Events like Hurricane Helene and the shipyard worker holdout tend to turn most everyone into ‘preppers’ to some degree or another. I witnessed this firsthand when I walked into my local Sam’s today and saw the back shelves - where they normally keep mile-high stacks of various brands of toilet paper and paper towels - completely bare. When I commented to the cashier about it she told me it was a combination of Helene relief efforts and panic buying from the strike.
Panic buying, of course, is never a good thing, but the cycle repeats itself anytime there’s a ripple or even the threat of a ripple in the normalcy most of us have come to enjoy over the past several decades. When this happens, a few people hoard all the needed supplies, leaving supply lines strained and everyone else out in the cold. I understand the impulse to want to be prepared for something you know that’s coming or is already here, but my point here is that you shouldn’t put yourself in a panic-buying situation. Instead, you should buy before the panic, slowly and methodically, so you don’t get caught with your pants down and even become part of the problem when the sh*t hits the fan, whatever that looks like.
In other words, we should ALL be ‘preppers.’ Meaning, we should all be prepared at least to some degree for whatever is coming our way. If recent events haven’t convinced you of this, I don’t know what will.
Does being a ‘prepper’ mean you have to go off-grid, build a bunker, and apply for a slot on Doomsday Preppers? Sure, if that’s what you want to do and you have the means and the will, go for it. But that doesn’t define most of us. It’s quite possible to live a normal life and still be at least somewhat prepared. Here are a few basic tips to get you started:
Buy what you like, then buy more
What you prep should fit your lifestyle—common sense stuff. If you and your family love spaghetti, stock up on pasta and cans of diced tomatoes. If you don’t like pinto beans, don’t buy them because you don’t eat them and they’ll just go to waste. (Besides, they don’t last as long as you think they do without becoming impossible to soften.)
Along this vein, if you can work longer-lasting ingredients into your daily meals, so much the better. For example, our family routinely cooks some meals with a canned chicken we get from Sam’s with a two to three years off expiration date, allowing us to store plenty of them and cycle through before they expire.
Do it gradually
If you normally buy two cans of that canned chicken, go ahead and buy four that trip, and so on. Over a few months, your pantry will grow, you won’t stretch your budget too much, and expiration dates will be staggered appropriately.
Organize your supplies, then FIFO
Don’t just stick boxes in the garage, the back of a cabinet, or a corner somewhere. Instead, organize them so you always know what you have, and you can reach the oldest first. Make FIFO (first in, first out) an automatic, ingrained practice.
Watch those expiration dates
You can often take expiration dates with a grain of salt, more of a suggestion, really. For example, most canned goods last much longer than their expiration date. But you should still do your research and know how long things last, how much you and your family consume, and how much of an item you can stock up on without having to later throw things away.
Learn how to grind wheat
On the surface, this probably seems like an advanced tip, but it’s really not. We’ve been grinding our wheat using a Nutrimill grinder since 2008 and find it super easy and satisfying. The pre-ground wheat can be stored for decades (nullifying any expiration date concerns), and the ground wheat flour is far more nutritious than the stripped-down version you get from stores. Using home-ground flour for at least some of your bread products is healthier, cheaper, and conducive to long-term prepping.
Paper goods last forever
Go ahead and stock up on paper towels, cases of toilet paper, and other things that basically last forever. But again, do it gradually so you’re not stretching your budget, storage space, or supply lines.
Buy a toilet bidet
Basic toilet bidets are cheap, easy to install, don’t need power, and will save a TON of toilet paper while getting you far cleaner than TP ever could. I know it’s icky to talk about, but there it is. Trust me, once you make the switch, you won’t be able to imagine life without one. It’s just that much of a positive change.
Buy a generator
As with everything else, the time to buy a generator is not after a hurricane strikes but well before. Purchase a good one, learn how it works, and be able to switch to it to run critical systems (e.g., your refrigerator) when/if the power goes out for any significant amount of time.
Diversify your power
Between gas, wood, propane, kerosene, solar, and generators, the more you have, the better you’ll withstand a long-term outage. In this case, and the one to follow, diversity IS strength.
Diversify your money
I’m not here to give you investment advice except to say your portfolio should consist of more than a stock market-based 401K. Think gold, silver, bitcoin, cash, etc. Have a little of everything so you won’t be caught flat-footed when/if the stock market dives.
There are certainly plenty more I could have included, but those are a good start. Even though it can feel like the world is coming apart at the seams, being reasonably prepared is something we can all control. And the peace of mind that comes with that is worth more than the money or effort you’ll spend. The time to prep is yesterday, not when a disaster is imminent. But if yesterday doesn’t work, today will have to do.