Where To Start With Prepping?

You’ve probably seen mention of it in the papers or on the news, but what exactly is prepping all about? And, if you want to get into it, what’s it likely to take and just what is involved?

Where do you start?

You start at the beginning. And that means getting your head around the simple principle of prepping – if you are a prepper, if you are prepped, you are ready for anything. Whatever challenges, difficulties, or inconveniences some manmade or natural disaster or emergency might throw at you, you’re ready.

Not only are you giving yourself the best chance of getting through a disaster, but – thanks to the prepping you’ve done – you and your family and loved ones will actually make the most of it and thrive.

Like we argued in our Beginners Guide to Prepping there was a time when it seemed to attract “weirdos, cranks, and oddballs” but sheer common-sense and practicality of prepping has made it a far more mainstream activity – the most level-headed of people recognise its value. And as we emphasised in a blog on the 15^th of March 2021 prepping is not just about getting ready for some imagined Doomsday – it becomes more like a way of life.

What are you looking to prep for?

If you are just starting your prep journey it might be because you have particular emergencies in mind – perhaps they’ve been prompted by events you’ve had to go through in the recent past.

These tend to be the crises and difficulties arising from flooding of your home or the area where you live, maybe a fire from which you or neighbours have been rescued, or even something as relatively common and minor as a power outage or blackout – which can nevertheless cause more than mild inconvenience the longer it goes on.

What you’re likely to recognise fairly early on, though, is that the actual circumstances prompting the emergency or crisis – the reasons for the difficulties and challenges arising – are not so important at the end of the day. What’s important, is being prepped for the emergency. If you’re prepped, you’re ready for anything – whatever the root of the emergency.

What skills and equipment will you need?

When you’re taking your first steps as a prepper, reading about the subject, and discussing the ins and outs with those more experienced than you, you might get the impression that you need a lot of specialist kit and equipment.

Nothing could be further from the truth. As we argued in a posting on the 10^th of May 2021, equipment and knowing how to use it is like hardware and software – you can’t have one without the other. No amount of fancy or sophisticated kit or equipment is going to be a substitute for the skills and talents you’ll develop as a prepper.

In a follow-up posting on the 11^th of May, we suggested some of those essential skills:

Physical fitness

• you won’t have to be an Olympic athlete but the fitter you are, the better prepared your body will be to cope with the challenges of any crisis or emergency;

• try to develop an all-round level of fitness and agility that keeps your body in the best shape possible;

Fire starting

• one of the basic prepping skills to master is the ability to start a fire – it will be needed to keep you and your group warm and dry while you also use the heat for cooking;

Drinking water

• another survival skill you might want to learn is where to locate clean drinking water, how to collect it, and – if necessary – how to filter and purify it;

Food

• the skill in prepping for food comes in knowing what supplies and stores to lay down in your place of shelter – knowledge about non-perishable and long-life food will count for a lot, of course; and

First aid

• first aid skills (along with the right first aid kit) will help you to deal with physical injuries or bouts of sickness suffered by members of your group when you are sheltering from the difficulties and challenges of your situation.

Also, basics such as torches and solar powered radios etc. are a must as well as emergency blankets and even emergency shelter.

Making a start on prepping doesn’t take a whole lot of spending and won’t need you to learn very much either. Rather, prepping is about maintaining an attitude that keeps you ready for the future – whatever that future might throw your way.