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“You have every reason to be spooked. But keep your head and associate with and surround yourself with as many like minded people as you can.”

Unkus is right, you have every reason to be worried, but not necessarilly afraid. I know exactly where you are. I was there myself a few years back. I get that overwhelming feeling now and again, but it’s really, really, really (can’t say enough reallys) good for you. (In fact, you can use it to your advantage. Keep a pen and paper with you, and when you get those feelings, write down a list of everything you’d need at that moment to get home safely, or what you couldn’t live without, etc., and start acquiring those skills and items.)

The Bible teaches prudence. Think of Joseph and Egypt. Think of Proverbs: “Consider the ant and her ways.” Think of the fable of the ant and the grasshopper (not in the Bible). The ants prepare and store, and perhaps most importantly, WORK. They work all the time, they don’t rest at all, that I know of (I mean vacation, not sleep). Well, you don’t need to be frightened, but you do need a firm resolution to get your house in order.

Nurses make a good income. Don’t be one of the lackey’s that says “I don’t have space.” Baloney. Depending on your size and activity, you need anywhere from 1-2 lbs of Dry goods per day to survive. That can be virtually anything. Rice, beans, wheat/flour (milled flour doesn’t keep as long, the others keep 30 years) mashed potato pearls, pasta, etc., etc. Each pound has roughly 1600 Calories in it. Now, consider this. It’s approximately 50lbs for a 6 gallon bucket of dry goods. You could have about a 2200 Calorie diet for 1 year if you had just 9 of those buckets. You can stack them 3x3 in the back of a closet (how I started out). That would set you back roughly $100-$150, if you bought in bulk, and you do it right NOW. (Wheat in my area is about $13/50lb sack, beans about $20, potato flakes, depends upon where you get them. Rice is $20/50lb sack at Sam’s Club.)

Don’t wait, go out and do it now. You won’t worry about whether or not you like that food if you have nothing else to eat. But it’s just a starting point. You’ll need spices, fats/oils, etc. along the way, and some canned or fresh veggies (from a garden). Meat if you really, really want it, but that’s quite costly, and not necessarilly good for you. Don’t waste your money on freeze dried. I mean, you can, but it’s not a good deal economically, not necessarilly more tasty, and certainly not a good place to start. You’ll need some good multivitamins. I recommend “Nature’s Way: Alive.” A consumer study listed it #1 out of 50 different name brand and generic multivitamins. It’s the one I use, and It’s well worth the cost (Which is not substantial, it’s about $20 or so for 180ct).

I suggest you go out and buy extra socks and underwear, and a method of washing them. It sounds like you have that in mind, as you mentioned a drying rack. You can buy a hand washer for about $15-$20, shipped. We hand washed our clothes in buckets for nearly a year. Anyone who has hand washed can tell you, it’s not the washing though, it’s the wringing out that’s the pain.

Anyway, I don’t mean to sound bossy, but I want to help light the fire. Don’t get overwhelmed. Use the stress as a motivator, not a deflator. I feel for a lot of folks, they have weeks, not even months to get prepared. I could be wrong, it’s just in my gut. But let me say one thing, to quote something I heard once, “If you pile up a lot of ‘tomorrows’ you’ll find you have a lot of empty ‘yesterdays.’” And, “If you don’t make decisions, in time, time will make decisions for you.”

Don’t be caught standing in life’s game of musical chairs. If you need any prepping advice just ask. I’m always here to help. If you’re not on it, Kartographer is the keeper of the “Prepper Ping list.” Every thread he pings us to, I add the keyword “Prepperping” to, so you can review all the old ones. Take care, and God Bless.