Like the title says, I know nothing about prepping. Help me understand it more. For instance, what are you prepping for: A shortage of goods like we had on toilet paper or a breakdown of society like Road Warrior? And I "assume" that the difference in those 2 examples would wildly differ in how you prep. Like I've heard talk about buying silver & gold. Gold I don't understand unless you using it as a hedge for stocks or cash. But in the RWarrior type prepping I would think that it wouldn't be valuable. Even silver wouldn't mean as much as gas or bullets. So please explain to me what your expecting might happen & how you prep for it.
I know nothing about Prepping
- Thread starter old tex
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I understand your question but how about you peruse the rest of the forum for answers. There's no way we could even summarize for you. Pull up your chair and a cup of coffee and dig in to the content of this forum.
Well........Me not the brightest pumpkin in the pumpkin patch but sounds like you are baiting us on the subject of prepping. Just from your few lines, it is clear you have some grasp of the subject. I'll hold off getting sucked-in, till you stop with the games.
Fixed it forya'!
He's right, there is already tons of posts on the forum about how to prep.
Use the "search" button at the upper right of the page.
Using the word "prepping" in a title search turned up 140 threads.
...I recommend more than one cup of coffee.
I live like my parents taught me, the parents who endured the Great Depression and then WWII.
And what they learned from THEIR parents.
It’s not “prepping “ it’s a way of life.
You’ve got three or four years of food put back, don’t ya?
And what they learned from THEIR parents.
It’s not “prepping “ it’s a way of life.
You’ve got three or four years of food put back, don’t ya?
I won't give you the cold-shoulder.
There are different levels for prepping, short term (weeks), medium term (months), long term (years).
Yes, you can 'graduate' from one to the next one up.
The first thing to do, is evaluate where you are at now.
Most people could easily make it a week or 2 without going to the store.
It'd as simple as becoming prepared for something to go wrong.. it can be as simple as having a spare set of keys if you lock yourself out of your own car in your driveway or as complex as preparing for multiple different types of apocalypse scenarios.
You gotta define what you want to be prepared for. Then aquire the skills and equipment neccessary so that if it does occur you don't suffer/die for lack of preparedness. It's pretty simple-
The difficult part comes when you start having to filter through what everyone thinks is gonna happen you'll see preppers range from bad weather to full on alien invasions...
Fwiw, I prepare for the persecution of Christians that's spoken of in the biblical end times.
You gotta define what you want to be prepared for. Then aquire the skills and equipment neccessary so that if it does occur you don't suffer/die for lack of preparedness. It's pretty simple-
The difficult part comes when you start having to filter through what everyone thinks is gonna happen you'll see preppers range from bad weather to full on alien invasions...
Fwiw, I prepare for the persecution of Christians that's spoken of in the biblical end times.
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For us it's just country life. A trip to the store is 20 minutes. We try to have most things on hand. As a result we have quite a bit of things we use daily. Another aspect is when we leave home we dress as though we may need to walk home. If we are wearing shorts and flip flops we bring a pair of pants shoes and a hoodie just in case. In the process of prepping for no reason we are prepped for many reasons.
Prepping can be as simple, as a hedge against inflation. I know it has saved my butt a couple of times.
I do the road warrior style, 'cause machines are my strong suit, and I have a fair collection of toilet paper too,
The supply chain is on hospice care, very little manufacturing on this continent. people can not think critically
The supply chain is on hospice care, very little manufacturing on this continent. people can not think critically
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Ben
I kinda look at prepping as "preparation" . Preparation for what? That kinda depends on where you live and what is going on around you. I've prepped to be prepared for simple power outages, hurricanes, pandemics, and stupid government decisions. How prepared do you want to be in case those things happen. Something to eat, drink, a way to prepare the food, staying warm, or staying cool, growing food, raising food, hunting food, foraging, protection, reparing things, having extra medication... it just all depends on YOUR situation and how prepared YOU want to be.
I'm a horizon to horizon prepper in some areas, that being I keep six months of supplies handy, that meaning I prep for approximately 6 months to a year ahead, in other areas, I'm a "rollover" that meaning I constantly rotate and add to items such as food, TP, ammo and medical supplies. I don't have the space or the money to fill barrels of fuel and grain.
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Ben
Sourdough you couldn't be more wrong. I wasn't baiting at all. My neighbor is more or less a prepper so I know what he does. I just wondered what the preppers here project will happen & what they do about it. Those questions could probably be answered in 4 or 5 sentences. As for the gold & silver comment, I've invested in gold before (lost my butt) so I know a little about it. I just couldn't see shaving a ingot of gold to buy bread or whatever. And silvers worth would be dependent on what type of crash your living in. All of my knowledge about prepping is based off of talking to my neighbor (the first prepper I've ever talked to).
I guess that I more or less expected people to say something like I'm prepping for a mild crash & stockpiling for that. Or maybe I'm expecting war on the streets & prepping for that war (my neighbor). As for reading all the posts on prepping, I don't think those would really answer my general basic questions.
I don't mean to cause problems or start anything. I was just wondering. Oh & I'm not for or against prepping because I don't really know enough about the "movement".
I caught up on all the posts after answering the one above. Oddly I guess that you could say that I'm "kind of" a prepper by marriage. My wife grew up in upper MN & shops like tomorrow there will be impassable roads. Remember when TP was in short supply? We had enough to last until the store shelves were full again. Food, we have 2 freezers full & a lot of canned good. I remember seeing 2 cases of soup down where we store dog food. I've been married over 35 years & never looked at it as prepping. I looked at it as keeping my wife happy by not saying anything about her stocking up so much food.
Lastly I'll say that I believe that everyone has the right to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't hurt someone else. If you are a prepper or hate the idea of prepping it doesn't bother me nor do I somehow judge you either way. It's none of my business.
Lastly I'll say that I believe that everyone has the right to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't hurt someone else. If you are a prepper or hate the idea of prepping it doesn't bother me nor do I somehow judge you either way. It's none of my business.
@old tex so I was waiting to see what would happen here also. In the past, when someone would call me a prepper, I scoffed and said I was no such thing. I’ve always said I just live traditionally. I grew up out of town and roads were not always passable and power would go out for weeks at a time. The way I live reflects that. The only caveat I will add is that since the hoopla a few years ago 
, I am cognizant of keeping up with things (parts in particular) that are made in foreign countries. I suppose in some respects that makes me a prepper. As far as a zombie apocalypse, we are already amongst them. We are being encouraged to accept and include them 
, I am cognizant of keeping up with things (parts in particular) that are made in foreign countries. I suppose in some respects that makes me a prepper. As far as a zombie apocalypse, we are already amongst them. We are being encouraged to accept and include them You asked.........
There is simply too much to learn, or you die. The bottom line is if you "ain't" living a post SHTF lifestyle now. you're going to die. It is the transition that will kill you.
If you spent every other year, from now forward living a post SHTF lifestyle you might have a 50/50 chance of surviving the "transition". Might.
Standard issue preppers will have a very slight "fleeting" advantage over the clueless non-preppers. Very-very slight advantage.
The ugly truth is it is already too late. The best would be to train your children from birth to live a post SHTF lifestyle.
Your, not going to survive the "transition" faze into a cruel new reality. Prepping has been corrupted for near 50 years.
Now.......think about this.....really take a few minutes of quiet to think or notice that in the last three & half years over "TEN MILLION" pre-trained, and highly skilled at living a SHTF lifestyle were imported to "YOUR" reality. Now add that to an estimated seventeen million, Americans that are pretrained. Funny had that comes up to 10% of the humans in America. Easy to see a 90% die-off post SHTF.
We live a totally artificial reality. This is especially true of "so called" western countries. I have been studying & living this subject (prepping for survival) for seventy plus years. I have progressively over that time period been "PUSH" away from delusional & optimistic expectation of survival a serious SHTF on a nationwide or worldwide scale.
What survives if there is no civilization, no delusional supply systems........The answer is: The Uncivilized will Survive.
The way I see it the end of the world as we knew it really took off in earnest when the Covid thing hit.lock downs masking almost got to none shall by or sell save that they have the jab, couldn't eat in some restaurants without the mark. when will the next big thing hit, oh it did a big ship full of containers took out a major supply chain bridge. whats next??
I prep for:
For financial crisis, I have my wealth stored in multiple forms, from digital cash, to physical cash, to gold & silver.
Societal breakdown requires water, food, etc. I will never be fully prepared for that. I was most worried about this when I was directly responsible for my young children, and I wanted to be able to tell them that their father had a plan if the worst happened. Now, they are mostly on their own.
- Financial crisis
- EMP (or other societal breakdown)
- Everything going perfectly great
For financial crisis, I have my wealth stored in multiple forms, from digital cash, to physical cash, to gold & silver.
Societal breakdown requires water, food, etc. I will never be fully prepared for that. I was most worried about this when I was directly responsible for my young children, and I wanted to be able to tell them that their father had a plan if the worst happened. Now, they are mostly on their own.
I've seen you post this sentiment multiple times, while I agree there is some truth to it I also believe that people are capable of living more than just 1 lifestyle at any given time, especially as it pertains to "post-shtf" or whatever.
Yeah, yeah, the transition is what kills you... if you've never done it before. that being said, you dont have to live in survival mode at all times to ensure your own survival or at least give you as good of a chance at living as anything else. That's not to say that risks aren't inherent to any and all lifestyles, but those risks don't really change until you start throwing the real problem at them which is by and large people..
I say this because personally, I find living in the woods seperate from other people to be MUCH easier than living within society with everyone else. I almost died TWICE on the road last week alone driving to do mundane "safe" errands... the risks of society are more frequent and in my opinion far more dangerous than the risks nature provides- I'd WAY rather contend with nature than people and i would if i wasnt called to do otherwise. With the time I've spent honing skills and learning the alternatives I find the safest I ever am is when I'm ALONE and far away from all the other bumbling fools that inhabit this planet. My chances of dying within society are exponentially higher than my chances of dying in the wilderness. The wilderness is where I literally go for a vacation. Thats not to say that living at in a modern house and taking advantage of plumbing is inherently dangerous- its just all the other crap (people) that goes along with that! so yeah, if I want to take advantage of grocery stores and air conditioning in the meantime that's fine, the cost of that is that I have to content with all the other fools that never learned the alternative and can't even be bothered to stop at an intersection. Some of us legitimately look at SHTF as an upgrade once all the hyper-interdependent people kill eachother off. Those hyper dependent types ain't running to the big scary woods, their tender little feet won't take them even if they wanted to. And also- most of the Internet survivalists are mostly fluff too, so trust me even those "badasses" ain't going to be trekking 20+ miles a day on foot for a week just to come tango with fellas like me- So take that fwiw. Frankly, i think its more likely if i actually did find someone out there that wed be happy to see eachother as the terrain itself acts as quite the mediator of intent... even then, the uglier truth is that for most, SHTF won't even occur. They'll just conform to whatever regime holds power and cling to their percieved luxuries and hedonistic lifestyles.
Point being, I think the whole "SHTF lifestyle" is mostly a made up and completely undefined quantification as most people don't even define exactly how/why the SHTF. I think the current state of prepping is all a bunch of people who talk alot and do very little- that's why everyone pretends like it's so damn hard to survive- the truth is, it's so much easier to live like a caveman than it is to content with all the modern garbage that we're inundated with in our daily lives- all the distractions in the world direct us furthur away from God and his creation.
I have much respect for you and your posts, but there's more than one way to skin this cat.
Prepping for me includes things like charging my cell phone before a severe storm hits and checking the forecast to see if might need my sunglasses.
Meant to a joke but prepping is simple as being prepared for what you can see coming down the road and even considering worst case possibilities that may be random or not... and thinking about what's necessary to survive under duress. That's critical thinking part mentioned earlier in the thread. I didn't think it's such a re rare thing, but then it sure seems it's not too common.
Supply chain issues, also mentioned earlier in the thread, is my primary reason for prepping and the one reason that I see as staring us in the face.
Also, I don't think it's too late for anyone to start prepping, everything and anything a person can do today would improve their chances tomorrow.
Meant to a joke but prepping is simple as being prepared for what you can see coming down the road and even considering worst case possibilities that may be random or not... and thinking about what's necessary to survive under duress. That's critical thinking part mentioned earlier in the thread. I didn't think it's such a re rare thing, but then it sure seems it's not too common.
Supply chain issues, also mentioned earlier in the thread, is my primary reason for prepping and the one reason that I see as staring us in the face.
Also, I don't think it's too late for anyone to start prepping, everything and anything a person can do today would improve their chances tomorrow.
I wonder why I prep. I still refer to myself as a "survivalist" but it seems all my life I have literally been sitting in a target. before I moved to Ga, I was ONE MILE from a nuclear bomb trigger factory, nobody there knew, but I bet the Russians did. right now I am one mile from ground zero, I found that out recently, So why bother since moving is an impossibility? Habit. So far I've found my preps useful after bad storms, 9/11, and the COVID BS. but playing Mad Max? those days are gone forever. even if you can only prep a little, like say a month down the road, in this world you're a dummy if you don't.
The big things I expect?
Nuclear war after Europe sends troops to Ukraine. This used to be mid-list.
major storm and power outages, especially with fuel costs rising.
Riots after the election.
Food/fuel shortages.
more mystery outbreaks. Everybody knows COVID was a biological attack.
The big things I expect?
Nuclear war after Europe sends troops to Ukraine. This used to be mid-list.
major storm and power outages, especially with fuel costs rising.
Riots after the election.
Food/fuel shortages.
more mystery outbreaks. Everybody knows COVID was a biological attack.
I agree 100% I agree. You are 100% correct it will improve their chances for tomorrow.
It is the Five or Seven or Thirteen years that come after tomorrow that are a problem.
People who have only ever experienced weather related "inconveniences" have a hard time grasping SHTF lasting one or two generations.
You know, it dawns on me, that those too dumb to prep, even minimally probably don't need to breed anyway, just saying. I can build a n00b a three-month kit for under 300$. A layer of beans, a layer of rice, a layer of Knorr dehydrated soups, a water filter, a 5 gallon water jug, a light duty water filter, and a better-than-average med kit, add some candles and a flashlight, all in a steel garbage can with a lid.
Here is the PROBLEM. Most people have never shinned anything. OK.....maybe they have skinned an apple or an onion.
On a more serious note.......People simply can't comprehend the possibility (let alone likelihood) that "NO-one" will save them.
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I have thought about that and figure that if SHTF lasts for longer than 6 months and on a wide scale - society (as we know it today) will collapse and prepping alone won't save anyone that doesn't have survivalist skills.
Few people post what they truly believe. People post what "They WANT" to believe.
You mean the govt.... to put us in camps or a higher power like God? Serious question.
I totally agree. The best, the purest way, is to live a post SHTF lifestyle.
No everyone wants to milk the Goodlife, and then dig out all the notes they made from forum post and shift into post SHTF reality, while being shot at and nursing bullet wounds that are septic, on an empty stomach.
