Reading About Prepping Isn’t Enough

Over the years as a prepper, I’ve noticed the huge increase in INFORMATION. It’s everywhere. Blogs, forums, websites, products, books upon books, and even scams. Preppers have never had more INFORMATION, and yet, preppers have also never had a more confusing maze to wander through.

Freeze dried food? Dehydrated? Is canned food okay, but what if the ‘Best by’ date has expired? What about nutrients, calories, and servings?

Which water filter? There are so many and comparing microns and the number of gallons a filter can process — which one is best?

Then there’s the rule of back-ups. You should always have a back-up to your back-ups, but where does that end? A person could become a hoarder just by adding back-ups to their back-ups to their back-ups!

So, this summer when I had a chance to attend a few webinars with the new Preppers University and check out their Prepping Intensive course, I thought, “This is the missing piece!” We preppers have more than enough information to be ready for a full-blown nuclear war, but how many of us have actually followed through, day after day? For some, it’s been a lifestyle, ingrained since childhood, but for most of us, we’re new to the prepping mindset.

In my case, I admit that i get sidetracked by work, projects to do around the house, helping my wife with the kids and their activities — you name it. Weeks can go by without me consciously doing much prepping. Thank goodness my wife usually stays on track with food storage and keeping our bug out bags and gear up to date.

Enter the 10-week Prepping Intensive. Reading through the course outline, pretty much everything is covered:

  • Water and Sanitation
  • Food Storage
  • Power Outage Readiness — Dr. Arthur T. Bradley is a guest speaker. Pretty impressive.
  • Natural Disasters
  • Survival Away From Home
  • Health & Fitness
  • Setting Up a Survival Retreat
  • Worst Case Scenarios
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There’s even a week where students are given their choice of several drills to run through. The one I picked was “No water for 24 hours”. Having a week of drills about halfway through the course seemed pretty smart to me — you can check on your progress and know what still needs to be done.

In the students-only area, I read through weekly To Do lists, the Weekly Challenges, a few of the assessments students fill out, and then saw the schedule of webinars — at least 2 each week. I know there’s a lot more that I haven’t included here, but this website will give you the complete overview.

The course isn’t cheap. It’s priced at $169 for the 10 weeks, but when I saw how I could actually talk with people like Dr. Bradley or someone like Selco, who writes about his experiences during the Bosnian war, or FerFAL who talks about living through Argentina’s various economic collapses — I’m not sure how to put a price tag on that.

Lisa Bedford, who has helped me here at Preparedness Advice, is The Survival Mom and is one of the founders of Preppers University, along with Daisy Luther. Daisy has written the book about water for preppers and she has 2 websites: DaisyLuther.com and TheOrganicPrepper. Both these ladies also teach some of the webinars.

Lisa and Daisy gave me a coupon code good for $20 off the registration fee. If you take a look at the course and decide to go for it, use code FANDF20 for the discount. I’m not an affiliate with them — I’m just passing along this code.

This is something new in the world of prepping and maybe some people won’t want the restrictions of weekly assignments or the accountability of being part of a group, but to me, this really is what a lot of preppers have been needing.

A Must Read
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2 thoughts on “Reading About Prepping Isn’t Enough”

  1. Noah, as you point out, there’s a plethora of information available, most of which has merit. Some, however, are scams and others are the imaginings of those with no real experience who wish to capitalize, in some way, from their writings. Those of us with genuine experience can see through these deceptions but for those with no clue, this misinformation can be fatal.
    Advice coming from those who have lived through situations as Selco and others have is most welcome but we must keep in mind that what worked in their unique circumstance may not be best in every circumstance. Their priorities and perspective may not be ours. Think six blind men and the elephant.
    Having come from an agricultural background, prepping within that sphere is second nature. Putting up hay and grain for the coming winter was a given if you expected to carry livestock through until Spring. The same applied to putting up our own meat and vegetables and firewood. We always planted and put up more than we expected to use. Corn, for example, was planted with the following guidelines: one for the cutworm, one for the crow, one for the ‘coon, and one to grow. Dealing calmly and deliberately with the unexpected was also learned at an early age. Livestock breaks out, predators break in, seldom when it’s convenient to deal with.
    While all of that was a great start, it failed to cover protecting, defending or hiding what we have from human predators wishing to take it. Those of us who were taught to respect law and order along with those enforcing the law, may be hesitant to act if faced with unsafe demands by the authorities. As it is now, we are beset by thieves acting under color of authority. Imagine how it will be when the ball of yarn unravels.
    All preppers are not created equal. Age, physical, and mental abilities vary in spite of the amount of information available. Each geographic area poses different threats and obstacles, as well as offering different benefits. Serious introspection and a critical assessment of ourselves, our group, and our surroundings must be at the top of any prepper’s list. Only then can we fine-tune our preps to fit our individual situation.
    Whatever skills you lack, find a mentor, get some hands-on experience with someone who can correct your errors immediately. Never rely on the printed word alone unless you want a typographical error to be your cause of death. And when learning primitive skills, stick with tried and true. New and improved in this instance is almost never that. It may be new but it’s rarely an improvement over what has worked fine for centuries.

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