Who Prepares?

So you’re back and you have decided that you want to learn about prepping. But you may be thinking, “Am I strange to want to be a prepper? Will people think that I am paranoid? Am I just being silly?”……....o.O……..Maybe, I can’t answer that for you.

But it isn’t strange to prepare.  You’ve been doing it all your life in one form or another. You just didn’t realize it. If you’ve ever made a shopping list for when you go grocery shopping, you have been involved in prepping. When you make a shopping list and buy items for your household, you’re preparing for the needs and wants that you know you will have in the coming week(s) or month(s). It just depends how far ahead you prepare for.

When you go shopping for clothes in the Fall season and you purchase a winter coat, or gloves, or new shoes for yourself or your family, you’re preparing for cold weather that you know is coming.

When you have to make a repair around the house, or work on your car you purchase the supplies and tools that you need. You are preparing for a task that you intend to work on in the coming days or weeks.

When you have a camping/hunting trip coming up, don’t you make a list for what you will need to take with you? Perhaps even update the equipment you need.It’s not strange to do that is it? Nah. 

Depending on the culture you live in, and your family history, people make preparations to provide for anywhere from a week to a month to a season.

In fact, history shows that people who prepare are wise. There are various stories about being prepared for lean times such as the one about "The Grasshopper and the Ant", that teach the importance of being prepared.

If you knew that a storm was coming that was going to shut down the electrical power in your area wouldn’t you prepare by making sure you had batteries for your flashlights, propane for your grill, and a full tank of gas? So does everyone else. And therein is the problem. The next time you watch the news about a hurricane threatening to hit some part of the country, or some winter storm that is looming and threatens to shut down travel, watch what people do.

You will inevitably see stories about the grocery store shelves being emptied, all the water bottles and milk being purchased, all the snow shovels and generators at the local hardware stores, Home Depot or Lowes being sold out and lines at the gas station.

Why? Because people in that community realized the wisdom in being prepared. The problem is they waited until a few hours before they needed the item, or until after they needed them to start prepping.

And if you weren’t aware of it, most stores in the United States only have enough items on hand for about 3-5 days. Grocery stores no longer have storage space in back like they used to 20-30 years ago, thanks to Just-in-time shipping.

The last time I experienced this was in Washington State just a few winters ago. Due to flooding and heavy snow I-5 to the North of Everett and South of Seattle was shut down. And the mountain passes on I-90, Hwy 9 were shut down. This left the Seattle Metropolitan area a veritable island. And within 3 days, the Safeway in Lake Stevens ran out of milk, as well as some other items. Gaps appeared on the store shelves and in the refrigerated sections of the store. Some stores planned ahead and had the space to store items (EG. Costco).

Now the airports and sea ports were still open, but not cost effective for bringing in needed grocery supplies. So unless people were prepared, they did without until the highways opened up. And this happened in one of the wealthiest nations on earth, when there wasn’t an emergency. Well, if it were a real emergency wouldn’t the government make sure we had what we needed? All I can say is Google or Bing Hurricane Katrina.

Next post we begin in earnest. Hope you’re convinced about the need to prep.