Prepping 101: 4 Essential tips for new preppers

08/21/2024 / By HRS Editors

Many emergencies and disasters are unavoidable. And while it’s impossible to prepare for all natural disasters and various emergencies, preparing before things go south is the most effective way of dealing with your worries about future survival scenarios.

Even if you’re a newcomer to prepping, you can prepare regardless of your budget. Don’t feel overwhelmed and check out the tips below to start preparing before SHTF. (h/t to RethinkRural.RaydientPlaces.com)

Make an emergency preparedness plan

Before you buy crates of food supplies or prepping gear, start with your emergency preparedness plan.

An emergency preparedness plan will detail important questions and answers if your family has to deal with a survival situation.

Here are some questions to answer when making your plan:

Who will bug in or bug out?

Obviously, the answer is everyone in your family. But do you have pets?

If so, you also need to stock up on supplies for any pets such as pet food and a pet first aid kit.

How will you communicate?

In most survival scenarios, cell phone towers can become overwhelmed by high call and text volumes. While preparing, you should make sure you don’t always count on them. Get walkie-talkies or teach the family how to use a ham radio.

Communication is crucial when facing a survival situation if you want to make sure that your family is safe.

Where will you meet?

Choose a safe meeting spot that everyone can get to after SHTF.

If you think other family members might be in a location far from home if they are stuck in an emergency, choose different locations in different directions. This ensures that if location A is unsafe, the group can meet in location B instead.

Stockpile enough food and water for your family

Next, make plans for your survival stockpile of food and water. If you are worried about going over your budget for daily needs, whenever you buy groceries get a couple of cans of non-perishable food items and one or two gallons of water.

And don’t waste money on things no one likes. Only store what you eat, then eat what you store to avoid food spoilage and wasting money.

The amount of food and water that you need for your stockpile will vary based on your family size, so adjust your calculations accordingly.

If you’re not sure where to start, here are some things to stock up on:

Baby food pouches and jars (If you have a young baby or toddler)
Bags of rice
Beans and lentils
Canned soups
Canned fruits and vegetables
Canned meats
Condiments
Cooking oils
Formula or powdered milk (If you have a young baby or toddler)
Freeze-dried fruits and vegetables
Honey
Nut butter (Such as peanut or almond butter)
Oatmeal
Snack and protein bars

Learn useful survival skills

You also need to develop survival skills so you can survive even if you lose your gear when disaster strikes.

Because there are just as many skills as emergencies to prepare for, you can choose the most useful ones such as:

Bushcraft
Cooking from scratch
Firestarting
Fishing
Foraging
Home gardening
Hunting
Woodcraft

Prepare bug-out bags for your family

Some emergencies may be so severe that the only thing you can do is evacuate or bug out and leave your home. If you think this may happen in the future, prepare a bug-out bag (BOB).

Usually, a BOB contains items that will help you survive an emergency or disaster for at least 72 hours. (Related: Creating a bug-out plan: Essential steps for emergency evacuation.)

Preparing your bag ahead of time will save you time and effort when SHTF. Store the BOBs in a safe and easy-to-access location.

When preparing your BOB, include basic items such as:

Food and snacks
Extra clothing
First aid kit and medicines
Hygiene kit
Lights
Shelter
Water

Where to buy lab-verified food supplies for your stockpile

The Health Ranger Store is committed to helping you prepare for any emergency, especially if you’re new to the prepping lifestyle.

That’s why we’re proud to introduce a variety of lab-verified food products such as the Ranger Bucket Set, Freeze-Dried Organic Mango Diced and Freeze Dried Organic Peas.

The Ranger Bucket Organic Emergency Storable Food Supply is the first emergency food supply in the world that’s certified organic and laboratory verified. All the food items are organic, non-GMO and laboratory tested for heavy metals.

These food buckets contain supplies such as Organic Black Beans and Organic Rolled Oats that are completely free of chemical ingredients such as MSG or preservatives.

Freeze-Dried Organic Mango Diced (10.5oz, #10 can) (2-Pack) are grown in Mexico under strict organic standards. The freeze-drying method preserves the taste, texture and nutrients of the mango pieces better than any other food preservation method ever invented.

Eat Freeze-Dried Organic Mango Diced as a snack, sprinkle them onto cereals, or rehydrate them by soaking them in water.

Lastly, our Freeze Dried Organic Peas (16oz, #10 can) (2-Pack) can be stored for up to 10 to 15 years, depending on storage conditions. Store the cans in a dark, cool, low-humidity location and they will last for an extended duration.

Keep in mind that heat, humidity and light will degrade all storable foods such as Freeze-Dried Organic Peas.

Visit Health Ranger Store and Brighteon Store to find more products for your prepping needs. You can also go to Preparedness.news for more tips on how to start your prepping journey.

Click on this link to learn how to make a Southwestern Quinoa Salad with Freeze-Dried Organic Mango Diced.

Watch the video below to learn more about nutritious superfoods like Organic Beans and Whole Grains.

This video is from the Health Ranger Store channel on Brighteon.com.