Best Survival Seed Vaults for Your Prepper Garden
Survival seed vaults are a crucial investment for any prepper looking to build a self-sustaining garden. These kits provide a variety of non-hybrid, non-GMO seeds that can be stored for long periods, ensuring a continuous supply of fresh produce in case of emergencies.
I’ve been testing survival seed vaults for several years now, and have gardened since I could pick up a spade. For this review, I inspected, stored, and grew seeds from various vaults in my personal garden.
My top recommendation is for the Open Seed Vault 32, a healthy mix of variety, long shelf life, and affordability.
If you want something that’ll stash away even longer, the Survival Essentials Ultimate can last a quarter-decade in its ammo can if stored properly. I also suggest a budget option to get your survival garden started right away.
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Best Survival Seed Vault
Open Seed Vault 32
15,000 Seeds, 32 Varieties, with High Germination Rates
Store the seeds you need for the future in high-quality, reliably dry packaging.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
There are a lot of options in this price range, but this one from Open Seed Vault edges them out. It has a great variety for a 15,000-seed vault and includes some of our survival favorites that are less common, like sunflowers.
Specifications
- Seed Count: 15,000+
- Variety: 32 vegetables & fruits
- Purity: 98% – 99%
- Germination Rates: 79% – 95%
- Seed Type: Heirloom, Non-GMO, grown in the US
- Packaging: Resealable Mylar
- Shelf Life: 20+ years
- Size: 8″ H x 5″ W x 1″ D
- Weight: 5.6 ounces
The packaging is solid, using layered mylar bags to protect the seeds and ensure that the germination rate stays high. It’s also efficiently packed, with it being small and lightweight enough to go mobile if needed.
With unsurpassed value and an excellent variety for survival sustainability, it’s easy to see why the Open Seed Vault 32 is the best.
Budget Survival Seeds
NatureZ Edge 11
4,800 Seeds, 11 Varieties, with Robust Packaging
This inexpensive starter kit will get your survival garden up and running- even if the seeds sit in storage for years.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
The bare minimum of survival seed kits doesn’t have to have a bunch of bad seeds in it. The vegetable seed kit from NatureZ Edge is quality (despite the brand name) and comes in a resealable mylar pouch. NatureZ Edge grows its seeds in the US, is Veteran-owned, and is a small family business.
Specifications
- Seed Count: 4,800+
- Variety: 11 vegetables
- Purity: Not shared
- Germination Rates: Not shared
- Seed Type: Heirloom, Non-GMO, grown in the US
- Packaging: Resealable Mylar
- Shelf Life: 5 years
- Size: 9.5″ H x 6″ W x 1″ D
- Weight: 2.4 ounces
The vegetable kit includes plenty of popular survival staples, including beans, cucumbers, onions, carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, peas, lettuce, corn, and broccoli. Most of these are known for being hardy and give a good variety for different climates.
If you are looking for a basic survival garden contingency plan, you can’t go wrong with the NatureZ Edge Vegetable Seed Kit.
Long-Term Seed Vault
Survival Essentials Ultimate
23,000 Seeds, 144 Varieties, in an Ammo Can
Stow some serious seeds in your at-home survival kit to create a victory garden anywhere, anytime.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
Level up any garden with 144 varieties with high germination rates. This kit will have you growing an abundance of crops in any USDA hardiness zone, so it won’t matter if you’re growing at home or at your bug out location.
Specifications
- Seed Count: 23,000+
- Variety: 144 vegetables, fruits, and herbs
- Purity: 99%
- Germination Rates: 85% – 95%
- Seed Type: Heirloom, Non-GMO, grown in the US
- Packaging: Resealable Mylar & watertight ammo can
- Shelf Life: 25+ years
- Size: 8″ H x 4″ W x 10″ D
- Weight: 2.1 pounds
Survival Essentials has been building seed vaults for over 25 years- so unlike a few other newcomers, they are tried and true, and we know their seeds hit the germination and purity marks they print.
The icing on the cake is the .30 caliber ammo can, which helps organize and protect all of the labeled pouches inside. It has an o-ring to seal it and protect the individual mylar bags inside even further. The germination rate will still suffer in storage, but it’s about as long as you can store seeds without cryogenics.
If you are looking for the best of the best, get the Survival Essentials Ultimate Heirloom Seed Vault.
Comparison Table
| Survival Seed Vault | Recommendation | Price* | Seed Count | Variety | Shelf Life |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Seed Vault 32 | Best Overall | $26 | 15,000 | 32 | 20 |
| NatureZ Edge 11 | Best for Beginners | $10 | 4,800 | 11 | 5 |
| Survival Essentials Ultimate | Best Shelf-Life | $150 | 23,000 | 144 | 25 |
| Patriot Seeds | $20 | 50,000 | 20 | 5 | |
| Survival Garden Seeds Home Kit | $30 | 18,500 | 30 | 8 | |
| Siskiyou Fast Food Bundle | $36 | 2,800 | 8 | 3 | |
| Heaven’s Harvest Seed Bank | $50 | 25,000 | 25 | 10 | |
| Victory Gardens Variety Pack | $90 | 20,000 | 125 | 25 | |
| Heaven’s Harvest Heirloom Max | $300 | 34,000 | 39 | 10 |
How I Tested
I bought several of the survival seed vaults after researching them and comparing their specifications. Then, I popped them open to examine the quality of the packaging and the accuracy of the product descriptions.
Next, I planted some of my favorite varieties that my family most often uses: various tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and squash. I checked the germination of them to make sure I didn’t have bad batches and complete failures that would cause me to miss the growing season.
I also evaluated how compact and easy they were to store, since storage is key to survival seed vaults. Their germination rate decreases by 3-5% every year, even if they are stored well. I noticed this impact during my testing with some of the kits I’ve been testing the longest.
Why Trust TruePrepper
Gardening is a great way to get sustainable and repeatable food on the table, even in an emergency or survival situation. I’m Sean Gold, the founder of TruePrepper and an avid gardener throughout my whole life. I don’t have a large garden, but I plan on scaling it up during a long-term emergency as part of my food storage and sustainability plan.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it, though: scaling up a garden for survival will be incredibly difficult, even with my gardening experience and stored survival seed vaults. Most people need over an acre of land to have a self-sustaining garden, and planning, prepping, and tending that land for a garden could be an entire job.
Starting from scratch would be near-impossible, so keep that in mind before you throw a survival seed vault in your closet. Having a plan, the land, and the know-how to continuously germinate a self-sustaining garden would be the first step.
At TruePrepper, we want you to be prepared, and I review and test these types of heavily-marketed supplies to help you select the best. Even if the best decision is to avoid the purchase for a more practical solution.
What to Look For
The best survival seed kit has several important features to look for:
- Value
- Varieties
- Germination Rate
- Purity
- Storage
When you get the right blend of these, you can find a seed kit that will work perfectly with your skillset to get your survival garden started. Below, we break down what each of these features means for the packs of seeds that truly set themselves apart.
Value: Cost vs. Benefit
The amount of money you spend on something like garden seeds shouldn’t blow out your entire budget. There are some massive kits and a little bit of marketing going on out there, so don’t get price-gouged. Follow your budget and get what makes the most sense for you.
You never want to spend too much money on one thing when it comes to prepping and survival. It’s better to diversify your prepping focus and budget to make sure you are covered for a wide range of scenarios.
Varieties
A variety of vegetables, fruits, and herbs are ideal for a survival garden, but can be difficult to cultivate depending on your USDA hardiness zone. Different foods provide different types of vitamins, minerals, calorie content, fiber, and more. Having a good mix of these is essential for your long-term health.
We can’t survive on potatoes alone, like Matt Damon in The Martian– he had help from a stash of multivitamins. Garden variety is better than multivitamins, but it will cost you more to have a bigger variety in your seed vault.
Germination Rate
Germination rates in the kits we compared ranged between 60% and 95% depending on the seed type and supplier. The higher, the better- since we want the seeds that we work hard to get going to actually grow.
Both germination rate and purity are good measures of how efficient your seeds will be.
Purity
Seed purity is a measure of whether the seed that you planted is actually what the kit says it is. Plenty of weeds, grasses, and other seeds can get mixed in naturally, resulting in a lower purity percentage.
When you combine purity percentage and germination rate, you get a metric called pure live seed.
Pure live seed (PLS) is equal to the product of the purity and germination percentages. So, the PLS of a bag of Bermuda grass where purity = 85% and germination = 75% would be 0.85 x 0.75 = 0.64 PLS.
The pure live seed of most of our picks is over 0.8 PLS, with many vegetables going much higher.
Storage
Storing seeds in dry environments is crucial to help them avoid fungal contamination and reduced germination.
Dry and cold is best for storage- less than 40% humidity and between 35-40°F. Maintaining a consistent temperature can be challenging without refrigeration, but reducing humidity can help.
Storing seeds in sealed mylar bags is ideal because it blocks light and humidity extremely well.
How to Start a Survival Garden
We have it easy now that we can go down to the hardware store and get plants for the garden, but starting from seeds can be tough. Especially if they have been in dry storage for a while and have reduced germination rates.
You also shouldn’t be just popping seeds into the ground and hoping for the best. With limited resources in both seeds and water, survival situations will require you to get the most out of your garden.
Who Needs a Survival Seed Vault?
Having fruit, vegetable, and herb seeds around to make a survival garden (both before and after SHTF events) is a pretty good idea.
We suggest that you have a survival seed vault in your:
We also suggest that you consider adding a seed kit to your:
Although storing seeds will lower their germination rate, they will still come in handy when you need to grow food to eat. Having enough seeds and a wide variety of them doesn’t have to be a problem in a survival situation, and can give you a useful garden well beforehand, too.
Sources & References
All of our experience and the testing we do to determine the best survival seed kit are useless without listing our research sources and references. We leaned on these for the book knowledge that we paired with our hands-on testing and practical prepping experience:
Herrmann, M. (2015). The Modern Day “Victory Garden”. Procedia Engineering. Volume 118. Pages 647 – 563. (Source)
Leng, C., et al. (2022). Daily home gardening improved survival for older people with mobility limitations: an 11-year follow-up study in Taiwan. Clinical Interventions in Aging. Pages 947 – 959. (Source)
Rajjou, L., et al. (2008). Seed longevity: Survival and maintenance of high germination ability of dry seeds. Comptes Rendus Biologies. Volume 331. Issue 10. Pages 796 – 805. (Source)
Conclusion
Food is always a survival priority. A seed kit or ‘vault’ can help you create your own victory garden now or help you create a sustainable food source during a survival event. Whether you plan to use them right away or keep them in dry storage, they are incredibly useful.
Here are a few other reads our subscribers have also found helpful:
- The Best Dehydrator for Prepping and Food Storage
- Best Storage Shelving for Food Supplies and Prepper Gear
- Survival Food List | Pantry Stockpile Plan and Checklist
See more of our expert-written guides, resources, and reviews in your search results – add TruePrepper as a preferred source.
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