How do You Preppers Know You're Doin' It Right?

jimh0220

jimh0220

Joined
Apr 15, 2008
Messages
3,010
So, I've read the threads, watched the TV shows, seen the web sites and You Tube clips all about when the SHTF, TEOTWAWKI, blah blah blah. Here's what I've gathered: Every person out there thinks THEY got the plan of plans, but everybody's got a different plan. So, who's right? I dunno. Wanna know a secret, preppers? Neither do you. That's why everyone thinks they're right, and they all got a different idea. Some of you ain't got it right. Period. Your 'super secret plan' to kill all the zombies, head to the hills and live 'off the land', etc, etc, etc, might be the wrong way, and you're gonna fail. Done. Period. Nighty night.

Preparedness is important. My family and I are alway putting away a little extra food (and TP. Don't laugh. Wait till you're wiping with your hand, and you'll be wishing for some Charmin, too. You can't wipe with your Glock), making a plan for emergencies, a home invasion, earthquake, etc. These are the realistic scenarios that you need to be able to get through. Watch the disaster stories on the news. Katrina, Sandy, Japan earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados that wipe out cities, even blizzards, blackouts, and ice storms. Your hole in the ground 75 miles away that you stored all your ammo and crappy meal bars, but forgot to store a flashlight or extra batteries, ain't gonna do you any good if you can't cross the only bridge that gets you there.

The total collapse of the infrastructure or rogue military leaders gon wild or whatever you get all worked up over may or may not ever happen. Your overhauled humvee with 50 cal. on top might or might be handy then. I'm not psychic. Neither are you. But, before you worry about all that crap, make sure you're prepared for the stuff you can count on happening. The 'little' disruptions like naural disasters that will disrupt life worse than you thought. Stuff that common sense can prepare you for, not an AK-47.

What real world, rational things have you done to prepare for realistic scenarios?
 
^I like the idea of this thread, a lot. I agree with you too, jim.
Personally, I tend to put some basis bushcraft "thingies" to practice. Knowing how to make a fire in absence of a lighter etc, knowing how to set a trap, track some animals, know the edibles in your environment,... I think that's not only interesting and something everybody should know, it's knowledge that can come in handy.
As for the rest, I think people would be able to get through with the supplies they have at home (edibles and non-edibles). Yes, I've got some food in jars, yes I've got plenty of water (have a spring/well with drinkable water in the yard), yes I've got blankets,...
No, I don't have a "bug out bag", I don't really roll with that hype. I know where all my stuff is, it's in close vicinity of each other so...
It's not like you'll hear tanks roll up your street out of nothing, there will be a precedent for such scenarios so you'll have plenty time to pack if it would be necessary for you to live. I don't believe nature will force you out of your house in under 5 minutes, without you being able to rely on outside help or anything.

I think the important tools is personal knowledge, and to be able to make do with what you've got.
 
If I lived in a more densely populated area, where you could expect a significant freak-out factor, I might be more worried about "prepping." But I live in a town of 1000 people, in a rural area, on the border of two of the most sparsely populated states in the country. Honestly, when I take a step back from all the paranoid "what ifs" propagated by the prepper crowd, it's pretty hard for me to imagine many scenarios for which I would have to flee my house at a moment's notice and need to have a "BOB" packed and ready to go by the back door.

So what have I done to prep for realistic scenarios? We keep plenty of food and bottled water in the house. We are on our own, 500-gallon propane tank for fuel. Electricity is a luxury, as far as I'm concerned, and I've gotten by just fine without it in the past. My wife and I both have all the camping and hunting gear we need, and we've both spent most of our lives outdoors, in many remote situations, for extended periods of time. So beyond gear prep, I also feel confident in our skills. If it came down to some remotely possible scenario where we truly needed to leave our house (which I would only do as a last resort), we could pack a couple backpacks with the essentials pretty quickly and head for the mountains behind us, which we know like the back of our hands. We could easily be ready to go in half an hour. I have yet to find a compelling reason to be more "prepped" than that.
 
Last edited:
i am ready for another power outage for 3 weeks. thank god when sandy hit us hard we werent in the middle of winter or we would have had even more issues. i was fortunate enough to have hot water, a fire place, as well as running water because i have city water a sewer and natural gas so i could even use the stove or grill to cook. but my family on the jersey shore werent so lucky losing everything.

so im just a little more ready with extra food, clothes, supplies. as well as about 100 gallons of gas because at the time we had no gas in any vehicles except mine and with the gas rationing it made it almost impossible for me to get to work after the storm.
 
jimh0220 said:
What real world, rational things have you done to prepare for realistic scenarios?
Click to expand...

In the last 4 years I have experienced weeks without electricity - some in freezing temps. So I now have 3 generators, gas, stored water and food, and a hoard of toilet paper and cat food. (Don't get those mixed up, btw. They don't call it Tender Vittles for nothing.) My furnace is rigged to accept power from the generator. I already had enough weaponry and ammo to supply the Honduran military for 3 years, so thats covered. I'm not sure that any of us are prepared for a true and lasting crisis (nuke, pandemic, Obama's 3rd term, etc.), but at least I know the Powernoodles can survive for a while before I have to start stealing from my neighbors.
 
What real world, rational things have you done to prepare for realistic scenarios?


- Not watch the silly "prepping" shows.
Josh
 
On the other side of the coin, since the 'pocyclypse hasn't come, how do you know they are doing it wrong?
 
Therein lies the problem prepping for something that only happened once before (IIRC the only guy who made it had a really big boat -- and the naysayers of the time laughed at him, too), is you never know how it will go down. Only the guys who make it will know who was right. So you can't say who is right or who is wrong on this side of it.
 
Smithhammer said:
Ok, but then how do you not know that what they aren't doing might not be wrong, either?
Click to expand...

There are to many scenerios. For the average person with a limited income it is pretty much impossible to cover all of the bases.
 
They don't know, and either do you. Ya buys yer ticket and ya takes yer chances, just like everyone else in the world.:p


jimh0220 said:
So, I've read the threads, watched the TV shows, seen the web sites and You Tube clips all about when the SHTF, TEOTWAWKI, blah blah blah. Here's what I've gathered: Every person out there thinks THEY got the plan of plans, but everybody's got a different plan. So, who's right? I dunno. Wanna know a secret, preppers? Neither do you. That's why everyone thinks they're right, and they all got a different idea. Some of you ain't got it right. Period. Your 'super secret plan' to kill all the zombies, head to the hills and live 'off the land', etc, etc, etc, might be the wrong way, and you're gonna fail. Done. Period. Nighty night.

Preparedness is important. My family and I are alway putting away a little extra food (and TP. Don't laugh. Wait till you're wiping with your hand, and you'll be wishing for some Charmin, too. You can't wipe with your Glock), making a plan for emergencies, a home invasion, earthquake, etc. These are the realistic scenarios that you need to be able to get through. Watch the disaster stories on the news. Katrina, Sandy, Japan earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados that wipe out cities, even blizzards, blackouts, and ice storms. Your hole in the ground 75 miles away that you stored all your ammo and crappy meal bars, but forgot to store a flashlight or extra batteries, ain't gonna do you any good if you can't cross the only bridge that gets you there.

The total collapse of the infrastructure or rogue military leaders gon wild or whatever you get all worked up over may or may not ever happen. Your overhauled humvee with 50 cal. on top might or might be handy then. I'm not psychic. Neither are you. But, before you worry about all that crap, make sure you're prepared for the stuff you can count on happening. The 'little' disruptions like naural disasters that will disrupt life worse than you thought. Stuff that common sense can prepare you for, not an AK-47.

What real world, rational things have you done to prepare for realistic scenarios?
Click to expand...
 
im not expecting anything major to happen but i have a supply of MREs i use for hunting and what not, water bottles around the house. My hunting pack has the things i would need to rough it in the woods if that was needed, the medical supplies are abundant in my house so thats covered. the weapons have ammo and tp is in the cabinet but the most important thing i have is knowledge and training. as far as im concerned thats all you need for most situations
 
Seems to me the basics are the place to start with regards to preparations for an event which would cause major disruptions to our daily lives as we know it.

I don't know how it is in other parts of the country, but around here the local food stores shelves go bare after a couple of days when there are weather disruptions etc. that prevent trucks from resupplying. I would imagine it is the same elsewhere.

Food and water supply and an ability to "protect" said supply from others who will be "motivated" to help themselves due to their circumstances, starvation etc. are the 1st level of prep IMO.

Long term, how you going to feed yourself and others dependant on your "successful" planning to survive? Got seeds? Got a place to plant the seeds? Can you control the loss of your crops? Ever planted a garden before? Everything out there wants a piece of it, i.e. hungry bugs, hungry critters.

Game and other free roaming food items will no doubt get hit hard as 300 million hungry people scouring the countryside will deplete it in a hurry.

What about ways dealing with diseases that may start to hit, cholera and other fun stuff. Injuries sustained while "surviving"? Cuts, gun shots, breaks, puncture wounds?

Great idea to start a discussion, give folks some things to think about they may not have previously considered.

Although not a SHTF type situation in the sense as preppers define it, this is an interesting "survival" story I ran across today. It's worth a read.

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/his...om-all-human-contact-unaware-of-world-war-ii/
 
Lots of prepping involves storing food, water and a means of protecting one's family. Wouldn't these same preps work no matter what occurred be it a super storm or economic collapse? Sometimes people practice with their packs incase forced to bugout from a home etc. This can include the woods or recreating a hurricane evacuation with hopes of a hotel room. Heading out to the woods isn't bad because that's a good place to test out gear. Do you want to test out that water filter for the first time during a disaster when the city water supply might be contaminated? What better place to practice making water potable than with water that ISN'T potable? Most know the backpack survivalist isn't a good plan but what if someone can't find a place to sleep of a few nights? It has happened before. Does anyone want to spend a week at "The Convention Center"? Not me bro. Also everyone knows that Zombies within the context of prepping are just metaphor for a major disaster. If you can survive a Zombie apocalypse than you're setup to survive anything.
 
jimh0220 said:
What real world, rational things have you done to prepare for realistic scenarios?
Click to expand...



I moved to the country, grew a garden, made friends with ranchers and farmers, started eating better and exercising more. I make just about anything that I can make myself, it's fun and saves money. Live the life basically, I'm constantly learning. There are a few things like fire arms and gear that I bought just in case (but also I need guns for shooting things in day to day life), but I think that any issues that we have are going to be along the same lines as what were already having. Poor economy, expensive fuel etc etc.


Also, if I'm completely wrong, and there DOES happen to be a zombie apocalypse. At least I'll have lived a happy life in a setting that I enjoy with people that I enjoy. Also I'll shoot a lot of zombies.



EDIT: I'm not a preper. But I am a good boy scout so I know that it's important to be prepared for the things that you expect to happen.
 
Last edited:
Great topic. I don't think that anyone KNOWS that they are doing it right. I think the best idea is to prepare for as many common sense reasonable scenarios as you can and hope for the best. Zombie Apocolypse? Unlikely. Widespread nuclear strike? Unlikely. Tornadoes take out power for a week? Extremely likely. Prepare for that. That means food and a way to cook it. Water, shelter etc. Not as sexy as buying zombie killing bullets but...
 
I think most of these prepper plans are like a street fight - lots of posturing/strategizing/etc happens *until* the 1st punch on the nose. Then it's all different.... However, we can learn from 1) our own personal experiences 2) from others experiences in areas similar to our own and 3) from others who live in areas/cultures different than our own. But again, things can change after the initial, precipitating event.

I also think there are many *right* ways to do things, though we're all human and have similar physical needs so those must be reasonably, rationally and realistically planned for (given each planners valuation and knowledge of their specific context).
 
Woods Walker said:
Although not a SHTF type situation in the sense as preppers define it, this is an interesting "survival" story I ran across today. It's worth a read.

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/his...om-all-human-contact-unaware-of-world-war-ii/
Click to expand...

I'd say that S Really did H T F for these folks. The man's brother was murdered right in front of him because of his religious Beliefs. Time to run. And it sounds like they did pretty well. Aside from one of them starving to death. But one person after 40 years? That's not too bad if you really think about it. It also sounds like they were extremely tough individuals. I have a lot of respect for people like that. Did you read the part where it described Dimitry, the youngest son? It said that he could chase an elk for days (until it died of exhaustion) bare foot in winter. I don't care who you are, that is one tough man.
 
Chris Pierce said:
I'd say that S Really did H T F for these folks. The man's brother was murdered right in front of him because of his religious Beliefs. Time to run. And it sounds like they did pretty well. Aside from one of them starving to death. But one person after 40 years? That's not too bad if you really think about it. It also sounds like they were extremely tough individuals. I have a lot of respect for people like that. Did you read the part where it described Dimitry, the youngest son? It said that he could chase an elk for days (until it died of exhaustion) bare foot in winter. I don't care who you are, that is one tough man.
Click to expand...

I did read that about Dimitry. Definitely one tough dude.

Did you read about the June storm that killed their garden, which led to their Mom's starvation? How one rye plant sprouted and they guarded it day and night, harvested 17 seeds from the plant and rebuilt their seed supply from that?

Definitely one heck of a story!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top