What are the Top 10 Prepping Mistakes every Prepper makes?
Don't fall into these basic Prepping errors
There is literally thousands of pages of information about prepping on the internet today. This makes joining the prepping community easier than ever.
If your a newbie prepper it is very easy to fall into an information overload trap and get the red mist about prepping and all the equipment you must have.
My advice to any newbie is to try and find as much information as you possibly can before making any decisions. And find out even more if that decision includes making a purchase for some new gear.
There are probably dozens of simple mistakes to be made, but, in this post I want to add my take on the Top 10 Prepping Mistakes, from a perspective of my 20 years plus experience of being a prepper.
Top 10 Prepping Mistakes
- Always think twice before taking advice.
With so much information available for us preppers, both old seasoned preppers and newbies, you can easily fall into the trap of believing all your read it true.
To some extent it may well be. But is it correct for you?
Is that advice really relevant to your needs and requirements?
After all, the only one who knows about what suits you, is you.!
So be careful of all the prepping 'experts' who recommend this and that - it may well not be right for you.
- Build up a false store.
I have lost count of the number of newbie prepper who build up a good supply of very strange looking survival foods by listening to what others say they should eat.
Do not fill your store with unfamiliar and unusual foods just because the 'prepping food guru' said you should.
If you like something, and it's got a reasonable shelf life, then buy it in bulk and store it - you'll eat it then.
If the food is some strange far fetched seed mixture that you wouldn't even feed to your budgie, then leave it alone.
- In far to much of a hurry to bug out.
An almost unstoppable insistence to bug out has hit the prepping community hard, and it's easily one of the top 10 prepping mistakes most preppers fall into.
There's far too much talk about the need to bug out and run away.
We are in the UK. A country with 65 million people packed into a very small space.
You read a lot of bug out plans from overseas in America where they have literally thousands of square miles of wilderness.
That's just not the case here in the UK, we simply do not have the space.
By all means prepare for a final escape and a full on bug out. But making it the be all and end all of survival plan is not a good idea.
You home is your castle, and generally most preppers will agree to making that the first choice in a disaster situation.
Hunkering down at home offer far more survival chances than just running away. If you can ride out a disaster situation at home with a full supply of food and equipment, then that has got to be your first choice.
- Just far too technical.
The phrase that comes to mind here is: "The lights on, but no ones at home"!
How many times do we see preppers buying loads of gear that's just far too technical and quite frankly unnecessary.
Survival is a mixture of old fashions bushcraft skills enhanced with modern technology. It is just so important to learn good bushcraft and survival skills. They kept our ancestors alive for century's, so ignore them at your peril!
Learn these skills and then see what modern gear is available to make that task easier. If the modern method fails, your always have your old skills to fall back on,
- Prepping for one single event.
The chances of one single disaster causing a total world wide meltdown are very unlikely.
Not 100% unlikely, but near enough.
But preparing for that one event is, quite frankly, stupid. You cannot see into the future.!
Granted, you can way up the percentage of chances of a certain disaster happening, but this will change on a daily basis.
There are just so many factors that make one disaster more or less likely.In fact, no one knows, what, when or where a disaster is likely to occur.
The clue is in the word "Prepping". You are getting ready to survive. Ideally to survive any scenario. Of course, any scenario, is just not possible, but as many as you realisticly could.
In fact, 75% of prepping is done at a core level, covering nearly all survival factors. Learn the basics of survival any you almost there.
- Failing to store basic foods.
With companies selling food packs that offer 10 year plus self life it's easy to see how many prepper fall into this trap.
But again, I go back to the fact that you must have a good knowledge of survival and bushcraft skills to compliment your modern equipment and gear.
There are certain 'must have' foods that will make your survival life so much easier - most have an almost unlimited shelf life if stored properly.
Honey, vinegar, sugar, alcohol, corn starch, salt, rice, dry beans, soy source, to name but a few.
These basic foods have more uses than just for cooking and can be a main stay for long term survival.
Go fancy and buy the big bulk food packs by all means, but never forget the basic 'old time' survival foods.
- Prepping for your pets
A bit of an unusual one this, but most of us think of our pets as members of the family, and as such, should be considered when planning for any disaster.
Having a dog is a very good means of defence and an early warning system for intruders or anyone who make be looking for an easy target to steal food and water from.
Don't neglect them - ensure you have good food supplies for them to carry on their job of protecting you. - Failing to put yourself first.
As the 'man/woman of the house', it's your duty to be able to take control of the situation to ensure all the supplies and equipment are the best you can have.
It's your duty to know how things work and to do stuff.
So if your 'man down', everything will be affected. You have to put yourself at the top of the tree and ensure you are looked after first.
This means you must have enough supplies to keep yourself going.
By this I mean keeping yourself fit and healthy. The only way to do this is to have sufficient supplements and medication for you to keep going. Don't overlook your own health.
If you take medication, and need it on a regular basis, you must build up your own personal stocks .
- Badly stored food.
In order to store your long term food supplies, you must adhere to certain storage rules to get the every best results.
There are lots of ways to make your own survival foods but, ignoring the basic storage rules can very easily result in spoiled foods , making them useless and totally uneatable.
There are six rules to ensure good, long term food storage.
Temperature, Oxygen, Moisture, Light, Time and Pests.
Any one of these goes out of sync and you can have big problems that will compromise your whole survival plans.
Check your stored foods regularly. Rotate and use if dates get less than a few years.
- Far to much reliance on yourself.
You simply cannot do everything on your own. Trying to stay fully under the radar and doing everything by yourself is a recipe for disaster in the long term.
As you progress through your prepping life you will come to realise that you lack certain skills and abilities that others have in abundance.
It's not a failure. You cannot be everything to everyone. But this is one of the top 10 prepping mistakes that's a real common one, as relying solely on yourself to survive a disaster has a very high failure rate, and a good chance you'll fail miserably.
By sniffing out other like minded survivalists, your whole prepping and survival world will open up.
You will be amazed at what other preppers have to offer you.
as well as that you will also be amazed at the skills you can offer them.
Remember, not all men are born equal..!!!
To Fully Succeed - Join a Preppers Group.
Recommended reading for preppers
This Ebook covers all the basic mistakes a newbie prepper will make.
It goes over essentials and non essential equipment with those little details that most people wont tell you.
Superb read, well written and very interesting. Well recommended
James Green
Amazon Buyer
Amazon Buyer
Surviving and learning how to keep alive can take years.
So can prepping for a disaster - do it right from the start and always keep to the key basics.
You wont go far wrong then......
Happy Prepping Folks.
Steve
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3 comments
Thomas
June 1, 2015 at 11:35 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I’m not a seasoned prepper by any means, but take a keen interest in survivalism as I can’t see a future where the possibility of civil unrest doesn’t exist.
In reading this article, I learn the most from the third point made about bugging out too fast. Where am I going to go? I don’t have a log cabin in a national park. But even if I did, how will I get there? Roads will probably be packed with traffic. Cross country isn’t an option as the land in the immediate vicinity is very marshlike and unpassable except in a vehicle with a serious offroad capability. There may be military roadblocks in place preventing travel.
I think that in the short term, bugging in would be the best option for me and many Britons in general. There will inevitably be a time where I have to leave, but I must be wary that the window of opportunity for safely bugging out may have passed.
Denis
March 16, 2015 at 10:56 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Thank you for the invaluable Prepper advice and info.. Fantastic !!
Alice101
March 6, 2015 at 5:07 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
WOW…. what an interesting article.
I read somewhere about humans being your biggest threat – I think I would add lots of defence to my list..!
thanks
Alice.