There’s a lot of bad information floating around on prepper-related social media. Not all of it is intentionally bad. Quite a bit of it is simply misguided advice. In many cases, it comes down to prioritization.
Let’s look at a few of the most common suggestions for budding preppers that might not actually be as helpful as they seem on the surface.
Misguided Advice to Avoid
Learning Wilderness Survival Skills
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Before I lose you right off the bat, let me elaborate. I’m a huge proponent of outdoor skills building. But to suggest to a newly minted prepper that they need to devote a lot of time and energy to learning how to build debris huts and mastering the one-stick fire isn’t the best use of their likely limited resources. There are very few likely disaster scenarios where running off to the wilderness is going to be the best option.
It can take years of practice to master basic wilderness survival skills. I’m not saying these skills are worthless, far from it. But if we’re talking about prioritizing time and resources, there are other areas that are likely more important to the new prepper. These include establishing a good supply of food, water, and other necessities, as well as learning first aid, gardening, food preservation, and other skills.
Packing a Bug Out Bag
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On the surface, this sounds like great advice. Indeed, assembling a bug-out bag is probably one of the first things a new prepper does. Which makes sense, given how popular the subject of bugging out is in prepper literature. The thing is, bugging out at the scale many preppers imagine just isn’t all that common, at least here in the United States.
Hurricanes and wildfires can get people moving, absolutely. So can factory fires, train derailments, and similar smaller-scale emergencies. But exactly none of these rise to the level of a complete long-term societal collapse, with people becoming permanent nomads. The reality is that in most of the likely evacuation scenarios, a working vehicle, cash, and a cell phone will get you just about everything you’ll need.
A bag packed with some essentials is wise, including spare clothes, a bit of food, and water, and such. But hunkering down at home is usually the better option, provided it’s safe to do so.
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Buying Survival Food
As a practical matter, specially packaged freeze-dried foods are expensive. They also aren’t always the healthiest option. I mean, yeah, it’s better than starving, but there are cheaper ways to go about stocking the pantry at home.
Your local grocery store is filled with shelf-stable food options, such as canned goods, dry pasta, beans, rice, and more. These aren’t just cheaper than specially branded survival foods; they’re easier on your system, as you probably eat these sorts of foods already.
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If you take the time to learn how to preserve food at home, you’ll greatly expand your options, too. You’ll be able to keep garden produce viable longer, as well as control the amounts of sodium, sugar, and other ingredients.
What Should a New Prepper Focus On?
It’s important to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to prepping strategies. Every person, family, and situation is unique. That said, here are a few suggestions that probably apply to the majority of new preppers.
1) Do everything you can to get out of debt and build up emergency savings. An awful lot of common problems can be mitigated with cash.
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2) Get in shape as best you can. We all have limitations, but find ways to work around them if possible. Lose excess weight and build up strength and endurance.
3) Don’t forget the needs of your pets. As you stock up on food and water for your family, you should be doing the same for any animals in your care.
These are just starting points. But as you can’t do everything at once, you have to start somewhere, right?
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