A Simple Intro to Prepping

OK, so you have taken up an interest in prepping. Where should you start?

Whether it was the chaos of the recent COVID pandemic, the unstable economy, or a healthy fear of Mother Nature as she ever increasingly flexes her muscles, whatever sparked your interest in prepping is not as important as your initial approach to the process. Prepping covers a large amount of material and can seem daunting to some, while opening a rabbit hole for others who find the subject fascinating and may be in pursuit of their version of “the ultimate prep”. With such a wide variety of interest and skill levels, it’s no wonder it can seem overwhelming.

But breaking it down into a structured approach helps to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. And for all of you out there who are brand new to prepping, let me be the first to welcome you to the tribe!

Ive often heard the question; “Doc, with so many possible things that could go wrong, where do I even start in preparing?”. Its a great question, and one that is not discussed often enough in my humble opinion. I personally feel that some basic prepper education should be a part of every high school curriculum. We are talking about self-reliance here, and as our society has become so inter-dependent on fragile systems; the world could use more self-reliant individuals. Like any complex topic however, taking a structured and stepwise approach will help us get the best results.

To answer the question of where to start we must first understand that “prepping” is an incredibly generic and broad term relating to an ocean of topics. There are hundreds if not thousands of categories of prepping, each of which requires a different set of skills, knowledge, and resources to effectively tackle and master.

There are food preps, water preps, medical preps, shelter preps, security preps, transportation preps, communication preps, energy/electricity preps… even pet-owner preps. And within each category, there are subcategories. There are the basic beginner preps in each category and then there are advanced specialized and focused preps, reaching a level of mastery which very few will ever achieve. All serious peppers are eternally searching for that “ultimate prep”, the one which will make all others obsolete by providing the ultimate level of preparedness in that category.

In addition, it is important to know that not everyone agrees on prepping styles. Some believe you should always be mobile, while others feel it is much better to hunker down and stay put. Advanced preppers will say that ideally you’d have the ability to do both, as we are talking about a completely unpredictable environment. Some are prepping while living in a high rise apartment. Others are hundreds of miles from the nearest neighbor.

Most people consider their prepping activities an evolution in progress. Someone may have started with something as simple as stopping at Walmart and purchasing a 72-hour emergency food bucket from a company like ReadyWise. That bucket is easy to set in the garage and be done thinking about it. But over time, they may evolve their preps to include to a garden, and perhaps buy some chickens and goats. Still not satisfied, maybe they strive for the ultimate self sustaining food provider; a high quality aquaponics system filled with Tilapia. But it takes quite a bit of dedication and learning to maintain a living organism system that can produce literally hundreds of pounds a year of fish per year with only sunlight as the input.

Point is, like most things; there are levels to this game.

But as is true with all things, everyone starts at the beginning. And the beginning is exactly where the federal government wants you to begin as well. Thats right, our own government suggest that people embrace prepping. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) suggest that all Americans keep enough supplies on hand to provide their family with enough food, water, and medications to last 2 weeks. This was increased from the former recommendation of just 3 days worth of supplies, as even the bureaucracy recognized their track record of NOT having their shit together within the first 72 hours.

So is that enough? Should you just get a few cases of water and put a shelf in the garage and start a food rotation to steadily replace expired items? Well, yes, thats a good start.

But most preppers would advise to do something else as well; bug out bags (often abbreviated BOB in online forums). A bug out bag is exactly what it sounds like. It is a pre-packed bag containing the items you would need if you needed to quickly “bug out”, meaning literally throwing on shoes, grabbing your loved ones, and running out the door.

And guess what? There are levels to the bug out bag game as well. Because of course there are. The simplest form of a bug out bag has a change of clothes, a protein bar, a bottle of water, and some cash. My most intense bug out bag (yes, I have many) has a folding Keltec sub 2000 rifle with multiple magazines and a gas mask. That may seem like overkill to a lot of people, and thats okay. A persons level of prepping should be what’s most congruent with their personality and lifestyle.

But let me recommend that you actually have two bug out bags. One to keep in the garage and one to keep in your vehicle. These two bags should differ of course. The vehicle bug out bag should really be more of an emergency rations bag, containing perhaps a protein bar and a bottle of water, enough to sustain you if your vehicle were to break down on the side of the road. But if you are a woman, I would suggest a can of bear mace as well. Then the garage bug out bag is where you can get into a bit more of the fun stuff, as this bag is typically much bigger to hold all the goodies that a well informed prepper knows are essential.

And that is a very solid start:

1. Enough food, water, and medications to last you and your family 2 weeks

2. Place bug out bags; one in the garage and another in your vehicle

If you would like to learn more about specific items that work well for these types of preps, or learn more about prepping in general, please visit us at DrPrepperMedical.com and explore some of our articles.

Hope to see you there.

And as always… Stay safe, stay training, and stay prepping.

-Dr. Prepper