Emergency Preppers

Emergency Preppers- people who prepare themselves for emergency, fire, flood, social collapse, economic collapse, zombies or any other contingency where life as they know it may go badly in a rapid rate and where survival may be at stake. For those who scoff at “preppers” think of it this way… you hope your house doesn’t burn down but does that mean you don’t need to have home insurance? Or car insurance for that matter? What about a bit of cash on hand in case something comes up like you got sick or had an emergency car repair? Well what about you and your family’s very survival? Why not prepare for that? Jack Spirko has a pretty good mantra that goes, “Helping You Live the Life You Want, If Times Get Tough, Or Even If They Don’t”. Ive left alot of good links for further information throughout the article.

National Geographic did a show called “Doomsday Preppers” that I have just finished watching and I thought it should give regular folks enough pause to consider what if. Ive heard some bad things about the show from other preppers (aka survivalists) that the show was a bit slanted to make folks look crazy or a bit odd, oh well welcome to the world of modern editing.

As far as prepping and disaster preparedness goes there is a man named Jack Spirko who is one of the foremost in educating people in common sense prepping as he covers gardening, food preparation, shelter, water and firearms. He takes a very common sense approach to modern survival-ism without the tin foil hat stuff and anti- (insert whatever here) rhetoric.  His site can be found here and has lots of great pod-casts covering a variety of survival related topics with some really great resources.

Now back to the doc.. some of the folks portrayed in the show may seem a little odd but they had some very great points to make that anyone could benefit from. Heirloom seeds, seeds that naturally produce seeds for future use being a huge plus. Another point made was that “we can’t do this alone” in regards to emergency preparedness involving your neighbors. Knowing your neighbors and assisting them in the involvement in preparing for emergencies drastically increases mutual security and survival. This really beats the bunker mentality that some preppers fall prey to. 

Another good point is in drilling, like doing fire drills. Also having a bug out location. A bug out location is a place where you can go to in case your location proves undependable or can no longer be used. Having supplies (ie food, fuel, weapons, water, clothing, medicine) at the bug out location could be just as important as having the same things at your primary home.

If your away from home and can’t get there or have to leave it then you need a “Plan B”. In the military there is always an “alternate location” or “rendezvous point” also called RV or re-org point. So why not use what you know works?  One of the fellas on the show named Reilly makes pre made shelters, and discusses hand carts that can double as boats (makes alot of sense really). I would note though for making a shelter without breaking your entire life savings look into using old sea containers. 

Overall, good show and showing that perhaps preparedness is becoming more main stream today. Which is hilarious really as my grand parents generation ( those who grew up in the 1930’s Depression Era) would be considered “preppers” by today’s standards. I always thought what they did just made sense. For an everyday example I had worked previously as a welder making a good wage for a large company up till mid 2008 when our current economic crisis was really starting to unfold and had lost my job ( along with many of the folks where I live).

  Fortunately I have a “prepper” family and our supplies and preparedness were able to help us until I was able to get a new job a few months later. But if we didn’t have those supplies and preparedness we would have been screwed. Supplies are pretty simple and you don’t need to spend a pile of money on them. Simple things like toilet paper, toothpaste, vitamins, canned food, fruit juice, bottled water, tooth brushes, vegetable seeds, dried food like beans, rice, etc, powdered foods like instant potatoes. Simple and cheap and keep forever. Buy in bulk when its on sale. Eat what you store and store what you eat! No sense buying a bunch of crap you hate eating.

Survival is not just about society collapsing, polar shifts and worse case scenarios. When the primary wage earner, other wise know as the “bread winner”, is no longer able to bring home the bacon then the shit has hit the fan. For all intents and purposes in this case is has become an emergency. So folks shake off the giggle factor in emergency preparedness and get yourselves prepped! As a quike note to our American readership the F.B.I. considers preppers as potential terrorists. The system doesn’t like independent people who don’t need the government to help them to survive. -EvS.