Imagine that an SHTF event takes place. Now, you’re without power, food, water, police protection, and you can’t even get out of the city because your car doesn’t have gas. Worse than that, you can’t even protect yourself and your family. To avoid any scenario like that, people like you know that it’s time to begin prepping.
So, if you’re one of the people that are realizing how fragile our society actually is, how much we depend on government and electricity, you start to come to the realization that we need to prep.
You never know when the worst is going to happen, and you’ll be left to depend on yourself alone. The best you can do to avoid a scenario in which you starve or has to fight for your life and very basic resources is to become a prepper. This is the best way to be ready for anything.
Now, just deciding to begin prepping is the beginning, but certainly not enough. There’s more to prepping than, for example, stockpiling food and storing water. Obviously, these are two steps that are part of the overall strategy but are certainly not the whole thing.
The truth is that most people rely on the government and big companies because it’s easier. If we really take the time to think about how many things are necessary for our basic survival, but that we don’t do it ourselves, we’d be overwhelmed. That are just too many things like our food, electricity, water, medicine, and pretty much everything that are taken care of by someone else.
So, when you imagine a world where you’d be responsible for getting all these resources yourself, it can be scary. Now, the best way to make sure that you’re ready is to prep.
Still, the main problem is that beginner preppers make too many mistakes. While you’re learning through trial and error, you waste a lot of money and time. Besides, if something happens while you’re still a beginner, you’re screwed.
So, the best you can do is to get some tips from more experienced preppers and skip the mistakes and start doing everything right immediately. The tips below will help you become a better prepper right away, and even if you didn’t get started yet, they’ll help you. If you want an effective and simple survival plan that will get you prepped, click here.
#1 Equip Your House to a Bug in Situation
Let’s start by the rule that every prepper should know; the rule of 3. Without shelter, you only survive 3 minutes, without water for 3 days. and without food for 3 weeks. For that reason, you should equip your house with everything you need to survive.
This means having enough food, water, comfort, and security. Even though your home is by definition a shelter, you should make sure that it has everything for you to survive there during a bug in situation.
So, make sure that you have a security system installed, enough food and water for every family member, and a system to make as little necessary as you can for you to leave the house in an SHTF situation.
#2 Store Water
Tip number 2 takes care of one of the most important things for human survival. After all, life, as we know, is impossible without water. So, make sure that you have enough water for months.
Keep in mind that we need half a gallon to survive per day and that you need another half for personal hygiene. Obviously, this is an average so your needs may vary. Still, it’s important to prep with these basic numbers in mind. Also, take into consideration that you need water for cooking as well.
#3 Learn How to Purify Water
Unfortunately, no matter how much water you store, at some point, you’re going to run out of it. Also, even if you don’t run out of it for a while, the water you stored may become contaminated with microorganisms. So, you must learn how to purify water.
There are a few methods to purify water and not all of them work for every possible cause that the water may be contaminated. That’s why it’s important to learn as many as you can. For example, you can purify the water through boiling it, adding chemical products, or using certain rocks.
#4 Stockpile Food
Everyone likes to eat. Even if you’re not that much into it, you know how important it is to your survival. Because of the obvious reason that your body needs the fuel, you have to stockpile food.
Now, there’s an art to it. You can’t just buy any food to stockpile. You have to give priority to what is non-perishable and also take into consideration your tastes. After all, since you’re prepping why should you eat something you don’t like.
So, make a list of what food you like and the ones that are perfect for prepping. Then get to a number that you’re going to need per day and multiply by the number of days you’re prepping for.
#5 Prioritize Canned Food
Canned food is a symbol of the prepper lifestyle. Even though you don’t need to stockpile only canned food, they’re vital to your whole food strategy. They’re non-perishable, they often don’t need extra cooking, and they give you a lot of energy.
For those valid reasons, you should have canned food as your priority at all time. Get as many as you can and have a place to store them. You’re going to find that is quite easy to store them in your house.
#6 Learn to Cook Without Power
In our modern world, we are too used having electrical power, internet, and other conveniences that this day and age can provide. When anything happens that leaves us without those things for a few days, we realize how much we depend on it.
This is why you must learn how to get by without them. For example, learning to cook without power is a vital skill to have during an SHTF moment. You must learn how to start a fire and do the whole cooking from start to finish without the aid of the electric stove.
#7 Learn to Hunt and to Fish
One of the main things that we depend on someone else to get for us is food. That’s why soon or later, during an SHTF event, you would need to do this yourself. That’s when hunting and fishing become crucial skills. You must learn how to get your own food.
Beyond that, you should learn how to prepare the meat and the fish as well. How to clean and cook it. Another important hunting skill is to learn how to identify if the animal is sick and whether or not the meat is in perfect condition for eating.
#8 Learn from More Experienced Preppers
The best way to avoid rookie mistakes and become a better prepper right away is to learn from those who know more than you do. In this case, more experienced preppers. They know what not to do and every secret tip to help you out.
So, you can start your learning journey by reading the best prepping books, and reading websites like this one. Here you’re going to be able to find incredible tips that will save you money and time. Here is a ready to go survival plan created by a survival expert in emergency preparedness that works
#9 Build a Security System for your Home
Even if you’re bugging out, you are likely to have to bug in for a few days. That’s why it’s important to turn your house into your fortress. No matter what catastrophe occurs, the chances of someone trying to break into your house will be higher. So, you should have a security system installed in your house.
You can start by putting an alarm system and cameras, but you shouldn’t stop there. Have walls and doors that are designed to keep people out and even traps in case you need them.
#10 Get Out of Debt
Prepping costs money. Yes, you can find cheaper ways to prep efficiently, but it still costs some money. Besides that, the chances of an economic collapse happening are high.
So, getting off debt must be a priority. Only when you have your finances in place, you can really prep. Also, you don’t want to be one of the people to lose everything during the economic collapse.
#11 Have Hidden Money at House
You don’t know what will happen and when it will happen. That’s why it’s important to be prepared for everything. In the case of a power outage or the internet being taken down, you won’t be able to withdraw money from your bank account.
That’s when having money safely kept in your house will be important. You can do this by having it stored in a fireproof bag or a vault. Whatever you do it’s fine as long as you store the money.
#12 Create a Bug Out Strategy
The main reason to become a prepper is to be ready for every possible scenario. That means being prepared to bug out. This means having a place that is not your home to go to when society collapses.
A bug out strategy involves the final destination (a safe place), a vehicle, food, and water to last the trip, a route, your weapons, and a few other components. So, one of the first things you should do is start creating your bug-out strategy.
#13 Choose the Right Vehicle to Bug Out
About the vehicle you’re going to use to bug out, there are a few things to consider beyond just having a car. There’s a criterion for you to have in order of selecting the best option for this. After all, there are certain cars that will give you a certain competitive advantage.
So, what you should do is to have a vehicle that is big enough for your family but not too big that will slow you down on the road. An SUV or a pickup truck may be great options.
#14 Never Run Out of Gas
Having the vehicle means nothing if you can use it. That’s why you should make sure that you never run out of gas. You never know when it will happen. That’s why if your tank is close to half empty, you should fill the tank.
When a catastrophe happens the first thing people will do or try to do is to get food and water, and then, gas. So, the gas station will be chaotic and not a place you’ll want to go.
#15 Research Your Area
No matter whether you’re bugging out or in, you should know your area better than anyone else. This is not just your street, but the whole perimeter. Think about a 10-mile radius minimum. You should know every road, every exit, and every place.
You can start doing this by driving through these places and even mapping them out. Ideally, you should identify more than one escape route and know more than one place you can go to in case your house is not accessible.
#16 Get Acquainted with Your Neighbors
You may not be the greatest enthusiast when it comes to making friends with your neighbors, but you should at least know them. During chaotic times, it’s important to know your neighbors for the sole reason that they’ll be more likely to help you out and more importantly, less likely to attack you.
Since you certainly don’t want the apocalypse to be the first time to you speak to your neighbors, you better start talking to them from time to time. You don’t even have to get to first name basis, but, again, you should get acquainted with them.
#17 Select a Team
If you have a family, they’ll automatically be your team. Now, the advantage of getting a team beyond your family is that you can select a team without the emotional attachment.
This means that you can select people for their skill and make a better assessment of their personality. A great tip is to choose people that have the skills that you lack. This way you can build a really strong team.
#18 Don’t Tell Anyone about Your Prepping
This is very important. So important that you should keep this in mind at all times. Beyond your family and your team, no one should know that you’re a prepper. The main reason is that you’ll be the first person everyone will think about when they need the food and all the other resources.
Then, you also don’t want any noisy neighbor or acquainted snooping around. People could, for instance, accuse you of hoarding food. This could get the authorities in your doorsteps asking questions and maybe even taking your supplies.
#19 Have a Bug Out Kit
A bug out kit is so crucial that it can be the deciding factor of whether or not you survive. Especially if you live in an apartment, you should have a bug out kit. This means that you should have a kit with all the basic supplies: food, water, medicine, weapons, money, documents, and any other thing you deem important.
Now, a bug out kit comes handy, especially, if you’re forced to bug out immediately with no time to do anything else but run. So, have a bug out kit for every family member and, if you can, in your home, car, and workplace.
#20 Don’t Forget about Your Pets
Too often we think about all the resources we’re going to need like water, food, weapons, and medicine. Still, we fail to remember about pets. It’s not that we don’t remember they exist, but we forget that we have to prep for them as well.
It’s important that you know how much water and food each species need. If you can, also prep for medicine as well since pets get sick too, and you’re not likely to find a veterinarian.
#21 Learn to Use Different Kinds of Weapons
When we think about prepping, it’s easy to think about all the firearms that you want to own. Still, to be a complete, experienced prepper, you should learn not to depend on one thing. That includes firearms. Sure, you can have them, but you should learn to use different types of weapons.
This means learning how to use a knife, axes, machetes, crossbow, bow, and arrow, and any other weapon you find useful. So, select your weapons of choice and start practicing them.
#22 Learn Self-Defense
Even if you can hold your own in a fight, you don’t want to leave your safety to chance. It’s important that you learn how to defend yourself in different situations. This is why you should learn self-defense techniques. This goes beyond learning to use weapons, although they’re included in it.
So, the best you can do is to learn, at least, 1 martial art. It’s also a good idea to learn survival techniques. You should pretty much learn everything that will help keep you alive.
#23 Test Your Mental Toughness
You don’t want to collapse during a catastrophe and waste all your prepping dying in the most ridiculous way possible because you couldn’t handle the pressure. Even if you think you’re tough, you never know. That’s why you should prepare yourself mentally for anything.
There are few survivalist training and things you can do to test yourself. Even camping helps. No matter what you do, it’s important that you find ways to test yourself psychologically.
#24 Map Out all Your Family Psyche
You don’t want anyone freaking in a place full of guns. Even a family member can be a threat during tough times. So, the best way to prevent this, it’s to not only prepare yourself mentally but also make an assessment of your family. See who’s more likely to freak out and who helps everyone stay calm.
Those things are often not talked about too much in the prepping community but when people realize that society collapsed and there’s no turning back, things can get dark.
#25 Get Communication Devices
Communication is key to survival, especially among beings that need to live in society. One of the main reasons humans were able to thrive on the planet is because of language. Our ability to communicate brought us this far. So, naturally, being able to communicate is crucial.
So, have not only communication devices that will allow you to establish communication with your family but also devices that will allow you to communicate with the outside world. You can start with radio devices and satellite cell phones.
#26 Have a Bug Out Place
Having a bug plan is important and the crucial part of this plan is the destination. A bug place has to have a few qualities besides being a house. Ideally, your bug out place is located in an isolated area since you’re likely leaving a city. It could be a cabin in the woods or a house in the mountains.
Your new place needs to be able to protect you from cold weather and be near a place with resources like water and food. If there’s a river with clean water and lots of fish, it’s a perfect place.
#27 Learn Gardening
Besides hunting and fishing, gardening is another crucial skill for you to be able to eat without depending on anyone else. So, you must learn how to plant potatoes, lettuce, rice, and any vegetable and fruit you like. If you can create your own supply, you’ll be able to relax for a long time.
Now, the ability to gardening goes beyond knowing how to do it. You also need the space to do it. That’s why it’s important to keep that in mind when selecting a bug out place. Even in your home is a good idea to have a place to have a garden in case you’re bugging in.
#28 Learn First Aid
First aid is crucial to your survival because you don’t know if there’ll be doctors available. Of course, unless you need surgery, you can get by with first aid skills. Ideally, you and someone else in your team should know first aid and even some other basic skills in case someone needs medical attention.
Even having some idea of how to deliver a child can be a good skill to have. So, learn everything you can about first aid.
#29 Get in Shape
You don’t need a six-pack to survive the apocalypse, but you need to be in shape. A lot of the basic survival skills that you need require that you are in a good shape. This means being able to fight, to run, and to hunt.
Obviously, you don’t need to win an iron man competition, but you should be able to hold your own in situations that require some physical prowess.
#30 Prep Supplies for 1 Year or More
If you want to get serious about prepping, you should consider prepping for 1 year of supplies. Obviously, if you don’t have the financial means to do it, you can start by prepping for a few weeks or a few months. Now, if you can, you should have food, water, and medicine to last you a whole year.
Choose non-perishable food, learn to store water, and find a special room in your house to put everything that you need there.
#31 Have an Entertainment Kit
Surviving the apocalypse is important, but why just survive when you can live. Not only that but things can get quite boring when you don’t have electricity, internet, and TV.
So, the best way to get rid of boredom is to have an entertainment kit. You can pack books, cards, and other games. Anything that will entertain people, especially kids.
#32 Get Ready for All Kinds of Weather
Even if you don’t live in a place with cold weather, you don’t know if you may need to or even if the weather will change during apocalyptical times. So, the best you can do is to prep for that as well.
Select clothes that will get you through the roughest of weathers and prep in terms of having heaters, refrigerator, and thermal insulation.
#33 Store Medicine
The likelihood that you’ll have a drug store and hospitals available to help you with any medical problem is near zero. That’s why you should also prep so you don’t have to depend on those things. Nowadays, most health problems can be solved with a pill.
This means that you should have your stock of medicine, especially antibiotics. Any minor infection can become a huge problem if left untreated. So, prep for the simplest condition to the worst you can think about. If someone in your family has allergies, prep for that as well.
#34 Don’t be the Only Prepper in Your Family
If you’re the only prepper in your family, you shouldn’t be. It’s important that, at least, one more person helps you out. You don’t want to be in the apocalypse with a bunch of people who don’t have a clue on how to survive.
Also, you want people to help you keep things in order, help you keep the food stock in check, and store everything you and your family will need.
#35 Rehearse for the Main Event
There’s a reason the military has training, and it is a rough one. You don’t want to be in the battlefield second-guessing decisions and overthinking anything. This can mean death in a situation like this. With prepping is not so different.
You want to train for every SHTF situation you can think about. You and your family should know exactly what to do when the occasion arrives. So, train every survival skill listed above and make sure everyone is ready when they have to be. For those wanting a complete survival plan, click here.
