From the previous post about extremes in “prepping” and being a “prepper”, I think it would be a good discussion to know why we’re here in this Community.

I don’t consider myself being into hardcore prepping, as I am mostly trying to be prepared for potential disasters that are relevant to my own area. I live and work a few Km from a major fault line, which is said to be due to move after its centuries or so recorded cycle. While I live in the midlands, I will get cut off from the city if bridges get flooded or damaged.

I am worried that the supply of food and other goods might get scarce in the event of a major disaster. Just a few years ago, a major storm wiped out an entire region, rendering millions homeless, without food, sanitation, and electricity, for months, with thousands dead.

Apart from a few weeks’ worth of food and water stores, I am trying to build a vegetable garden the “permaculture” way. I also have off-grid voice and data communication capabilities, being into amateur radio. I can communicate with my immediate family as well as my extended family who are also hams. This means we can regularly practice our comms even outside of a disaster scenario.

A few of my ham radio friends and I have also built a group of satphone users across different cities, so we have redundancies in case grid communications go down. And as you may have noticed from my posts here, I’m also into prepping for digital stuff, including privacy and security matters.

I am also part of a community of other preppers. We each have our own area of expertise, including security (active and reserve military as well as contractors), farming, medicine, communications, etc. We have people who know how to pilot a plane, as well as those who can easily identify which plants are edible. We have serious outdoorsmen in our group. We meet on a regular basis and share what we know and try to replicate our skills. I think this is a good way to be prepared for such disaster scenarios.

I know opsec will dictate that some do not share what exactly they’re doing. But my kind of prepping is mostly inclusive and mostly community-driven. Some paint us as fear-mongering, but whenever there are disasters, I feel that people suddenly take an interest in getting prepared.

  • @IonAddisEnglish
    3•1 year ago

    I don’t have land or money, so I’m not a hardcore large-scale prepper because I can’t be.

    I’m slowly trying to prep myself into a “van dwelling” setup.

    • I want to have a robust enough solar/battery setup that I can be a digital nomad that doesn’t need grid power. I have been considering not just roof solar, but a 3 layer system where two side “wings” can be pulled out for extra solar, as well as plenty of lithium-based batteries to store the power at night.
    • I want to get a robust enough water filter system so I could take water from a creek in the middle of nowhere and reasonably be expected not to die or get really sick from it. Such setups usually have multiple filters along with some UV stuff to kill bacteria/protists/etc. Prepping would mean I keep a store of backup filters/etc. so the system runs when I need it for long enough, and have an understanding of how to maintain it.
    • Some people have wood stoves in their vans/skoolies/etc. and I like the idea of having multiple sources of heat. Don’t know if it’ll actually work for me, but it’s on my mind (wood heat.) Long-term, I’d like a diesel heater and a spare or two of the same model for backup/parts, a wood stove to save on diesel so I can use free wood, and I’ve been contemplating a diesel marine stove for both heat and cooking, although those are really really expensive. I am nervous about propane, both due to moisture problems in a confined place and the explosion potential if my vehicle is in an accident and the tank gets hit/squished.
    • I’d want to get a wireless router that combines signals from multiple cell providers, and probably also a CB radio. Maybe Starlink too, but it’s expensive and an ongoing reoccurring expense and I don’t have the budget someone else might have.
    • For cooking, a wood fire or an electric crock pot/portable stove, and a butane stove or two, and if I’m able to get a marine diesel stove, diesel cooking. Multiple ways to cook, and utilize heating fuel for cooking fuel at the same time–two birds, one stone. Again, avoiding propane b/c it makes me nervous.
    • Antibiotics have saved my ass in the past, and I expect they will in the future.
    • Tools, manuals, and extra filters/belts/common parts for my rig so I can fix it if necessary. I do not consider myself handy, but I am reasonably smart and stubborn and I can probably fix a lot of things if I buckle down and do it. Survival is good motivation, after all.

    Food is tricky for me because I have multiple intolerances. My thought is the type 2 diabetes will settle down a little if I’m more physically active and let me tolerate more carbs, but I still have problems with high-fodmap foods that are prepper staples (beans), and dairy. I would like to learn hunting/fishing/foraging skills so I can supplement my diet, although I have no illusions I won’t still be reliant on society for food, not having land of my own to ranch or farm or garden on.

    • @[email protected]English
      3•1 year ago

      For the water filter, I suggest you look into some of Sawyer’s products. I own the Sawyer Squeeze and use it when backpacking, works really well and is very compact.

      • @IonAddisEnglish
        3•1 year ago

        I have one of those already, although I haven’t yet tested.

        For the vehicle, there’s ones that’ll allow you to pump and fill a 20, 30, 40 gallon tank, so that’s what I’m thinking of there. The hiking ones are good, but to fill a large tank in one go, you need a slightly different setup. And the UV light kills some of the critters AFAIK that filtering alone doesn’t catch–I guess it messes with their DNA so they die and can’t reproduce.

        • @[email protected]English
          2•1 year ago

          Yeah, you wouldn’t want to be filling up big tanks with just the Squeeze, been great for smaller use cases though. Never heard of using UV light before, I’ll have to read up on it.