Getting started with your survival prepping journey is an exciting time, but it’s also something you need to take seriously. This is no longer something that is reserved for mountain men and hardcore survivalists, but something that many families are integrating into their lifestyles.
There are many unexpected events that could occur, from natural disasters or power outages to financial crisis situations that may affect you and your loved ones in a negative way.
By learning how to prepare properly, you will be equipped with the supplies and knowledge you need to handle whatever comes your way. Many families have only prepared for very short-term situations, such as a power outage that lasts less than 24 hours.
However, you want to go to greater lengths to be prepared for more significant events. This will allow you to come from a place of proactive preparations rather than living in a place of fear.
One of the most overwhelming things for new survival preppers is just getting started. There are a lot of tasks you need to take care of, and you have to have a starting point. This doesn’t require you to have a huge budget or any type of special training, but it does require you to have a plan in place so that you can begin achieving your goal of being prepared for any uncertainty in life.
Step #1: Conduct a Likely Survival Risk Assessment
Before you begin buying supplies and learning new skills, you need to do a proper risk assessment for your particular survival needs. Every family living in a different geographic location will have unique preparations in mind.
Pop culture would like you to envision a zombie apocalypse, but that’s not likely to happen. Instead, you need to focus on what is most likely to occur, such as natural disasters that your location is prone to, power outages, or even personal situations that could cause you a disruption in how you live.
This is one thing many preppers don’t consider, but you could go through a financial crisis yourself that could require you to have plans in place to get through it. You don’t just want to think about major survival events that affect the entire state, country or globe.
That doesn’t mean you don’t want to also plan for things that are less likely, such as a major war, but you do want to focus on planning for the most likely events first. For example, if you are in a tornado or hurricane prone area, you can plan for that because you know each spring, that is likely to occur.
Not all survival situations are based on natural disasters, though. What kind of personal circumstances do you have that could serve as a risk to your well-being? This might be a fragile career path, a questionable or volatile relationship, or even a health condition.
You have to assess where you stand in terms of supplies, but also your finances, your physical and mental well-being, and other areas of concern. Any way that you can alleviate the stress and prioritize your list is going to give you the ability to gather the resources you need to weather any storm.
Step #2: Set Both Short and Long-Term Survival Prepping Goals
When you begin mapping out your plans, you want to set goals for both short-term and long-term survival situations. Short-term plans are easier to prepare for, because you’re only looking to get through a few hours, a couple of days, or even a week.
This doesn’t require very much in terms of supplies, and you’ll be able to save that up quickly and easily and use it as a stepping stone to your long-term survival plans. You can start by making a 24-hour plan, and move on to a 72-hour, one week, and one-month short-term proper process.
For these, you’ll be looking at just having enough supplies on hand so that if you can’t get to the store or if electricity is off for that period of time, you have enough to tide you over.
Long-term planning is more complex, and requires different types of supplies and gear. For example, instead of simply having enough cans of food on hand, you’ll want to know how to grow a survival garden and can your own food.
Step #3: Map Out a Budget and Shopping Strategy for Your Prepping Efforts
You should have a budget in mind that doesn’t cause you to charge up your credit cards, but instead allows you to use up whatever you have leftover at the end of the month for savings and survival shopping.
You want to make sure your dollar goes a long way when shopping, and that doesn’t always mean shopping for cheap supplies, but buying at the right time and in bulk whenever possible.
Learn where to buy from so that you aren’t wasting money spending your shopping hours at the wrong location where prices are higher. Look for discount deals and online discounts that can give you more for your money and prioritize your spending.
Step #4: Assemble Your Family Bug Out Bags
The next step is to go ahead and assemble a bug out bag for each member of your family. Usually, these are set up to help you exist for at least 72 hours in the wild, and you can have one at your home, one in your car, and one at work.
Make sure you choose a bag that is comfortable and durable for each member of your family. You want to adjust the load according to the size of the person having to carry it. Each bag should include a solar battery charger for your phone, food, water purification, first aid, shelter, hygiene products, and communication items such as a whistle.
Step #5: Begin Acquiring Your Survival Supplies
At this point, you will begin acquiring all of your survival supplies that you will keep at home. You need to have the bug out bags ready ahead of time in case you need to leave your property, but the bulk of your survival supplies will be kept at your home.
Start with the essentials that are needed, such as water and water purification methods and food. You can stock up on short term survival items such as canned produce, but if you invest in dehydrated food, you’ll have a longer shelf life, where the food will be stable for up to 25 to 30 years.
With things like water, you want to have some on hand, but it does take up a lot of space, so you will need water purification tablets or straws. You’ll already be in your shelter at this point, but you may need items that will help you stay warm or cool off in the event that the grid goes down.
You’ll also need things for lighting inside, and you don’t want to be reliant only on flashlights with batteries, so look for solar lanterns that you can use once the sun goes down.
You’ll also need a way to cook your food, so you’ll need some sort of fire-starting gadgets and methods of cooking that may include solar versions. This is particularly important if you want to avoid smoke from cooking to avoid giving away that you have fire and are cooking food. Because you’ll have supplies inside, you’ll want to think about your personal protection and security in case any criminals want to try to breach your property.
Step #6: Carve Out Time to Learn Essential Survival Skills
The next step in your survival journey is to begin learning skills that you may need in a survival event. This takes time and isn’t something you’re going to know how to do overnight.
It’s also not something you want to leave in a book for whenever you’re in the middle of a SHTF situation. By then it’s too late. Start by learning first aid – for both minor and major issues.
You may also need to learn how to get food through fishing and hunting or foraging in your geographic location. Learn how to do these things both with and without supplies because you don’t know when or if you’ll be without them.
You’ll also need to know skills for repairing your home, car, appliances and even mending clothing. You may not be able to go get new ones or even call a service person out to help you.
Any skill you may need, such as navigation without a GPS, how to make a fire, how to defend yourself without a weapon, and more are important – and not just for you – but for your entire family.
Step #7: Create a Record for Rotation and Safeguarding of Your Supplies
Lastly, make a record of your supplies and gear. You want to rotate (whenever necessary) your supplies so they don’t go to waste. Things such as canned produce will need to be used up before the expiration date.
You want to have a record of everything you buy for survival purposes, and also where it’s located. Laminate your list and have a backup of it in case it gets ruined by anything like a fire or water damage.
By having a record, you won’t have to remember whether or not you already bought a manual can opener – you’ll know that you did, and exactly where you stored it in case the grid is down and you need to feed your family.
With food and medication, make sure you also log the expiration date, amount and name accurately. Periodically go through and weed out any expired supplies so that you can replace them.
All of these steps will give you a solid beginning to your survival prepper journey. You’ll know your expected risks and be well-prepared to handle both minor and major survival events with ease.