What made you become a prepper?

[jansman]

It’s interesting that the tanker strike was the catalyst for so many here. We made loads of money ( for the four days it lasted) as people were panic buying. I wonder how many preppers were ‘born’ after The Great COVID Supermarket Sweep of 2020?

[ForgeCorvus]

It’s interesting that the tanker strike was the catalyst for so many here. We made loads of money ( for the four days it lasted) as people were panic buying. I wonder how many preppers were ‘born’ after The Great COVID Supermarket Sweep of 2020?

Perhaps Scoobie could have a count of new members in the last year?


All sorts of essential systems seem to have really fragile foundations, a bit like building a wind-farm on a shingle spit.
For instance, around here there used to be watertowers, pretty much every decent sized town or group of villages had at least one. But those cost money to maintain and people (mostly incomers) complain that they are an ugly blot .
Now water pressure is created with pumps and every time theres a power spike (which happens a lot due to overhead power cables) or a powercut, one of the on-call engineers has to travel all the way to the pumping station just to flick a trip-switch back on. That costs a lot of money (which comes out of the "Emergency" budget not the "Maintenance" budget) and everyone complains about the interruption (but it doesn't last long enough for compensation to have to be paid)

[Kriegsgefangener]

I don’t mind admitting that COVID was the pivotal moment for me. I’ve experienced 2 weeks of no supplies arriving on the Shetlands due to the weather stopping all ferries from the mainland but I was at work and still being fed. Last year I was out of work and with my family, it made me think! Thankfully I realised that we actually weren’t too badly placed as we’ve got a decent sized garden that gives a reasonable amount of produce. I have had to endure ribbing from my better half about the extra store of staples. It certainly was a wake up call for which I’m very grateful though.

[Rusty74]

the location of where we live if we have a harsh winter we can be cut off for days,and even with me being grounds maintanace for the local council and the lads pulling a few strings to get a gritter and plough out to us it can be a struggle at times

[izzy_mack]

I suppose I've been a prepper since the day I left home as a teenager heading to college. I would load my cupboard in my slum bedsit with bargains i'd found so that as my money got low at end of term, I'd still have food. Life has reinforced this basic instinct. Having children with no money teaches you a lot about budgeting and making do and mend. A divorce with 4 kids to fend for gets your priorities sorted. Marrying a farmer who has no steady income but earns in "lumps", ie when he sells animals, make you work out your finances with a bit more care. Whenever we have money to spare, I have always filled the stores as much as I can, and I've been very grateful for my full freezer and cupboards on many occasions.
But I think better than full cupboards is the attitude that - I can manage - I have had to often so that I don't fret too much. However I do worry about my kids, I'm not sure they would all cope with life without all the stuff and services that they've grown up used to.. None of their wives/girlfriends bar one can even sew! They still appear with a pile of mending for mum to fix. At least they don't starve but thats because all my sons bar one, can cook (and do it better than me).

I too wonder if more people will take prepping more seriously post covid, I do hope so. A conversation recently(telephone of course), about how lucky we've rather startled me when she said it . Lucky??? Well I did eventually get it. The "bug" we got could have been worse, it could have targeted younger age group, it could have been even more deadly to everyone.It could have left even more people with life long disabilities and so on, so from that point of view, we've been lucky it wasn't worse. Small comfort I know to those who have lost loved ones or are suffering long covid but makes prepping even more important, be ready to bug in if worse should come next time.