Call me paranoid but the world can be a crazy place nowadays. There are a variety of things big and small that worry us preppers. It could be something small like a fuel shortage like we saw in the USA and the UK in 2021, or it could be something big like the COVID-19 pandemic that shook the world in 2020. In my opinion, yes, you should be prepping. It doesn’t have to be ‘full hoarder/ready for the end of days’ extreme prepping. Just being slightly prepared for minor disruptions in our very comfortable day-to-day life is a great idea.
I will outline 3 reasons you should be prepping below. While not all 3 are incredibly likely. No one can rule anything out these days! And prepping is preparing for the unlikely and unexpected!
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Food and Essentials Shortages
This is one that has happened as a direct result of COVID-19 and the media frenzy that the press created to sell a few newspapers. Like myself, you probably have memories from 2020 and 2021 of shelves being more empty than usual in the grocery stores and hardware stores. This isn’t usually a problem as you can just go back another day, which while inconvenient, isn’t the end of the world.
The trouble with the shortages is that they cause people to erupt into mass hysteria, as we have seen. This makes the problem a whole lot worse as people grab whatever is left.
As a prepper, you would already have a healthy stock of long-life food at home so you don’t need to worry about fighting over the last can of beans in Walmart. This may not seem like a huge deal but these types of situations may put you in a riskier position than you are used to or would like to be in. Prepping will solve that problem for you.
You don’t need to have a lock-up with enough food (or toilet roll as 2020 taught us!) for 3 years to outlive a nuclear attack or anything, that is a little extreme. Having a month or two worth of easy-to-make and long-lasting meals is a great idea for any household. It doesn’t need to be a food shortage to make that stash come in handy. A hurricane could close down nearby stores and make traveling dangerous. A little prepping will go a long way to keeping you safe in that situation too.
If you are interested in some long-life food that isn’t a can of beans, we recommend Ready Life Dried Meat. It has a 15-year shelf life so you’re okay to keep it for a while.
Fuel Shortages
While you shouldn’t store too much fuel at home for safety reasons, keeping your car always above half a tank will mean you can get out of anywhere quickly without queuing for fuel in an emergency. You can also store a bit extra at home in long-term storage tanks but you should consult a professional and check your local laws and regulations on this.
It isn’t only having the fuel that helps, it’s being able to conserve it. If there is a fuel shortage and you need to go shopping and buy essentials for the house, that is fuel you are wasting unnecessarily. If you are prepared and have a stocked pantry, you won’t need to go out and waste your precious fuel.
Prepping is all about thinking ahead and preparing for different eventualities. Notice how prepping for a food shortage could save you in a fuel shortage.
The modern-day way of prepping for a fuel shortage is through the diversity of vehicles. What I mean is having vehicles with different fuel types. Since gasoline is the most popular kind of fuel for a car, you could have a diesel car too (budget permitting of course) to spread the risk of one type of fuel running out. If there is a run on gas stations, gasoline is the first fuel to run dry.
The other option is getting an electric vehicle. While this wouldn’t serve you well in an ‘end of the world apocalypse’, in a modern-day fuel crisis, an electric car would be amazing. Being able to charge your car at home and not waste hours queuing at the gas station for rations is a huge time saver and can help you get to work on time during a crisis. Prepping isn’t just about preparing for the end of days, it is also about maintaining continuity and order in your life through situations out of your control.
What good is it if you lose your job because you can’t get to work or travel for work? You can’t provide for your family then. Prepping is all about making sure you can provide for them through unforeseen circumstances.
Pandemics
Now this one may strike a chord with a lot of people. 2020 and 2021 have been the worst years ever for some people. Not being able to go to work, see their friends, or even losing their livelihoods have been common issues for people recently. This has highlighted a different kind of prepping that is required but not talked about too much. Financial prepping.
Financial prepping is just as important as prepping for a food shortage. After all, you can’t spend money on food stocks if you aren’t financially secure. 2020 and 2021 have shown how important it is to maintain savings for unforeseen circumstances. Many people have lost their jobs and it has been very lucky the government provided such a large support package but even them, people slip through the net.
You don’t need millions in the bank of anything but keeping a few months worth of living expenses stashed away can be a life save and protect your home and family just as well as other ways of prepping.
This wasn’t the only kind of prepping the pandemic highlighted though. It also led to food shortages and just a generally unsafe environment. If it isn’t safe to go to the grocery store because you were at risk of getting seriously ill, I think you’ll agree that keeping sufficient supplies at home was even more important than ever before.
Should I Prep For Doomsday?
You shouldn’t prep for anything specific really because the whole idea of prepping is being prepared for the unexpected. There is so much overlap between what you prep for that you don’t need to specifically prep for doomsday. The only thing to add to your lock-up for doomsday might be extra fuel and weapons/ammo. You should already have sufficient food stocks on hand and other essentials like first aid kits and equipment.
Anything super doomsday like is unlikely to happen but you never know. You can always adapt your stores to add some ammunition and weapons if it makes you feel safer, that’s what prepping is all about.
Conclusion
I think I have covered some very recent and very real-life reasons for prepping that a non-prepper will be able to relate to. As I have hopefully demonstrated, you can never be too prepared for any eventuality that may be down the road.
Don’t jump to prep for doomsday or anything that dramatic as that is far less likely than food shortages. And make sure you remember how important it is to be prepared financially with a 3-6 month emergency fund to cover living expenses.
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