As people discover the benefits of prepping for survival, they quickly become overwhelmed by the massive amount of available information. You find everything available from emergency preparedness, to SHTF scenarios, to doomsday prepping. So, where does a beginner start looking and what is the first step to take? In this article, I bring you a few ideas for survival prepping for normal people.
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Survival Prepping Gains Popularity
As our society becomes more tumultuous survival prepping is gaining popularity. Over the past decade, our country’s, as well as the world’s, unrest began growing. Because of this, we now have terrorist with the main goal of our destruction in mind. In additions, politicians put their needs above ours with over 20-trillion dollars in debt and no hope of repayment.
While we see more turmoil, there’s still about fifty percent of the population that refuses to see what’s coming next. While these people continue burying their heads in the sand, twenty-five percent are preparing to survive the future. In addition, the other twenty-five percent know they should prepare but never do.
For those people that refuse to see and those that see but remain inactive, things are changing rapidly. It’s time to take the head out of the sand or get off the couch. Only you can ensure your future.
Not All Reality TV is Bad
I hate reality TV. While many viewers want a life like these shows, they just aren’t real. However, some of the disaster shows and Doomsday Preppers have done a lot in bringing attention to survival prepping. Most of these shows show survival preppers as irrational conspiracy theorists. However, with these shows came a new interest in the less sensationalized facts of true preparedness.
Terrorist attacks, natural disaster, and economic volitivity are very real problems. Recently we’ve seen increased instances of EMP attacks and other attacks on our interests abroad. While these reasons come to mind when you say preppers, something as simple as job loss can devastate a family. Prepping isn’t like the mainstream media likes to portray. We aren’t hiding in the woods with our AR15 and scope, waiting to take out any trespassers. We are real people, making sure we keep our family prepared for anything life throws at us.
The 10 Beginner Tips Prepping for Survival
Because of the various survival scenarios and level of prepping people prefer, narrowing steps down is difficult. However, I listed what I think is upmost needs for most beginners. If you have other ideas or have differing views, please feel free to leave a comment.
1. Start with Research
When it comes to researching survival prepping ideas, there are plenty of books, websites, and movies to get information. By looking at a variety of prepper knowledge, you get a different perspective of the survivalist world. Much of this information gives you the facts without all the media hype behind being prepared for any emergency.
Beginner preppers usually don’t have the knowledge to ask the questions needed for a well thought out survival prepping plan. Following our knowledge base recommendations help the binging survival prepper find dependable information.
Books About Prepping for Survival
| Prepper's Natural Medicine | Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness | The Encyclopedia of Country Living |
|---|---|---|
  |   |   |
| The Prepper's Blueprint | Food Storage for Self-Sufficiency and Survival | The Prepper's Water Survival Guide |
|---|---|---|
  |   |   |
Movies About Prepping for Survival
Prepper movies come in two sizes; bad and horrible. However, occasionally you come across some decent video information. Even though you must cherry-pick through the DVD offerings, I think you will find some good information.
When you look at my list of movies, you might ask yourself why I would list Doomsday Preppers. While this show paints us preppers as crazy, conspiracy theorists running amuck, there is some very good information there.
I’ve also listed National Geographic and Discovery Channel documentaries. Both channels have questionable material on this subject, but again, there are a few gold nuggets buried deep.
| Doomsday Preppers Season 1 | Electronic Armageddon National Geographic | Apocalypse How by Discovery Channel | Make Ready to Survive |
|---|---|---|---|
  |   |   |   |
Websites About Prepping for Survival
When it comes to prepping and survival websites, there are hundreds if not thousands of them. You can find emergency prepping for job loss and income displacement or short-term prepping for natural disasters and other emergencies. Then you have hardcore survivalists prepping sites for when SHTF and doomsday.
I find myself more in the middle of the road. Being a farm girl, I believe in always being prepared with the necessities my family need for at least a year. We try being as self-sufficient as possible and having preparations for any emergency. No, we don’t set up sniper blinds in the woods, ready to mount our AR15s. However, we can grow our own food and we know how to hunt for food and how to protect ourselves.
My Favorite Websites
American Preppers Network
This is one of my all-time favorite websites. There is anything and everything a prepper could want. Be sure to sign up for the APN community so you can ask questions and get answers from those already prepping.
SurvivalBlog.com
This site has a ton of useful information. Lots of informative articles and comprehensive reading and viewing lists.
OffGrid Survival
This site offers preparedness information for any crisis from natural disasters, to manmade and more. You’ll find a lot of useful information.
Backdoor Survival
I love this site and is my favorite. It covers gear water, food, power, and medicine. Prepare to spend a lot of time exploring because there are a lot of articles.
2. List Your Emergency Contacts
If you have an emergency or SHTF does happen, does your family know who to contact? Each family member needs contact information for other trusted family members and friends they can call during an emergency. Not only should the list contain names and addresses, but also work information and directions to the home and office. Also add numbers and addresses for the fire department, police and hospital to your list.
When putting together your emergency list, be as specific as possible. Make sure you consider anyone pertinent to your family’s safety. Once completed, everyone should have a copy and it should also go into your emergency supply area and paperwork.
3. Who to Include in Your Emergency Plans
This is perhaps, one of the most overlooked steps in your preparedness planning. You may have lots of family members and friends. Do you want to include all of them in your planning as well?
Not considering who and who not to include in your planning details becomes a huge liability if SHTF really happens. If you don’t control who knows about your preparedness plans, you may end up supporting more people than planned for.
Family of 4 or Small Community?
Prepping for a family of four can quickly turn into stocking supplies for a small community of twenty or more. Knowing how many people get included in your plans becomes extremely important when calculating water storage. You need, at a minimum and preferably more, three gallons of water per person, per day. If you end up supporting more people than planned for, water becomes a desperate situation.
Don’t Forget the Pets
One set of family members everyone forgets is the pets. Your preparedness plans should also include food, water, and medical supplies for them. So, when figuring your water storage, be sure to add an extra gallon for each pet.
If you need to plan for more mouths to feed, then it’s best you discover this at the beginning. For this reason get everyone to contribute to the preparedness plans and not take everything on yourself. If your plans don’t include anyone beyond your immediate family, it’s imperative you keep your prepping to yourself. For this reason, instruct everyone involved in the importance of keeping your prepping for survival quiet.
4. Draft and Study Your Survival Plan
You’ve completed some research and you know how many to include in your prepping for survival. It’s finally time to draft an emergency survival plan.
Start by outlining a general emergency plan and list things you need to do. Don’t’ get too in-depth. Just a simple, generalized listing of the most common tasks. As you progress in your survival prepping plans, your blueprint will grow and become more detailed. Store your blueprint in a binder folder and keep in a centralized place where everyone has quick access.
5. Get Everyone Involved
Once you have a good amount of research under your belt it’s time to get everyone involved in prepping. You should already have an emergency blueprint done and a few simple survival prepping projects started. While getting everyone in your prepping circle involved is important, it shouldn’t be the first item on your to-do list. Once you’re comfortable with your ability to prepare and carry out your plans, then get the rest of the group involved. If you are knowledgeable, it’s easier to get others working as a team.
6. Building a Bug Out Bag
There is so much information available for building a bug out bag, that it quickly becomes confusing. Because of this and regardless of the order of your prepping steps, I recommend drafting your emergency blueprint first. In addition, your survival prepping plans will affect what goes into your bug out bag. However, there are several bug out bag essentials, including a copy of your emergency blueprint. As an illustration, check out our article Bug Out Bag – 7 Essential Items.
7. Where to Go if SHTF
Being that you’re planning a bug out bag, it means you know that some emergency situations may mean leaving your home. Disasters like fires, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and other disasters may mean it’s not safe to hunker down at home. Due to the unknown factor, having a plan for where to go and how to get there in just such an emergency is vital. Also, in the beginning prepping stages, you may not need a complete route assessment. However, you do need a basic evacuation plan so everyone knows what to do in an emergency. In addition, as you become more familiar with prepping for survival, your bug out route will likely change.
8. Replace Things with Knowledge
When you begin formalizing your prepping for survival plans, you quickly realize things need replacing, including your mind set. In other words, you learn a little knowledge of how to do it is better than trying to carry it. That is to say, don’t buy premade supplies when you know how to use what you find around you. For this reason, knowledge comes with preparation, so plan and practice every scenario possible. In addition, check for classes in your area. For example, look for classes in canning and preserving food or hunting and fishing which relates to survival prepping.
9. Take a Look at the Finances
When it comes to prepping for survival, you might not consider finances as a prepping step. Actually, finances play an important roll in your overall survival prepping plans. Taking classes and stocking food, water, and other supplies take money. Because of the cost involved, tightening the budget and paying off bills gives you more money for prepping. I put this at the end of the list, however, you could put this as the second step and practice it as you learn. Regardless of whether you put finances at the beginning or the end, it’s an important step to your overall plans.
10. Adopt a Healthier Lifestyle
In addition to getting your finances in order, a healthy lifestyle directly affects your survival prepping. For example, statistics show that a healthy person has a better chance of survival than those not in good shape. While being out of shape doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t survive, it does mean your chances are better. A healthy person in better physical shape can walk longer distances and can better perform the necessary tasks. In addition, those in better shape have a better chance of defending themselves.
While being fit is a good idea, being a bodybuilder is not necessary. Getting regular exercise and eating right helps keep you ready for survival in any situation.
Conclusion
There are many other steps in survival prepping, and you can take the steps in any order you prefer. However, the first action in prepping for survival, take the leap and just start. Provided that you always review and edit your survival blueprint as needed, your overall plans will produce results.
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