Posted on 05/12/2022 10:41:48 PM PDT by blam
A storage room stacked with food is seen at a preppers ranch in Mathias, West Virginia, on March 13, 2020.
Most people don’t bother to prepare for uncertain times until it’s too late. It’s the “ant and the grasshopper” parable written on a human scale.
“The problem is that while fear is a great motivator, it isn’t conducive to smart decisions,” said Diane Vukovic at Primalsurvivor.com, an online personal preparedness website.
“No matter how terrified you are about a certain event happening, you still need to go about prepping in a calm, logical way,” Vukovic told The Epoch Times.
Once considered a fringe “conspiracy theory,” the idea of preparedness has gone mainstream as global events unfold. Many online “preppers” have said that only a small percentage of Americans prepare for potential food shortages and civil unrest. However, the concern among would-be preppers on a limited income is the cost of preparing in an inflationary environment.
The good news is that prepping is still relatively inexpensive to do, Vukovic said.
“Chances are you don’t need an expensive gas mask, bulletproof vest, or other hyped-up survival gear. You’ll see that most preparedness supplies are very cheap,” Vukovic said.
Rule number one is don’t buy out of fear or panic.
“I suggest writing a list of the most likely disasters for your area. For most people in the United States these will be earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and power outages. Then, make a list of what items you would need to be prepared for these disasters,” she said.
What’s On The Menu?
Prepperwebsite.com host Todd Sepulveda recommends budget-minded preppers start with a menu of necessary items such as dry food and canned goods, which are still plentiful at the grocery store.
“People trying to prep their food storage sometimes go to the grocery store and start buying random items. Later, they have to try and figure out how it will all work together and put dinner together,” Sepulveda told The Epoch Times.
“Starting from a menu takes out all the guesswork and ensures that you won’t buy unnecessary items at the grocery store.”
Sepulveda advises making a one-week menu of breakfast, lunch, and dinner of what your family usually eats, making a grocery list, and keeping a clean copy for the following week.
Empty shelves for pasta are seen at a supermarket on Jan. 13, 2022, in Monterey Park, California.
“If you want to stock up a month’s worth of food at one time, just quadruple your list,” Sepulveda said. “You can bring more variety to your family food storage if you make a two-week menu and double that. That way, you are not eating the same foods every week.”
Food storage isn’t hard and doesn’t have to be expensive—”you just need to plan it out,” Sepulveda said.
Other websites that cater to preppers of all experience levels include Graywolf Survival, Apartment Prepper, Bioprepper, Mom With A Prepper, The Prepared, and many others.
These sites cover a full range of topics on disaster preparedness—from creating emergency kits and bug-out bags, medical and first-aid supplies, water filtration, cooking without electricity, solar power, and living off-grid.
“Even if you have zero money to spend, you still have a budget—it’s just zero. And, yes, it is possible to prepare with absolutely no money,” Vukovic said.
She said once you have a list of everything you need, prioritize the items—trash bags and buckets, for example, are inexpensive or even free.
“To make sure you don’t forget anything important, divide your list into categories. As you buy supplies, make sure you get items from each category.
The critical supplies categories include food and water, water purification, health and hygiene, heating, lighting, electricity, disaster cleanup, personal safety, and emergency radio communications.
Live Within Your Means
Even if you have no money for prepping, you’ll need to know about wilderness survival and how to make supplies even on a shoestring budget.
“For example, you can get free buckets from local stores. In an emergency, these buckets could then be used for things like collecting rainwater or making an emergency toiler, which is incredibly important but something a lot of people forget about,” Vukovic said.
If you have a small budget, divide your list into expensive items: propane camp stove, propane heater, personal safety, and inexpensive items such as canned food, tarps, tape, and bleach.
“Buy a few inexpensive items every week and set aside a certain amount of money each week or month to go towards pricier items,” Vukovic said. “Consider shopping at thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales for lower prices on gently used items.”
For those fortunate to have a large budget, Vukovic recommends that beginning preppers resist the urge to buy “fancy” or “cool” gear and supplies at the outset.
“Instead, do your research and invest in quality items that have good reviews [or] come highly recommended by those who have used the item. Otherwise, you might find the item you bought is unsuitable for your needs and have to buy another,” Vukovic said.
It’s also important to back up all essential documents in a significant life-altering event, she said.
“Having backups of your important documents might not be a life-or-death issue, but it will make the aftermath of a disaster much less stressful,” Vukovic said.
“For example, if your entire home is destroyed in a fire, knowing your insurance policy number and having a list of valuables in the home will make it easier to get a refund.
“Likewise, if your children had to switch schools after a disaster, you’d be grateful you backed-up copies of their school records.”
Backing up your documents can be done cheaply or at no cost, she added.
“You can put them on an encrypted USB and keep this in a bank safe or other secure location. There are also some secure cloud storage platforms you can use,” Vukovic said.
“While you are at it, back up all of your family photos. If your home is destroyed, at least you won’t lose all of your children’s baby photos and other memories.”
LOL - yes, 'ULTRA MAGA KING is better!
Trump is the King of people who want to see American Great Again...
(LBJ)Johnson was the KING of people who wanted a Great Society.
There is a Comment that if you change you Amazon to Canada, there is no shortage of formula. Enfomil is available to ship.
I have not tested this.
We’ve kept a ‘BaseMart” for years. quite a few comercial shelves full of food.
Rotate the stock, keep supply coming in and keep your powder dry.
Whew. That’s good. Reading through this thread I was starting to get worried.
Back to watching the game...
Yep, nothing to worry about, we can go back to normalcy.
You know what bothers me that I have not figured out how to resolve?
The very real possibility of getting dry-gulched on my way out to the shed.
It’s a security problem for sure. Dogs don’t really solve it in the long run, hell one bad hot dog the night before takes them out of the fight.
I have been thinking about a drone solution. And if one doesn’t exist... maybe designing a solution. Then you just don’t go to the shed when the weather is bad.
Anyway, just thinking out loud...
Dry gulched?
You are in a very fortunate situation.
Ambushed.
For about $600 these days you can get set up with a rig that can really reach out.
Lot of wide open space and tall grass where I’m at. Not sure how to counter it. Especially at first, before community really starts to gel.
Underground tunnels??
Certain birds make good watch animals. Certain geese, guinea hens comes to mind.
I’d stay away from cassowary’s though, they can kill their owners.
XD ... not a bad idea... very hard to implement!
I had never thought of regular birds... I’ll think on this.
But regarding the Cassowary, I have put extensive research into how to implement this particular bird into my defense strategy. I planned to have deep pits with 3 to 6 Cassowarys per pit all covered with palm fronds situated in line with likely ingress and egres...
just kidding, I had to Google Cassowary
Apparently guinea hens squawk at almost everything.
I recently listened to a recording of them. They are very noisy birds overall.
Not for you if you value peace and quiet.
I’m going to try other means to deal with ticks before I resort to guinea hens..
I couldn’t take the noise... so back to the drone solution...
Hmmm... drones with onboard guinea hens... interesting.
IR detectors?
We have a driveway alarm. It came with the house. It’s a long driveway and curves some so we can’t see the road, but when something passes the sensor, the alarm beeps.
Deer trigger it, though.
Gotta be something like that.
There is other stuff that can be done too (cool stuff).
When I get fired for not taking a vax there will be lots of free time...
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