Herbal medicine for emergencies can be a literal lifesaver when SHTF and conventional healthcare isn’t available.
Every savvy prepper should assemble a collection of healing herbs and products derived from them; ideally, you’ll have a healthy stockpile of plant-based remedies plus a mini kit to go in your bug-out bag.
What Illnesses and Conditions Should You Prep For?
In short, anything and everything. Any health issue, including respiratory infections, fever, UTIs, and wounds, could accompany a crisis scenario.
Aim to build a collection of herbal remedies that can help you deal with:
- Common colds, flu, sore throat, and coughs
- Digestive issues like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation
- Headaches and migraines
- Dental issues like toothache and gum inflammation
- Skin infections, including fungi, rashes, and allergy flare-ups
- Stress, anxiety, and insomnia
- Periods and menstrual cramps (for us ladies, obviously!)
The remedies you stash in your bug-out bag may target more acute conditions, like cuts, burns, and insect bites.
Healing Plants To Grow and Stock
You can grow medicinal plants yourself, buy them, or forage for them. The first option is obviously the most sustainable, since a prolonged crisis can disrupt supply chains, and wild-growing plants are hard to rely on.
Establishing and maintaining a medicinal garden takes surprisingly little effort once you complete the initial setup. Healing plants like lavender, echinacea, and calendula are typically robust and easy to care for. Many will grow as perennials in a wide range of climate zones.
As a bonus, many plants with valuable healing properties, including mint, sage, and basil, will add a dash of flavor to any dish.
If you’ve never grown or used medicinal herbs before, this list is a good place to start. The following table may also be helpful as a reference for building your home pharmacy.
Note that many plants have more than one use.
| Condition | Medicinal plants |
|---|---|
| Colds and flu | Echinacea, elderberry, thyme, sage |
| Pain and inflammation | Willow bark, turmeric, arnica, feverfew, chamomile |
| Digestive issues | Ginger, peppermint (nausea and vomiting), blackberry leaf (diarrhea) |
| Scrapes, burns, and skin conditions | Aloe vera, calendula, garlic, lavender, chamomile |
| Fever | Yarrow, elderflower, lemon balm |
| Anxiety, stress, and insomnia | Valerian, chamomile, lavender |
| UTIs | Cranberry, dandelion |
| Period pains | Raspberry leaf, sweet fennel |
Storing and Using Medicinal Herbs
Nearly every herbal remedy starts with drying some part of the plant.
Drying is an age-old way to preserve medicinal herbs: it’s cheap, effective, and doesn’t require power or any special equipment.
You can, of course, use a dehydrator, but air-drying works just as well, only slower.
To avoid issues like spoilage and mold, make sure your herbs are completely dry before you move them to storage.
Storing Dried Herbs
Store dried herbs in a cool, dry place, in airtight glass containers away from direct light. Dark glass jars are ideal for this purpose, but transparent containers will do if you use a closed pantry or cabinet.
Make sure you label each jar clearly, stating the plant’s name and storage date. Properly stored, dried herbs can keep their efficacy for years. Bark and roots usually last longer than leaves and flowers.
Teas
Herbal teas and infusions are among the most basic ways to use medicinal plants.
Every plant works differently, but as a rule of thumb, you’ll need a couple of teaspoons of crushed dried leaves, flowers or roots per cup of hot water.
Leaves and flowers, like chamomile and peppermint, only need about 5-10 minutes of steeping.
Infusions based on bark or roots, e.g., willow bark, may require longer steeping or brief boiling to release their healing compounds.
Tinctures
While herbal teas are easy enough to make, tinctures offer the convenience of a ready-to-use remedy that doesn’t require steeping or boiling.
These alcohol-based herbal extracts may last up to a decade if stored in dark glass bottles in a cool, dry location.
Tinctures kick in quicker than teas or capsules because you place the liquid under your tongue. This way, the solution gets right into your bloodstream without passing through the digestive tract.
This is a major benefit when you need quick relief from pain or inflammation.
As with dried herbs, label your tincture bottles with the name of the medicine, its correct dosage, and the date of preparation.
Ointments
Ointments, balms, and salves are highly useful for a range of skin conditions, from burns and rashes to swelling and insect bites. Solid balms are especially convenient to use on the go.
Beeswax is probably the most popular base for homemade balms. It’s great to work with and makes a perfect balm texture. However, you can also use alternatives like candelilla or carnauba wax.
Buying vs. Making Your Own Herbal Remedies
If you’re new to the world of herbal remedies, you might want to try out a couple of ready-made infusions or tinctures to see how they work for you.
However, the DIY route is far superior in the context of self-reliance and emergency preparedness.
Growing, mixing, and distilling your own herbal remedies gives you a sense of accomplishment and security.
It’s amazing to know that you have the means to relieve pain when you can’t simply pop an Advil or soothe an itch when antihistamine cream isn’t available.
Sure, growing, harvesting, and drying herbs, and then preparing homemade tinctures or salves takes time and effort.
You may also need a bit of trial and error before you get it right. The good news is that even an amateur herbalist can create a solid arsenal of sustainable plant-based remedies.
What Equipment and Supplies Do You Need To Make Plant-Based Medicines?
You can make many efficient home remedies with very rudimentary equipment. It doesn’t take any special skills or tools to hang some herbs to dry and make an infusion.
These basics are usually enough:
- Digital kitchen scale for weighing herbs and other ingredients
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Stainless steel or glass mixing bowls
- Dark glass jars and dropper bottles for storage
- High-proof alcohol for making tinctures
- Mortar and pestle for hand grinding
More advanced herbalists may invest in extras like steam distillation equipment for essential oils, a vacuum evaporator, or a tablet press for making herbal pills.
However, if you want to focus on basics you can easily make in an SHTF scenario, you need little more than standard kitchen equipment.
Helpful Resources
Super-efficient search engines have spoiled us so much that we often don’t stop to think about what we would do if the internet (or the entire power grid) went down.
You need to prepare for a situation when you can’t simply Google “plants to bring down a fever.”
Old-fashioned means of storing knowledge, i.e., printed books and notebooks, are far more reliable, if less convenient, in this regard.
For your bug-out bag, create a compact cheat sheet of herbal remedies and their uses, such as how many drops of a certain tincture you need. Put this list in a clear, sealable plastic pocket.
For more long-term emergencies, consider adding one or more of these books to your home library:
The Herbal Apothecary: 100 Medicinal Herbs and How to Use Them by Dr. JJ Pursell
The Modern Herbal Dispensatory: A Medicine-Making Guide by Thomas Easley and Steven Horne
The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies by Claude Davis and Nicole Apelian
The Herbal Home Remedy Book by Joyce A. Wardwell
A Handbook of Native American Herbs by Alma R. Hutchens
