What are you prepping for?

[BigMacKin]

Hi Everyone, I've been asked this question from a number of friends and family - sometimes in a rhetorical manner and by some who are really interested in why I bother!! So I thought I'd ask you guys to see if we can get a broad range of your reasons for prepping. I have tried using the search facility on the site for similar posts but I'm drawing a blank.

I personally have a number of reasons from having experience of being isolated due to weather, to having a firm belief that most governments are hell bent on the destruction of the planet and the human race (bit conspiracy based there but still one of my reasons.) I think I'm pretty sorted for adverse weather but my prep is on a sliding scale depending on how extreme the situation is. Here are some of the things I am prepping for:

Adverse weather affecting heating, lighting and food supplies
Monetary system breakdown reducing the ability to acquire food and supplies through hard cash
Fuel shortages affecting use of my car and logistical ability to supply shops with food
Loss of income (job loss, injury)
Civil disruption
Military invasion
Pandemic outbreak
End of the world (I have some really good Whiskey for this one!!)

So what do you prep for?

Paul

[scoobie]

Hey Paul,

This has been covered a few times, with some interesting comments..

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2798
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2203
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2004
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=984
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1330
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1039
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=260

[BigMacKin]

Hey Paul,

This has been covered a few times, with some interesting comments..

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2798
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2203
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2004
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=984
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1330
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1039
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=260

Scoobie,
Appreciate the pointers to the posts. The search tool kept reporting my search words were too common etc!!! Anyway, I'll take a good look at the posts and delete this one !!

Cheers
Paul

[scoobie]

It's worth bringing it up again to get the perspectives of our newer members who may not have seen the original posts..

Perhaps I should create a sticky for this one

[preppingsu]

I always think its good to get others thoughts as it widers our perspective of things.

I started prepping because it sounded like a good idea but moving into a period of unemployment last year meant the preps I had done were used, especially food. It kept my shopping bills down for many months until I had some work.
I continue to prep for economic instability, unemployment (still) and a zombie invasion........









Not really prepping for a zombie invasion!

[kmoon84]

When I first started looking into it I was worried about a solar flare but when I started reading up and watching the youtube videos, I saw there are so many things to think about. I suppose its a matter of opinion and whats relevant to your situation.

[TomW]

Don't believe you sue
It's actually a difficult question to answer as its very situational dependant. Your top reason one day may not feature on the list a week later. Though I didn't know it at tge time I started prepping about the time I found out I was going to be a father. I guess it was a subconcious need to protect my family. Having some stored supplies and kit will see us through many of lifes little issues. I know one family who have recently run out of heating oil, they had to decamp to a relatives house for the whole bank holiday. If they had a few extra heaters put by it would of saved them a lot of extra trouble and perhaps saved some of the plans they had to shelve as well.
On the larger scale of things fuel issues are becoming an increasing feature of life. While its quite an inconvenience having to watch your mileage if it gets serious it will be very noticeable in the supermarkets. When the snow hit January last year you could tell on day one that the delivery hadn't arrived and by day three it was quite scary how little was left. In all honesty I don't think there had been any panic buying either, it was just normal useage.
The TEOTWAWKI scenarios are almost too big to prep for and frankly are a brilliant way to get yourself ostracized and avoided if thrown around too much. However by prepping for the smaller issues your covering yourself better for the big ones. In terms of kit there's very little difference between what you need to last a week and what you need to last a year. All you need to increase is supplies of consumables, water, food, fuel, toilet paper etc. Any increase in gear is probably going to be related to those, more jerrycans, wheat mills or backups. You can't have enough tin openers!

So what do I prep for? Zombies. Don't think it will ever happen but if I'm ready for that then a two day blackout will be a cake walk Now where's my cricket bat.....

[Rosesandtea]

I don't know so much about conspiracies but all the things you mention, I think are good things to prepare for. I've made some progress in some areas but for things like pandemics I don't think I'm very well prepared. Still, if we can avoid going to the shops as much as possible during those times because we've stocked up, then so much the better.

I suppose in my mind stocking up and learning to be self- sufficient as much as possible go a long way to help in almost any scenario. I would still like to expand my prepping, though.

[diamond lil]

I'm more into self sufficiency and learning to live more simply, with less reliance on electricity and gadgets. Makes sense as I live remote and we get a lot of power cuts & bad weather, and there is only one road out. I'm 11 miles from the nearest shop. But I was reading about the stashes people have over on MSE - and some of the ladies there put us to shame ! (They aren't preppers though - just addicted to food buying)

[KalPrep]

Good thread to keep us all thinking about why we prep.

Personally for me it is to protect my family from events unknown that will affect the way we live. I think that as a society we have lived way beyond our means for a good while now and the systems in place to support that are beginning to creak. Not just because the scale is getting too big, but because those systems are entirely reliant on finite resources to work.

Top things for me:

Some sort of pandemic, not end of days, just scary enough to make you want to stay home til it passes
Economic downturn and inflation, we see this everyday and prepping is good insurance against it
Redundancy or severe change in financial circumstances, prep while the going is good so you are ready when it is bad.

If I have those covered, all I need is some dramatic music and low light conditions to really amp up for the Zombie invasion