Prepping is a lifestyle. In the blink of an eye, chaos can break out and throw you out of your everyday routine. When this happens, people panic trying to prepare for the event after the fact.
Those who aren't panicking took the necessary steps to prepare for these events ahead of time. Learn how to start the process of prepping for beginners without all the overwhelm and confusion.
In this article, we detail how you can begin the process of prepping for beginners. Specifically, we will talk about the essential beginner prepper checklist and situational prepping for various natural disasters that may affect your livelihood depending on where you live. You can also download a printable version of the survival guide.
As a beginner in the prepping world, you must start with a solid foundation. This means you need to understand and prepare for any emergency. Some situations will be evergreen and standard for all preppers.
Other situations will be more specific to where you live and the events that can take place. For example, living on the west coast, wildfires are much more likely than if you live in the midwest.
The same goes for living in a coastal state like Florida. The chances you will experience a hurricane are much higher than a blizzard. Below we detail six basic steps for prepping as a beginner that will start you on the right path.
As a beginner in prepping, building a solid foundation is the first step on your journey. To build a solid foundation as a prepper you need to start by stocking up on a few everyday essentials.
We like to refer to these items as evergreen products. Evergreen products are water reserves, emergency food, first aid kits, hygiene products, and sanitation supplies. These are the first products every beginner prepper should start with.
The first thing any beginning prepper should start to stock is healthy survival food. Emergency food is dehydrated or freeze-dried food that has a long shelf life which is an excellent part of survival checklist. This is food that you shouldn’t consider eating until absolutely necessary.
Emergency food can be the difference between panicking and peace of mind. Therefore, we recommend starting out by storing at least two weeks of emergency food. More seasoned preppers often have 6-24 months worth of food stored.
Yet, the more emergency food you stock, the longer it will last and the better prepared you will be. Here at Valley Food Storage, you can find emergency food like survival kits, freeze-dried meats, freeze-dried fruits and freeze-dried fruits vegetables.
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Knowing how much food to prepare ahead of time is vital for survival. The amount of calories a person needs to remain healthy depends on age, sex, activity level, and body type.
Younger adults and kids typically require more calories because their bodies are still actively growing. As you age, you need to consume fewer calories.
On average, men consume more calories than women. This is because the average body type and size of males is larger than the average for women.
Your activity level also affects how many calories you should consume. Typically, the more active you are, the more calories you should consume. So, for example, in a bug-out situation, you will need to eat more food than if you are hunkering down and bugging in.
The next thing every beginner prepper should stock up on is water. Stocking up on water is as important as stocking up on emergency food. You won't make it very long without food or water when disaster strikes.
Food and water are always the first two products that disappear at stores, making it crucial to have your own stockpile. For example, when starting your water stock, you need to stock two types of water.
The first should always be clean drinking water that will last at least two weeks. This means keeping 14 gallons of water stored away. We based this on the daily average water consumption for humans.
Collected rainwater is the second type of water you should be storing. Collected rainwater is a great way to store lots of water in rainwater barrels.
The first way to use rainwater is by purifying the water to drink. You would want to do this once you run out of your normal stock of emergency water. The second use for collected rainwater is to replace your running water. For example, collected rainwater is great for cooking food, washing dishes, watering the garden, washing clothes, and doing other household chores.
During infrastructure failure running water is one of the first things to fail. You can read more about collecting rainwater, harvesting, and purifying in our blog about how collecting rainwater can help you survive.
Another essential evergreen product for beginners is first aid supplies. During emergencies, hospitals often become overwhelmed, and wait times increase. When this happens, you need to be capable of managing injuries yourself while you wait for care. This means knowing how to treat cuts against infection or how to split broken bones. Below is a list of first aid supplies recommended by the Red Cross.
Besides collecting the tools you will need to perform first aid, it’s also a great idea to gain the skills you will need also.
Chances are that well-seasoned preppers who have been prepping for years already have the first aid skills necessary to provide medical care in an emergency. However, beginner preppers might not. That is why signing up for basic first aid and CPR training with the Red Cross could make you a hero when minutes matter.
Hygiene and sanitation products are products beginners should stock up. These products are anything that you use to keep your personal hygiene in check or keep a clean home.
These products can be hard to find or get to in emergencies, depending on the type of emergency. Therefore, we recommend keeping a stockpile of all the hygiene products you use in your bathroom.
These include soap, hair products, feminine hygiene products, dental care, toiletries, and hand soap. This will reduce the chances of your personal health declining. We also believe it is crucial for beginners to keep a stockpile of cleaning supplies.
Keeping a cleaning supply stock is crucial for lowering the spread of disease. The dirtier your home is, the higher the chance for disease to spread. In addition, as we mentioned earlier, hospitals are overcrowded in emergencies.
Keeping a clean house lowers the chance of getting sick and keeps you away from crowded hospitals.
In the aftermath of a natural disaster, it may take weeks, even months, to get back to everyday life. That is why we recommend preparing yourself to be self-reliant for a minimum of two weeks, if not longer.
For example, if your food reserves will not last multiple weeks, you need to have a plan to get more food. Hunting, fishing, trapping, and foraging for food are all essential skills to remain self-reliant.
Likewise, for water, it’s vital to have a plan to continue collecting and treating water if the water you prepped ahead of time runs out. We recommend having at least two different strategies for collecting and treating water.
In certain scenarios, the most intelligent decision may be to evacuate or bug out. For example, imagine a hurricane bearing down on your home located in a flood-prone area. The best decision, in this case, is to evacuate to higher ground and wait out the storm in a safer location.
To evacuate efficiently and to remain prepared while on the go, you need to have a bug-out bag. Typically, a bug-out bag is a backpack filled to the brim with different survival necessities that help you stay fed, hydrated, and generally more comfortable throughout your evacuation.
As you begin to build out your bug-out bags, consider these tips.
Start building your own bug out bag with our bug out bag essentials checklist.
Ideally, you will know ahead of time when sh*t is about to hit the fan (SHTF). But realistically, you never know when disaster may strike. That is why it’s essential to be prepared, no matter your location.
For example, think about leaving your home to run an errand, and in that time, an earthquake strikes. In this scenario, you may not be able to return home right away. But, in this case, you’ll be glad you prepped emergency supplies in your car.
For those of us who travel often or frequently commute to and from work, prepping a bug-out bag in your high water vehicle is a critical step in being properly prepared.
Here are some recommendations to consider for your travel-sized bug-out bag.
Being adequately prepared for any disaster imaginable does not just mean hoarding food, water, and equipment until every empty space in your home is filled with emergency supplies.
On the contrary, being adequately prepared means having the correct amount of supplies, knowing where they are located, and having the skills to utilize them efficiently. Not to mention also keeping them maintained, so your supplies are ready no matter how long it has been since you started prepping.
You’ve all probably heard the age-old proverb, “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”
This proverb reminds us we ought to stay active with our prepping. For example, we don’t just want to collect tuna cans and water. We also want to practice the skills to fish for tuna and to collect water from the wild. We want to be able to cook food in unsavory conditions and build shelters that keep us warm and dry. We want to possess the skills, not just the tools, to remain completely self-reliant.
Prepping for emergencies and disasters can feel like it’s you against the world. But that couldn't be farther from the truth. In reality, there is an entire network and community of like-minded preppers who are passionate about remaining self-reliant and protecting their families just like you.
Nowadays, the internet is a wealth of knowledge. For example, there are a ton of helpful blogs and Youtube channels that can help you begin prepping. Similarly, there are groups of preppers who enjoy working together and sharing their knowledge about prepping.
We mentioned earlier that depending on your geographical location, you would experience different disasters. The following paragraphs detail how beginners should prepare for various disasters.
The disasters that vary by location are wildfires, hurricanes, blizzards, and tornadoes. Each disaster is different, and the way you prepare is too. Yet, the evergreen products we listed will still be essential for any of these disasters.
To properly prep for the natural disaster that most likely affects you, it’s important to specialize in your prepping process and equipment. For example, if you live in a hurricane-prone area, the extra clothing you will want to prep will probably need to be lightweight and waterproof. On the other hand, folks who are concerned about blizzards probably want to prep extra heavy jackets, socks, and gloves.
Prepping for a specific type of natural disaster that is likely to impact where you live is very important. However, there are some events, like preparing for inflation or grocery store food shortages that affect a wider area besides just specific geographical regions.
If you live on the west coast, you will likely encounter wildfires. These fires aren't limited to the west coast yet, but they happen the most in that region. As a beginner in the prepping world, you need to be ready to encounter a disaster like a wildfire. And the best way to be ready for a disaster is to prepare.
Wildfires move rapidly and therefore are hard to contain. Because of this, you must prepare to flee when the fires get too close to your home. This means keeping an emergency, or bug-out bag prepped and ready to go.
This bag should contain enough supplies to get you and your family from your home to a safe location. That means at least two days' worth of food, water, first aid, and hygiene products.
These supplies should not replace your emergency food, and your emergency destination should still have a stock of evergreen prepping products.
To properly prepare for a wildfire, you need to secure the six P’s.
Beginner prepping for a hurricane is like a beginner prepping for wildfires. In both situations, you want to prepare to leave your home once at a moment's notice. Like preparing for a wildfire, you need to have a bug-out bag.
These bags should have enough food, water, first aid, and hygiene to get you to your emergency destination. The difference between the two disasters is you can better prepare your home for a hurricane.
You can prepare your home for a hurricane by boarding your windows and doors. Reinforcing your windows and doors will mitigate the water damage to your home caused by flooding. Knowing this, we recommend keeping a stockpile of plywood and nails to cover all your doors and windows. It is better to know how to prepare for a flood for survival.
As part of your hurricane checklist, you should also keep a stockpile of sandbags in your home. During a severe storm, greywater backs up from the influx of water that enters the system. The extra water creates failures in the drainage system by overloading our waterways.
Using sandbags can help mitigate the amount of gray water that enters your home. Sandbags should cover your home over floor wastes and drains. These drains are often found in bathrooms, showers, laundry rooms, and basements.
Using sandbags will keep gray water from backing up into your home, causing water damage.
Tornadoes are the next type of natural disaster that could cause you to flee your home. We recommend you utilize our tornado emergency kit checklist to be as prepared as possible.
Tornado prepping is similar to hurricanes in that there are things you can do to your home to remain safer.
During tornado season, it’s essential to know the difference between a tornado watch and a warning. A tornado watch is a preliminary warning that informs you that weather conditions are worsening and that a tornado may be possible. We recommend preparing your home and bug-out bags during a tornado watch.
On the other hand, a tornado warning is issued when a tornado has been spotted or indicated by weather radar. Tornado warnings are severe and often indicate that evacuation may be necessary should the tornado come close enough to your home.
Blizzards are the last type of natural disaster you might need to prepare for. Blizzards affect people in the northern midwest states. Blizzards differ from the previous disasters we mentioned.
Instead of fleeing your home, you need to bunker down and not leave your home. Therefore, keeping a stock of survival food buckets in your home becomes crucial. It becomes vital because you need enough supplies until the blizzard has passed. In addition, keeping little treats like freeze-dried cereal can help make these long days pass a little easier, especially with little ones around.
We recommend keeping at least two weeks of stock in preparation for blizzards. Even though a blizzard won't last a whole two weeks, the effects of a blizzard can easily last two weeks. These effects include infrastructure failure, empty grocery stores, and dangerous road conditions. Once the blizzard passes, you can leave your home and restock your supplies.
Like blizzards, power outages can cause you to bunker down in your home for an extended period. Blizzards can cause power outages, but they are not the only cause of power outages.
During a power outage, you want to ensure you have enough resources to last you two weeks. While preparing for a power outage, you want to ensure you have a plan for emergency lighting and regaining access to power.
Here are some tips for surviving during power outages
You also want to make sure you have a way to cook your emergency food if you rely on electricity for cooking. You can do this by getting a camping stove and stocking up on propane and other types of fuel or knowing some method of cooking without electricity.
For each of these situations, the supplies you need are standard, but the way you use them will differ. To make things easier on you, we have created a prepping list for beginners.
These are products you should be stocking up on no matter what. Of course, the items on this beginner prepper list are not the only things you should be stocking. But it is a great place to start.
Kudos to you for beginning your prepping journey!
Prepping takes time, energy, and a substantial financial investment. But what you put into the process will all be worth it when you can keep yourself and your family more comfortable in the aftermath of an unexpected disaster and emergency scenario
We understand that the process may feel intimidating. So, that is why we are here to help. Our Practical Prepper Blog is a fantastic resource for beginner (and expert) preppers.
And for any questions about freeze-dried food and food storage, we have product experts waiting at the ready. Click here to schedule a meeting and get all your questions answered.