Preppers Were Right

Posted On October 27, 2022

Being Prepared Is Always A Good Idea

There have been more than a few shows on something coined as Prepping. Basically, in the modern world, these folks do what humans have always done pre-industrial revolution days. You grow and raise your food and then after you harvest, you preserve that food to last you through cold winters, droughts and other calamities.

Unfortunately, many modern preppers go way beyond such simple survival methods. They build compounds, gather lots and lots of fire arms and ammunition, build bunkers (there are some companies dedicated to building bunkers even out of used shipping containers.) go totally off grid, etc.

There are even city dwellers that do what they can in their limited apartment spaces to “prep”.

Most of the Western World has forgotten about the simple things in life like canning and other forms of food preservation. And this is not a good thing.

I am not talking about hoarding here. I know here in the USA we have a massive problem with hoarding. People keep junk and useless stuff like old newspapers all in case they need that one article one day. We also have had the Super Couponer Phenoms of late. These people love to show off their “stock pile”. You know the people that have 150 years of toilet paper.

However, there is some wisdom in all of this madness.

How can you prepare for bad times or even calamity? Its easier than you might think. And it starts in your kitchen.

Having a supply of bottled or “canned” water is a very good idea. There are various measurements from various web sites and real world places that give all kinds of advice on this. Simply put, figure out how many gallons per day you and each of your family members really need daily. This does not include the 10 minute showers you take every morning. How much water do you consume or need to consume and use for basics like food preparation and simple clean up. Then multiply that by the number of days you wish to be prepared.

An average family should be able to easily handle and store a weeks worth of water for such use. BTW, as much as I hate plastic bottles, it is the best method for storing and carrying water. These containers are durable, light and don’t break as easily as glass. Light and portable is the key.

Another good item to have is a water purifier. A good one. Probably two of them if you have a family bigger than 4 people. Also additional filters. You need enough filtering capability to last at least a month and 3 months is probably more ideal.

Clean water is your first priority. Secure it.

Next on the list is stable food items. These things are not always going to be light nor will they be easily transported. But the first things you should have is dried goods and airtight containers in which to store them. Things like rice, bean and pasta. There are a ton of companies out there that sell food kits. They are often very expensive but everything is already prepared and preserved for you and some of them claim this food will last in their containers for 20 or more years.

You can also build your own kits by simply going to a camping, outdoor or sports supply store. They have tons of these kinds of meals on their shelves already packaged for you. Buying these will save you some money, not a lot, but at least you will get what you want.

A prepper will tell you to have enough food to last you for years. A good rule of thumb is that in good times, to hedge against a natural disaster, one week for each person. For more severe times then 3 to 6 months should be your goal. And in cases of war you might want at least 1 year.

The other thing that is very important here. You cant tell ANYONE you have this stuff. Not even family members not in your immediate family. Unless you want to have to defend your stash from others, its best to keep your stash to yourself.

One last tip. If you have or build a “stash” you need to rotate. This stuff does not keep forever so you need to use it before you need it. This is pretty easy to do. Stores do this all the time. New stock goes in the back of current stock. When you buy new items, put them in the back of the line of the items you already have on hand. In this way, you wont run into the problems of expired food and all the medical problems that can cause. And when the you know what hits the fan, you don’t want to have to search out medical treatment because that will be very costly, time consuming and probably not available.

I have not touched on drugs because I am not even a novice when it comes to gathering and preserving most drugs. Simple things like pain killers are good to have on hand but understand all medications, including over the counter stuff like antibiotic creams, have an expiration date on them. Pay very close attention to those dates. Last thing you will want is to need one of those medications in an emergency and find out they don’t or wont work because they have expired.

Use common sense and do your research and you will find that being prepared for life’s hiccups will be a little less stressful on you and your family.

One last thing. Learn how to forage for food and learn how to hunt for food and have the proper equipment for foraging and hunting and fishing. At some point you will run out of food or you will run out of important food sources like protein. You will need to know how to replenish those things should things go on longer than you planned for.

Good luck and Gods speed.