Editor’s Note: Today’s article is courtesy of Warren. If you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and possibly win a $300 Amazon Gift Card to purchase your own prepping supplies, enter the Prepper Journal’s Writing Contest today.
Prepping is all about preparing yourself for some disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons, fires, and a lot more. With the right prepping skills, you should have an easier time handling yourself if a disaster happens. Check around to understand the threats common to your area before you start prepping. Some areas are known to be prone to certain natural disasters and you can take that information and use it to your advantage to learn some prepping skills for survival.
So, you might be new to prepping and you are wondering where to begin. This article will give you some important tips to follow when it comes to learning how to start prepping.
Come up with a plan
How would you even start prepping when you have no idea what you are prepping for? It is then crucial to come up with a plan to help you the prepping process. Understanding the kind of disasters that are likely to strike helps with coming up with a great plan to counter the disasters. You now have to pass the same plan to the family members to make sure that they are briefed on what will be happening during the prepping process.
The plan should also have a checklist of the activities to cover. Once you have mastered a skill, you can always cross it off the checklist. This helps you with tracking the different types of skills you are learning during the process.
Research more on prepping ideas
Preppers are always learning innovative ways on how to deal with the disasters. You have to consider numerous ways to combat a disaster. You can always start with the Internet as you can get a lot of information about different prepping skills. The best part is that you can get videos demonstrating some of the skills so that you can easily master them.
If you like reading, then consider checking out some different books on prepping and survival skills. You will always add a new skill to your skill set at the end of each book.
Subscribe to disaster alerts
It is just the weather, you do not always have to rely on the weather updates from your local TV station, having phone apps today can still help you with learning more about the weather conditions in your exact area. The same goes for new prepping ideas. Do not wait until you hear sirens to get yourself ready to react to a situation. It is now possible to subscribe to different disaster alerts on your phone and computer. Whenever a disaster happens or is about to happen, you may get the alerts in time and to give you a few extra minutes to act.
The best part is that most of these apps and programs are free so that you have no excuse not being a subscriber.
Seek alternative ways of communication
Many disasters take out the communication lines and it can be hard to get in touch with your family especially for those who live outside the state. Other than traditional phone communications, the Internet, if you can access it, comes in as a great option for communication. It is the reason Red Cross came up with the ‘Safe and Well Listings’ website where people can post their status in case of a disaster. You can now check their website to know how your family is doing. You can always come up with different types of communication to help keep in touch when a disaster strikes.
What is in your bug out bag?
So, the question of what is supposed to be in your bug out bag can come into mind when you start prepping. This is the kind of bag that you will have to rely on until your get further help. There is the need to find all the necessary things to pack for the disaster. Normally you would want to have some food, fist aid kit, candles, flashlight, watches for survival, matches, and a lot more. The supply bag may vary a bit based on the type of disaster you are looking to handle and your local conditions. Research more about packing for different disasters. You might end up with more guides online how to pack for various disasters.
Consider storing non-perishable food
If you check out most prepping guides, they will always advise you to have more nonperishable foods in store. These are the type of foods that would withstand a long time and still be edible. This is important to consider as sometimes you never know how long a disaster can last. So you need to have some food to keep you going while you wait for things to go back to normal. You can store just enough food that you will need. No point of going crazy about stocking a lot of food when you might never use it.
Dressing for the disaster
As part of prepping, you have to consider dressing in layers. Take the example of flooding, you need to have the right clothes to keep yourself from freezing. The type of dressing is going to help you have an easier time navigating a disaster. It is always advisable to take the time to analyze the disaster so as to come up with the appropriate gear for the disaster. If you have children, make sure that they are also protected and given priority for the dressing part when disaster strikes.
Watch prepping TV shows and documentaries
There is no doubt that visuals of any kind can help in easily remembering a process. It the reason you might want to think of choosing to watch some prepping TV shows and documentaries as a way of learning about prepping. The shows will give you step by step instructions on some prepping activities such as surviving floods, wearing boot knives, purifying water and a lot more. Where you do not understand you can always rewind and learn more how to handle a process. Just like that, you get to know what it takes to survive in some disasters with less effort.
Know how to get clean water
Mostly when disaster strikes, getting clean water is often an issue. Do not rely on the tap water to keep flowing in such a scenario. You might not always get tap water because in major disasters the pipes supplying the water could be uprooted or burst. Chemical or sewage leaks could make even the tap water undrinkable. It is therefore important to learn other ways for purifying water before drinking.
The common method would be boiling the water for killing the germs. Another would be buying a water filtration system that cleans the water before you can drink it.
Just like that, you now have an idea what prepping is all about. Always make sure that you prepare enough in advance so that you do not have to fumble with everything when the disaster has already happened.
About the author: Warren Kuhn is an outdoor and camping enthusiast, always out to seek for the thrill and adrenaline that only nature gives. He even took up survival training to prepare him for the worst-case scenarios while outdoors.With his background, you can learn a lot from him so you can get the most out of your camping trip at TheCampingTrips.