What Is Prepping?
The dictionary suggests prepping is the act of preparing something or preparing for something. For preppers it is ensuring that a range of “preps”, to deal with a challenging situation in the future, are ready ahead of time.
The preps could be water, food, communications, cash, tools or fuel. Typically anything which is hard to source at the last minute, while a challenging situation is unfolding and everyone else is trying to do exactly the same thing at the same time.
Examples include panic buying petrol or toilet roll / anti-bac hand gel at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Is Prepping Like Insurance?
Yes, that’s the easiest way to think about it.
Prepping is insurance against water, food or power suddenly not being available due to an unforeseen event.
How does prepping compare to other types of insurance?
Your car is written off due to an accident. Car insurance steps in with a new car.
Your roof is damaged by a storm. Home insurance steps in to repair the damage.
You have lost your mobile phone. Mobile insurance provides a replacement phone.
Your local water supply is out for a week due to flooding. Prepping ensures you have enough drinking water to make it through a week or two of repairs.
The power is out because a storm has damaged the power lines. Prepping a solar generator keeps your devices charged and makes light available at night while they are fixed.
The shelves in the supermarkets suddenly have loads of gaps due to supply chain disruption. Prepping a small cache of your favourite cans, jars or packets of food means you barely notice the disruption.
What Are Survival And Survivalism?
The dictionary suggests survival is continuing to stay alive, in spite of an accident, ordeal or difficult circumstances.
Survivalism is essentially another term for prepping but tends to focus more on skills and knowledge rather than physical stockpiles of wood and water.
An individual who practices survivalism is known as a survivalist. A survivalist aims to have the tools, knowledge and practiced skills to stay alive in a hostile environment.
A hostile environment could be finding yourself:
Stranded on a remote roadside overnight after a breakdown or running out of fuel
Lost in the woods overnight after loosing your way on a hike
Stuck in a cold station overnight after missing the last train home
Accidentally getting locked in a building overnight
Stuck up a mountain in the dark after a hike has gone wrong
Marooned at sea after an incident on a boat
After an SHTF scenario is could mean learning to live off the land, building a shelter in the woods, hunting, fishing, foraging and even building rudimentary boats to cross a body of water.
If you have enjoyed the Naked And Afraid or Alone TV shows, you probably have an interest in survival.
Other Names For Prepping And Survival
When most people hear the word “prepping” or “prepper” they immediately conjure up a vision of a cold war era American sitting in a bunker, surrounded by copious amounts of canned food and bottled water.
The word “survival” or “survivalist” conjures up visions of someone heading off to the woods, planning to survive off the land with only the contents of their rucksack and the knowledge in their head.
The two are often used interchangeably and that’s because they are simply two sides of the same coin. Preparing in advance vs adapting on the fly to an unforeseen or changing set of circumstances. Humans do both instinctively, without even realising it.
Chances are you are doing one of the two right now, without even realising it:
Checking your fridge, freezer, cupboards and bathroom for essentials while drawing up your next shopping list
Putting some money aside for a rainy day
Maintaining a freezer full of batch baked meals
Ensuring your car, home and life insurance are up to date
Growing your own food in your garden or allotment
Enjoying the supply of fresh eggs from your chickens
Learning how to knit and make your own wool
Watching a disaster film or reading a book to see what the characters will do when SHTF
Mentally checking the fuel level in your car and planning when the next fill up will be
Watching a “life hack” video on TikTok, YouTube or Facebook
The Elements Of Survival
So how does one become more prepared? People have been generating tick lists for survival and prepping for ages, but The Elements Of Survival is our take on the concept:
Water
Fire
Food
Tools
Light
Environmental Protection
Cotton Material
Tape
Cordage
Medical
Sanitation
Power
Bartering
Mobility
Communication
Information
Planning
Once you understand each element and have some preps in place to tick it off the list you are well on the way to increasing your level of preparedness.
Remember the elements of survival can be applied to what you carry in your pockets everyday, what’s in your rucksack / purse, your preps at home and even the essential car kit everyone should have in their boot.
Learn about the SHTF scenarios preppers prep for and how they refine their preps using the concepts like Everyday Carry (EDC), The Rule Of Three, Two Is One And One Is None and The Grey Man.