5 Pieces of Overrated Prepper Advice

I’m a skeptic of just about everything. My wife will tell you I was born disgruntled and contrary, so when I hear certain pieces of prepper advice, again and again, I can’t help but question it. In no particular order, here are 5 pieces of overrated prepper advice that drive me crazy.

  1. Stock up on lots and lots of wheat. Okay, we did that and then realized that our family eats very little bread and we feel a lot healthier on lower-carb diets. My wife buys one loaf of Ezekiel bread (tastes like sandpaper to me, but she likes it), keeps it in the freezer, and it lasts for 3-4 weeks. Here I am, sitting with 10 5-gallon buckets of wheat, almost ready to open a commercial bakery, because that was “the prepper thing to do” when we first started out. Yes, if there is ever a total economic collapse or EMP attack, we will eventually make it through that wheat, but in the meantime, it takes up a lot of space in my food storage pantry. Preppers who have since discovered they or someone in the family is gluten intolerant or has celiac disease could have spent that money on something else. Stocking up on a lot of wheat? Totally overrated advice.
  2. Focus on preparing for worst-case scenarios. Some time ago I received an email from a woman asking, “How do I prepare for when we don’t have electricity anymore?” Huh? I think someone has been reading too much prepper fiction. Yes, an EMP attack could take out the power grid for quite some time, but focusing on that as a prepper is short-sighted. I mean, people with this point of view aren’t interested when I recommend something like rechargeable batteries (this set can be charged using any USB charger) because they’re convinced we will shortly be living in the stone age, so why bother. “The end is near” — yeah, probably not. You’re a whole lot more likely to get stranded by the side of the road, flooded by a massive rainstorm or hurricane, or have to shelter in place for one reason or another. Get fully prepped for those, first, before you follow this particular piece of prepper advice.
  3. Stock up on “survival food”. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s scammers, and there are plenty to be found in the prepper/survival niche. They prey on people’s fears. My wife’s aunt is one example. Somehow, she got on the mailing list of a well-known “survival food” site and began receiving emails that terrified her. Naturally, she began forwarding them to us asking, “What should I do??” The text and videos in the emails were designed to scare her into spending thousands of dollars on so-called survival food — freeze-dried meals in pouches. Now, I’m not against this type of food and we have a bit in our pantry, but the truth is, freeze-dried meals are usually not the very best type of food to store. These meals have their place, but you are limited to those specific recipes — spaghetti with meat sauce, turkey tetrazzini, mashed potatoes. You’d better love those foods more than life itself because you’ll be eating the same things meal after meal after meal.
  4. Better get a bug out location or you’ll die. This one really kills me because in reality, a “bug out location” is a second home. If you’ve ever owned a lake house, a cabin, or another second home, you know it can be a real financial burden. You first have to buy the house/property, make payments, get insurance, furnish the house, pay certain utilities even when you aren’t there, worry about vandalism and other property crimes, and, as a prepper, equip the house and property with everything from stored food and water to medical supplies, fuel, self- and home defense, and so much more. It’s just not practical and for many people, not even desirable. Now, the pro bug-out-location people are going to say, “You’re not supposed to just visit your BOL, you’re supposed to live there.” Well, again, if it’s that easy, most preppers would do it. The truth is, most of these armchair survivalist warrior types work regular 9 to 5 jobs like you and me, and very few of those jobs are possible from some remote BOL. Better advice? Have a number of “safe houses” in mind, varying from 5 or 10 miles away to 100 miles or so. These could be homes of relatives/friends or familiar campsites. Just anywhere you could head to if you really do need to evacuate your home for a few days. After Hurricane Harvey hit, people living in flooded 2-story homes simply moved everything upstairs during the mucking-out and rebuilding so their kids could continue with school and they could continue with their jobs. Their BOL was right under their noses, so to speak.
  5. Read prepper fiction to get some really good prepper advice. Here’s yet another overrated piece of advice because what tends to happen is that people read these books and then take them as gospel truth. Try to convince a die-hard fan of One Second After that most vehicles will continue to run just fine after an EMP and that airplanes won’t fall out of the sky. William Forstchen wrote a compelling book that tugged on their emotions so everything he wrote must be true. There are millions of variables at work in the scenario portrayed in One Second After, and many experts agree that, perhaps, just 30% or so of vehicles would be fully disabled with the others experiencing no effects at all or just needing a quick turn of the key to restart. All prepper fiction comes from the imagination of authors who are only human. They do their research, some more than others, but their main purpose isn’t to provide training but entertainment. Entertainment equals sales, which is very smart on their part. Enjoy prepper fiction but before you stake your life on any particular piece of advice, weigh it against information from experts and your own common sense and experience.
See also  Evacuation Plans, Does Your Family have One?

Is there any prepper advice that has rubbed you the wrong way? You know everyone believes it, authors and bloggers pass it on like it’s truth with a capital T, but you aren’t so sure it’s 100% reliable and something everyone should follow without question. What’s on your list of overrated prepper advice?

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32 thoughts on “5 Pieces of Overrated Prepper Advice”

  1. Tired Hobby Farmer

    You can get mighty creative with that wheat! I rarely eat bread either, but I like chicken pot pie occasionally and could use the wheat to make a nice crust. Wheat grass is supposed to be good for you, too. How about a bit of pasta once in a while? Yup, make it yourself when your other supplies run out. How about growing the wheat to feed your chickens? I get free wheatgrass sprouts from a friend after they’ve aged too much and the chickens go crazy over it. I do agree with the rest of your list, though. Becoming more and more self sufficient is the best prep I know and it’s healthier, too, regardless of what’s going on in the rest of the world!

  2. yeah, not convincing on several points.
    #1. low carb diet is great for you, not me. So, the wheat advice
    is subjective. As is your rebuttal.
    #2. survival food, again subjective. We make our own sausage and pickled, smoked and canned everything..so we stock our own pantry with our own “survival food” everyone should keep a stock of food to sustain then in lean times..but as you’ve said buying readymade meals is maybe not the best idea…unless it is.
    #3. Where it is fairly obvious we can’t all buy second properties to bugout to, a list of safe houses seems pretty inconclusive to me.
    It seems you are arguing the whole prepping thing as a whole based on the emergencies YOU see happening. Which is fine..and not wrong.
    Other folks see things differently.
    Anyone that bases how they live on dystopian novels is not in reality anyway, and not likely to listen to contrary advice.

    1. Spot on, vocalpatriot. This blogger asks, “What’s on your list of overrated prepper advice?” My answer is, well, this posting.

      He is certainly setting his sights quite low by giving an impression to preppers that there is little need to prepare for worst case scenarios. Frankly, I am shocked to see some of these ideas being put into print on a survival website.

      Over 50% of Americans do not have three days of food in the house. FEMA is trying to encourage Americans to have at least that much on hand. Baby steps are involved here.

      The idea in the preparedness movement is to get people to prepare for a three day emergency, then for a month long emergency, and then a for year long emergency. EMPs, whether solar or nuclear generated, are capable of causing chaos for years. Is it foolish to be prepared for them since reputable experts say that, especially with solar EMPs, it’s a matter of when, not if. (You know, that whole Carrington Event thing.)

      Most people have a financial problem in getting prepared for a year long emergency, so it is better to encourage them to buy food like wheat berries, rice, and oats and to supplement the basics with other foods, either canned, freeze or air-dried, or fresh from the garden, than to have them sitting on only a month’s supply of food, if that.

      He says that he has ten 5-gallon buckets of flour. Why he is storing that much flour instead of wheat berries is a totally separate issue and is beyond my poor abilities to explain. Yet, let’s go the flour here. A 5-gallon bucket holds a little over one 25 lb. bag. Flour comes in 5 lb., 10 lb., 25 lb., and 50 lb. bags. Let’s assume that he can get 35 lbs. of flour in a bucket, even though I believe 30 lbs. is likely the limit. If he has 10 buckets, as he says, he can make one loaf of bread for his family for just about each day for a year. In a post-SHTF situation, that is not all that much bread for a family.

      Then he says, “Preppers who have since discovered they or someone in the family is gluten intolerant or has celiac disease could have spent that money on something else. Stocking up on a lot of wheat? Totally overrated advice.” Well, duh, but wouldn’t anyone have a grasp on that issue before buying flour/wheat berries?

      Eight years ago, I was buying wheat berries from a Mormon warehouse (that sell to all, Mormon or not) for $5.60 for a 25 lb. bag. (The price went up after the Russian wheat crop failure a few years ago, but it is still cheap.) What else could I have purchased so cheaply that would have provided so many calories?

      If a person can lay aside freeze-dried food and canned goods in massive quantities, more power to them. If not, they should go the Mormon route, http://www.providentliving.org, and put aside huge amounts of food for very little. Better to have a year’s supply of basics, augmented by canned goods and such, than to have only a month’s supply of one’s normal diet and to hope for the best.

      As they say, hope is not a strategy in most circumstances. It surely shouldn’t be in survival matters.

      P.S. I do not expect that this message will ever see the light of day.

      1. Just a couple of quick notes. You misquoted me with the statement about buckets of flour. Flour has a markedly lower shelf life than wheat and is something no experienced prepper would ever recommend. People can, and very often do, develop gluten intolerance and celiac disease well into their adulthood, so, no, you might not know about these health issues until after you’ve stocked up on plenty of wheat. I’ve received many questions from people over the years, asking about this issue. They have tons of wheat, their loved ones can no longer eat it, so what now? Since this site is written by preppers, FOR preppers, it really isn’t of any interest to me how little food the typical American may or may not have on hand. I’m addressing long-standing pieces of advice that many people take for granted, without question.

        1. I admit when I am wrong. You are correct on both points. Your post does say wheat, and, yes, celiac disease and gluten intolerance can develop over time.

          Having said that, the amount of wheat, 10 buckets, given the modest expense, is not all that much. In a situation where it suddenly became inedible due to digestive issues with someone in the family, I would have to think that the barter value of the “staff of life” would be excellent. Others in the family could shift their diets to eat more bread, and leave, say, rice to the one who is affected.

          Were wheat an expensive commodity, then certainly priorities would change.

  3. There are a couple common bits of Prepper Advice that I’d put in the myth category. They’re related, but have their differences.

    One: You must be a warrior — ready to fight running gun battles for days on end. Some blog authors who are ‘gun guys’ insist that everyone must be equipped like a front-line soldier: AR-15 (or two or three), a dozen mags, body armor, Glocks in Kydex holsters, etc. One of my identifier phrases in those articles is: “Train, train, train.” Some writers may honestly imagine that an ‘event’ bad enough to prep for will become all-out-War, so they’re constantly practicing for war.
    ‘ While some means for self-defense is good (and know how to use it), it’s commonly pushed that a ‘real’ prepper must have 10 5-gallon buckets of guns.

    Two –and it’s related to the first one — is that a ‘real’ prepper must be buff. When they say ‘physically fit’, they seldom mean: not overweight, a healthy-balanced diet, able to preform daily homestead chores, no damaging habits or addictions, etc. No, they usually mean Army Ranger buff: able to march 15 miles a day with a 50 lb backpack, run 2 miles, bench press…whatever. One of my indicator phrases for those articles is: “…or you won’t make it.” Again, the picture is combat, as if you will be chased by platoons of enemy.
    ‘ It is certainly true that everyone should strive to be as healthy as they can be. It’s a common myth that only the buff will survive. When you read real survival stories (plane crashes, disasters, etc.) the survivors are almost always ordinary people.

    As for fiction, I’ve read a lot of them (including One Second After). They can be entertaining, though many are bullt around the warrior myth mentioned above. So, I wrote some prepper fiction about average folks coping with a grid-down world — deliberatly avoiding the super-soldier stereotypes. It was interesting how the warrior-myth-favoring readers complained about there being not enough action or gun play. The warrior myth sells much better than reality.

    Thanks for the thoughtful article, btw

    1. I agree with the 5 points outlined in Noah’s article. His assessment of that overrated advice is realistic.

      I also agree with Mic Roland about the warrior and physical fitness points that were made in the comments.

      Chances are, if running gun battle activity ever breaks out, a little old Grandma with an antique 22L pump can probably have as many AR and AK rifles as she wants to go outside and pick up.

      CD in Oklahoma

  4. Good Article and in regard to the EMP comment, my personal car, since I’ve owned it sometimes performs a self inflicted EMP test. Sometimes, without, warning, there seems to be a surge, the radio resets and the clock resets. Car never stalls. I think it will make it.

    I would like to add that some weapons advise are a little overrated. I see some weapons with so many accessories attached, they themselves become a liability and also I decided to have weapons/parts from the same manufacturer that if a part broke on one I could get a part from another like weapon and I zeroed a scope/red dot sight and a night vision device to my primary weapon to make it multi use platform and switch as the situation changes.

  5. Bill from North Carloina

    I agree with your list.
    But the first thing we need to is get people to think and do their own research.
    I went to Vietnam. I learned as a young man that most people do not know what they are doing and cannot be trusted.
    Question everything.
    Do your own research.
    Take ownership.

  6. I read (casually) about 20 prepper sites and your advice is excellent. I had a good laugh because I long ago concluded that fear-mongering drives this market just as it does for the BUY GOLD NOW market.

    Hopefully others have seen the irony of a BOL that you live at — it’s called home, and by definition you aren’t bugging out to that location, you’re already there!

    But aside from the oh-so-true points of these five overrated bits of advice, I’ll add anther on guns. While it’s true that firearms (pistol, rifle, shotgun) are essential, rumor has it that a “battle rifle” is most critical to staving off invaders. AR-type rifles sell from under $1000 to more than four times that amount. I’ve read about and talked to “experts” who claim that this or that top-end AR is really what you need to survive, because lesser guns won’t do the job. A top-notch battle rifle can easily send thousands of rounds down range without missing a beat.

    Two questions come to mind. First, if I’m using 500 rounds a day to hold down the fort (and not being resupplied as I might be in the military), then how many days before I’ve run out of ammo? Second, if I have to fire that many rounds, how many people am I shooting at, and wouldn’t shear numbers eventually overwhelm me regardless of the amount of ammo I have?

    Yes, firearms and reserves of ammo serve a practical purpose, but no, you don’t need to spend more than I spent on my first car for a battle-proven rifle. If things turn that bad, your survival is more likely based on random chance than on the amount that you invested in a rifle.

  7. I agree with tired hobby farmer on the wheat, you can be very creative with it. You can look on the LDS web site, they have a manual if you will on the different ways to use wheat. You don’t have to agree with their religious believe to see they have some good information. I would also like to point out that while you may have somethings in your area that are more likely to happen,tornado,earth quake, floods etc.. your basic prep’s should cover all of them without going to the extreme. Things like food, water, medicine, defense and others. I also agree that most prepper sites do play on your fears to sale things you really don’t need. I also agree on the bug out location. I would be willing to bet that 90/95% of the people who tell you to get one don’t have one. If you look at what they tell you need at this site I would say 99% can’t afford it. Things like green houses, solar, live stock (cows, goats, rabbits, chicken etc), big pond, well with hand pump, and the list goes on. They also tell you you can do it on 1/4 to 1/2 acre of ground. In your dreams. I believe 20 acres is more realistic. I would say plan for basics and the big ones deal with as they arise. Bottom line the basics will get you through almost anything you will go thru.

    1. In reply to needing 20 acres to live off of depends on the ground you own.
      The myth that you you need an armed battalion to protect yourself is ridiculous. If things go completely sideways ( emp, banks close, financial meltdowns etc) for 2 weeks most of the urban or suburban preppers will be overrun. If you are 50-100 miles from a major metro area you have a month maybe a bit more. If you are in bf Egypt you might get 3 months unless you are capable of doing the unthinkable to survive. The hoards WILL find you. If they don’t the powers that be will. Their army will get hungry. Anybody who has a bug out shelter in the USA and thinks that is good enough is crazy. You are putting off the inevitable. The hoards or the military will overwhelm you and all is wasted. Get out of the USA. Good climate not hot not cold, grow food on land not photographed by satellite every 2-3 weeks and live a peaceful existence without feeling like you need to shoot at every person that comes on your land.
      I have a year round garden,fruit trees and 2 food forests I share with my neighbors. No need to stockpile food you really don’t want to have to eat. A brand new 1br 1ba 700 sq ft house and it cost me $60k and $250 a month for the land,water and electric with taxes. The temperature doesn’t go below 50 or over 80 and above the mosquito line. Water is so pure can drink from irrigation canal. The government or the hoards won’t look for me and I can enjoy life rather than survive. This is my idea of preparation. Just an 8 hour flight from Chicago.

  8. I never thought much about “survival food”. I think that a Bug Out location is probably better than a shelter-in-place location if you set it up properly. Anyone who thinks they will take a bug out bag and go into the woods and survive for more than 30 days is delusional……and then dead.

    1. Here is the problem ( or several ) with bug out locations. #1 unless you have stocked it with all these supplies you think you will need it is going to take an awful lot of time and effort to move all the food,guns,ammo ect that people seem to think they are going to need to that location. Another ( and this is the biggest problem IMHO ) is in a real SHTF situation if the world blows up unless you are a local or well known you are not going to be welcome in whatever community you BOL is in. I live in a small mountain community and knowing a lot of the people in the area I also know that people in these areas will consider the water, game,wood, ect as their own resource and are not going to welcome strangers with open arms.

      1. Humansarefuntowatch

        I think your unfriendly hill people should rethink their position, they could be: easily outnumbered, completely outgunned, have their communications jammed, be burned out, have their wells poisoned, be shot on sight, have their animals shot on sight, have their bridges cut, and their roads blocked by any easily organized group on the move.

        You don’t need Rambo, Seals or Rangers to do all these things, just one platoon, or even a couple of squads, of reasonably healthy individuals that can follow orders – just 2 trucks full of guys and equipment. What are they really going to do if a group that has a 4 mile, 6 mile, or 15 mile kill radius comes to visit? And who’s going to put out the forest fire in hillbilly heaven that may ensue from an unfriendly welcome?

        Instead of trying for an isolated last stand, and insisting they “own” the entire natural environment of America just because they have used it for free for decades, perhaps it would be better to add-on visiting forces and share resources not only to avoid conflict but to maintain resource value and give every one a stake in cooperation and group survival, essentially to consider each new visitor a potential valuable asset.

        Resistance isn’t always futile, but it certainly can be on occasion.

    2. I think people trying to survive in the woods would be like a bad episode of the reality show Naked and Afraid, and I would not want to watch that. There are random articles on the web encouraging people to buy a backpack and sleeping bag, go to the nearest woods, set up a tent and hunt squirrel. Desperate people running amok in the woods is not a good thing. You’re right – they would soon be dead.

  9. As for the BOL…. as I see it the myth that is way overstated is in the form of not-so-suttle comments that the “American Redoubt” is THE place to move to.
    Secondly, the “two is one, and one is none” myth. Do the best you can with what you have and get extras as the opportunity presents itself.
    Thirdly, I do enjoy reading prepper fiction. I have learned things from what I’ve read, I’ve tried the things out and maybe tweaked them to where they work for me. I also like to read how people respond to different SHTF scenarios and get some food for thought on how I can tweak my preps.
    Thanks for the article as it gave me food for thought.

  10. None of the 5 items listed hear is “bad” advice. They CAN be over rated for some of the reasons mentioned only if someone hasn’t done their homework and realized the limitations of each. Take wheat for example. Yes, it can get pretty boring but, notice that no alternative solution was offerred. What other food source provides a nearly complete protien that stores as along as wheat and is as cheaply priced? If you are truly preparing for the long haul wheat should be a staple. After you’ve got a good supply laid in THEN you can add tasty alternatives as finances allow. It’s not over rated advice so much as misunderstood.

    1. Hi Novice. There are plenty of articles on this site about wheat options and other ways to utilize wheat. The point I’m trying to make is that maybe stocking up on massive amounts of wheat isn’t the best advice for many people.

  11. Michelle Hedgcock

    This is the most sensible article I’ve read today. I particularly liked the part about the bug out location. If I could afford it I’d have a cabin in the woods already. LOL

    1. A lot of us would. Or, since we’re talking second homes, really, maybe a cottage on a remote beach would be nice. I can dream, right?

  12. There was never a time in my life as part of provident living that we did not have some form of everyday life preparedness. Growing up we always canned produce much from our own garden. What we didn’t grow ourselves we purchased and put it up. Our families little 5 acre property provided enough land to raise yearling farm animals to go into the freezer. Supplement by fishing and some hunting. Having been away from that little farm had a garden for many years, keeping children busy with maintenance and harvesting. Currently living on 1 1/3 acres gives me plenty of room to make as large a garden as I desire. At the same time have had stores of wheat through the LDS resources, dried fruits and vegetables including dried milk, rice, honey, et al. Have all the black walnuts grown on site as well as hickory nuts. Do live in a suburban residential area with subdivisions all around. At the same time being LDS in faith have known all of my 67 year old life it is more than important to set stores aside which include more than food, how about personal hygiene, toilet paper, some sort of alternative heat other than electricity or natural gas. Doing this could be an immediate high cost endeavor. There is so much information out there in the world of Google. Recommend setting a budget, my thoughts are if at all possible 10% of ones monthly income, if not that then 5% but do something. Have known many people of the LDS faith in tough times were ever so grateful they had listened and had followed the counsel to prepare for the future. Having the food storage, money storage, personal and family hygiene saved their “bacon”. They may not have lived at the same financial level but in many cases did not have to resort to using governmental subsidies unless absolutely no other choice was available. In most all of these cases were job loss related. Do believe though my first choice is to stay in place with the hope and desire that family and other trust worthy people of the same thinking and preparation would band together for all our well being and protection. To much to throw in the back of a pickup truck and bug out with. My two cents.

    1. Dr. Arthur T. Bradley has done more to test the effects of EMP than just about anyone, and based on his research he believes that most vehicles would have a momentary hiccup, some would die and then restart with the turn of a key. There simply isn’t much research to back the concept that virtually every vehicle will be inoperable. That’s something found only in prepper fiction. And, yes, I’ve seen that video, but a single video doesn’t prove a major point. There are way too many variables involved.

  13. I’m not going to take sides. There are things I would or have done differently. So here are my random thoughts after reading the original piece and the comments that followed.

    For me and my family, we don’t have multiple buckets of anything. Why? It’s not going to do me any good to have buckets of wheat, flour, sugar, etc if I don’t also have water as well as a way to cook. Unfortunately, it’s a critical issue when 3 adults live in a double wide mobile home, in a mobile home park, in the city.

    My FIRST priority was to have a 30 day supply of canned/dry food including canned vegetables and fruit for 3 adults. Basically, a package of oatmeal or 2 for breakfast, powdered eggs, powdered milk/juice mix. Then perhaps the 3 of us split 2 cans of Ravioli, one can of green beans, and 1 can peaches for lunch. If we are too limited on water, we won’t be using the powdered eggs.
    So, we have a 30 day stock of food that requires no extra water or even heating to eat. We have a large variety to choose from. We do also have approximately 30 days worth of drinking water for 3 adults.

    2 is 1, and 1 is none. None is none is closest to the truth when you have an extremely limited budget, are just starting, or have limited space.

    I’m happy knowing that we have over 30 days of food and water provided we can defend it.
    But we need to look at the whole picture. No weapons, ammo, medical supplies, etc., the food and water alone, won’t keep us alive.
    Instead of having buckets of wheat berries or anything else, I am looking at the whole picture. Food and water won’t fix hemorrhaging to death! An infection due to poor hand hygiene can’t be fixed by increasing the number of buckets of the same food staple.

    I guess what I’m saying is, that while it may be wonderful to have tons of food, I believe it’s wiser to spend money attempting to build upon all your needs. Buy 2 cans of Ravioli, then 1 case of water, then a 4 pack of TP, then a box of ammo, then a box of contractor bags, then a bottle of Imodium, next a few solar walkway lights (talk about hiding things in plain sight), the list goes on forever.

    You can’t fix dead with a case of water, but you may be able to prevent it because you have hand sanitizer available to prevent becoming sick in the first place.

    A comment on an EMP and Bug-In/Bug-Out. An EMP is probably the worst case scenario. If you start or work on your prepping, prep for an EMP. It ain’t gonna get much worse than that. We do have a Bug-Out location, but unless we have prior warning, it is highly unlikely that we can get there except on foot. Nobody truly knows which vehicles, and to what degree, if any, would be affected. If there are 12 cars on the road, an EMP hits, nothing happens to 5, 4 of the other 7 stop completely, but are easily restarted, and the remaining 3 stop and would require at least minimal mechanical intervention, you are looking at a crushed up bloody parking lot. The first 5 slam into the other 7. Unaffected mechanically, they continue traveling at 50 mph. The other 7, immediately become hood ornaments as they instantaneously go from traveling at 50mph to 0mph. Without warning, the ones unaffected slam into the others.

    Now that is 12 cars. Even without rush hour, this same scene will be occurring on streets a over the place. So now, we can make things fun. No 911 assistance. Even if police and fire have unaffected vehicles, after a few leaps and bounds, they won’t be able to continue rolling over crash scenes to respond to other crash scenes.

    Communication will either go down with the EMP or quickly overwhelmed and crash when demand suddenly spikes.

    If you haven’t gotten where you believe you are safe prior to all the above happening (your Big-Out location), well, good luck.

    Any other SHTF scenario, even a local one, may significantly reduce your ability to do anything other than Bugging-In.

    People newer to prepping can become overwhelmed trying to take in all this information and figure out what to do first.

    Air is first. Shelter is second, water is third, Security is forth, then food and everything else.

    It doesn’t help to have 3 years of freeze-dried or dehydrated food if you will freeze to death in 20 minutes or you have no water to make it edible.

    Learn skills that people will be dependent upon. Talk to others about what they are doing and what has and hadn’t worked for them, and continually work on expanding your knowledge base.

    1. This is exactly the type of customized, personal thinking and planning required and most preppers are fine and dandy with blindly following whatever advice they get from their favorite prepper/survival author or blogger. Not that advice is bad, obviously. Our blog is Preparedness ADVICE! But most people seem to be lazy and just want to check things off a list, even if it’s not a good fit. OR, feel fearful they won’t survive because they don’t have all the gear and the expensive Bug Out Location so many “experts” advise.

  14. I just scored 22 five gallon buckets of hard wheat and don’t know where to begin. The chickens sure like it so if nothing else, …
    I want to pressure cook some. Make me some gruel.
    Of course there’s the obligatory flour, now that will be a challenge without a mill of any kind. I’m keeping an eye out for one.
    I understand “soaking” or “fermenting” your flour makes it healthier for people.
    Also, sprouting the wheat berry properly for flour is looking mighty interesting as well. It comes out of the grinder/blender already a dough.
    Then there’s sprouting trays of wheat for fodder for the chickens and quails this winter.

    As far as I’m concerned, I’m already in a worst case scenario.
    I’m surrounded by people who don’t have the ability to work together in respect, dignity, and diplomacy for the greater good, the highest potential, the win/win.
    And being so, .. so, .. limited, these poor creatures demand to be weakened as a peoples where they are divided into “parties” and set to eternally fighting and squabbling with each other with silly, meaningless, and disrespectful childish games of win/lose, as all true idiots do when given half a chance.
    Can you imagine?
    So mentally compromised they can not understand what situations of win/win would mean for themselves, their neighbors, and their poor perverted children.
    It’s sad I tell you.
    What I prepare for is how these poor creatures are going to react after a serious SHTF event. Any SHTF event.
    It won’t take much and they’ll all be at each others throats like dogs in the pit.
    It’s all the poor creatures understand, worship, and practice, is the self inflicted retardation of the win/lose paradigm where the constant and mandatory creation of losers by the millions to pollute the community with, is considered sane and honourable.
    Did I say “brainwashed yet?
    Spiritual win/lose, social win/lose, academic win/lose, silly, meaningless, and disrespectful sporting games of win/lose, economic win/lose, and top all this self inflicted retardation off with the political win/lose, the dismal failure of our sacred Demockery.
    I mean, the poor creatures are not all going to jump up and start singing Coom By Ya and working together in respect, dignity, and diplomacy because if they were capable of such holy and divine things as the win/win, you’d think the poor things would be practicing them already. You know, would strive for the win/win concerning every aspect of their lives.

    All food is survival food isn’t it?
    Semantics aside, I hear you. Still, there are things I desire such as the powdered eggs. I’ve had no luck dehydrating my own eggs. I need a larger and more expensive dehydrator I guess.
    I think I got everything else covered food wise. I’m big into grow or make your own so I prep the ingredients and now the seeds too.

    I’m bugging in.
    And that being said.
    I failed this summer at my attempt building an underground root cellar/storm shelter/back up for some preps, hole in the ground.
    Next summer eh? There’s still time now to get the front end loader in and start digging in preparation. But it’s a busy time of the year for tractors it seems. lol
    Anywho, this root cellar will be my bug out location. Windproof, fireproof, bullet proof, earthquake resistant, are all good enough for me.

    I used to love the distraction and entertainment of fiction.

    Seems to me everyone’s situation is different.
    I’m already backwoods rural, farming and fishing, everybody is my cousin kinda place, … and it’s those cousins I worry about.
    I can’t imagine prepping in a city, … well to me prepping in a city would mean moving right away, … lol so I guess I have that covered!

    I’m comfortable on the water, … that might come in handy. It’s a amazing how a quarter mile of water gets rid of 99.99% of the idiots, yourself being that remaining 0.01 percent eh? Man, I went seeking myself once, found myself, and now I’m stuck with this A-hole for the rest on my life.
    That being said,…

    Have a great one.

  15. I have very limited means, so I prepare for the “most-case” scenario-that is, the crapstorms most likely to happen, which happen to be the ones I’ve been through before. Just my thinking. At some point I should be able to expand my list.

  16. I am always surprised how many rush out to buy stuff without a plan. Always prepping for the mythical worst case like Yellowstone blowing up, yet never plan for the obvious risks that could happen in any of our lives, like losing a job. We prep for the worst case that could happen less than 1 % of the time in our life but not the severe storm or the fire. If we spent more time prepping for the possible, and learning skills necessary, we would find that ultimately if the worst case happened, we would be ready, we would be prepared. Many a stored prep has been lost for want of a fire extinguisher……….

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