When you're planning to spend time trekking through the woods or camping in the wilds, or just getting away for a weekend, you need to ensure you have what you need to be safe and survive. That's why a survival gear checklist is so helpful, and important.

Of course, what you include on your survival gear checklist may vary depending on where you plan to go and how long you'll be there, but the majority of the items are the same.

The basic items that should be included on a survival gear checklist will provide for shelter and sleeping and food and water. Anything else is added and just icing on the cake.

First off, you'll need to be sure you survival gear checklist includes items to help you prepare shelter. Ideally, this would be a tent with stakes, but that may not be possible. Another option is to include a tarp and some rope so you can create a makeshift shelter. If you have an axe, you may be able to create a simple wood lean-to, depending on the conditions.

Once you have the shelter planned for, you'll want to try to include some form of bed roll, blankets, or something for sleeping. While this isn't a mandatory addition to your survival gear checklist, it will be helpful. If not available, you can always use a coat or other piece of fabric for covering and sleep on the ground as many have done before.

Food preparation and water purification items are mandatory to any survival gear checklist. This can include a fire starter and/or waterproof matches, that handy axe or saw for cutting wood, and even a flashlight to help you scrounge for berries or herbs, if needed. You don't know what the situation will require, but there are some essentials you'll want.

One of the simplest solutions to ensure your survival gear checklist has everything you need is to simply buy a kit like the Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Kit designed to help you make it in even the most hostile environment.

The Ultimate Survival Kit will fit easily in a backpack or the trunk of your car, or stash away inside a plane's cargo hold. Inside will be everything you need in a personal survival kit.

The 15-piece Ultimate Survival Kit contains a dependable multi-tool with pliers, two knife blades (fine edge and serrated), several screwdrivers, a bottle opener, tweezers, miniature light, mirror (for signaling), a blanket, fire starter and waterproof matches, fire tinder, a snare wire and wire cutters, emergency cord, sewing kit and thread, a fishing kit and more.

In addition, the Ultimate Survival Kit contains something you need on your survival gear checklist that you may not even realize and that is SOS instructions and priorities of survival pocket guide with Bear Grylls own survival essentials. And the Man vs. Wild star should know what that involves.

Your survival gear checklist may include a number of things not mentioned here, but these are the most important items to ensure you include. Especially when you can grab them all in one waterproof bag and go, looking for the next adventure wherever it leads.