Author: Pat Henry

Or how can I build a bug out bag without breaking the bank? Do you have your bug out bag packed and waiting for you in the hall closet? Is your bug out bag tested and ready to go at a moment’s notice? Do you have a bug out bag at all or wonder, what is a bug out bag? Maybe you are just starting on the journey into preparedness and like a lot of other people, you are focusing on getting your bug out bag ready and have encountered the dilemma that so many of us have struggled with…

If you have an AR-15 or any rifle really, and you plan on using this in a defensive role should the need arise, you need to consider what is the best scope for your use. Even if you have the venerable AK-47, the scope that you use will greatly determine your capabilities after your natural skill and training have reached their limits. A good scope is a huge benefit in allowing you to accurately acquire a target and with a properly sighted rifle and good fundamentals hit what you are shooting at. There are many different configurations that are possible…

There are many aspects of Prepping that we think of from a tactical perspective as being information we wouldn’t want to share with everyone. You don’t usually want to advertise to the world that you are a prepper in the first place because conventional wisdom would say you have supplies that others could want in a crisis scenario. To that end we discuss concepts like OPSEC or operational security – being those practices we employ to keep our supplies and activities on the down low. There is no sense telling your neighbors what you have and advertising your stash of…

If you have not seen or heard of MRE’s (Meal Ready to Eat) by now, I have to wonder where you have been. MRE’s are a military staple that has naturally bled over into the preparedness market because of their long storage life and simplicity. For the uninitiated, MRE’s are what our soldiers eat when they are away from base. MRE’s come from a long history of military food options that are meant to fill bellies and provide energy in a near bomb proof package that can be thrown in the back of a connex for 5 years and not…

There has been a lot of spirited discussion in the comments this week so I thought I would try to throw another log on the fire and see what debate this article would generate. There seem to be two sides to this survival coin in terms of what people believe are the best tactics and skills needed to survive anything that comes your way. On one side we have preppers who tend to have certain interests and opinions. The other side is Survivalists or people who practice the art of Bushcraft. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, but who do…

How many of you have ever tried to convince your spouse to do something that was outside of their comfort zone? Did you have a lot of success? When we have these partners in our lives, we try to share most if not all of our lifestyle with our significant other. This accomplishes two goals. First, we get to do something we are interested in with the person we most want to be around in the world. The second reason is that if our spouse is doing it, we can get away with a lot more, right? I have seen…

Do you have a prepper convention you want to advertise? Are you looking to share knowledge and tips with interested preppers in your area? What better place than the Prepper Journal? The Prepper Convention page on our site is a new way for preppers to find prepper shows and conferences in their local area. As the yearly convention cycle heats up, you want to share that information with as many people as possible and we are now offering free listings for your prepper convention, or preparedness expo on our site. For Preppers: Looking for a prepper conference? Just click on…

One excuse that some people use for not beginning to prepare for disasters is the cost. They look at shows like Doomsday Preppers or view the advertisements on prepping or survival blogs and start mentally calculating the costs of everything they need in their head. When you look at Prepping or being prepared as a destination it is easy to see why this thought looms in the minds of people everywhere. It doesn’t have to be that way. I have said it many times before that Prepping is a lifestyle. Prepping is never something you can finish and for most…

Does ultimate survival come down to either living in a small handful of states or you are screwed – no matter what? Is Urban Survival an oxymoron? If you aren’t one of the lucky ones who lives 2 hours away from the nearest Walmart are you doomed to die a horrible death? The real question for the majority of preppers is this; is Urban Survival possible? There is a mantra within the hallowed halls of prepper knowledge, lore, and opinion that goes something like this. The only way to survive TEOTWAWKI is to find a hidden retreat far away from…

At some point in your prepping journey you will need to think about Security and for many of us, these are the first thoughts that trigger an initial investigation into the world of prepping. Security in the context of prepping, from my stand-point encompasses your safety in a possibly unsafe world. Security is a broad topic that covers a lot of territory and seems to work itself into most aspects of life in one form or other in the grid-down hypothetical context and there is no shortage of debate when you start digging into the details, opinions and recommendations. Security…

If you own a firearm and spend any amount of time on the internet each day, you have likely seen the headlines declaring “Obama to ban bullets by executive action” or some derivative of that type of news. For those who don’t know, I will give you the much abbreviated version. The ATF wants to change the classification of a certain type of round (M855) to “armor-piercing” and effectively make this round illegal for “production, sale and use”. I won’t get into the specifics of the language or why the M855 ammo is not significantly more armor piercing than just…

The Prepping Community’s most active discussion revolves around preparing for disasters. Not that disasters or zombies are our only focus. The broader topic of prepping involves a lot of discussion and debate on various subjects. At the end of the day though, it comes down to how prepared you are when that disaster that forms the motivation behind our prepping, strikes. We can talk tactics and strategy all day long. We can debate which firearms are best or even necessary if the grid goes down. We can plan to defend our neighborhoods from looters or scoff at the notion that…

Anyone who has read the Prepper Journal for any length of time knows that I frequently use scenarios from prepper movies or books as examples of possible scenarios that I have considered for various reasons. I do this all of the time I guess, drawing inspiration from the works of others. Maybe, inspiration is the wrong word, but I do get ideas from reading scenarios that others have dreamed of or have brought to life on the big screen. If nothing else, the disasters we read about in prepper or survivalist books give our minds a chance to imagine ourselves…

The key to survival is preparation, and the consummate prepper is well aware of Sta-Bil, the fuel additive that allows users to store gasoline for a year or more to prevent its highly-refined molecular structure from breaking down and losing octane. The same type of precautions need to be taken to extend the shelf life of food, whether they’re canned or dried. No matter how much food you stockpile, it will ultimately run out. These three tips will help preserve what you have for as long as possible, and provide renewable sources of food regardless of living conditions. Low Humidity,…

We each have our own idea of what TEOTWAWKI would look like. For some, it is the deserted highways patrolled by maniacs in super-charged vehicles murdering anyone in their sight for fun as demonstrated in the 1981 movie, The Road Warrior. For others, our imagination might paint a world somewhat less violent overall, but lacking more in technological resources like electricity or machines powered by fuel that without refining capacity has vanished. Sort of a global reset where we all have to learn skills again but more or less still get along and farm a good bit more. We are…

Most of us have mountains in our life both literally and figuratively. For the luckiest among us, those mountains are beautiful shapes in the distance with snow-covered peaks touching the clouds. Those awe-inspiring formations frame our gaze toward the horizon with a completely different backdrop that easily makes one feel small and insignificant by comparison. I was on a hunting trip several years ago and our camp was right at the base of the Rockies and I was so consumed by the beauty of that sight filling my vision every day that I am sure I missed dozens of deer.…

Hello everyone! Just wanted to create a short and simple post to share a couple housekeeping items with readers of the Prepper Journal. Our Facebook page has changed – About a month ago I was locked out of the Facebook page I created to share posts from the Prepper Journal. This was because I couldn’t correctly identify several of my over 5,000 friends. I had to rebuild the Prepper Journal Facebook page so if you want to see our articles appear in your feeds, please like our new Facebook page which you can find by clicking this link or from…

For many people, the idea of prepping for disaster conjures up visions of families in hazmat suits and gas masks readying themselves for the next global virus outbreak. For others, it is the camouflaged survival group with their loaded 4 wheel drive bug-out vehicles shooting their way through some random checkpoint on their route to a hidden survival retreat in the mountains. It really depends on your view of what the prepping lifestyle is as to whether or not these images are extremely distasteful or something you actively aspire to emulate. I think by this time, the idea of prepping…

If the world all went to hell in a hand basket today, you would probably be stuck with what you have now in your possession and what you know or the skills you have learned already. Assuming your city or home didn’t get destroyed and along with it all of your prepper supplies, you could either be pretty well off for some time or in a serious world of hurt almost immediately. Most of us reading this have made some attempts at becoming prepared. Even if you are new to prepping, you may have taken steps already to ensure you…

Most of us have beliefs that we hold closely which have developed over the years, shaped through our experiences in the world. These beliefs were handed down to us by family or have been framed in the context of laws or our religion. These morals are what we perceive as right and wrong and for most of us – outside of extreme circumstances; our morals are not really in dispute in our day to day lives. You can offer just about any scenario to someone and they can tell you if what you are describing is right or wrong but…

There is a collective thought in the minds of Preppers everywhere that goes something like this. We are preparing for disaster by storing up food, water and supplies because we realize that we need to be able to take care of ourselves. We have talked to family and friends to try to illustrate the wisdom in doing this in their own lives, but if SHTF and someone who should have prepped long before now shows up on my door; I will turn them away. I can’t tell you how many prepper blogs have devoted reams of articles to this topic…

Life is often about measuring ourselves against a standard. The standard changes with the situation but there is always some metaphorical yardstick we are trying to use to gauge our progress for our efforts. Consciously or maybe subconsciously we keep looking back to that yardstick, checking to see how we stand. In some cases it is easy to see how you are doing. If you want to diet and lose weight, you have the ability to look at yourself in the mirror, maybe your clothes fit more loosely, and then obviously there is that dreaded bathroom scale. If you never get on the scale, you might think you…

According to Wikipedia, Normalcy bias is a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster and its possible effects. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations. I had heard this term myself for what seems like years, being used to describe what we have all seen, dozens if not hundreds of times in the media, whenever some disaster struck. Images of people acting completely shocked…

Preppers should have a plan for dealing with violent people who unconstrained by threat or presence of law enforcement when your family’s safety is on the line. Along with food and water, you should also consider looter defense tactics and how your own home fortification plans need attention. For many; the not too distant events in Ferguson are the first thoughts that come to mind when you mention the word looting. Looting, in some circles, is what you do apparently when there is an opportunity to steal and occasionally destroy with relative impunity. For some people, looting is appropriate after…

Welcome back to the last installment of our series on the 5 things you need to go off grid where we are discussing preparations you can make right now that could possibly save your life if you find yourself without the conveniences of the grid. As I stated in other articles, we frequently hear people planning of a simpler, more self-reliant life where they can live untied from the complex systems of our current 21st century lifestyles. For obvious reasons, this dream is one that many of us strive for, but frequently are unable to obtain. In a disaster though,…

Welcome back to this series on the 5 things you need to go off grid now, where I have been discussing the scenario of a collapse or long-term disruption of “the grid”. The term ‘the grid’, can mean different things to different people, but for the sake of this series, the grid I am referring to would be many of the systems and services we have come to rely on in our western culture. This would include things like electricity, water, sanitation, natural gas, emergency services, the internet and communications. Some people think of the grid as the information collected…

Welcome back to our series on the 5 things you need to go off grid now, where we began with the premise that going “off grid” might not be something that as Preppers you elect to do for the sake of your family in hopes of greater harmony with Mother Nature. The “Grid” might simply take the kids and leave you in the middle of the night like Katie Holmes did to Tom. You wake up and something is wrong but it takes you a few minutes to realize your world has changed – in a big way. To prevent…

Our last article; the first in this series of 5 things you need to go off grid now, began with the concept of preppers looking for an ideal life of untethering ourselves from “the grid” in an effort to enjoy a more self-sufficient life. To that end, many of us only consider moving to rural land and building homes that depend less on some of the interconnected systems we rely on today. But even if that isn’t possible for most of us currently, we might be wise to plan on going off grid anyway. In a disaster scenario, we might…

Like some of you reading the Prepper Journal, I have long wanted the ‘Prepper dream’ of the ability to go off grid. To own a large tract of mostly wooded land, complete with a large stream or river gently rolling through the property. In this imaginary paradise full of wild game and fertile soil, I would set up my modest log cabin complete with all the amenities (underground man cave/survival bunker) that we could purchase or build which would allow us to go off grid and be able to live as self-reliant as possible. Naturally I roll up to my…

The Great Depression is almost universally thought of as the darkest time in recent U.S. history from at least a financial standpoint. Like many of you, I know close family members who lived through the depression and their stories of the hardships, depression recipes they fondly remembered but more precisely how they made do regardless of the times, always seem to fascinate me. People were much hardier back then I believe. This period of time is how we imagine life at its hardest; and the realities that so many people faced during that roughly 10 year span seem to loom…