Why We Prepare

When most people think of preparedness or 'prepping' they think of shows like Doomsday Bunkers and people of that ilk. Well, that's not us. We don't have a secret underground bunker or pallets of ammo (even though Papa would love to have a ton of ammo, we do enjoy shooting for sport), or 5 years worth of freeze dried food. We do however, have provisions, a plan, and three reasons why we prepare.

Reason One

The first reason why we lay by food and supplies is in case of a short term weather related emergencies. We live in a state that has both tornadoes and hurricanes and because of this it's not unusual for roads to be flooded and the power to be out for a few days at a time. Rather than be dependent on Red Cross or other emergency workers being able to reach us, we have a store of meals that we can easily prepare either on our gas stove if the gas is still on, or on a propane stove that is typically reserved for camping. We have meals and already purified water enough for a week and after that we'd need to start purifying our water we've stored in barrels. 

Reason Two

Our second reason for storing food and supplies is in case of personal economic crisis. While Papas work with the Army guarantees us a small paycheck each month we did go through a month of economic instability after Papa's college graduation. We were able to weather this is grace because we have a 3 month supply of foods and toiletries so we had no need to visit the store and spend our limited funds on food, shampoo etc. As part of our preparedness efforts we also have put by an emergency fund that is to be used only in times of unemployment to pay our monthly bills. We're working through Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps and we've found it to be a very good system for us. Another thing that helped us get through that time was using cloth diapers with Baby and doing our own car maintenance. 

Reason Three

The third reason we have for laying stores by and learning homesteading skills is in case of long term economic collapse. While we do not live in fear of some sort of meltdown, we do recognize that it can happen. I personally know a family of refugees from Bosnia that had to flee during the civil unrest there in the 90's and being able to talk to them has really helped in terms of knowing what can happen when an economy collapses.  

A Matter of Degrees

The degree to which we prepare for each of these scenarios is what sets us apart from most 'preppers'. We are currently the most focused on reasons one and two as they are the most likely to happen, as they both already have once. During hurricane season last year when we lived in the city the power went out and we were fine, we had light to see by, food to eat and books to read and boardgames to play to pass the time. We simply pulled out our 72hr kits and were fine. When Papa was unemployed we looked over our plan we'd previously established just in case we ever found ourselves in that scenario and then worked the plan. It's very easy to feel a little panicked when your income drops, so it's a good idea to think about what steps you should take in case it ever does happen. I think it would behoove everyone to have at least some degree of preparations for their family. It doesn't take a lot of money to put together a simple 72 hour kit and that's a great place to start. After that you might think about storing an extra weeks worth of food, and build from there. 

I would love to hear about other peoples experiences with preparedness and what works for you or what roadblocks you've run into. Thanks for reading!