How To Start Prepping: A simple guide for beginners

Learning the basic’s on how to start prepping is vary important to everyone. Learning how to start prepping can be a some what intimidating experience for prepper beginners, but I assure you that there are plenty of things you can start doing now, to get your closer to the “prepared” mark, and it sure doesn’t take a lot of time or money.

How To Start Prepping

getting started is very simple, but to aim your self in the right direction it’s important to understand what you are prepping for, and how many people you are expecting to be with you. In no case will anyone be prepared for every possible scenario, so this article will cover some basic tips, tricks, and ideas to get your started down the right path. Lets get started!

How many people are you prepping for?

In most cases the number of people you will be prepping for will be dependent on the number people who reside in  your house hold. More often than not, those who are prepping also have to worry and care for their spouse and children. In doing my own preparation I have decided to go a bit further. As a father of a little girl, I am obviously going to prepare for her as well. My personal bugout bag has enough food and supplies for my daughter and I to last 2 weeks out in the wilderness, and has the supplies necessary to hunt and gather more food. Although my daughter is only 7, I am assuming I will need enough food and water for a full grown adult in her place. I do this for a few reasons, but mainly because I don’t want to under estimate how much food she might need, but also with stress, your body burns more calories. I have also added enough supplies for a second full grown adult. In the chance that her mother also arrives at my doorstep, I can’t simply apologize for not having enough supplies and turn her away. Although she her self is fairly prepared and will most likely bring her own supplies, what happens when a family member shows up expecting asylum? You have to be prepared for the unexpected. As we say, Prepare for ALL!

What kind of disaster are you planning for?

The biggest suggestion when learning how to start prepping, is figuring out the most logical disaster that might happen in your area. Not every location is prone to hurricanes, or tornado’s, so do some research on the history of your geographical area, and design your preparations for survival around these most common occurrences. For example, I personally do not prep for tornado’s or hurricanes. The location I live in has never had any of these, thus I will focus my time and money on more dominate threats. We live close enough to a nuclear storage facility (about 40-60 miles north by northeast as the crow flies) which means there is always the possibility of nuclear fallout. So I stock up on supplies for sealing my house, and decontamination procedures. More than likely nothing to these extremes will happen in your area. So start preparing for more simplistic things in the beginning. Are your prepared for the power or water to be shut off for weeks or months? The biggest threat to our society are these two things, Power and Water. Everyone relies on these to live comfortably. Some people are even strictly dependent on natural gas for heating, or crude oil. What happens if these supplies are offline for weeks or months, would you still be able to live comfortably? Gather supplies that you may need to over come these problems, temporary heating devices, emergency warm clothing, etc.

What kind of budget are you working on?

When asking how to start prepping, your biggest concern should be the budget you have to work off. I’m not rich, I don’t have a ton of money to blow on supplies, but I follow what I call a “trickle preparation plan”. Although a disaster can strike at any moment, I am  not automatically assuming it’s going to happen tomorrow. Every time I go to the grocery store for my normal food and supply purchases, I make it a point to look for discounts or good deals on supplies to add to my survival storage. A case of water, a roll of twin, a discount spool of fishing line, anything that you can grab for a discount should not be over looked. I have seen many MUST HAVE items in discount or discontinued bins. If your budget can afford, grab one or two items to add to your supplies, and make sure you are keeping track of expiration dates and are rotating out product. If you drink store bought water, as you buy new supplies, rotate out your old ones and consume those first. preparing your family doesn’t require a huge budget. Sure there are certain items that you will want to spend more money on than others, such as tools and weapons, but don’t be afraid to spend some time in a discount store, or a dollar item store. Just keep in mind more often than not you get what you pay for. Cheap isn’t always the best way to go, but survival on the cheap, is better than no survival at all!

What are some of your local threats?

Being prepared is a really good idea for you and your family, but it also makes you a target to those who have decided not to be as prepared as your family. If you have items that will become no longer available when dirt hits the fan, you immediately have something others want. They won’t be afraid to take what you have, and harm your family to get it. As part of your preparation plans, write down the most immediate local threats to your family. Do you have any loud/violent neighbors? (I hope not) Do you live in an area known for violence? It is especially important to make note of these things if you live in a high density urban area. When police are non-existent (you bet they will be running to their families) anything is possible. Even the most honest man will steal bread if he is starving to death, or has hungry children. When learning how to start prepping it may also be advisable to research home defense techniques.

What kind of supplies should I buy?

Understanding the kind of supplies you need to get started with is important when learning how to start prepping. You don’t want a bunch of food that is going to expire in a week. Food and Water are just a few essential items you will need, making sure you have enough of each to last based off the numbers of people you are preparing for. Here is a brief list of items beginner preppers should have in their home.

• Water
• Food (canned,dried,seal packed, MRE’s, etc)
• Simple Tools (Screw drivers, Hammer, Pliers, Wrenches, Hand Saw, Etc)
• Extra Clothing (Packaged in seal-able bags, emergency only use, we want them to last long!)
• Candles (Big, small, high density, scented, unscented, etc)
• Weapons (Knifes, clubs, axes, guns, bows, dart gun, etc)
• Communication (Short band radio, emergency radio)
• Misc (Duct tape, plastic sheets, batteries, lighters, twin, rope, paracord, etc)

  Although this is a very simple list, I simply wanted to give you a broad outline of things to get your started. Make sure to check back with 365preppers to check out our new articles.   Did this guide help? Post in the comments below what you will be doing to start your preparation plans!