Welcome to prepping

Did this idea die?

 

Thanks for the reminder Brokor. From Melbo's post under "Forum for those who just saw the light?", "Any idea's on others to invite to the new sub-forum?". Was thinking instead of bringing people into the clubhouse threads, start a new thread under General Survival letting people know what we have been trying to do, copy the ideas into it and let them expand on it from there.

 

You folks have some great advice for the noob survival/prep. I don't think anyone needs to go anywhere else, to obtain the vast amount of information available right here at SM.
I have been a prep guy for 40+ years, and I'm still not ready.
I do think there is one Truth, The mind set of the person, new, or long time preper. Once the mind accepts the ideals and goals of survival, the rest is a no brainer. Get the mind right and the body will follow.
Just my two cents.

Stay Safe, Stay Prepared

I will survive, there are no other options.

 

Noobies could easily be overwhelmed by the amount of information that is out there. It needs to be kept simple and basic with small baby steps in levels of preparedness. It would not hurt

Without even realizing it a lot of folks probably already have some of the basic stuff in their cupboards, closet, garage or whatever depending on what level they are preparing for. However, I'm sure there are some that don't have more than one weeks worth of food stored, much less any camping supplies, warm clothing, alternative sources of heat or means to cook........

Start them out with building the basics first like a well equipped First Aid Kit, 72 hour Emergency Kit and a Bug Out Bag, then move on to food storage (short and long term) water storage and procurement, shelter, protection, investment and any of the other essentials. Not necessarily in that order.

 

I never quite know whether to offer my perspective here or just suck up what is here because we were such "atypical" preppers.

We started storage of food, etc about 25 years ago...about the same time we bought the land for our eventual retirement home (which was our "bugout destination" before we ever heard the term and while we were still tied to work locations), but had always maintained a stockpile of such things as tools, guns, ammo, etc just because it was the way I was raised.

We started differently than anyone I have read here...but it worked for us. Initially, we concentrated on basic survival. The Vietnamese had taught me how people can survive on rice along with fish and other "forage", so we started merely by stockpiling rice until we had a couple hundred pounds of it (to be honest, I really don't remember the exact amount before we started branching out). Next we added beans...mostly red, some pintos and finally black. Only then did we start adding variety to break the monotony. My thought was that having enough for basic survival for a year was the most important initial goal and that we could live with the limited diet if "whenever" became "right now".

We took about 10 years to build our home, and built with both survival and "defensibility" in mind...including a couple of buried 40' semi trailers (reinforced with pipe to keep them from caving in) as primary storage areas with entrances that would require a goodly amount of luck for an invader to find. If I were doing it today, I would be more likely to use the shipping containers (or "conexes")that are readily available just about anywhere.

I could obviously go on for pages about the discoveries we made over 25 years of prepping without having a "network" such as this one...or even thinking of ourselves as "preppers" or "survivalists", but I am not really sure much of our experience is even relevant to the people that would have access to the kind of technology and support available today and on this site.

I will say also that it helped us greatly through what I might call the "middle years" of prepping to have lived and worked in the Salt Lake City area for a few years and, while we are not Mormon, having acess to their resources and literature was a great boon.

 

Pax, I too would enjoy reading more about your experience in prepping. Good stuff.

 

OK...I guess maybe there is some interest.

I am going to try and put together something...at least maybe it will be a different perspective than most.

Then I will have to figure out how one goes about creating a blog. I am somewhat of a techie...but not an internet wiz...

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

Thanks G...I'm giving it a try...have posted 2 segments.

As will be obvious to anyone reading it, I wouldn't quit my day job (if I still had one) for writing...so any suggestions on ways to make it more readable (or interesting) would be graciously accepted...I've never done this before.

Don't worry about offending...I've been married almost 30 years...I'm used to it...

 

I don't think there is an easy solution, any new prepper will have to sift the wheat from the chaff just as most of you have done for many years.
There is just TOO much information to absorb for it to be simple in any format.

I really like the site as it sits, there are many improvements that can be made, same as anywhere

One of the biggest things I like about the tree is that there are plenty of people willing to be encouraging to noobs like me. ( not just because I'm the good looking neighbour to the North)

I would say that any "formal" list of beginner preps can be published and refined on site with perhaps a vetting thread before publishing.
( and I really don't know how sites run, I am not tecnologically savvy)

Pax, I don't have time today, but will try tomorrow to have a read, thanks for typing it.