what doesn't work.
Post-disaster looting is largely a myth.
- Crime rates typically fall after disasters — and Section 10 opens by saying so, because the myth itself causes harm
The clay pot candle heater does not work.
- A candle produces about 80 watts no matter what you put over it. The book runs the numbers instead of repeating the video
A $300 solar setup runs lights and phones. Not a refrigerator.
- Everyone else says otherwise. The power section makes you measure your loads first, then prices the honest options
The canning chapter refuses to guess.
- It will not print processing times it cannot stand behind — it sends you to the USDA guide, which is exactly what the CDC advises
What's Inside
Exactly what you get for $47.
One hundred numbered systems across fourteen sections — every title below is real and sits in the table of contents. Each system: what it does, the materials with current 2026 prices, the numbered steps, and an honest note on what it won't do. Build them in order or pick what your house needs first.
The first afternoon decides how the next thirty days go.
- The first twenty minutes
- The refrigerator and freezer clock
- One light per person, assigned before dark
- Carbon monoxide
How much you actually need, and where it lives.
- The bathtub bladder — 100 gallons for $32
- Filter versus purify — and the pore-size trap
- Boiling and chemical treatment
- Rain catchment
A one-year baseline built on buckets, not shopping trips.
- The one-year baseline
- Bucket and mylar sealing
- Water glassing eggs — 8 months, no fridge
- Canning, and the line you never cross
One warm room when the furnace is dead in January.
- Choosing and sealing the one room
- Draft sealing, ranked by dollar returned
- Sleeping warm — why the layer under you matters more
- Draining the plumbing before it freezes
Thirty days of hot meals on fuel you can store.
- Fuel math for thirty days
- The can rocket stove
- Retained heat cooking — cuts fuel use 60 to 80 percent
- The solar oven and its honest limits
Measure first. Then buy.
- Measure your loads first
- The starter setup
- The fridge-capable setup
- Triage — what to power and what to let die
Light you can sustain for months, not days.
- Oil lamps
- Rechargeable strategy
- Light discipline
The chapter nobody wants to need. Everyone does.
- The two-bucket system
- Handwashing — the highest-impact system in the book
- Laundry by hand
- Greywater and disposal
When the pharmacy is dark and the ambulance is busy.
- The kit that matches what actually happens
- Bleeding control
- Oral rehydration — six teaspoons of sugar, half a teaspoon of salt, one liter of water
- Children, fever, and when to worry
A poor target, not a fortress.
- Not looking like a target
- Door reinforcement
- Neighborhood mutual aid — why a lone hardened house is the weaker position
- Know the legal lines before you need them
Hearing news and reaching family with the towers down.
- The receive-only radio
- GMRS and the family license
- The written family plan
The honest chapter: leaving rarely beats staying.
- Bug in or bug out
- The bag most people pack wrong
- Walking fifty miles home
Month three, and after.
- Month three
- Rebuilding
The events measured in years, and the first one of them.
- Nuclear detonation: the first hour, where the right actions are free and instinct is wrong
- Fallout and the 7:10 rule — why patience is the strategy
- What potassium iodide actually does, and the four things it does not
- A failed growing season, and what 1816 teaches
- Growing food and saving seed in a cold year
- What actually held value in Cuba, Sarajevo, and Argentina
A Straight Answer
Who this is for. And who should keep their $47.
This is for you if
- You live in a normal house or apartment and want your family covered for a real one-to-four-week outage
- You'd rather spend $60 and a Saturday than thousands in a panic
- You want instructions with prices and steps, not philosophy
- You want it organized in the order you should actually do it — the channel covers the same ground
- You're starting from zero — the Guide assumes nothing
This is not for you if
- You want tactical content — weapons training, combat scenarios, gear reviews. There are none
- You want doomsday entertainment. Section 14 covers nuclear, climatic, and pandemic scenarios seriously, using federal civil defence guidance — and it says plainly that these events are unlikely and should not reorder your priorities
- You already run a deep homestead setup — the first eight sections will be review
- You want entertainment. It's a reference manual, and it reads like one
The Author
Tested in a normal house, on a normal budget.
David Hale's Survival Guide is written for a normal house or apartment, on a normal budget, and it holds itself to one rule: no claim goes on the page unless the number behind it checks out. Materials are priced at real 2026 retail. The safety-critical chapters are checked against EPA, CDC, CPSC, and FDA guidance, and the sources are listed in the back of the book. Where this niche repeats a myth, the Guide names it and shows the arithmetic instead.
The channel covers the same ground. The book is the reference version — one hundred systems in the order you should actually do them, with the part numbers and prices a video doesn't have room for.
Field Manual FM-87 · Edition 2026 · Sources cited in the back matter
A Sample, Free
The first twenty minutes, free.
System 01, straight from the book: what to do in the first twenty minutes of an outage, before the water pressure goes. Leave an email and it's yours.
No spam. The excerpt, occasional edition updates, unsubscribe any time.
Order the Guide
$47 once. No subscription. Yours forever.
Instant download at checkout. Read on any phone, tablet, or computer — print it at the kitchen table if you want. Every edition backed by the 7-day keep-the-book guarantee.
Illustrated PDF · 312 pages · 15 diagrams · Edition 2026
David Hale's Survival Guide
One hundred numbered systems for water, food, heat, power, and security — with materials lists, current 2026 prices, and the step-by-step. Build them in order, or pick what your house needs first.
- The complete Guide — 312 pages, 100 systems, 15 diagrams$47
- Two editions included — standard 6×9 and a phone-sized edition, same content, no pinch-zoomingIncluded
- Every update to the 2026 edition, freeIncluded
Instant download · Checkout by Gumroad · 7-day keep-the-book guarantee
Seven days. Full refund. Keep the book.
Read it for a week. If it isn't the most practical preparedness book you own, reply to your receipt email and Gumroad returns every dollar. You don't return anything — the PDF stays yours. All the risk here is ours, which is how it should be.
Questions
Asked often. Answered plainly.
Is this a physical book?
No — it's a PDF you download immediately after purchase. It's laid out to print cleanly at home or at a print shop if you want it on paper. Nothing ships.
Do I need land, a truck, or a lot of money?
No. Every system assumes a normal house or apartment. Most are built for under $50 each, many for under $20, and the Guide tells you the order to build them so the important ones come first. Renters are covered throughout.
Is this just the YouTube videos written down?
The channel covers the same ground; the book is the reference version — all 100 systems in one sequence, with the materials lists, exact prices, and step-by-step instructions a video doesn't have room for. It stands entirely on its own.
Are the prices actually current?
Every materials list was re-priced for the 2026 edition against major U.S. hardware and grocery chains. Prices drift, so treat them as close estimates for budgeting — the materials lists themselves don't go out of date.
What format is it, and what can I read it on?
A standard PDF, readable on any phone, tablet, or computer with no special app. Download it to your devices when you buy it — a copy that lives on your phone works with the power out.
What if it's not for me?
Seven days, full refund, no questions asked — and you keep the book. Refunds are handled by Gumroad from your receipt email.
One more Tuesday is coming
The best time to have done this was last storm season.
The second best time is this weekend: one trip, under $60, three systems standing by Sunday night — and the other ninety-seven waiting in order.
Get the Guide · $47Instant download · Pay once · 7-day keep-the-book guarantee
Wait — one thing
One hundred systems. In order. $47.
312 pages: the first twenty minutes, the one warm room, the two-bucket system, the honest power math. 7-day keep-the-book refund if it's not for you.
Get the Guide · $47