How often do you think about prepping?

[bacpacker]

For us we do a lot of stuff around here in regards to gardening, chickens, fruit, etc. We are also into hiking, backpacking, ham radio, shooting, etc as major hobbies. All these things lend themselves to prepping quite well.

The wife loves putting up produce, so most everything we grow, and about anything we can get at farmers markets or straight from farmers get's dehydrated, canned, or frozen. I enjoy woodworking and spent some time building our new chicken coop and other things around our place.

I also run thru a few forums most every day looking for news, a new way to tackle a problem, or a better way to do some thing. I'm also looking for titles for books, magazines, and our Kindles. I try and download as many PDF's as possible just to gather knowledge I may need at some point.

I don't consider a lot of what we do as prepping. It's more like living our life with an eye or ear out for something useful. Most of the time if we go out shopping for something, we also keep our eyes open for hardware, ammo, or many of the other things we feel we may need at some point. It helps finding a good deal on something.

[eagle326]

I don't consider a lot of what we do as prepping. It's more like living our life with an eye or ear out for something useful. Most of the time if we go out shopping for something, we also keep our eyes open for hardware, ammo, or many of the other things we feel we may need at some point. It helps finding a good deal on something.


This is the crux of living everyday life. Always on the look out for anything that may help you down the road. Such as tools whether they're powered by gas; electric or hand power. It's always the what if's thinking that keeps you in the game and hopefully ahead of the curve.
Long term food storage has always been a way of life until probably 50 yrs. ago when people decided the store bought was easier and less hassle or time consuming than canning or dehydrating. Water sources are another thing people don't think about because they're used to turning on a faucet rather than getting it from a well and hand pump.
For us it's not how often we think about prepping because to us it's just a natural life style.

[LUNCHBOX]

Maybe we should be called "Lifers" instead of preppers. Then things we do everyday are truely a way of life for us now. I have been somewhere completely un-related to prepping and catch myself viewing something I could put to use at a later date. For most of us if nothing ever happens we will just pass on a truckload of items and knowledge to the next life giver that comes along.

If only a group such as ours could really come together, what a village that could be.

[Sniper-T]

For us it's not how often we think about prepping because to us it's just a natural life style.

The quote of the day! Everything I do, everywhere I go, I am always looking or watching for things that'll help, that I need, that might help me later down the line, etc.

[eagle326]

Lifers!
Hell yea i like that term and you get to be the Head Lifer. :cool:

[Vodin]

I dont look at myself as a prepper all to often. Rather as a person who is resilient. I have overcome all issues life has bestowed upon me, and I grow from them. I don't rely on a religion or a belief to help get through issues. I look forward to the moment that I am currently in, I don't look back or that far in the future.

I make a complete effort every moment I am able to.

How often to often do I think about prepping? Most times, but its for a different outcome. My 'moment' on this earth will be fast in the big picture. I hope I will be able to cause a easing for others with my actions.

Ego? Not really just a desire to help others.

re·sil·ient (r-zlynt)
adj.
1. Marked by the ability to recover readily, as from misfortune.

[digdug18]

Funny, the more I see this weird weather happening, the more I think about preps or stocking items away.

[Echo2]

It's just a way of life....that is all.

Common sense....is not that common.

Foresight vs hindsight and all....ant and grasshopper kinda thing....:)

- - - Updated - - -

Old version:

The ant worked hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thought the ant was a fool and laughed and danced and played the summer away.

Come winter, the ant was warm and well fed.

The grasshopper had no food or shelter, so he died out in the cold.

Moral of the story: Be responsible for yourself!

Modern version:

The ant worked hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thought the ant was a fool and laughed and danced and played the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper called a press conference and demanded to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others were cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC showed up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America was stunned by the sharp contrast.

How could this be in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper was allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appeared on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cried when they sang, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'

Acorn staged a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations filmed the group singing, ‘We shall overcome’.

Jeremiah Wright then had the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid exclaimed in an interview with Larry King the ant had got rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both called for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafted the Economic Equity and Anti - Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant was fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home was confiscated by the government Green Czar.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ants food while the government house he was in, which just happened to be the ant's old house, crumbled around him because he did not maintain it.

The ant had disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper was found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, was taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorized the once peaceful neighborhood.

[Taz Baby]

I was raised to prep and take care of myself. But of course at that time I did not know it was prepping. It was just something we were suppose to do. That's how we lived. Grow what you want to eat. Hunt when you want meat you cannot raise. Always give thanks to the earth for providing it for you. Give back to where ever to took. In other words, plant a tree if you take one for wood or building something, feed the wild animals, and never kill anything you will not eat. So I just keep on doing what I have been all my life and now it has a name (PREPPING)

[Dropy]

Well since i decided i wanted to live to see tomorrow i have adopted a mindset of "What can i do today to make this happen".

[tompnoid]

at 9:15 this morning waiting for the pharmacy to open at 9:00 i was at k mart looking at the fishing stuff and the next isle was the camping things and i saw bottles of propane the small camp fire ones for 2.15 a bottle i made a mental note and said you know they are really cheap and could come in handy as light as they are intended. my mind just goes to this now i walked down the tool isle and seen a good axe and thought of this website like ya know imma have to come stock up on some stuff. my mind is always running i have been saving for the money to buy a little piece of land to start my bol.

also i spend my weekends fishing and hiking with my sons i taugh them how to catch cook and eat cray fish this weekend with just a few bottles and a stapler

[Grumpy Old Man]

It's been on my mind constantly since I was 11 years old. It has become for me second nature.

[tompnoid]

It's been on my mind constantly since I was 11 years old. It has become for me second nature.

that is a really long time haha j/p

[Echo2]

Another good one.....

Years ago, a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the sea, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.

Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. “Are you a good farm hand?” the farmer asked him. “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man.

Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore.

Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, “Get Up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!”

The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir, I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”

Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured.

Everything was tied down.

Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant,

so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

[ladyhk13]

^I have read this before and it is a wonderful little story with a powerful message.

[Katrina]

I don't really think of prepping per say, I grew up learning to put things away "in case of" what ever may come. So it's almost second nature for me to think What can I do with that, how can I re-purpose this or I should put this away for later. Combination of the packratitis I've inherited from the parents and grandparents and being more aware of what is happening in the world around us.

[ElevenBravo]

Im old school survivalist. I think of the world & local situation daily. I try to not let it worry me. On limited funds there is but so much I can do. What I cant buy I better compensate with knowledge and thus translate into experience.

Survivalisim is a way of life. I get up, I go to work, I come home, I eat dinner.... At least 3 times a day I wonder about how prepared I am for an emergency... whether it be a personal, family, local, national or global emergency.

There are many levels, and many possibilities to an emergency, and reality dictates that there is but so much you can do to be prepared. So, we must evaluate each theory for possibility and rank it accordingly.

Ive been satisfied so far, but its been truly a lifetime in mindset to get here.

Im 45 years old now, just so you know, back when I was in high school I was reading every issue of American Survival Guide with glee... I say that so you know where Im coming from.

Thanks for the post OP...
EB

[prepguide]

In some form or fashion, every single day. Because for me (and so many others of course) its my lifestyle, its simply what I do. So nearly everything I do in some form is about being better prepared. Even when I have down time its related because if I don't recharge myself, refill my creative well then I am not as good at the things I need to do. There is a phrase I coined some time back that to me sums up my view on the lifestyle, "Living a preparedness lifestyle guarantees us nothing, it is about increasing both the quantity and quality of our options" (forgive me, I know some of you have suffered through that phrase before)