If you’re beginner prepper and started reading on the subject recently, you may have noticed that a lot is talked about storing food and water, and how to protect your resources from the government or your neighbors. While all this is very important, there are a lot of things that are left out. The truth is that you’re not going to make it if you don’t have a strategy for SHTF (Sh@$t hits the fan).
So, if you’ve been looking for the perfect strategy, you just found it. Here you’re going to finally get the checklist to make sure you survive for as long as you want. So, how to prep for SHTF? According to expert survivalists, you’re going to need to apply basic survival knowledge. Simple is always better. You’re going to need the following:
- Shelter
- Water
- Food
- Equipment
- People
- Maybe a Plan B
This all may sound like a lot, but if you take your time and plan everything right, you’ll never need to worry anymore. You’ll know that no matter what happens in the world, you’re going to be alright.
Below, it is a detailed explanation of how to set everything up and why you need all these things in the first place.
Make an Essential’s list
When you’re going to prep for SHTF, it’s essential that you make a list of what you’re going to need. This list involves mostly resources and skills that you’re going to need when it happens but that you won’t be able to acquire afterward.
For example, all the tools, food, equipment, skills you’re going to need but you don’t have right now. Obviously, more often than not you’ll find yourself needing a lot, which can be overwhelming. Also, you have to make a budget since some stuff can be expensive and you don’t want to go broke and create your own catastrophe instead of surviving one.
So, think about first-aid skills that you might need. Some medical knowledge can save your life and many others. Basic stuff such as starting a fire and even hunting. These are skills that you’re going to need. Also, if things are really bad chances are that you’re going to need a gun. You don’t want to be the only imbecile who has no clue how to use a gun.
Learning those things can help you a lot. Mostly, focus on survival skills and first-aid. Then, it may help if you know how to pilot a helicopter or a boat. These are more difficult skills to acquire, but if you have the means, it might be a good idea. Even learning a language can help.
Once you have the skills jotted down, it is a great idea to make a sort of inventory to know the items that you don’t have. Guns, tools, equipment, and everything that you can think that would keep you alive. At this point, you don’t need to focus on water and food since they’ll be better explained below.
So, make your essential’s list and begin tackling every item in order of importance. After all, you don’t want to be the guy who never prepped and now depends on people’s goodwill to survive.
Bug In Bug Out
This is one of the most important things when prepping. You have to have a plan in case you need to leave your house and a plan in case you have to stay. The most detailed your plan gets, the more chances you’ll have.
So, come up with a plan in case you have to leave. It’s also important that other members of your family know about this place in case you get separated. This way everyone knows where to go to get reunited. Pick a place that is safe, perhaps on the mountains or in the woods, that has clean rivers and animals to hunt if you don’t have food.
If you can afford, you may even have two places to bug out. This is because different situations require different plans. The important thing is that you have at least one safe place to go if you need to. Also, whoever is with you must know about it just in case.
Now, in a lot of situations, it may not be safe to go outside. For example, a nuclear attack may be months before it’s safe to even leave the house. So, the best you can do is to have a plan to bug in.
This sounds easier than it actually is. Just think about it. If things are really bad, there’ll probably be people knocking on your door. Are you going to let them in? Are you going to share your 3 months’ worth of food supply with more people than you planned for? These are hard but important questions to think about it.
Especially if the answer is no, you need to know how you’re going to keep these people out. Just because you’re not going to answer or let them in, it doesn’t mean they won’t try to. You must have a plan to secure the entrances and make sure no one comes in unannounced and unwanted.
Besides that, you also have to know how you’re going to continue leaving in the house. You may be without electricity and gas for a while. You have to plan for these things as well. Your communication devices may not be working, so you have to prepare for those scenarios.
Have a Water Storage Plan
Water doesn’t expire. The only problem is that this is not entirely true. When you store water, it may, with time, develop microorganisms that will make the water unsafe to drink. Besides, you also have to have a water storage plan for the sole reason that without it, you die in 3 days. For those reasons, you have to have a water storage plan that works.
The first step here should be that you get containers that maintain the water clean for a long time. Another solution is to change the water every 3-6 months. You should also have some stock of bottled water, although this one actually expires. Still, they’re easier to carry in case you need to bug out. The secret is to have water stored for 3 months to 1 year, and that you have a mix of bottled water and water in containers. Here are some highly recommended water filtration gear.
You need water to survive, to cook, to clean yourself, and other basic survival necessities. For these reasons, you should treat it like gold. It may become even more valuable when SHTF. This is why you also have to do the maintenance of the water. For example, if you bought bottled water, drink it before it expires, and replace what you took. This way no matter when things go bad, you’ll have your water supply ready for you.
So, the best you can do is start with the principle that you need 1 gallon of water a day to drink and hygiene. Then you multiply by the number of people and the number of days.
Once you come up with a number, you store it in sterile containers and away from the Sun. This will make sure the water remains potable for longer. Then, you find a place to store all the gallons and create a plan to carry as much as you can if you need to bug out to another place.
Stockpile Food
You can survive up to 3 months if you don’t have food, but let’s be honest. No one wants to go 1 day without it. In a world, with so much abundance of food, no one wants to go days without eating. You can prevent that if you prep the right way. You have to stockpile food.
Now, it is simple to do this, but it still requires some thought. First, you’re going to make a list of foods that have long expiration dates such as canned food. They also have to have a lot of protein and some fat to give you energy. Then, you make a list and reserve some space to store it in your house.
With the list in your hands, it’s time to go shopping. A crucial tip, to do this the right way, is to not let the whole world know what you’re doing. After all, do you think your neighbor will want to go to the supermarket where everybody is when SHTF or try to steal it from you? It’s important to remember that people can be horrible. You don’t want to have all this trouble to have someone taking everything from you.
To make things easier and safer, you should buy things incrementally and not everything right away. Get some items every month until you have everything. Then, all you have to do is keep checking your supply to replace expired items or thing that you use.
Besides food, it may be a good idea to store seeds. You can not only create your own supply of food for the years to come, but they may also become extremely valuable depending on how bad things are.
So, to recap, make a list of all the food you’re going to need (ideally a minimum of 3 months). Buy things incrementally to not raise suspicions. It’s better if no one knows that you’re a prepper. Then, store some seed if you can. For a great alternative, you might consider a highly nutritious, compact, ‘SuperFood” that has a long shelf-life. Click here for more details.
Pick The Right Equipment
Your tools and your weapons will keep you safe from everyone else. The body needs the food, the water, and the shelter. Now, your safety depends on your tools and your weapons, so choose carefully.
First, you should think of the most basic stuff such as flashlights, lighters, knives, can openers, ropes, and everything that helps you to cook. You should also think about first-aid kits and medicine. These are the kind of things that you never think about, but you always end up needing them.
Then progress to more complex stuff such as weapons. You should have firearms but also machetes or axes. Big knives that open the ways into the wood are also fine. You have to make sure you have the right amount of ammo and that you maintain everything in perfect conditions.
Once you’re done checking your weapons, you may want to make sure your car is always working and have enough gas to travel long distances. If you can, having more than one car may be a good idea.
Here’s the thing when it comes to equipment. You have to get the necessary ones, and you have to do maintenance to make sure that everything works when you need the most.
If you’re bugging in, it might also be a good idea to have cameras and a full security system. This prevents unwelcomed people from getting in and gives you more security to control all the entrances. In case you live by yourself, this also allows you to be able to give a pass on forming a team.
So, make sure you select the right tools and that you do proper maintenance. This way you increase your safety, thus your chances of making it. This way you can protect your family and team if you have one. I have a few top recommended gear articles that will help you gather many of your survival gear needs. Click here for my recommendations.
Have A Team
Human-beings are social creatures, and as such, our chances at survival are increased by a large scale when we’re in a group. This is why you should consider having a team. Unless you’re married and have kids, you can pick every single person on your team.
You should consider the skills and character above everything else. You want people who know first-aid, perhaps even a nurse or a doctor, but you want someone you can trust. For example, a special forces guy may be quite useful, but you have to be able to trust him.
So, select people that can be on your team. If you find folks that are into prepping as well, you may even form your team before SHTF. Now, you may also have to do it afterward, which makes having a criterion even more important.
You should also consider mental toughness in your evaluation. People can get crazy in certain situations. You don’t want someone who would create a situation that could scale. Like someone who drinks too much and wants to fight everybody or someone that wouldn’t handle the pressure and try to shoot everyone.
The team, if you choose to have one, should also be aware of your hideout place. This way everyone can get to it in case the worst happens. Here are a few items that you may consider to evaluate people.
- Survival skills
- Character
- General skills
- Leadership skills
- Cooperation to the group
- General knowledge
- Expert knowledge (someone who knows the woods or medicinal plants)
These are just a few guidelines that you can use to rate possible candidates. Remember, if you have the resources, you have the right to pick whomever you want. If you select the right team, you increase your chances of surviving and staying sane.
Have Different Plans for Different Situations
A hurricane is very different from a nuclear weapon attack. An EMP is also very different from an earthquake. You must have different strategies, different plans for different situations. The same way that you’d need different firepower to take down an army than you’d need to take down a drunk old man. Having a different plan for every situation is crucial for survival. Here’s the thing, a nuclear weapon may cause a situation in which it’s unsafe to leave your house. This would force you to stay in for a long time. You need to have everything inside your house to not risk contamination.
Now, when it comes to a hurricane, it may be better to leave your house. You can’t use the same plan for the same situations. It’s just not smart. So, how do you do? Pretty much every catastrophe would require you to make the decision between leaving the house or staying in. From that point, you have to decide if you have enough resources and if you have to carry them with you.
To make sure everything ends well, think about both situations and consider upfront, which strategy is better for every SHTF situation you can think about. Even zombie apocalypse.
So, come up with an exit strategy and the strategy of having to live in your house for even a full year without going outside. This is how you survive and make sure that everyone will be okay. For a great overall survival plan for you and your family, click here.
Final Thoughts
This is how you prep for SHTF situations. If you take your time to think about every step in this article, you’ll increase your chances of surviving. Don’t be the person who doesn’t take the right measurements to make it.
Learn about
- storage of food and water
- get your equipment and team right
- make sure everything works well (including people)
- and have strategies for every situation you can think about
Now, go ahead and make your list. Then execute. This is the best way to start prepping. Surviving is not a matter of luck but a matter of prepping. You decide which person you’re going to be when it happens.