Im new to prepping an need some help on where to start.
Im new to this
- Thread starter Rcwoody87
- Start date
Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:
Welcome from a top secret location only 157 people know about. I would start at the prepping 101 threads and then explore the site and start asking questions.
Welcome. Don’t worry so much on how to prep, most of it is common sense. It’s just good that your starting to think about what if there is an emergency and what would you need to help get you through it. I like to keep it simple. Water is the most important thing in life. Start with not only finding water sources that you can collect water from but also ways to filter it and make it safe to drink. Food is second. Have some food set aside that you can easily prepare and dosent need refrigeration. Start small and over time build up a good pantry of the regular items you allready eat along with some ready to eat items with a long shelf life. Shelter is important too. More so if you live in cold environments, but even in the south staying out of the elements and safe from mosquitoes is important. Having a tent is a start, a camper or consider a safe place to go to if you had to leave your place in a hurry. Fire, flood, and storms are just some of the things that could cause you to have to leave your home in a hurry. Security is a good idea. Lots of people focus more than needed on firearms (because they are cool), but having some way to defend yourself is a good idea. Lastly are comforts. Even in an emergency I don’t just want to survive, but want things to make life more comfortable as well. You don’t need a lot of money to get started. With just adding a little here and there over time you will build up enough supplies to comfortably handle most of life’s emergencies. Learning skills, from how to make a water filter, starting a fire, to how to snare, clean and cook a squirrel or rabbit is free and the knowledge just might save your butt one day. With all the varied people on this forum you can ask anything and get good advice about it. Best of luck.
Welcome from Washington State.
Welcome, from Florida.
Prepping is always more about skill, wisdom, and knowledge.....not "stuff".
If you have a choice of buying a $2,000.00 rifle.......or a $600.00 rifle with the remainder spent on a canning class, or a CNA class with a state test, or to even take Tom Brown Jr.'s Pathfinder course......then opt for the education over a horribly expensive "super rifle" when there are better alternatives.
Evaluate different levels of survival events. This is how I grade by degree. Your list may be different.
1) Loss of job, eviction, cut-backs.
2) Loss of job with catastrophic medical expenses.
3) Blackout with loss of utilities.
4) Blackout with loss of utilities due to hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, blizzard, etc..
5) Major economic depression.
6) Rampant terrorism with martial law declared.
7) Rampant terrorism with chemical and/or biological weapons.
8) Limited nuclear exchange with North Korea, Russia, or possibly Iran (if we don't clean their clocks soon).
9) Major epidemic of contagious airborne disease, such as SARS, Avian Flu, or even a slightly mutated version of rabies or Ebola.
10) Natural or artifical EMP that destroys anything with a microchip. If this happens, we are really, really, really screwed . . . as in with a pinecone and no lubricant screwed.
11) Impact from middlin to large asteroid. This is capable of extinguishing all vertebrate life. A recent atmospheric impact of a small fragment that exploded at high altitude created about a 250 kiloton nuke explosion. It heavily damaged thousands of building near ground zero. The name of the town was Chelyabinsk.
The rock that did this was only 66 feet across at it's widest . . . or a little longer than two school buses.
12) Invasion by hostile aliens.
13) Earth destroyed by random cosmic event like a collision with a black hole or a neutron star.
Each higher number represents a decrease in your odds of surviving it.
There will be considerable debate on how this list should be ordered, and I don't claim to have a monopoly on truth.
So, use this list to prioritize how and what you're preparing for, which will save you money by not buying unneccesary crap.
Prepping is always more about skill, wisdom, and knowledge.....not "stuff".
If you have a choice of buying a $2,000.00 rifle.......or a $600.00 rifle with the remainder spent on a canning class, or a CNA class with a state test, or to even take Tom Brown Jr.'s Pathfinder course......then opt for the education over a horribly expensive "super rifle" when there are better alternatives.
Evaluate different levels of survival events. This is how I grade by degree. Your list may be different.
1) Loss of job, eviction, cut-backs.
2) Loss of job with catastrophic medical expenses.
3) Blackout with loss of utilities.
4) Blackout with loss of utilities due to hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, blizzard, etc..
5) Major economic depression.
6) Rampant terrorism with martial law declared.
7) Rampant terrorism with chemical and/or biological weapons.
8) Limited nuclear exchange with North Korea, Russia, or possibly Iran (if we don't clean their clocks soon).
9) Major epidemic of contagious airborne disease, such as SARS, Avian Flu, or even a slightly mutated version of rabies or Ebola.
10) Natural or artifical EMP that destroys anything with a microchip. If this happens, we are really, really, really screwed . . . as in with a pinecone and no lubricant screwed.
11) Impact from middlin to large asteroid. This is capable of extinguishing all vertebrate life. A recent atmospheric impact of a small fragment that exploded at high altitude created about a 250 kiloton nuke explosion. It heavily damaged thousands of building near ground zero. The name of the town was Chelyabinsk.
The rock that did this was only 66 feet across at it's widest . . . or a little longer than two school buses.
12) Invasion by hostile aliens.
13) Earth destroyed by random cosmic event like a collision with a black hole or a neutron star.
Each higher number represents a decrease in your odds of surviving it.
There will be considerable debate on how this list should be ordered, and I don't claim to have a monopoly on truth.
So, use this list to prioritize how and what you're preparing for, which will save you money by not buying unneccesary crap.
howdy from a Texan .... and welcome to the forum and family...there's quite a few knowledgeable folks here that'll gladly tell ya what you need to know,or at least point ya in the right direction and/or give ya a good idea or 2..and by all means jump right on in with any replies you have on a topic.
Start with a plan
1 identify what are the greatest threats you may face
2 plan on mitigating the effects os those threats to you and your familiy.
Rcwoody87, welcome aboard. Prepping is something most people do automatically, just don't realize it. Example, wifey seems to be scared of running out of Toilet paper and keep lots of it around. She is prepping for a time when it becomes scarce. Yes, she is prepping but just does not use that terminology.
You are now becoming aware if it, so now use it to your advantage. Each time you visit a grocery store, just add a couple little long term storage items. I generally grad a bag or two of dried beans or an extra bag of rice. Just create you an area to store the extra supplies that is separate from your normal daily use items. As you start following other people post here (and elsewhere), you will see some recommendation that will ring a bell. How many batteries do you have around? How many candles and/or matches? Just little items will make a huge difference during some disaster (even small ones).
Once you get thinking about prepping, also start reviewing your surrounding. Note where there is fresh water if things get real bad. Try different roads just to see where they lead. You never know when you may need different evacuation route. Those side road and trails could be a life saver and it is fun exploring new areas. Win, Win. Nothing says prepping has to be boring.
You are now becoming aware if it, so now use it to your advantage. Each time you visit a grocery store, just add a couple little long term storage items. I generally grad a bag or two of dried beans or an extra bag of rice. Just create you an area to store the extra supplies that is separate from your normal daily use items. As you start following other people post here (and elsewhere), you will see some recommendation that will ring a bell. How many batteries do you have around? How many candles and/or matches? Just little items will make a huge difference during some disaster (even small ones).
Once you get thinking about prepping, also start reviewing your surrounding. Note where there is fresh water if things get real bad. Try different roads just to see where they lead. You never know when you may need different evacuation route. Those side road and trails could be a life saver and it is fun exploring new areas. Win, Win. Nothing says prepping has to be boring.
Warm Welcome from the Arizona valley folks. 
Welcome from Tennessee
G'day from Down Under.
Prepping is a marathon, not a race.
You'll learn a lot here. I started about 6 yrs ago, a complete novice - now I'm just a novice.
There's some great advice already for you, so all I'l say is welcome, and enjoy the journey.
Prepping is a marathon, not a race.
You'll learn a lot here. I started about 6 yrs ago, a complete novice - now I'm just a novice.
There's some great advice already for you, so all I'l say is welcome, and enjoy the journey.
my parents, WW2 generation, would be called preppers but the term didn't exist back then, it was called common sense something that is not common anymore and most people wouldn't know it if they fell over it.
Welcome from a Texan living in Germany by choice, but planning to move to Hungary soon for the same reason. Prepping is nothing more than having a mindset to survive one or many possible drastic changes in your momentary lifestyle. Look around your home and decide what you could NOT live without. Then start planning to buy, borrow, exchange or inherit these things and anything else you find, that would make your life continue in and on a healthy level. The food, clothes, drinking water, medicinal needs, heating/cooling needs, fishing, hunting, trapping, trading, first aid, self-protection, and lastly the preservation of your family against all odds is the goal. Start small, grow slowly and never stop learning how to do things without electricity and modern tools or electronics. The greatest of all survival skills is to be able to find something nobody needs anymore or something which was made for a specific purpose and create a new and useful product which is totally different from the original and fulfills your present needs. Have fun and live free. GP
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Today, Saturday I just bought a couple grand worth of Silver- Latest: Mountain trapper
-
-
