A Prepping List for Beginners - Ten Things to Consider

Many people are hard core preppers and have been for a long time. They know what might happen and are prepared for it, giving them peace of mind. There are also those who have their head in the sand and don't want to even think about a local, national, or worldwide calamity by sticking their fingers in their ears and spewing "Nanananana" to avoid the subject altogether. Then there are those who have been hearing a lot lately about the subject and are now curious, but don't know where to start.

This article is for you, the curious. Prepping never really ends. It's a change not necessarily in how you live or in how you go about your daily life. It's a slight change in what you do when you shop and a little bit in how you think as you go about your daily life. It's really that simple. When preppers shop, as they go through the aisles, they think about how they would sustain their family if a tornado came through their neighborhood, or a hurricane, flood, or other natural disaster. What would they need to survive a couple of days, or months, or even years.

Preppers learn to expand their pantry, they learn how to rotate their stock to keep it fresh. They learn to have backup systems for when the electricity goes out. How will they cook? Where will they get their food and when? What about looters? How will they protect themselves and their families?

Keep in mind, if there were a full scale economic collapse, only 10 to 20 percent of the population will survive. Most of them will be preppers. Prepping is not a cult. Nearly all preppers pray nothing will ever happen where their prepping skills will be needed. Their prepping is hopefully just an insurance policy just like your homeowners, auto, or health insurance is currently. Your not expecting your house to burn down, but you want to be protected in case it does. Are you planning to be involved in an accident? Are you planning on having a heart attack or cancer? No, but you pay for insurance in the remote chance that if something does happen, you are protected and can get the help you need to mitigate the situation.

With that said, here is a short list of things you will need to consider as you move into a prepping mindset. This is not a complete list. Far from it. Everyone's circumstances are different. As you open your mind to the prepping mindset, your sub-conscience will guide you. This is just a start:

Personal protection - Guns, ammo, and most importantly, tactical training. You can have all the guns and ammo you will ever need, but if you don't know how to use it against other humans who are thinking of creative ways to take what you have, it's worthless. David Kobler at practicalpreppers.com puts on a tactical training workshop that will help you not only protect yourself from other humans, but will help you divert them away so you won't have to.

Stock up on just a few calibers so you can maximize your arsenal to your advantage. You have twenty different guns all taking a different type of ammo, and two hundred rounds for each gun. How do you think you will stand up against someone with two different guns and two thousand rounds for each gun. The person with fewer guns, but plenty of ammo for them will have a much better advantage.

At a minimum, I would suggest possibly a .22L pistol and rifle, and a 12 gauge shotgun that will hold about eight rounds and as much ammo for each that you can afford and still do the rest of the stuff on the list. If you can easily afford it, you might look at a 5.56 caliber AR-15 (they can shoot .223 also), a .40 S&W hollow point pistol, or 9mm. Stick with common calibers, because under a total collapse, ammo will be the new currency for a while. Common calibers will be worth more, because it will be easier to barter for stuff you need and don't have. I started off with you getting .22L because you can buy much larger quantities for a lower price. This will get you up to speed quickly.

Water Supply - You can't live without water for more than a few days at the most. On a county or city water system? What if it goes out for an extended period of time? Have as much distilled water stored as you have room for it. Distilled water is cheap, but more importantly, it's pure and won't go bad over time if you keep it sealed. If you are on a well, do you have a way to get the water out of it if the power goes down? Do you have a generator? If so, do you have fuel for it? Enough for the long haul? Consider a "simple pump" from simplepump.com. It's a hand pump that sits along side your electric pump in the same well casing as a backup.

Food Storage - Whatever you like to eat, find a way to stock up on it and store it so it will last a long time. Up to 3 to 5 years preferably. 25 to 30 years would be even better. Include spices and condiments. Don't forget your favorite toiletries like toilet paper, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, razors, soap, shampoo, detergent, makeup, etc. Start off with a 3 day supply, then work up to a month, a year, and longer as you can afford it. When you are comfortable with your short term food supply, start buying heirloom seeds to be able to grow your own stuff. Think about this... there is a total economic collapse in December. When will you be able to eat from the first harvest? Keep in mind you need to have seeds to plant for that harvest.

Power - Do you have a generator? Do you have a LOT of fuel for it? Will you be able to service it and keep it running for the long haul? Forget about air conditioning. Consider yourself fortunate if you can keep your refrigerator cold. To do this, you will have to run your generator about four hours minimum per day and keep the door closed as much as possible. Same goes for the freezer. Everything else that runs on electricity is a luxury.

Cooking - How will you prepare your food? Do you have an electric range? If so, you're in trouble. Gas? Can you light it? Even gas ovens require power to light them up. Consider that you may be cooking over an open fire, or better yet, a rocket stove. For information on this and more, go to practicalpreppers.com. Scott Hunt has done a lot of homework for you on a lot of stuff.

First Aid - Nearly everyone has this, even if it's just a box of band-aids. Start thinking of a first aid box on steroids. Think about any and every conceivable situation that could happen and try to prepare for it. after all, that's all prepping is! Thinking about what could actually happen and preparing for it. Consider things like pain relievers, bandages, gauze, and emergency supplies like splints, tourniquets, antibiotics, dental tools, life sustaining drugs, etc. Don't short yourself here. One of the easiest ways to die is by infection.

Communications - Consider a few 2-way radios (walkie talkies) so you can keep in touch with family or neighbors, or maybe your security patrol? You can connect two or more land line phones with a few wires and a battery (instructions easily found on the internet for free).

Perimeter Protection - In ANY disaster, you are on your own. Do NOT expect the police to protect you. It's not going to happen. You will have to protect yourself. Keep in mind that security is a 24 hour a day, seven day a week job. On top of security, you will have many other jobs that will take a lot more time than it does today. In a disaster, all conveniences are gone. Think of yourself living in the 1800's. The good old horse and buggy days. You can't patrol your property totally by yourself. If you can, welcome people you know and trust to join you. Spread the security detail across more people. Another way to reduce the amount of manned security required is to introduce a passive security perimeter using trip wire alarms, tangle foot wire, barricades, dogs, and anything else that can alert you that your attention is required in a particular area.

Transportation - This is especially true if you live near any large city. If the food is all gone and things get crazy, where will you go? How will you get there? How much stuff can you take with you? Do you have a place to go? Make up a bugout bag that can help you get by for a few days. The internet is full of information on these. Plan for it today so you're not scrambling when things get crazy.

Shelters - You need to have the ability to protect yourself or your stuff from natural or man made disasters, or those who want what you have. We build underground shelters and harden homes to resist intrusion. The price is only limited by your imagination and your wallet.

Silver & Gold - Precious metals have been used as currency since just about the beginning of time. It's a great hedge against inflation or even worse, hyper-inflation, which will make paper money worthless.

Hopefully, this article will get you thinking, and more important, acting toward protecting you and your family from whatever life throws at you. Don't wait. Get started today. Check out sites like survivalblog.com and youtube's southernprepper1 and engineer775. Take it one bite at a time. You will be glad you did. You will be doomed if you don't.

Note: If you don't look around at the rest of this blog, you're missing a ton of information...

People and Sites to Follow...

When Brian Camden, the owner of Hardened Structures in Virginia brought me up to speed about what we do and how I could help them, I knew right away that I was on a very sharp learning curve. Before I met Brian, I thought I was pretty savvy about what was going on in the world. Boy, was I wrong! I was never one to be a conspiracy theorist and I'm still not. When I hear someone mention something going on in society and what they think is happening and why, I never just take them at their word. I do my homework. So, when I learned what things most people were concerned about when they approached Hardened Structures, I was intrigued. As I have always done, I dug right in and learned as much as I could about everything that was going on in the world.

In my quest for knowledge, I found books like 'One Second After', by William R Forstchen; and 'Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse' by James Wesley Rawles; and his newest book 'Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse'. These are excellent reads and will bring most people up to speed fairly quickly.

Aside from my blog here, there is also James Wesley Rawles blog 'survivalblog.com', and a quick search of 'survival blogs' will bring up many others.

Youtube is another great place to get information. In my opinion, the best youtube video sites are by southerprepper1 and engineer775. These guys are down to earth, common sense guys that have excellent complimentary skill sets that will help people plan for any disaster, natural or man made.

I had the opportunity this past weekend to attend one of their workshops held in South Carolina. What I learned at this workshop was that even with all of the prepping that I have done over the last year, I could lose it all, because I did not know how to adequately protect myself, my family, or my property.

Okay, now you think, "All I need is some guns and plenty of ammo. Let them try and come at me. I'll kill them all."  Ha, you'll be dead in less than five minutes. Guns and ammo are just tools. It's how you use those tools that matters. Another says, "But I'm a hunter. I've hunted my whole life. Nobody stands a chance with me!"  You'll be dead in ten minutes. There are not just those that are not prepping that will be wanting what you have, there are some preppers who believe that all they have to store is guns and ammo so they can take from those who have prepared properly.

Having guns and ammo and hunting skills won't prepare you for a group of humans who get together and plan an attack on your home and property. You have to be prepared for how they may attack you and have a plan ahead of time to stop or redirect it before it happens, or even prevent it from happening in the first place. You need the knowledge to be able to outsmart them.

Also, simple things like preparing for a continuous water supply, or fuel, or ways to cook or heat a home or shower for the next five or ten years. All of these are very important to long term survival after a major natural or man made disaster.

I learned far more in one day with southernprepper1 and engineer775 than I could have in six months or even a year trolling the internet. They also have a website called 'practicalpreppers.com'. These guys consider this more of a ministry. What services they charge barely cover their expenses. They do this for the love of helping others.

Their credentials precede them. They are among the expert panel that critiques the families on the now famous National Geographic show 'Doomsday Preppers'. They are trying to steer the program  from the sensationalism the media people are pushing, toward the more sane practical prepper.

With all of that said, I can't stress enough that you should be alert about what is going on in the world, the country, your state, and even your town, and especially your government. Set up 'Google Alerts' for key words that you want to know about. Keep current and have a finger on the pulse of the economy and where it's heading. Don't be caught stupid. Stay informed. An economic collapse or other disaster won't be a situation you will be able to recover from quickly, if at all.

What Are We Letting Our Government Do To Us??? And Why???

We are sitting on top of a house of cards, and the government seems determined to take the country down economically. They want to crash the system, so they can rebuild it into a socialistic dictatorship.

Why else would Homeland security be buying as much ammo as they can? To control american citizens after the crash. Many Americans realize this and are preparing for it. The sales channels for guns and ammo are drying up. Current lead times are out 3 to 6 weeks and growing longer every day.

According to a friend in the military, they are even having difficulty ordering ammo due to civilian demand.

The government has been building massive bunkers and stocking them with food and supplies. Do you think it's for us? More likely, it's for Homeland Security. Two possible scenarios... to detain those who are against what the government wants to do; or to house and feed Homeland Security soldiers after the crash, providing them with food and shelter in return for providing DHS with Marshall Law troops to totally control the american people.

The current government wants to promote class warfare, because in the end they want two classes... the rulers (the government, who will be the new rich) and the poor (the civilians, unable to resist or risk being squashed).

And so the race continues. Americans continue to buy guns and ammo to protect their freedom, and the government is trying to keep up to make sure that doesn't happen.

Why do liberals want to transform America into a socialistic state? It didn't work in Russia. It's not working in Europe as they are about to collapse too. The government is pushing us in that direction and look at us. We are in the worst times this country has ever seen with a debt we can never repay.

With capitalism, we became the greatest nation on earth. The rest of the world envied us and longed for our way of life. We are the only country in the world that people risk their lives to come to. Those from other countries ask us why in the world we would want to change to be like them. Why would we want our grocery stores to have mostly bare shelves, and shortages of nearly all commodities.

Indeed, why would we want to be like that? We don't. Those in power do though. The liberal government has spent many years working behind the scenes through our education system. They make people dependent on government entitlements like welfare and food stamps while using those entitlements to buy votes to keep them in office so they could continue to move us in a socialistic direction. All in the interest in gaining total power and control over us. They seek absolute control. Make no mistake, they want freedom too, but their freedom is the freedom for them to have the power to keep the american people in poverty.

Is this the way you want to live??? Security provided by the federal government in turn for relinquishing your personal freedom, hopes, and desires? Do you want the government to decide what occupation you will have? Where you will live? What kind of house, or more likely an apartment you will live in? When you will be allowed to see a doctor? How much food you will be allowed to eat? What kind of car, or more likely a bicycle you will be allowed to own?

That's not the America I want. I want the kind of America our founding fathers wanted. Complete freedom and liberty to live and enjoy life to the fullest.

Tony Robbins Tells How to Pay for the Deficit...

You have to watch this.
It puts it all into perspective...

http://youtu.be/jboTeS9Okak

Ben Bernanke is far from alone in warning about the danger of our exploding national debt.

For example, world famous motivational speaker Tony Robbins is also warning that the national debt crisis could destroy our future.

These days, most people throw around the phrase “a trillion dollars” without ever really grasping what it means.

In the video posted above, Tony Robbins uses a fun illustration to help put in perspective how large a “trillion dollars” really is.

If you had a million seconds to do something, would you consider that to be a long time?

Well, it turns out that a million seconds is only about 12 days.

What about a billion seconds? Is that a long period of time?

Well, yes, a billion seconds is close to 32 years. So that is definitely a lot longer than a million seconds.

What about a trillion seconds?

How long do you think that is?

Well, a trillion seconds is about 31,688 years.

So when we talk about how the U.S. government is stealing more than a trillion dollars from future generations every single year, we are talking about an absolutely massive amount of money.

Outrageous Facts About Taxes

Great read... Makes you think.
Then read up on the Fairtax at fairtax.org

Ignorance Breeds A Socialistic Goverment

It's important to point out that government is not about voluntarism, never has been. George Washington understood the nature of government. "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." The fire is burning out of control. Americans have not heeded Washington's warning. Irresponsible action is the standard mode of operation for our government.

Americans have allowed themselves to become dependent on government in a variety of ways. These same Americans complain about high taxes. They resent the inevitable forced compliance. They fail to understand that socialism is always authoritarian. Freedom is about personal responsibility. Government's constitutional role is to protect freedom, not manage our lives. When government exceeds that role, freedom is diminished. Like gravity this is a law of nature that can't be overcome, no matter how promising the campaign speech. America is at a critical crossroad. Full scale totalitarian socialism of an unimaginable scale is on the horizon. Freedom loving Americans are frustrated by the lack of concern by so many. Ignorance has never been a virtue, in these perilous times it's a dangerous indulgence.

The Communist Takeover Of America - 45 Declared Goals

In 1963, a secret document was intercepted declaring 45 goals to take over America with communism...

The list is almost complete!

Click on the title above and see what's left.

Is an Inevitable Economic Crash by Design???

We are sitting on top of a house of cards, and the government seems determined to take the country down economically. They want to crash the system, so they can rebuild it into a socialistic dictatorship.

Why else would Homeland security be buying as much ammo as they can? To control american citizens after the crash. Many Americans realize this and are preparing for it. The sales channels for guns and ammo are drying up. Current lead times are out 3 to 6 weeks and growing longer every day.

According to a friend in the military, they are even having difficulty ordering ammo due to civilian demand.

The government has been building massive bunkers and stocking them with food and supplies. Do you think it's for us? More likely, it's for Homeland Security. Two possible scenarios... to detain those who are against what the government wants to do; or to house and feed Homeland Security soldiers after the crash, providing them with food and shelter in return for providing DHS with Marshall Law troops to totally control the american people.

The current government wants to promote class warfare, because in the end they want two classes... the rulers (the government, who will be the new rich) and the poor (the civilians, unable to resist or risk being squashed).

And so the race continues. Americans continue to buy guns and ammo to protect their freedom, and the government is trying to keep up to make sure that doesn't happen.

Why do liberals want to transform America into a socialistic state? It didn't work in Russia. It's not working in Europe as they are about to collapse too. The government is pushing us in that direction and look at us. We are in the worst times this country has ever seen with a debt we can never repay.

With capitalism, we became the greatest nation on earth. The rest of the world envied us and longed for our way of life. We are the only country in the world that people risk their lives to come to. Those from other countries ask us why in the world we would want to change to be like them. Why would we want our grocery stores to have mostly bare shelves, and shortages of nearly all commodities.

Indeed, why would we want to be like that? We don't. Those in power do though. The liberal government has spent many years working behind the scenes through our education system. They make people dependent on government entitlements like welfare and food stamps while using those entitlements to buy votes to keep them in office so they could continue to move us in a socialistic direction. All in the interest in gaining total power and control over us. They seek absolute control. Make no mistake, they want freedom too, but their freedom is the freedom for them to have the power to keep the american people in poverty.

Is this the way you want to live??? Security provided by the federal government in turn for relinquishing your personal freedom, hopes, and desires? Do you want the government to decide what occupation you will have? Where you will live? What kind of house, or more likely an apartment you will live in? When you will be allowed to see a doctor? How much food you will be allowed to eat? What kind of car, or more likely a bicycle you will be allowed to own?

That's not the America I want. I want the kind of America our founding father wanted. Complete freedom and liberty to live and enjoy life to the fullest.

We are sitting on top of a house of cards

This is a good read...

Martial Law by Executive Order

President Obama's National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order of March 16 does to the country as a whole what the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act did to the Constitution in particular -- completely eviscerates any due process or judicial oversight for any action by the Government deemed in the interest of "national security." Like the NDAA, the new Executive Order puts the government completely above the law, which, in a democracy, is never supposed to happen. The United States is essentially now under martial law without the exigencies of a national emergency.

In the NDAA, only the president had the authority to abrogate legitimate freedoms of U.S. citizens. What is extraordinary in the new Executive Order is that this supreme power is designated through the president to the secretaries that run the Government itself:

• The Secretary of Defense has power over all water resources;
• The Secretary of Commerce has power over all material services and facilities, including construction materials;
• The Secretary of Transportation has power over all forms of civilian transportation;
• The Secretary of Agriculture has power over food resources and facilities, livestock plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment;
• The Secretary of Health and Human Services has power over all health resources;
• The Secretary of Energy has power over all forms of energy.

The Executive Order even stipulates that in the event of conflict between the secretaries in using these powers, the president will determine the resolution through his national security team.

The 2012 NDAA gave the Government the right to abrogate any due process against a U.S. citizen. The new Executive Order gives the government, through the Secretary of Labor, the right to proactively mobilize U.S. citizens for "labor" as the government deems necessary and to coordinate with the Secretary of Defense to maintain data to coordinate the nation's work needs in relation to national defense.

What is extraordinary about the Executive Order is that, like the NDAA, this can all be done in peacetime without any national emergency to justify it. The language of the Order does not state that all these extraordinary measures will be done in the event of "national security" or a "national emergency." They can simply be done for "purposes of national defense," clearly a broader remit that allows the government to do what it wants, when it wants, how it wants, to whomever it wants, all without any judicial restraint or due process. As Orwell famously said in 1984, "War is peace. Peace is war." This is now the reality on the ground in America.

Something to Ponder...

I saw an interesting quote today that says a lot!

FEAR THE GOVERNMENT THAT FEARS YOUR GUNS.

No HONEST government would ever have the NEED to.

DHS won't explain its order of 450 million hollow point bullets

The department of Homeland Security is doing WHAT!!!
Definitely read this article.

That's enough ammunition to kill every american and have 150 million rounds to spare!!!
What do they plan to do with all that ammo. You don't practice with hollow point bullets.
You practice with cheaper full metal jacket rounds.

Does this sound like a planned Crash and Control action by the government?
Beware when you start hearing from the administration or the federal reserve that:

•    the economy is stable
•    interest rates will remain low for the foreseeable future
•    Inflation will remain low
•    we are entering times of stability
•    banks are solid

Especially when they continue to print and spend money more rapidly than we can comprehend.

First the crash... and then the control.