How did you became interested in prepping?

[Deeps]

Yeah I suppose its a pretty broad question (I have to start somewhere). What are your feelings on the actual term 'prepper'. It is obviously a term that is central to these forums but I have seen on other websites/forums etc. that people are reluctant to use the term or even dismissive of that. Have any of you had any experiences with that?

Everything has to be categorised it seems so we're no different. There are plenty on here who use the term "sheeple" for example. I'd never heard of prepping or preppers as a 'thing' until a few years ago when someone asked me if I was a "prepper". A quick visit to google suggested I was one, its not how I define myself but its an easy 'catch all' term. As others have alluded to, there are those that can't wait for the 'zombie times' (which will be happening of course....) all the way through to those who just fancy living "The Good Life" (throw in a Felicity Kendall and where do I sign).

I know its not a universally popular notion but there is a hobby element to it, people will pick the aspects that appeal to them. We don't all prep for the same things or in the same ways either.

Yeah labels can be a problematic at times. For instance, I am (understandably) met with suspicion by this forum and in other research I do if it is suspected I am a 'journalist' (I am not) or even because I am an 'academic'. That is understandable though when you see the terrible depths journalism has dropped to and to be in honest in some academic research areas too.

By the way, the variety of topics on this forum is incredible - topics as varied as how to make ballet shoes to surviving the zombie apocalypse - I am going to get no work done

I don't disagree about the journalism, some aren't content to just report, they seem (to me anyway) to want to make their own mark. Human nature I guess, NOTICE ME.

Out of curiosity has anything you've read on here resonated enough to make you fancy doing any of it ? Not a trick question, just nosey, over the years I've been able to help guys I worked with by having 'stuff' on me who have said they would start doing the same only not to bother, this was long before I was a card carrying 'prepper' too.

[jansman]

Folks like us are suspicious of folks like you,GPS.I am.Sadly,anyone who comes here to "interview", or " learn" about prepping has a habit of twisting it to make us look like nutters.I would suggest that unless you are ' on board' you will never really understand.Perhaps you are interested in prepping?

Pseudonym hit the nail on the head with his list . Folks don't know they prep.However,when someone like me buys more food than is socially deemed as ' normal' ,well then you become an ' End of the World Weirdo'

Forget the fact that all that stored food helps when you are made redundant,and regardless that you have paid NI continuously for 30+ years and they will not pay any benefits to you for at least 12 weeks! The average punter in that situation ( in my experience) still calls you a nutter! When I was in that situation I told the interviewer to stick it! I had enough cash and food to survive until the next job.THAT is what prepping is about.




My Grandad remembered life before the Welfare State.He still had two allotments and kept fowls and rabbits right till his death. He said that the Welfare State would never last,and folks would " get soft in that time ".

Well lookin at the current situation he was right.We have an underclass that
consider benefits as a career choice, which affects those who really need it.
This in turn makes it difficult for all.

Most folks drift through life,and expect the shops to be open and full,the doctor to be there... But things are changing,it's a Brave New World. And it ain't pretty.

[GPS]

By the way, the variety of topics on this forum is incredible - topics as varied as how to make ballet shoes to surviving the zombie apocalypse - I am going to get no work done [/quote]

I don't disagree about the journalism, some aren't content to just report, they seem (to me anyway) to want to make their own mark. Human nature I guess, NOTICE ME.

Out of curiosity has anything you've read on here resonated enough to make you fancy doing any of it ? Not a trick question, just nosey, over the years I've been able to help guys I worked with by having 'stuff' on me who have said they would start doing the same only not to bother, this was long before I was a card carrying 'prepper' too. [/quote]

I think the scope of issues that are discussed has resonated with me and made me realise that I essentially don't have plans for the majority of unforeseen events outside financial or economic issues. I think the level of detail regarding issues like water and food has definitely made me rethink a lot of things and I will probably look into doing something about them (I am in the right place!). I was surprised by the amount of discussion regarding really practical matters but I have only really dipped my toe into the forums. Obviously like anyone else I am aware of all the various issues going on in the world. Climate change in particular has always been a worry for me. However, somehow I have always irrationally just put these worries to one side. I don't really know why that is. It is probably just human nature really. I suppose that leads to a question of whether being hyper-vigilant about these things leads to more or less stress?

[GPS]

Hello GPS, I found your email, sent good and early and appearing in my inbox very late Will reply separately, but this question below is really important, and bears attention.

I am wondering how some people are labelled or identify as 'prepper' (e.g. engage in prepper forums etc) as opposed to others and if you have any issues with the term as it has begun to be used in the mainstream media.

The word itself is American, I'm pretty sure, and so is the concept - and the associated concepts that go along with it, the whole Second Amendment right to bear arms, the suspicion that the government is setting up camps and is ready to ban/confiscate all sorts of goods. In America, those concepts make some kind of sense: the American government banned alcohol (Prohibition! Al Capone and all that) it outlawed the private ownership of gold in 1933, and it put Japanese Americans, born in the USA into internment camps (famously George Takei, Sulu on Star Trek, was interned as a child). In the desert. We had internment camps in the UK, for adult German *nationals* - and one of them was formed from B&Bs on the harbour front on the Isle of Man.

That says it all - the words are the same, but the atittudes are really different!

There are two things that make it a suspect label: one is the tv programmes imported from the States, like Doomsday Preppers. I mean really, who would self describe as part of that bunch if they weren't completely deluded? And the other is the "stiff upper lip", the ghost of which exists strongly enough so that people feel slightly odd about taking this stuff seriously. The mockery we all enjoy (which was going strong from our members on your first thread) can be turned against us just as easily, and constant mockery based on aggression and not good nature, is simply not enjoyable. I for one am not interested in justifying myself to people who just want to attack me, for a name.

Like pseudonym's list up above on this thread, most of us prep for emergencies that are almost bound to happen to some of us: a water main breakage, power cuts, robbery, a house fire, a cyber attack, a flood, illness, that sort of thing. Well before I heard the term, I'd stocked up on storecupboard goods because my health was iffy and I was getting a cold every other month and flu every winter. I had to have enough food in the house so that I didn't have to go to the supermarket for quite a while.

I've dealt with other problems too: in my 20s, I was attacked abroad (twice), lost my currency, and was stolen from; in the UK, I've been attacked in the street, I've had power cuts, ill health, an accidental kitchen fire, lots of delays on trains, and I was trapped inside my house inside the police line when my local post office had an armed robbery.

And thats what brings people here, a lot of the time: experience of one form of problem, and the determination not to fall victim to the same thing again, or another form of problem. Systematising the things that used to be done naturally, by our agricultural and rural ancestors. I like systems, I like lists though my career has been very far from that.

Plus, you'll probably see it written around the forum - quite a few people on here (including me) are pretty sure that during the economic crash ten years or so ago, the can was only kicked down the road, the structural problems weren't sorted. Which means that some kind of financial crisis could erupt once again.

And zombies. Simon Pegg is a god

Thanks for that. Yes, I think its important to be able to laugh at yourself regardless of how serious some of the issues that are discussed here. I have no interest in this glamourised reality tv show version of prepping to be honest as it only seems to represent a small aspect of the culture. There seems to be a perception that our ancestors (whether grandparents or further back) were better at preparing than us. I wonder if this is true and what brings you to that conclusion?

Also, I find it interesting you mention structural problems (e.g. the economic crash). Obviously personal experience of unforeseen events will influence how much you prep but how much of this is also mistrust of government and other institutions (e.g. media etc.)?

[GPS]

Before you try to understand us let's play a little game:

I assume you drive?

Now it's -10 snowing you skid on the motorway go into a crash barrier on the hard shoulder and come to a stop on the shoulder car is dead and the pretensions / air bags have gone off seatbelt won't release .......

So how do you get out?



Once you have got out you stumble to the orange box and police tell you they are swamped but not to sit in your car but get up the embankment and await recovery truck estimated at 90mins it's blowing a gale and snowing bitterly cold and cars and lorries are whipping up a slusshy mess

What do you do?

If this happens today I get stuck and have to wait for help so the 2nd question is irrelevant....I could also try googling how to chew my way out of a seatbelt!

[GPS]

Folks like us are suspicious of folks like you,GPS.I am.Sadly,anyone who comes here to "interview", or " learn" about prepping has a habit of twisting it to make us look like nutters.I would suggest that unless you are ' on board' you will never really understand.Perhaps you are interested in prepping?

Pseudonym hit the nail on the head with his list . Folks don't know they prep.However,when someone like me buys more food than is socially deemed as ' normal' ,well then you become an ' End of the World Weirdo'

Forget the fact that all that stored food helps when you are made redundant,and regardless that you have paid NI continuously for 30+ years and they will not pay any benefits to you for at least 12 weeks! The average punter in that situation ( in my experience) still calls you a nutter! When I was in that situation I told the interviewer to stick it! I had enough cash and food to survive until the next job.THAT is what prepping is about.




My Grandad remembered life before the Welfare State.He still had two allotments and kept fowls and rabbits right till his death. He said that the Welfare State would never last,and folks would " get soft in that time ".

Well lookin at the current situation he was right.We have an underclass that
consider benefits as a career choice, which affects those who really need it.
This in turn makes it difficult for all.

Most folks drift through life,and expect the shops to be open and full,the doctor to be there... But things are changing,it's a Brave New World. And it ain't pretty.

I understand the suspicion. Like I said previously, I have seen the hatchet job newspaper articles. I am not here to make anyone look like a nut job. I am here to study how people experience and prepare for risk. What exact change are you referring to when you say it is a 'brave new world'?

[Deeps]

By the way, the variety of topics on this forum is incredible - topics as varied as how to make ballet shoes to surviving the zombie apocalypse - I am going to get no work done

I don't disagree about the journalism, some aren't content to just report, they seem (to me anyway) to want to make their own mark. Human nature I guess, NOTICE ME.

Out of curiosity has anything you've read on here resonated enough to make you fancy doing any of it ? Not a trick question, just nosey, over the years I've been able to help guys I worked with by having 'stuff' on me who have said they would start doing the same only not to bother, this was long before I was a card carrying 'prepper' too. [/quote]

I think the scope of issues that are discussed has resonated with me and made me realise that I essentially don't have plans for the majority of unforeseen events outside financial or economic issues. I think the level of detail regarding issues like water and food has definitely made me rethink a lot of things and I will probably look into doing something about them (I am in the right place!). I was surprised by the amount of discussion regarding really practical matters but I have only really dipped my toe into the forums. Obviously like anyone else I am aware of all the various issues going on in the world. Climate change in particular has always been a worry for me. However, somehow I have always irrationally just put these worries to one side. I don't really know why that is. It is probably just human nature really. I suppose that leads to a question of whether being hyper-vigilant about these things leads to more or less stress?[/quote]

Cheers for replying, like I say just being nosey, I think just as those who prep are drawn to certain areas that can be extended to prepping or non prepping depending on your natural inclinations.

[GPS]

Cheers for replying, like I say just being nosey, I think just as those who prep are drawn to certain areas that can be extended to prepping or non prepping depending on your natural inclinations.[/quote]

I am going to throw myself into elements of it anyway as its the best way of learning about it.

[jansman]

You ask how much of our prepping is down to" mistrust of media and government ?" Already my alarm bells ring loudly that we could be labelled as something like Anti Government Whackos.Sorry,but that's how I read it.

Anyhow, you ask about my comment about a Brave New World. You are probably aware of the book by the same title by Aldous Huxley.Well it ain't that! I don't have a vision of some engineered society ( well not in my lifetime).

What I mean by that is the radical societal change we are experiencing.Technology,aging population, the probability of zero retirement,shrinking incomes,reduction in welfare assistance,economic instability,rationed healthcare.
In short; The degradation of previously accepted social expectations.If you cannot look after yourself its gonna be a rough ride.

As preppers,do we have to suffer stress by being hyper vigilant? No.We should,as humans ,be switched on to our environment. This is something that we are increasingly losing: That awareness.Personally,I am politically aware,I watch the news,and as a country boy I watch the weather.I am not,contrary to what you may think,in a constant state of red alert! Nor is prepping constantly on my mind.I lean more towards self sufficient living,which is a lifestyle tbh.Constantly looking after my animals and gardens,preserving food etc .I also love to fish, have a party,go on holiday and all the rest of the fun things in life.

[Briggs 2.0]

If this happens today I get stuck and have to wait for help so the 2nd question is irrelevant....I could also try googling how to chew my way out of a seatbelt!

I'm all for a bit of of flippancy but have you pondered the scenario Andy presented and developed your own plan for such an eventuality. This sort of what-if exercise is essentially what being prepared is all about. If you're still on the forum, perhaps you can share what you've considered and put into practice. If you don't have a car, then consider you're in a minibus or in a friend's car.