Prepping to be a prepper

[RogerDat]

You prepare for what you expect. Best preparation is mental. How would I deal with _________? I expect to get use out of my investment in time, money and labor in regular use not only if society breaks down. So what fills in that blank tends to be something that has a decent chance of transpiring. I shoot for 2 weeks, Ice storms have taken out power in the area for that long. The folks that might have to go a month with blocked roads or floods cutting them off from town plan accordingly. I would imagine either because they think ahead or after the first month on short rations they would get smarter or move.

Un-scented non sudsing chlorine bleach is a cheap and effective water purification solution. Rotate through the laundry room if you still use bleach in laundry. Takes about a teaspoon per gallon. Some filter cloths are good too. https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/B...erPurification

I have a well pump but if I didn't have fuel for generator it would take about a 4 ft. deep hole in one low corner of the lot to dig a well that would produce some water. Hole flows at just past 3 ft.

[Petrol & Powder]

Being "Prepared" is one thing.

Being a "Prepper" is something totally different in my book.

[Artful]

So what is your definition of a "Prepper"?

prepper (n)
Someone who focuses on preparedness, generally for various worst-case scenarios like peak oil or armageddon. Sometimes used to avoid the more loaded term survivalist.

prepper
NOUN - North American
A person who believes a catastrophic disaster or emergency is likely to occur in the future and makes active preparations for it, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivalism
Survivalism is a primarily American movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists or preppers) who are actively preparing for emergencies, including possible disruptions in social or political order, on scales from local to international. Survivalists often acquire emergency medical and self-defense training, stockpile food and water, prepare to become self-sufficient, and build structures (e.g., survival retreats or underground shelters) that may help them survive a catastrophe.

Use of the term survivalist dates from 1976.[1] The terms prepper and prep are derived from the word prepare, and have grown in popularity since the 1990s, partly as a reaction to terrorists like Ted Kaczynski and Timothy McVeigh and stereotypes connected with them as they were militaristic, but these people were not "preppers" in the true nature of the definition, were tried for the murder of innocent people and are considered terrorists. The prepper or survivalist focuses on living through dangerous situations, and helping their community in the process.[2]

Or have you take the definition from MSM?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/20...ygN/story.html

http://channel.nationalgeographic.co...-out-location/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Preppers

[tja6435]

We have about 850# pork in the freezer with way more on the hoof. I'm prepped for whatever, if nothing happens, we still have almost half ton of pork in the freezer we rotate through. 110# of bacon in the other freezer not pictured along with around 100# cured hams.

[RogerDat]

Being "Prepared" is one thing.

Being a "Prepper" is something totally different in my book.

My feeling exactly.

There was a show on preppers called Preppers and because the extremes are the most interesting the people on that show were at the far ends of "interesting". Spending the weekend in the concrete bunker under the garage going to the bathroom in a bucket and rotating guard duty strikes me as maybe a bit over the top. Having stashes along a back road route they could walk or bike to get to the ocean to escape the chaos by sea. Likewise a bit unlikely to prove useful. Never was all that clear if the family was competent mariners or not.

I would need a very strong reason to leave place and people I know, that also happens to be in farm country where if you can live on corn bread and soybeans you will probably do ok for a good long while. Now having the parts to make a still might be interesting.... do some trade goods from that feed corn Of course would have to "practice" with it a bit first just to get the hang of it don't you know. Some good strong shine might even make soybeans tasty.

[BrassMagnet]

Maybe I missed something here!

Being prepared (a prepper) is good.
A disaster can be global, national, regional, local, or affect just your family. It might affect just you and your co-workers.
What do you do if your boss hands you a pink slip? If you are prepared, you just search for a better job for 40 hours each week until you find one. Then you re-stock your bank account and supplies.

[starmac]

Well, it is coming down to the nut cutting now, should be confirmed inthe next week or so, if I get to go off grid and remote for 8 months. I have my fingers crossed.
It will not be like prepping so much though, we will have a camp with generator power, food flown in weekly I suppose too, but it will be an adventure too I reckon.
Now just have to decide what all and how much to take. lol

[Mr_Sheesh]

Used to be that Granny had her "Purse of EVERYTHING" that carried bandaids, mole skin, everything you might need in even a somewhat unusual day - People learned to always have those sorts of things ready, just in case. Nowadays a lot of people just figure that they'll run to the corner store when they need something, I tend to keep a lot of things in the car if not on me though (I was in Search and Rescue for years and found that, at 11PM on a Sunday night during a search, when the person doing the radio operating at night got an upset stomach, it was a little rough to drive 50 miles back to civilization to where an actual OPEN store was, it was a lot more convenient to be carrying say 10 pills, just in case, for that situation. Same for other OTC meds.)

There is sane preparation, and fixation on the most unlikely events, sure. But, if you look up "Zombie Squad" (I like their humor ) they DO have a point - "If you're ready for the Zombie Apocalypse, you're ready for ANYTHING." Pretty much true - Mainly they grin a lot and prep for bad weather, lightning storms or wind storms, flooding, sometimes heavy precipitation; minor social unrest (for example, don't go into Seattle on May 1st, always riots in some areas downtown there), earthquakes, the sorts of things that DO happen around you regularly; Tornadoes or Hurricanes if you're in an area that gets those, etc.

To me, being somewhat prepared for things that WILL happen seems just plain sane - If a bad storm hits and downs a lot of trees, and no one CAN drive anywhere for a week, that's happened around here, some neighbors had no power (I lucked out, my work at the time had no power though) - It's good to have some supplies and tools so your life isn't lost or too badly disrupted. (Who likes chaos or pain? Not I.) Using your brain and being rational about it, though, seems wise I imagine it'll happen again - So will snowstorms, flooding, etc. (In Search and Rescue we helped sandbag peoples' houses, sadly some lived in a flood plain and were "repeat customers" year after year - To me that seems unwise, best to move to higher ground!) Same thing for when picking a house, don't pick a house on glacial till on the edge of a hill, don't pick a house sitting atop a known sinkhole, don't camp at the very edge of a river when it's likely that heavy rains will happen, just use the brain you have for something more than a spacer between your ears

It's not just that firearms will let you get what you need, either - Learn new capabilities. One family I knew, the father was laid off at a major Co. here, had 4 or 5 kids (Been a while!) and tho their house was MOSTLY paid for, he couldn't find work - He went fishing with the kids and fed them all that way, they ate a lot of dogfish (which you have to soak in salt water to remove the Uric Acid from) - If they'd had to buy that meat, they might have had a tough time keeping their house - Being flexible helped them a lot. Being homeless would have been harsh for them. Positive mental attitude helps a lot, definitely.

[Blacksmith]

Here is a surprisingly good article on the Mathematics of Prepping. I gives some mathematical probability for a prepping event happening. Also a pretty good explanation on why someone might want to have a firearm. It gets a little heavy on math but it is OK to skim over those parts but read the complete article and share.

https://medium.com/@bjcampbell/the-s...r-15fce7d10437