What’s got the prepper prepping these days? It’s a question we are often asked. As contractors who deal primarily with prepping clientele, we get the chance to interact with a lot of preppers. Everyone wants to talk technical but they also want to talk about why they are prepping, even more-so, they want to know why other preppers are prepping. The non-preppers are just as curious. Once the jeering and mockery ends, the questions begin. So here it is folks, my Fall 2019 Top 3 reasons the world’s got you prepping (based on conversations with real preppers presently prepping).
EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse)
This real threat has recently climbed to the top of our list, and not without reason. Most of our power grid consists of a bunch of wires strung on poles for hundreds of miles. It seemed like a good idea at the time but now it’s a giant EMP antenna. A strong solar flare or a nuclear weapon detonated 25 miles above Kansas would likely lead to nationwide, long term power outages. Famous prepper fiction titles like Going Home and One Second After will quickly bring you up to speed on the threat of EMP. Store food. Consider low tech options like the rocket stoves for cooking, wood stoves for heat, water filters/storage and freeze-dried food storage for starters. If you have the budget a Sol-Ark 8k EMP Hardened backup power system is a great option. Get some firewood!
Financial Collapse
Last week two different customers mentioned this one. Read about Venezuela’s current situation and you will quickly get a picture of what living through a financial collapse would look like. Frequent brownouts to the power grid, food shortages (dog is on the menu), and heightened criminal activity, etc. National debt, volatile stock market, real estate bubble, fiat currency. Yep, these reasons for prepping is not going away. Consider low tech options like the rocket stoves for cooking, wood stoves for heat, water filters/storage and freeze-dried food storage for starters. If you have the budget a Sol-Ark 8k EMP Hardened a backup power system is a great option. Wait isn’t that the same for EMP?
Fall Weather
Aesop’s fable number 373, The Ant and the Grasshopper, is a timeless read on this reason for prepping. It’s fall folks, and that means winter is coming. Hurricane seasons are here and winter weather is on its way. For us preppers, it signifies the need for a little more than just pulling out the winter clothes and putting those styrofoam things on our hose bibs. I believe the cold weather triggers a genetic “squirrel-like” reflex in all of us, and the non-preppers ignore it. I find myself worried about my firewood and how dry it is, checking my fuel storage, my generators, my chainsaws, auditing my preps. Before I set my Thrive Foods Account to auto-order each month, I would buy extra food each fall. Try incorporating prepping into your monthly behavior to combat your inner squirrel urges. If you prep a little bit each month, fall won’t have you feeling squirrelly.
