12 Places To Hide Your Survival Supplies At Home In Plain Sight From Looters And Nosey Neighbors

If a natural disaster, calimity, or otherwise results in significant shortages of food and water, the people could start looting supplies from "hoarders." People who have stocked up on food will be vilified and labeled as "selfish" or "unpatriotic." The government could even search every home for concealed food reserves by going door to door.

This is why it's so important to have a plan, and have places to put things.

Plenty of places to hide things!Photo byRichelleg

If your emergency supplies are easily located in cupboards, closets, or the pantry, think about relocating them to more difficult-to-find areas. You'll not only protect your goods from confiscation, but you'll be rest assured that you and your family will have plenty to eat, drink, and protect yourselves with.

Granted, they will probably ultimately discover your food if they scour your house for a while. But they will have a ton more houses to look through, so after they've checked all the obvious spots, they'll probably move on. They won't waste time dismantling your complete house as long as you don't raise any red flags.

Even yet, you don't have to give up everything to appease the authorities; you just might need to give up some supplies. It will be crucial to conceal your survival supplies during martial law, assuming you don't want to rely on food banks for sustenance.

An oldie but goodie!Photo byRichelleg

These are the top locations to conceal your survival gear if the unthinkable happens.

1. Hiding In Plain Sight

Food, water, first aid supplies, and ammunition can be easily hidden among random stuff such as clothes, paperwork, holiday decorations, etc. if you have stacks of cardboard boxes filled with them. The authorities might not find everything, even if they do find some of it.

Use the original boxes that came with your devices or appliances if you still have them. Remove any remaining materials, such as Styrofoam, and replace them with supplies. You might even go so far as to conceal food inside outdated devices and appliances.

Hide it in plain sightPhoto byRichelleg

Just remember to rotate your food stock so you don't have a bunch of spoiled food hiding in strange places!

I have a neighbor who has a huge old tv in his dusty barn. It's been gutted, and he keeps non perishable supplies in that TV shell.

2. Beneath the Floor

Make a trap door on the floor if your house has a crawl area. If the door is well-hidden and blends in with the surrounding floor, there's a good probability that others won't be able to find it. Make sure you weather- or moisture-proof it, depending on what you're keeping in there.

3. Above The Frame of the Door

While it won't work for every door, closet doors tend to work pretty well. You can keep small things hidden above your door frame, especially if you put a little magnetic strip up there.

4. In Back of Air Vents

This one is simple. Simply remove the air vent cover and store food like MRE's and supplies behind it. Another option would be to build a fake air vent and conceal supplies behind it. Nobody would think to look for supplies there, unless they have a lot of time to snoop around.

Hide it in the ventsPhoto byRichelleg

5. In The Wall

You can do this a few different ways. They make all sorts of clever things, like fake electrical outlets, which would allow you to conceal little objects like jewelry or bundles of cash behind them. You can always go the usual route and hide things like safes behind paintings!

Making a small hiding spot behind pieces of trim or siding panels

6. Furnishings

If you're handy, you could make secret compartments and drawers on the bottom of end tables and coffee tables. And there's always the couch! Just like in the movies.

Another option is to conceal items in your box spring. After inserting supplies into the box spring and carefully cutting through the cloth along its edge, replace the fabric.

Just dont forget its there!Photo byRichelleg

If you think that this is all too much work, you can always google furniture with hidden storage spaces. There are some great companies out there!

7. Bottoms of Cabinets

If you have cabinets, you have space under them! All you need to do is slide your goods under the cabinets after removing the front panel. I recommend putting them in a weatherproof and vermin-proof bag or container.

Toe kicks can hide thingsPhoto byRichelleg

8. In Bottles

Don't discard any solid-colored bottles the next time you have one. Rather, give it a thorough cleaning and rinsing, then fill it with several Mylar bags of supplies.

You might need to cut off the top or bottom of the bottle to accomplish this. After you're done, superglue it back in place. Beneath the sink, few outdated bottles of cleaning supplies would hardly draw attention.

9. Off the Grid Survival Cache

People have been burying things outside since forever. Just make sure it's well hidden, weather- and pest proof, and you remember where you put it!

10. Tangled Up in Your Garden

If you have a garden, this is an excellent location for some materials to be buried (just enough so that roots have room). As long as they are completely waterproof, use PVC pipes, pelican cases, metal ammunition cans, and food-grade plastic containers.

11. In Books With Holes Removed

Using old books as hiding places is a time-tested method that continues to be quite effective, particularly if you own a large library of books. Hollow out the center of a few thick volumes to make a pocket for tiny, priceless objects like coins, USB devices containing crucial data, or tiny seed packets.

12. In Sealed PVC Tubing

Workshops and garages are perfect places to conceal something because they're often overflowing with equipment and supplies. You can make a watertight and airtight container for keeping supplies like matches, batteries, or emergency cash by using PVC pipes and end caps.

Paint the pipes to blend in with their surroundings—such as a shadowy nook or among other metal pipes—and discretely place them amidst other objects. You can further hide them by labeling them as waste disposal or plumbing components.

Seal it tight!Photo byRichelleg

Look for an insulated space behind a wall that isn't being used for plumbing or electrical wiring for potential wall hiding areas. Either make a little access panel from scratch or make use of an already-built one. It will hide things from anyone who isn't breaking apart the building's construction.

Additional Thoughts

There are, of course, a lot of different locations to hide. The only true restriction is your own creativity. Consider transforming the objects in front of you into hiding spots rather than searching for them.

Additional Advice

Hide your survival supplies, but there's more to protecting them. Protect everything from the elements and from pests.

silly but true!Photo byRichelleg

Attributions:

Hanson, C., & Hanson, C. (2024, March 25). 16 Clever Ways to Hide Your Preps. Survival Dispatch. https://survivaldispatch.com/16-clever-ways-to-hide-your-preps/#:~:text=Hide%20your%20preps%20and%20emergency,boxes%20to%20store%20your%20supplies.