Why I Prep

Over on the UtahPreppers blog (where I’m one of the authors), ekim asks the question “Why do you prep?“  This is my response to it.

I’ve been a survivalist/prepper all my life.  I grew up spending all my time in the woods across the street and working on ranches.  It’s really in my blood, my father and his fathers several generations back were all mountain men/survivalists.  I’m one of those who are completely comfortable spending days in the woods without ever seeing another person, and I’m completely confident in my ability to survive with just the clothes on my back.

But, why do I prep?  There are lots of reasons: 1) I’ve been told by the leaders of my Church to store 3 months of regular food, 2 weeks of water, 1 year of basic essentials and as much fuel, clothing and shelter needs as possible.  2) I firmly believe that the time will come (soon, I believe) when the comforts and ease of life that we enjoy will cease to exist.  This may be through an economic crash, war on America, or several other things – but I expect that it will happen.  3) The world doesn’t have to end for food storage and prepping to be useful.  Losing a job for an extended period of time, needing to save money (on food) for a bit, a general food scare (like the recent china/milk scare, you don’t have to worry about food that has been stored) or any number of other things.

As many of you know, my family has been through a really rough year.  Previous to that we were stringing ourselves along doing a startup.  Our food storage was key to getting us through that time and in recent months we have worked hard to replenish it through bottling, freezing and stocking food.

I sincerely think that the point of food storage is so much more than actually having stuff to eat for a year.

Very little in life gives me the sense of accomplishment, security and peace that I feel when I walk into my storage room, stand in the middle and just look. I swear there is more food in there than some grocery stores. Or the feeling I get each morning when I walk into the garage and I see over 250 gallons of water sitting, waiting in their respective containers. Or the feeling I get when I open one of the storage closets and see over 100 bags of cereal or chips (depending on which one I look in). Or when I open one of my chest freezers and see all the meat, vegetables and other food stored there.  Or when I look in my ammo locker and see ammo can after ammo can waiting for use.

I feel accomplishment because I have fulfilled the one of the requests of my Church. Storing this much food is a major task (as some of you know) and completing that task brings a wonderful sense of accomplishment (of course the other thing that happens is that we’ve learned new habits and we’re never really “DONE”).

I feel a sense of security and peace because I know that if I loose my job, if I’m injured, if something else happens – I can feed and provide for my family. I don’t think people consciously stress about that, but they definitely do sub-consciously – every time there is a hiccup or some risk to financial security, I think that most adults concern themselves with how to feed the family – except those who have a year (or more) worth of food.

My storage areas are a place of sanctuary, a symbol of safety. When I stand in the middle of my storage room, I’m surrounded by physical evidence of my commitment and a symbol of safety.

The time may never come when I actually need my storage (again) and that is perfectly fine. My storage is a lifestyle in many ways including having different shopping habits than most people. We live off what we have and go shopping for fresh food and to replenish what we’ve used – we can easily skip a month of food shopping to use that money elsewhere. If I never have to rely on it again, that is fine with me – the value of it is so much more that physical nourishment, it is spiritual and emotional nourishment.

It serves another purpose as well, I have friends and relatives that have hit on hard times and can’t afford food. When we hear of this, we gladly open our storage to them and freely give them what they need.

When my wife and I die, our storage will still be viable and will surely help our 8 children with their own storage. Our legacy of storing will live on in our children’s basements. We’ve taught them well, they know the need to store and know the value of it. Most importantly, we’ve involved them in our inventories, purchasing and stocking shelves – it is part of their lives as well – when they are grown they will not have to learn the basic concepts of storing, they will have long since learned them.

Finally, when things get really bad for our country, our family won’t be involved in the rush to the empty store to try to find security for our family. We’ll be packing and heading for the hills – or bunkering in as the case may be – and have a long head start on those wandering in shock trying to acquire more than a candy bar to eat.

Are you a prepper? Have you stored food and other needful things against unseen calamities?