How Do I Start Prepping?

You’ve probably been hearing the word a lot right now. But what does prepping mean? What is it? Why is it important? Should I be doing it? And, if so, how?

What is prepping?

You’ll find a perfectly good first look at what it means to be a prepper in our blog on the 5^th of April 2022.

In a nutshell, prepping boils down to one simple principle – being ready for anything. By the simple act of prepping – by becoming a prepper – you make yourself and your loved ones ready for any natural or manmade disaster and the inconveniences, difficulties, and challenges these will present you. Whatever happens to be thrown at you, one way or another, you’ll be ready.

Are preppers weird?

Let’s just start off by saying that being a prepper doesn’t have to mean you are living in a basement with loads of guns and dried food. Most of us are preppers and don’t even know it!

• Do you have candles and matches in your home in case there is an electricity failure? Then you are a prepper.

• Do you have lots of food supplies / pet supplies at home in case you cannot get to the shops or simply to stop yourself running out? Then you are also a prepper.

• Do you carry a kit in your car in case you breakdown? Then you are a prepper.

Being a prepper isn’t just about being prepped for world disaster, famine, nuclear wars etc. It is about the everyday things that may stop us going about our business – Power cuts, food shortages, pandemics etc.

Being prepped – prepared for almost anything – isn’t weird, it makes sense!

How do I start?

Make a start by imagining that the worst has happened – power lines are down, transport disrupted, shops closed, water in short supply, and you’ve no way of knowing how long the emergency is going to last.

Ask yourself what you’re going to need if that happens. What are the daily essentials on which you and your family depend? These are the essentials you’ll need to start stocking up on right now.

Remember that you’re putting down these supplies for future use. You won’t need them now, you might not need them next month or even next year – they’re the supplies you’ll need in preparation for whatever emergency happens, whenever it happens.

They’ll need to be “evergreen” supplies – things that you’ll be certain to need, even if you don’t know when. Things such as emergency food stocks, water reserves, whatever you’ll need for proper sanitation and hygiene, and first aid.

You won’t gather up all that you need overnight. But the sooner you get started on building up a realistic base of essential supplies, the sooner your prepping is properly underway.

Water

Since we’ve mentioned the importance of water reserves, let’s take a closer look.

Clean drinking water is going to be critical – and you’ll need lots of it. Aim for water reserves that’ll last you for at least two weeks. Allowing for the volume of drinking water needed by each person, that means at least 14 gallons for every individual.

If you’ve got a family of four, therefore, you’re looking at a whopping 56 gallons of clean drinking water. So, you’ll need the appropriate storage containers – not to mention the space in which to keep them.

And that’s not the end of it. You’ll also need to collect rainwater – in butts and barrels for water purification – as backup supplies for when your main reserves have run dry. Access to drinking water really is going to be that important for any self-respecting prepper.

Food

Your “evergreen” supplies also need to include the food that’ll be needed by you and your group under survival – or at least straitened – conditions.

Stores of non-perishable foods with a long shelf-life will not just sustain you physically but also offer some comfort and reassurance that everything’s going to turn out OK. That peace of mind is likely to come if you’ve managed to store at least two weeks of all the food you and your group are going to need.

Since these are supplies that you’ll be keeping indefinitely:

• focus on storing freeze-dried or dehydrated foods – including high-carb staples like pasta, rice, beans, and the like;

• if you’ve got the funds, you might even want to splash out on specially formulated survival or emergency food kits – that you can buy from any number of specialist suppliers;

• however you source it, it’ll be food in the space you’ve allocated for prepping supplies – so don’t use it until it becomes necessary; and

• the longer you keep it, the more you’ll have, and the better you’ll have prepped for an uncertain future.

Further reading: Food Storage For Prepping and Search Results for: food

Prepper Food And Recipes.

First aid

In any kind of emergency, your doctors’ surgery will either be unmanned, or they’ll be up to their eyes in dealing with other patients – so you will do well to have your own first aid kit as the first line of defence;

The contents of any first aid kit are likely to vary quite widely but basic supplies are likely to include:

• bandages and gauzes;

• antiseptic lotion and wipes;

• antibiotic ointment;

• latex gloves;

• scissors; and an

• emergency blanket.

First aid is one of those skills that you’re probably going to be called on to use only once in a while – but when you get that call, you’ll need to act promptly, confidently, and know what you’re doing. So, a first aid manual is a valuable tool to keep beside the actual kit.

Fortunately, you can buy a wide range of first aid supplies – that you can tailor to practically any prepping need – but also an excellent manual and other learning aids.

Further reading: First Aid Training and Kits and The Different Types Of Individual First Aid Kits (IFAKs) For Prepping.

Home and away

You’ve made a great start if you have two weeks or more of stocks and supplies hoarded away in your home – but there might be times when an emergency or disaster occurs when you’re away from home or when your home might not be the safest place to stay.

In that case, you might need to get away quickly – even though it means leaving your carefully prepped stores and supplies.

That’s when you’ll need a lighter, travel-anywhere-anytime “bug out bag”. Your bug out bag is an equally essential piece of kit. You’ll need to take it with you at a moment’s notice to escape an area of immediate danger – which could be your home – and then survive for at least the next three days until you can establish a more permanent place of refuge.

There are other pieces of kit you might want to keep ready-assembled for a quick getaway – bags we’ve called your “everyday carry” (that you’ll keep with you at all times, more or less wherever you go) and your “get home bag” (which is pretty well self-explanatory).

Further reading: The Best UK Bug Out Bags.

Summary

Prepping is all about being prepared – prepared for whatever fortune, nature or manmade trials can throw at you.

Prepping doesn’t involve any rocket science – just forethought, planning, and a healthy dose of common sense.