Prepping has become an essential part of living because of the unforeseen conditions this world offers.
When a disaster happens, be it a natural calamity, public unrest, pandemic, personal emergency, power outage, or loss of a job, you will survive the situation better if you have prepped in advance.
Prepping won’t make you panic about buying last-minute groceries and essential items.
You will have an idea about where to bug out in an extreme emergency and where your family members can meet during these conditions.
Prepping will make you sure that you have what it takes to tackle the crisis, and your focus can be on pressing matters rather than collecting and planning hastily.
Often prepping is something every individual should do as first responders won’t come knocking on your door quickly.
We are happy and relieved that you have decided to start prepping. This article is ready to impart all the beginners’ knowledge about prepping that will be helpful to you.
There is no such thing as prepping being not beginner-friendly.
We do agree that prepping has a lot of ground to cover, but one can easily cover it if they know the basics and practice the art of prepping regularly to reach there.
Contents
5 Prepping Essentials To Begin With
Building a food supply
Building a food supply should be your very first step when it comes to prepping.
You should have a minimum of 2 weeks’ worth of collection if you are bugging in and 74 hours’ worth of food supply in your bug-out bag.
You can build your food supply by buying and storing items with a long shelf life. You should avoid adding items like fresh vegetables and perishable food as they rot quickly.
There are various options for that as well. You can buy milk powder instead of milk, and freeze-drying vegetables and fruits will give you the required nutrition source.
Try canning foods on your own and buy a few MRE packs for your bug-out bag.
You can easily calculate the amount of food you will need by keeping in mind the number of days plus the number of people you have to feed and their minimum calorie requirements per day.
You should only stock food items that have a long shelf life.
Storing of water
Having water to drink is important. You can only survive three days without water. You will have a hard time if the grid goes down, as the water supply will stop too.
We recommend storing water in big storage tanks in your backyard during such times. Keep the tank cleaned as mold can start growing if you let the water sit for a long time.
Always filter the water before drinking it. You can use chlorine tablets, personal straws, or family-sized water purifiers. Keep a good stock of bottled water for your bug-out bag and in your bug-out vehicle.
Cooking facility
All the food you have stored will be useless if you cannot light your gas and cook food. You have to consider making one or buying that uses wood as fuel.
This cooking fire will keep you and your family fed. If that is not feasible, you can keep any extra cooking gas tank to use for cooking.
Pack a bug out bag
A bug-out bag is necessary in the event of an urgent evacuation. You cannot take your entire house with you. Therefore, you must carry many essential items with you in your bug-out bag.
A few of the things you should bring are a torch, first aid kit, food, map, water, heat blankets, compass, shovel, knife, etc. Your bug-out location is another crucial factor.
It helps you to have a place already decided and equipped. We will cover everything about a bug-out location in the later part.
Keep track of your finances
Keeping a financial track is an essential thing most preppers overlook. As you might have noticed, prepping will not be free; you will need money to buy all the items and gadgets in advance.
To help you stay within your regular budget, one can prepare a budget and start being frugal.
Bifurcate your daily expenses as essential and non-essential. You should split the non-essential money into two equal parts.
One will go for buying and prepping; the other you cash out and keep it as your emergency fund during SHTF and different situations.
If the whole grid goes down, so do your ATMs and online transaction services. In such cases having hard cash will save your life, especially if the emergency lasts for more than two weeks.
Bug-out Locations: Everything You Need To Know
Your selection of a bug-out location is essential when you are moving out. You cannot just decide on one place that works for you and claim it.
One needs to think of several other factors to determine the location:
Distance to choose
Your bug-out location should be far away from the city but not too far that you have to drive for a few days to reach there.
If you are walking, make sure to keep your bug-out location anywhere around 60 miles from your current base. Keep spare fuel as you do not want to stop at a gas station to fill your tank.
Concealment
Your location should be off the main roads; trees and natural elements should heavily cover it. Keep your site in such a way that a person walking nearby should never find your location.
Avoid fires that cause a lot of smoke and avoid elaborate cooking sessions. Cooking smells can easily travel up to half a mile.
Know the route
You should have three routes leading to your bug-out location. Avoid choosing a path that has heavy traffic and law enforcement patrolling.
You need to remember the way without any GPS device at the back of your hand. Go through each route twice to see the time it takes to reach and the number of distractions each way gives.
Your actual bug-out shelter
It will help if you plan whether you want to camp at a place or own a small property chunk. Owning and building might take lots of money and time, but you will be 100% sure that no one can evacuate you.
You can buy camper vans, RVs, or trailers if you want to have the freedom of moving. Earthships are the best option if you’re going to go off-grid and produce your food.
Food and water
Your location should have food and water facilities. Freshwater from rivers, lakes is the best as you can use it for drinking, cleaning and washing clothes.
Food that you have already stockpiled in your location will prove fruitful for a maximum of one year. After that, you need to start thinking of growing your food and looking into the option of homesteading.
Off-grid self-sufficiency
If you have your plot, you can build it off the grid and self-sustainable. Solar energy for electricity works terrific. Having some livestock for milk, eggs, and meat will solve your food issues.
You can plant a food garden to have fresh vegetables and fruits every day. A decent shed full of firewood will make your property self-sustainable.
List Of Essentials To Stockpile
We have covered all of this in different topics above, but here is a checklist for quick glancing and last moment checking purpose:
- Fire
- Water
- Food
- Heat
- Gas
- First aid kit
- Regular medications
- Communication device – Opt for solar or crank-powered NOAA radio, battery-operated two-way radios.
- Whistle
- Hygiene products
- Flashlight
- Hard cash
- Government documents
- Cooking supplies
- Tools
- Protection and self-defense instruments
Basic Prepping Skills You Should Learn
Building a shelter
Building a shelter is your number one skill that you should have.
If you already have a house, tent, or van, you do not need to worry about this skill, but the rest who do not have it should know how to build different survival shelters.
You cannot live and survive without a shelter, so make one using materials near you.
If you are in a forest, make a shelter using wood logs, moss, branches, and fire. If you are somewhere near snow, try building a structure with snow like an Igloo or a Quinzhee.
Finding water and purifying it
You can find water by searching a river or lake near your bug-out location. Always take water that is flowing. Groundwater is another option that you can try.
If you see a wetland patch, try digging deeper, you will find water. The water will be muddy, so keeping it aside for settling, this technique will work efficiently.
You have successfully found water, but you need to have water filters. You can find personal water filters or rely on tablets that clean the water. Do not drink water without filtering.
Fire
It would be the best idea to build a fire as soon as you reach your spot. Having a lighter in your bug-out bag will prove to be helpful. Flintstones can also help create a spark that can build a healthy fire.
You should know how to maintain the fire by adding little logs to keep the fire burning. Fire will keep you warm, make things around you comfortable, help you boil water, and cook food.
Plant identification
It is imperative that you know which wild plant to eat and which to stay away from, as it helps you during an emergency. A wrong plant can cause deadly consequences. You will also understand which plant to use for medicinal purposes.
Fishing-hunting-gardening
These three skills should be at the top of your priority list as you will survive many years if you know how to garden, hunt and fish.
Using a trap to hunt small wild animals and fishing might require a little more patience.
The most difficult can be gardening, but you can grow lots of fruits and vegetables even on a small piece of land.
First aid skills
It will help if you know medical dressing. Having a decent knowledge of various burns, cuts, and injuries will save your life. Learning CPR and Heimlich maneuver are other skills you should not ignore.
You will not have any doctor during an emergency, so you need to take matters into your own hands.
Self-defense
There will be situations where people might want to steal your stuff or attack you. In that case, having formal training will be very useful.
You should strive to learn Krav Maga as it is the best martial arts practice for self-defense.
We recommend that you learn martial arts by going to a studio but if there are no practices near you, try buying online classes or DVDs that will teach you this.
You will not have a GPS with you, and at such times, using your compass or natural elements will be your only option. You can follow the sun to find out East and West as the sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
You should search for Polaris in the northern hemisphere during the nighttime.
Once you find and face it, you will be looking towards the North. You can look at the map for other natural and artificial landmarks like bridges, dams, rivers, etc.
Should You Do Prepping Solo Or With A Group?
This answer truly depends on the type of people around you and the emergency. It is usually a good idea to prep with a small number of people as the whole process won’t overburden you, and your pockets will be happy.
Another good reason to prep in a group is the moral support you will receive often; if you are alone or with your family, things can make you worry, but every tension and responsibility gets divided when you are with a group.
Keep in mind having a big group can cause chaos and fights, which is the last thing you want under such conditions.
Conclusion
If you’re going to prep alone and feel you can survive better that way, then, by all means, do that. Assess the situation and people around you, then decide if you want to prep solo or with a group.
One important tip: Do not tell your bug-out location or stockpile details to anyone, especially if you are alone. Keeping things to yourself will decrease your chances of getting looted.
There you have it, folks, your complete beginners guide for preppers. You are on the right track. Keep your senses sharp.
Practicing and remembering all the information mentioned above will make you a great prepper. Happy prepping!
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