What is "ADVANCED PREPPING" in your opinion....?

[Sourdough]

I'll avoid attempting to further clarify the question, preferring to keep it to the responders personal judgment as to what is "Advanced".

 

[Sourdough]

For clarification......."NOT" asking what you do in area of prepping, or have accomplished in the area of prepping.

Where is the "distinction" between "Advanced" prepping and "other" prepping...?

How would you describe the distinction for yourself or others.

 

[SoJer]

Imo, it's LIVING IT. ie: Living in the middle of 'nowhere, Earth', and making it..

Granted, "prepping" connotates 'pre-situation preparation / planning', but to me, the difference between 'Baseline' and 'Advanced' prepping, is when you're Using the 'baseline', to actually survive (and thrive..)

ie: Growing your own food and Raising your own meat-animals (vs just having 'canned' / dried, etc) And being able to 'sustain those cycles', ie: sustaining food-plants growth / harvesting year-year, and 'animal husbandry', etc, not just 'one-shot deals'.. And of course, hunting / fishing / knowledgeable foraging, etc..

..Or, being actually Able to take care of 'advanced' medical issues - being Able to perform minor surgery - including 'deeper' Dental care / emergencies (SO important to not forget, imo...) like a root canal or extraction - successfully - or set a Break, or deliver your Own / other in the Community's baby, etc..

..Fix your own Vehicles (because you 'baseline prepped' both the Parts and the Knowledge-base / practiced, etc..) Distill your own booze (and actually Grow the consituents.. ..Mix your own 'BP' / reload, maybe even forge your Own brass (not just cast yer own lead..) ...Forge / repair your own Tools, and be Able to 'improvise' where something doesn't exist (ie: Jigs / custom-tools, etc..) ..Be your Own FD / 'Police force', Etc, Etc..

..Basically, "Advanced" would be the Ability to actually Live nearly 100% self-sustainably (which is, in reality, kind of impossible.. but 'Near' that, anyway..) and really care for All aspects of Living / survival, withOut much 'outside help'...

..Ya know - kind of like ol 'Bunkerbuster' some of us knew / admired so much.. <sniffle> Guy friggin Logged his own Timber and Mined his own Gold (besides everything listed above..) THAT Gent was a 'prepper'.. RIP, Sir J... +_+

Anyhoo, that's my .02
jd

 

[Sourdough]

..Ya know - kind of like ol 'Bunkerbuster' some of us knew / admired so much.. <sniffle> Guy friggin Logged his own Timber and Mined his own Gold (besides everything listed above..) THAT Gent was a 'prepper'..

Not only the "Master"......he was helpful and respectful to anyone interested in learning.

He personified the "clear" distinction between "Boots in the Field" hands on "Living-it" experience, and those regurgitating book learning and internet forum learning.

 

[SoJer]

a Triple-Amen to That.

jd

 

[elkhound]

look at the words/term being used...


advanced
[ədˈvanst]


ADJECTIVE

1. far on or ahead in development or progress.
   "negotiations are at an advanced stage" ·
   [more]
   • new and not yet generally accepted.
     "his advanced views made him unpopular"

ad·vanced
(ăd-vănst′)
adj.
1. Highly developed or complex.
2. Being at a higher level than others: an advanced text in physics.
3. Ahead of the times; progressive: advanced teaching methods.
4. Far along in course or time: an advanced stage of illness; a person of advanced age.



prepping
[ˈprepiNG]


NOUN

1. the action or process of preparing something, or preparing for something.
   "after hours of prepping and cooking and stressing and a few near-breakdowns, Thanksgiving was wonderful"
   • NORTH AMERICAN
     the practice of making active preparations for a possible catastrophic disaster or emergency, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.
     "prepping is a way of life and there is always something new to learn, tasks to do, and gear to purchase"

now with these definitions are you asking advanced prepping or advanced warning/news to be ahead of others.? these are two very different things.

 

[elkhound]

prepping has levels to it. example medical...at what level are you/a person is at? have first aid kit and can stick a band aid on it and call it good..level#1...has taken red cross training each year and practices yearly..level#2....takes courses in various medical field offered like combat med and wound care etc...level#3....became a EMT or Paramedic...level#4...nurse is level#5 etc. etc.


this is on various items from foods,land,vehicles,money,skill and on and on and on.

advanced warnings/news is when your lifetime friend and former co worker from the big rat city says hey i want to give you a heads up we are about to do xyz in abc area get a move on or whatever needs doing then......or a bank manager says hey we been told to close doors next friday pull your money as best you can next few days but keep your mouth shut or there wont be enough cash for you todraw out. just a couple of many advanced warnings/news to get you out ahead of others in that dept.

total different things.

 

[elkhound]

advanced could be a young redneck guy sitting on his 200 acres property with a mix of pasture and hardwoods with 15 beef cows and calves and a milk cow and 100 chickens living in a simple mobilhome with springwater piped in and only have half dozen guns but everything is paid for and surrounded by national forest

advanced could be an old timer living at end of road in alaska surrounded by preps and has no debt surrounded by national forest filled with game and fish for the effort it takes to harvest it as well.

lots of answers to my understanding and use of advanced prepping.

 

[Rebecca]

To me advanced preppers are living, thriving and sustaining a lifestyle as close to independent as possible given current realities. A month without electricity should not cause a stir or problem for example.
You should be able to, and are, doing the things.
At the same time you also have a analytical eye on new and happenings local and world wide.
To use Elkhound's example of medical knowledge, the advanced prepper would have picked the level they feel they require and already done something about it.

 

[SheepDog]

Prepping is NOT a noun. It is a verb. Anytime a word is defined as an act or action it is a verb unless it modifies a verb at which point it is an adverb..
Since we we prepare for the future we are all doing advanced prepping.

 

[elkhound]

To me advanced preppers are living, thriving and sustaining a lifestyle as close to independent as possible given current realities. A month without electricity should not cause a stir or problem for example.
You should be able to, and are, doing the things.
At the same time you also have a analytical eye on new and happenings local and world wide.
To use Elkhound's example of medical knowledge, the advanced prepper would have picked the level they feel they require and already done something about it.

it takes time and money to do things as well as will power. so a younger person unless has gobs of money isnt going to be at a spot as older person will be or should be. theres exceptions to rules as well.

you cant get a mature orchard or vineyard without have extreme forethought to planting those trees out and then having 10 to 15 years growth on them. i.e. i have a couple trees at 15 years old now. they produced their first nut crop at age 12 years.

just one of many examples.

 

[Cascadian]

Lots of good answers. The short version to me is when you start living it. For instance not buying stuff you don't need and all the other big and small decisions that move you closer everyday.

Edit. Preps don't count as stuff you don't need. Those are things you just don't need yet.

 

[SheepDog]

Fruit trees take between 5 (for grafted trees) to 10 years (seed planted trees) before they will produce moderate volumes of fruit. They will produce good fruit for 10 to 12 years for a life of 17 to 22 years. After that they should be replaced. If you plan to grow trees from seed you should plant trees every 10 years. Take the old trees out and use them for smoking chips or whatever else you might need. You should plant a few different types of each tree so there will always be some production in off years. Late frost, too much rain or extremely hot weather will affect some fruits but not others. Young trees need to be protected from browsers and inclement weather.

 

[Rebecca]

it takes time and money to do things as well as will power. so a younger person unless has gobs of money isnt going to be at a spot and older person will be or should be. theres exceptions to rules as well.

you cant get a mature orchard or vineyard without have extreme for thought to planting those trees out and then having 10 to 15 years growth on them. i.e. i have not trees at 15 years old now. they produced their first nut crop at age 12 years.

just one of many examples.

You are right on that. But at the same time you can, I think, be classified as advanced in your preperation before those trees reach 15 years. That young person has at least planted that orchard and it will produce one day. In the mean time they have also planted crops that will produce much faster to bridge the gap. Blueberries and strawberries etc.

It is also a matter of flexibility. I could be called that broke young prepper. Can I fix my F150 if the electronics break badly. No. And I don't yet have the money to throw at an old 80's vehicle that I could fix. So I know that if SHTF is here to stay I will loose the ability to move by motor vehicle at some point. But there are other ways that can be planned, from bicycle to horses.

To me advanced is more than storing a bunch of rice and guns in your suburban basement and calling it good. Its just more...in-depth . Its living it. I'm not describing what I want to get across very well right now lol

 

[elkhound]

Prepping is NOT a noun. It is a verb. Anytime a word is defined as an act or action it is a verb unless it modifies a verb at which point it is an adverb..
Since we we prepare for the future we are all doing advanced prepping.

you try to get action out of a nun you are going to be sadly disappointed....she will put the ruler/stick up side your head or hike her skirt a little and pull an ankle 38 snub nose out of her nylons and shoot you. nuns dont fool around.

tombstone will read he was kilt by a nun ! the shame of it all !!

 

[elkhound]

Fruit trees take between 5 (for grafted trees) to 10 years (seed planted trees) before they will produce moderate volumes of fruit. They will produce good fruit for 10 to 12 years for a life of 17 to 22 years. After that they should be replaced. If you plan to grow trees from seed you should plant trees every 10 years. Take the old trees out and use them for smoking chips or whatever else you might need. You should plant a few different types of each tree so there will always be some production in off years. Late frost, too much rain or extremely hot weather will affect some fruits but not others. Young trees need to be protected from browsers and inclement weather.

always plant standard size trees is my main lesson in trees. i am in my mid 50's and theres trees in my area that were mature trees when i was a kid still producing fruit. now dont get me wrong theres trees dead and gone but fruit trees can live a very very long time if they are standard size root stock. you can always butcher the tops each year keeping smaller but root stock..i have lost so many in semi dwarf types i will never plant them again.

also you need to keep planting fruit trees so it off sets any loses as time goes on.


skillcult planted seeds and it took 8 years to get first fruits for developing his new varieties. if a tree is on non standard size root stock just plant it below graft so it sends out roots from ABOVE THE GRAFT and becomes a standard tree. per dr. cummins retired director of new york experimental station.

 

[elkhound]

You are right on that. But at the same time you can, I think, be classified as advanced in your preperation before those trees reach 15 years. That young person has at least planted that orchard and it will produce one day. In the mean time they have also planted crops that will produce much faster to bridge the gap. Blueberries and strawberries etc.

It is also a matter of flexibility. I could be called that broke young prepper. Can I fix my F150 if the electronics break badly. No. And I don't yet have the money to throw at an old 80's vehicle that I could fix. So I know that if SHTF is here to stay I will loose the ability to move by motor vehicle at some point. But there are other ways that can be planned, from bicycle to horses.

To me advanced is more than storing a bunch of rice and guns in your suburban basement and calling it good. Its just more...in-depth . Its living it. I'm not describing what I want to get across very well right now lol

i hear you loud and clear...just cause you cant fix a car doesnt me you aint advanced as you pedal that schwinn flyer down road with a browning mounted on handle bars...lol

like the old saying goes beware of the man with only one gun...he knows how to use that...same goes with other things as well. he/she might not have a tractor and modern equipment but they turn out a fine crop of food each year filling their root cellar with just a tiller and hand tools. that is advanced right there. i see folks have all kinds of stuff and cant produce a single item from ground or from the wild.

 

[CalicoKatie]

It's not just thinking about it and it's not just talking about it. Advanced prepping is living it to the best of your ability with what you have available. Set an achievable goal and when you reach it ..., set another one.

 

[Amish Heart]

Providing for your needs for yourself and your family. Whatever those needs are. Maybe it's not a car because you use horse and buggy. But you have as much transportation as you need. If you can't grow or raise all you want to eat, have a barter system with someone who has the stuff you want. Advanced prepping would be living without any government handouts. Because we know, those are going to last much longer.

 

[Hardcalibres]

Advanced prepping to me is the following (among other things):

• Preparing for the most severe crises - avoiding cop outs like "I don't want to survive such a severe crisis" or " Life would not be worth living if that happened". Embracing the ideas that "It is always better to survive - who knows...tomorrow might be better", "Winners never quit and quitters never win", "Embrace the suck".
• Considering the broadest spectrum of threats and capabilities - avoiding Normalcy Bias and preparing without ruling out what it might take to survive - the most common self-imposed restriction I see are those that say "I am never bugging out".
• Looking at everything and thinking "what can go wrong with that" and "What can I do now that will prepare me for when it finally does".
• Moving beyond scenario prepping (which is where many start and some never go beyond) and identifying the long list of capabilities that survival may require and fully resourcing those capabilities. Accepting that those capabilities can never be perfect and will require constant upgrade to make them more effective in ensuring your survival.
• Changing lifestyle to where preparedness for emergencies becomes a daily, if not hourly focus of attention
• Embracing the philosophy that crises do happen and that just because a very severe crisis hasn't happened recently, that doesn't mean a very severe crisis won't happen in the next five minutes.
• Having the mindset of heightened situational awareness, threat detection, tactical planning, risk mitigation and ruthless determination that you apply where ever you go and whatever you do. When you walk in somewhere, identify the exits, pick the best seat to sit in and size up all the people around you. Learn to watch things without looking at them (using peripheral vision). Remember the three principles of Close Quarters Battle (CQB) Surprise, Speed and Violence of Action.
• Living your life and guiding your path so that you become progressively better prepared and constantly acquire new useful skills. Try to fix things rather than just replace them, try to make things from scratch.
• Being a student of history - while some crises really are unprecedented, most are not. Most very bad things that can and do happen, have happened before. Learn about what happened, why, how and who handled the crisis best and what they did.

 

[Rebecca]

Advanced prepping to me is the following (among other things):

• Preparing for the most severe crises - avoiding cop outs like "I don't want to survive such a severe crisis" or " Life would not be worth living if that happened". Embracing the ideas that "It is always better to survive - who knows...tomorrow might be better", "Winners never quit and quitters never win", "Embrace the suck".
• Considering the broadest spectrum of threats and capabilities - avoiding Normalcy Bias and preparing without ruling out what it might take to survive - the most common self-imposed restriction I see are those that say "I am never bugging out".
• Looking at everything and thinking "what can go wrong with that" and "What can I do now that will prepare me for when it finally does".
• Moving beyond scenario prepping (which is where many start and some never go beyond) and identifying the long list of capabilities that survival may require and fully resourcing those capabilities. Accepting that those capabilities can never be perfect and will require constant upgrade to make them more effective in ensuring your survival.
• Changing lifestyle to where preparedness for emergencies becomes a daily, if not hourly focus of attention
• Embracing the philosophy that crises do happen and that just because a very severe crisis hasn't happened recently, that doesn't mean a very severe crisis won't happen in the next five minutes.
• Having the mindset of heightened situational awareness, threat detection, tactical planning, risk mitigation and ruthless determination that you apply where ever you go and whatever you do. When you walk in somewhere, identify the exits, pick the best seat to sit in and size up all the people around you. Learn to watch things without looking at them (using peripheral vision). Remember the three principles of Close Quarters Battle (CQB) Surprise, Speed and Violence of Action.
• Living your life and guiding your path so that you become progressively better prepared and constantly acquire new useful skills. Try to fix things rather than just replace them, try to make things from scratch.
• Being a student of history - while some crises really are unprecedented, most are not. Most very bad things that can and do happen, have happened before. Learn about what happened, why, how and who handled the crisis best and what they did.

This describes it really well. And list the mistakes so many people make. The best answer so far i think.

you aint advanced as you pedal that schwinn flyer down road with a browning mounted on handle bars...lol

LOL I now have the most comical vision of me trying that. Hair flying, bouncing down this most horrific dirt road trying not to fall off. My foes would probably die from laughing

 

[Neb]

Providing for your needs for yourself and your family. Whatever those needs are. Maybe it's not a car because you use horse and buggy. But you have as much transportation as you need. If you can't grow or raise all you want to eat, have a barter system with someone who has the stuff you want. Advanced prepping would be living without any government handouts. Because we know, those are going to last much longer.

Lot of good thoughts so far.

@Amish Heart ,

I would think that the Amish lifestyle style is advanced as one could get but wonder how well they would do if they did not have access to stores for kerosene.

What say you?

Ben

 

[Caribou]

Talking about advanced prepping is a book, not a post. let me first define basic prepping is collecting beans, bullets, and bandaids to cover you for up to one year.

Advanced prepping might include deepening your preps by storing more. Depending on the time of the year your fan turned brown, it might be a year and a half before the first harvest. You might want to develop skills like gardening, take an EMT class, or learn to reload and acquire components. The list of desirable skills is endless.

 

[Hardcalibres]

One thing I would add is this:

OPSEC is a critical aspect of advanced prepping.

The better prepared you get, the bigger the target you become (for the unprepared during a crisis), and the more you have to lose, if your OPSEC fails.

The better prepared you become, the more the challenge of keeping that secret from those around you develops.

If your OPSEC fails and you cannot defend yourself from the threats that attracts - then you can lose everything.

While I have been posting to the net on a couple of sites for six years or so, I could fill books with the facts that I have not and will never post about myself.

It is fine to post your opinions and ideas - but be very careful about posting about what you are doing, plan on doing and where you are doing things.

Old Bunker Buster was a great guy and very dedicated/advanced prepper - but his poor OPSEC got him home invaded and shot.

 

[Haertig]

"Basic prepping" is having things like bug-out bags and plans to hightail it up to the mountains and live off the land. "Advanced prepping" is when you realize that is an unworkable dream, and start making reasonable plans.

 

[Aerindel]

I think of it primarily as prepping not just to survive a period of weeks or months until 'someone else' fixes things and you can go back to normal, but rather prepping to NEVER go back to normal.

This is an important distinction because the sticking point for many people is that they are still planing for that return to normalcy and will not prep in ways that permanently change how they live or close off certain lifestyles.

It's the "they want their cake and to eat it too" syndrome.

But unless you start living NOW like it already happened, there will be certain levels of prepping you will never be able to reach while trying to live a double life.

Above a certain level, prepping requires certain sacrifices in terms of career, locations, and social connections. It requires you to separate yourself from 'normal' people and to embrace the idea that you are not one of them, not because you have more food or guns than they do, but because the way you look at the world is different from theirs. Its a shift from planning for 'if' it happens, and living for 'when' it happens. Its when prepping isn't just 'an insurance policy' or a way to hedge your bets...but rather it becomes THE bet.

Many many people like to talk about prepping as just common sense actions so you are prepared for disaster, not being some kind of crazy survivalist. Advanced prepping is when you really ARE a crazy survivalist.

It can be lonely, it can be depressing and it can mean significantly less opportunities for 'normal' jobs and relationships. In some ways it means living just outside of the 'normal' world most people are part of altogether.

As an example, I have a hard time viewing most other people as 'real'. If you accept that most people will not survive more than a few months without modern utilities, and if you make a serious attempt to prepare for those utilities to vanish forever, it means that most of the people who see are dead men walking. Men and women who are already dead and just don't know it. It becomes hard to emotionally invest in them, their problems, their worries etc, as in your world, you know very little of that will actually matter. It can feel like the zombie apocalypse has already happened and every trip into the city for supplies is a journey to the necropolis.

Honestly, it's not something I would even really recommend.

 

[Haertig]

Personally, I do not want to survive at all costs. I am not interested in separating myself from everybody else so I can concentrate on what I need to do to live forever on my own. That is just not appealing to me. So I prep enough to live for a reasonable amount of time (and the definition of "reasonable" is totally mine). I don't want to get to the point where I have to hunt down abandoned neighborhood cats to make myself a meal.

I've lived a good life. I don't want to follow that up by living a crappy life for the rest of it, just so I can say I did it.

 

[Amish Heart]

I would want to survive at all costs. But do not want to be alone.
Ben and kerosene.....this area of Amish use alot of propane and some gasoline. Not so much kerosene here. Alot of older Amish, my favorite cousin included, have switched to propane heat and have taken out their woodburners from their doddy houses (small grandparents house), and the reason is because it gets hard when you get older to keep going down to the basement to feed the woodburner. Alot of them are kept down there because it's cleaner, and there's a register in the floor of the main room upstairs for the heat to come in. So many Amish here are using LED bulbs for indoor lighting in the summer, and use the propane ceiling lights in the winter because they put out alot of heat. Marine batteries, or lithium (like our Millertech battery), used with an inverter to plug in whatever they want are used. So, their tech has advanced with solar, and mine has declined, and we sometimes meet at the same place. And the propane guy comes by and fills up tanks whenever you call him. We talk alot about having to go back to how it was...plowing with horse instead of tractor, no milking machines that are gas engine powered, stuff like that. And everyone is confident that they can do it. Laundry is still done the old way, but my cousin would hate to give up her battery powdered clothes spinner. Makes things easier to dry, especially heavy towels. And Mr Heaters with the small green propane bottles are used in the buggies on cold days all the time.

 

[Aerindel]

Personally, I do not want to survive at all costs. I am not interested in separating myself from everybody else so I can concentrate on what I need to do to live forever on my own. That is just not appealing to me. So I prep enough to live for a reasonable amount of time (and the definition of "reasonable" is totally mine). I don't want to get to the point where I have to hunt down abandoned neighborhood cats to make myself a meal.

I've lived a good life. I don't want to follow that up by living a crappy life for the rest of it, just so I can say I did it.

This is actually an excellent post in terms of answers the OP question.

I do not think anyone wants to survive at all costs. The reason for advanced prepping is to lower the cost.

I have worked very hard to avoid the point where I have to hunt down abandoned neighborhood* cats to make myself a meal.

Fundamentally, I believe that is exactly what 95% of the population will end up doing, regardless of what they say now. I do not think most believe that is a real possibility and so its easy to say "I wouldn't want to live that way" because it's not real on an existential level for them. I do not think that anyone who has 'seen' that future for themselves would stay on a path that led to it.

I however do believe that is real. I have actually been to places where that is literally done. I have seen them chasing the cats with my own eyes and I feel in my bones that there is no fundamental reason that can't happen here.

Because this is so real to me, I have done much to avoid it, and will continue push myself further and further from that fate.

*and the neighborhood itself is one of those fundamental things that you must give up to avoid that fate.

 

[Rebecca]

I think of it primarily as prepping not just to survive a period of weeks or months until 'someone else' fixes things and you can go back to normal, but rather prepping to NEVER go back to normal.

This is an important distinction because the sticking point for many people is that they are still planing for that return to normalcy and will not prep in ways that permanently change how they live or close off certain lifestyles.

It's the "they want their cake and to eat it too" syndrome.

But unless you start living NOW like it already happened, there will be certain levels of prepping you will never be able to reach while trying to live a double life.

Above a certain level, prepping requires certain sacrifices in terms of career, locations, and social connections. It requires you to separate yourself from 'normal' people and to embrace the idea that you are not one of them, not because you have more food or guns than they do, but because the way you look at the world is different from theirs. Its a shift from planning for 'if' it happens, and living for 'when' it happens. Its when prepping isn't just 'an insurance policy' or a way to hedge your bets...but rather it becomes THE bet.

Many many people like to talk about prepping as just common sense actions so you are prepared for disaster, not being some kind of crazy survivalist. Advanced prepping is when you really ARE a crazy survivalist.

It can be lonely, it can be depressing and it can mean significantly less opportunities for 'normal' jobs and relationships. In some ways it means living just outside of the 'normal' world most people are part of altogether.

As an example, I have a hard time viewing most other people as 'real'. If you accept that most people will not survive more than a few months without modern utilities, and if you make a serious attempt to prepare for those utilities to vanish forever, it means that most of the people who see are dead men walking. Men and women who are already dead and just don't know it. It becomes hard to emotionally invest in them, their problems, their worries etc, as in your world, you know very little of that will actually matter. It can feel like the zombie apocalypse has already happened and every trip into the city for supplies is a journey to the necropolis.

Honestly, it's not something I would even really recommend.

Yes some of us ARE the crazy survivalists. But I have a different take on it. I don't personally find it depressing. I find a freedom in it. When you have the inner strength to stand alone, or with just one or two others, and you know yourself well. You know your abilities, body, mind and resources. Advanced preppers or crazy survivalist, we have a different mindset and character I believe, and there is no point in fighting it.

All that being said, I don't like people in general. I haven't for a very long time. They are more dangerous and unpredictable than any rabid animal could be. I am mostly a loner so its not like I had to sacrifice the city, lifestyle and neighbourhood. I fled it with glee LOL.

I do want to survive at almost all costs. And I put so much effort into it because I don't want to be the one chasing cats. During the Great Depression desperate people ate rats. Desperate people still do in Mozambique and other African countries. This is just a fact of life. Hopefully us crazy survivalists out in the bush may attempt something a bit more nutritious.