Article: "Practical Prepping"

Bryce M. Towsley, author of the 2016 book Prepper Guns, gives some practical advise for beginning preppers in an article at Shooting Illustrated. He explains a form of the "baby-steps" method to start into food storage:

You don’t need to do it all at once—let your prepping grow and expand. It sounds like a lot, but it doesn’t have to be. When you do your weekly shopping, toss a few extra things in the cart. You probably won’t even notice at checkout. When you get home, put them away for a rainy day. It’s amazing what you will collect rather quickly without any significant financial burden.

He also suggests setting aside some freeze dried foods, although not relying on them entirely due to the expense and high salt content:

    I like to say you need three plans after a catastrophic event: The first three days, the next six months and then the rest of your life. The first days are going to be hectic and busy. Freeze-dried food is handy when you are occupied. It can also help get through the six months when you probably don’t have a good way to replenish your food supply. But, for the long term, it’s not the way. You will need healthier food and a way to replenish your stocks. However, even long term, it’s good to have some freeze-dried food stashed for those times you are too busy or too sick to cook.

    All that said, freeze-dried food should be part of any prepping plan. It stores well, is very easy to prepare—even under difficult conditions—and it’s light enough for a bug-out situation. I keep three days’ worth of freeze-dried food in my bug-out bag along with a backpacker’s stove and a water filter.

Frankly, even for instant meals, you might be better off stocking up on canned goods that just need to be heated up rather than freeze dried. The primary advantages of freeze dried are the long shelf lives and light weight, which is great for bugging out but perhaps not as important for bugging-in, particularly if you are storing things you normally eat. In my own case, for instance, I have some packages of freeze dried food that I probably bought 10 years ago and it just sits. On the other hand, we regularly cycle through cans of soups, fruits and vegetables, and meats. 

    As for long term food storage:

    Other foods should be chosen for long-term storage. Most anything dried is good—various beans, peas, legumes, rice, pasta or anything along those lines. Also useful are staples like sugar, flour and some spices. Many grains are good for long-term storage, although some will require a grinder to process for use later. Buy a hand-crank, not electric, since you might not have power.

    All of these foods should be stored in airtight containers along with the correct number of oxygen absorbers, which are available online. This keeps any oxygen out of the container and prevents (or at least greatly retards) spoilage. You can also put flour and dried grains in the freezer for a while first to kill off any bugs and eggs. After freezing, bring everything back to room temperature and let any condensation evaporate. Then, put them in an airtight container with oxygen absorbers. Store everything in a cool, dry place and out of the light. 

He acknowledges that the containers, Mylar bags, and oxygen absorbers can be expensive and suggests using canning jars to save some money as well as the fact that because of the smaller size, you only need to open what you will use at any given time. 

    I will add that it helps even with grains to store what you will use and use what you store. For instance, I am shifting to storing more rice because, quite frankly, my family goes through more rice than wheat. Although part of this is because we just don't make as much homemade bread anymore (for which we would also grind the flour) but because we have shifted to a lot of meals that we can serve over or with rice because they are just faster and simpler to make. 

    Anyway, after some more discussion on food stores, the author moves on to briefly discuss the topic of firearms. Remembering that his advice is intended for those new to prepping, he suggests:

    Each person in your household should have at least two basic firearms for protection. The first is a magazine-fed, semi-automatic rifle. It should be in 5.56 NATO. In addition to being the most popular in its class with civilians, this is still the standard chambering of Western military rifles and most law enforcement rifles, too. That means the chances for finding ammo are high. The guns should probably be AR-15 platforms, since the popularity of “America’s Rifle” pretty much ensures there will be a supply of magazines and parts available.

    Each person should also have a personal handgun in 9 mm. Again, this is a NATO cartridge that is the most popular handgun chambering among the tens of millions of civilians who own and carry a pistol. When I wrote my book on the subject in 2016, I picked a Glock, and it’s still a great choice. I might amend that to include the SIG Sauer P320, as it is becoming quite popular itself. The military’s M17 is functionally identical, so the magazines are interchangeable. Several larger-capacity magazines for each firearm are also a must-have.

Gun people can argue the merits or demerits of different weapons or calibers ad nauseum, but looking back on my personal experience with firearms and research on the matter, I would have to say that my advice to someone that was just starting out in prepping and was not a gun person or hunter would be pretty much the same--especially for someone in an urban or suburban environment.