How do you Prepping?

[Rush2112]

I think in my younger days survivalism was kind of a fantasy dream. I have always liked the wilderness and thought it would be cool to ditch everything and go live there permanently, alone with no one bitchin at me. Still enjoy bushcraft, just hope I never have to use the skills to survive. Now that I'm much older, I still like the outdoors, but like the comfort of home much better.

I prep because I want to be able to answer my kid when she asks "what are we going to eat?".

[Skean Dhude]

It was completely different 30 years ago. We didn't really worry about OPSEC we just didn't see it as an issue but it has become the number 1 issue.

It was simpler then. Big Knife, a tent and a sleeping bag.

[CharlesHarris]

When I was a kid, growing up as a military brat, in the Washington, DC suburbs during the Cuban Missile Crisis, we thought everyone was going to be vaporized in the next minute. Dad explained that if things took a turn for the worst, that my older brother and I were in charge, and it was up to us to carry on. Mom had been an air raid and fire warden when not working at a defense plant during WW2 when Dad was away, so she "knew the drill."

My parents understood that the best way to vanquish fear of the unknown, is to do something about it, so we went to work cutting extra bracing and shoring to reinforce an area under our cellar stairs, sandbagging the basement window wells, covering and sandbagging the entrance over the outdoors cellar stairs, and stockpiling blankets, canned food and bottled water, sanitary supplies, etc.

The bombs never dropped, but we maintained and improved our cellar shelter over the years, using it several times during tornado warnings and hurricanes. I grew up in scouting, Dad was a scoutmaster, and we lived by the motto Be Prepared. Having a stocked pantry of food and basic supplies and learning to rotate food stocks as part of our normal shopping routine paid for itself many times over during winter storms, etc., avoiding the panic last minute buying experienced by the hordes of the "unprepared in denial."

Prepping is the modern term, I suppose. To me this is simply the lifestyle I grew up with and still practice.