So Are we paraniod?

[Lock man]

Iam not paraniod,its the other half of me that is
I dont think it has anything to do with anyone what, and how much you store as long as its legal.

[madmedic]

just because your paranoid doesn't mean that they not out to get you

[Arzosah]

... I have always been a very independent person (even as a child), I see my preps (a few months of food, allotment for fresh veg, etc...) as a way of becoming more independent from the supermarket culture.

Totally identify with this, well put!

[nickdutch]

I have to confess that I have had long periods of paranoia in the past, principally brought about by a combination of a bad flu, bad diet, extreme insomnia, bad nutritional care and making the mistake of watching conspiracy theory youtube videos at the same time to add insult to injury.

It was a bit of a rut and required a lot of work on my part (plus a few suggestions from people that were close to me who suggested that I was taking stuff too seriously) to pull myself out of it.

These days I am a much more evolved animal and am no longer paranoid.

I consider that I have experienced certain things in the past and have learned that having some extra rice put aside (for example) could keep me fed to a degree if I lost employment (something that was very useful when I was an immature prick of a student who spent all his money on beer, and also when I was in the early stages of my career and struggled to keep jobs, during bouts of unemployment and when there was snow and ice on the hill where I live and getting to the shops was a nightmare), got ill and couldn't work or if there was a delay in me getting pay.

I therefore wanted to extend the idea based upon knowledge of a certain level of fragility to our current comfortable life style in the west. Energy and food prices rising, economic instability due to the ongoing financial "crisis", floods and possibly more extreme weather in the future, lower sales volume for my online work since 2008, self knowledge of what I can do, what I can't do an what risks I am under due to my health and the like.

Therefore I have a little more shopping in than I need (and am getting more soon), have learned slingshot (pigeons beware! LOL) in case I can't afford meat in the future (I haven't eaten beef for years and years due to the cost. Think what would happen if chicken and pork became that pricey?). I have made a solar panel and have learned a lot from the experience and intend to make more or at least to buy some if I get some money in the year of 2013.

I am going to get a good selection of first aid supplies in case I have a solar panel making or potato peeling accident (or whatever. I had a nasty potato peeling accident when I was a student and had to have paper stitches. It weren't pretty), have learned more about diet and nutrition, made bioethanol in case of power cuts and there is a need for heat or cooking fuel. I have learned the basics of food preservation and storage and have improved my cooking skills and my diet as a result of it.

I call all this basic preparedness and it has NOTHING to do with zombies, a nuclear winter, EMP from solar activity, a polar shift, the N@w w@rls @rder, reptiles from the moon, the @lluminati, or total economic collapse.

However, if things did get economic collapsey or zombie apocalypsey, I would be marginally more likely to stay alive, but I doubt that those things will happen.

However, I should be able to stay alive for less money if things got expensive through using technology such as canning, sprouting, home made gluten free pancake making and the like.

IF I can get off grid (which is a personal goal and I believe an environmental imperative) then that would be excellent. If not, I am making steps towards low grid dependence naturally (EG., thermal undies in the winter to cut down the need for domestic heating). The rest may come with time and hard work.

If you think that's paranoid I disagree most strongly.

To the most part, I just want to avoid things that I have experienced in the past. I am currently 38, eventually I will be 48. This knowledge could be most useful as I get older. Its partially about better household management, but extended.

On top of that I get a lot of pleasure from the things that I am learning and doing as part of this "prepping" which might as well be a hobby as I take it lightly (and I believe that I would go insane if I took it too seriously).

[Bilbo]

Very well said Nick

Nothing wrong with that and I share your views and aspirations

[junmist]

Well said Nick

[Plymtom]

Nickdutch wrote

On top of that I get a lot of pleasure from the things that I am learning and doing as part of this "prepping" which might as well be a hobby as I take it lightly (and I believe that I would go insane if I took it too seriously).

I think you are coming close to putting the finger on the crux of the issue, the British eccentricity and the way we do not take things so seriously as to become paraniod for the most part, you also demonstrated how any of us could easily go down the paraniod road,the tricks are to make sure that prepping isn't "all you do" and to have a life too and enjoy it

[BlueEagle]

I dont think prepping is about being paranoid as much as it is about being logical (Although paranoia is sometimes logical).

Most Western Countries cant deal with a national food crisis that lasts for more than seven days. Big Supermarkets only carry 2-3 days food supply to stock their shelves at any given time. How much food has the Gov stored up for its 60 million citizens should SHTF?? Maybe 3-5 days worth? Most people have about a 1-2 weeks worth of food in their cupboards and thats stretching it.

If the food supplies were to stop flowing into the country for 10-14 days for whatever reason, it would truly be a do or die situation for the vast majority of people. And when people are desperate and hungry, they begin to act desperate and hungry in order to preserve their own lives or quality of life. I think prepping is the logical response to the above scenario.

The degree to which one chooses to prepare for similar scenarios shouldnt be viewed as negative or strange by those who CHOOSE not to prepare. Choosing to remain unprepared is in reality, highly insane and irresponsible. Kooky if you will.

Its a very real possibility that a large mob of desperate and hungry people ransack an entire city, town, village, killing their fellow countrymen in the process, over food and water. Why would they do this? The underlying reason boils down to being unprepared. Even if 20 million of the 60 million living in the country kept a 1-2 month stock of food, in anticipation of a prolonged crisis, the 20 million who prepared would be able to feed the other 40 million who didnt, for at least a month.

Problem is only 0.00002% of the population are actually thinking about SHTF scenarios, and an even lesser percentage are choosing to do something about it, while the rest remain wide-eyed in fantasy-land. THAT is what frightens me the most!

Lastly, having communicated all that I have, im not Paranoid as a result because I am beginning to do something about it, that which is in my power to do. I think our job as "enlightened" individuals (ie preppers) should be to inform and educate those who are not prepared. In doing so, we all benefit, because the more of us who are prepared to tackle a crisis like a food shortage, the less of a crisis it will become for everyone else.

You can start making a positive contribution right now.....Please list your resources on the Suggestion Board, on the thread titled "A CALL TO LIST YOUR RESOURCES (so others can benefit)". Help your fellow Preppers get the info they need, so that they dont become a member of the mobs that ransack the cities in the future.

[dazz675]

I agree with Nick and Blueeagle , i have slowed down in prepping, because my monthly income has reduced and i am concentrating on being debt free by xmas by cutting non essential spending. However i do worry about the gaps in my prepping skills and items ..... but then i step back and say i am better off now as a stalled prepper , than i was when i only a few tins in the larder...... not paranoid ... but you do feel a vague uneasiness about the future

[Chrysallis]

Hello all

I agree with what's been said; it's not paranoid to prep when you've been in a situation like we have: no central heating, no cash/savings or anything of any worth to sell, scraping ice off the inside of the windows (single glazed), and barely any food for day to day, never mind a week.

Writing down everything to the last penny so we can work out if we could afford a loaf or not, living on baked beans, layers of clothes -even wearing hat and gloves and thermals to bed! And this was before the 'reforms' (aka cut-backs) of the welfare system, when the DHSS would pay the interest on your mortgage, and the 'Dole' wasn't restricted to 6 months.

We don't ever want to be back in that situation again, hence the strong urge for us to prep, against the individual crises that we've already had. This is just to survive day to day now, never mind national/global events.

Gathering lots of info on here, and starting preps, gives us both a bit of peace of mind. If people think it's paranoid, they obviously haven't been 'tested' by life events yet....

Best wishes

C