Prepping in a Meaningful Way

The panicked buying--the hamsterkauf--is not the way to prepare. Panic leads to poor choices and a lemming type of behavior. And if you are paying for all this stuff with credit card, you are going to make a bad situation worse. There may be times when you have to fight the crowds for certain supplies, but the whole concept behind prepping is to bring peace of mind knowing that you don't have to join the frightened crowd.

     I've always propounded a baby-steps approach to preparing. Build up logically and usefully: prepare for a week storage, move to a couple of weeks or a month, then a few months, and so on. If you think there is a going to be a serious SHTF, apocalyptic disaster, you should prepare as if your first attempt to grow food will be a failure (even if you successfully grow some or all of your produce now) and stockpile enough to get you through to the next growing season.

    Marcus Wynne has put together a nice quiz for you to gauge your current preparations and where to focus improvements, a basic list of supplies you should have on hand, and an outline of "baby steps" preparation program to follow. Check it out.