Priorities of preparedness…..

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I recently left a comment on someones FaceBook wall concerning preparedness – and left a list of “Steps to Preparedness”. Here is what I put:

Food & Water
Shelter
Medical Supplies
Firearms

Shortly thereafter a comment was left disagreeing (which I have no problem) with the order which I placed the list in. The comment stated that Shelter should be first. Putting some more thought into “Steps to Preparedness” gave me some idea’s – and here they are -

First - someone that decides to prepare – for “whatever” – has to decide for themselves the priorities of supplies gathered. I think that is a fair statement. I mean – if you live in Vermont or Maine – you most likely will have dealing with “winter related” situations on your mind when thinking about preps. Supplies dealing with “warmth” may be the priority.

Second- all catagories of supplies are gathered when implementing a survival system. What I mean by this is most people will stock up on some extra food, as well as first aid supplies, some extra batteries….and so on. Your not going to decide that Food is your first priority and buy nothing but food until you have reached your goal. Would you? Now – you may prioritize your funds on Food first if that has been identified as the #1 priority – but other supplies would also be purchased as well.

: What’s your #1 priority? Food?

: Shelter? or

: Firearms?

My point is – there is no single right answer to what someone should stock up on first when preparing for….well……whatever. That has to be answered by the person doing the preparing.

Any thoughts?

Rourke

Tags: survival planning

Survival & Preparedness | Rourke November 10, 2010

7 Comments to “Priorities of preparedness…..”

By Lorie, November 10, 2010 @ 3:00 am

I agree with the individualty of it. I think anytime you talk preparing it’s always a very personal thing because no two people or place is the same. Each person will have different conditions, rather it be experience, taste, weather, needs, medical conditions, etc. to deal with. What one person prefers to eat, cook with or shoot with could be opposite of the next person. The body needs water to survive the rest is up to their discretion. Why argue over what’s MOST important?….just start somewhere and that’s better than not starting at all! You’re doing a great job. I appreciate all the work you put into your blog to benefit the rest of us. Keep it up!
By Survival Bill, November 10, 2010 @ 3:05 am

Well you better be all setup soon when the bubble bursts you will need it all…
By JeSter, November 10, 2010 @ 4:06 am

My 2 cents. I think it would be wise to look at the Army’s Ranger Handbook as a guide, specifically “priorities of work”. The number one thing ALWAYS is SECURITY! It’s drilled into your head at Ranger School in various sadistic ways, but the bottom line is that nothing else really matters if you are caught off guard and are captured or killed. Obviously the battlefield does not exactly equate to all survival scenarios, but I think that the idea that security is the number one priority is a sound philosophy.

Clearly water comes before food, all things being equal, because you can go longer without food. However, let’s say you are sitting on constant water source without much food…duh!

Shelter is important based on the situation. Hypothermia can knock you out of the game way before dehydration or starvation.

As a result, I think it is important to be able to size up your situation and make the appropriate adjustments. However, I am a firm believer that security is always number one! If your dead the rest is academic.
By GoneWithTheWind, November 10, 2010 @ 5:51 pm

I agree. I also agree with JeSter. But as in almost everything, it all depends. Arguably you can justify placing a number of things first. If you are in the desert then it is water. If you are in a battle zone it will be security. If you are in the great white North in the winter it is shelter. Some preppers think it is 10,000 rounds of ammo and an AK-47. I think the problem comes in when we (all of us) try to justify why something is number one and then takes offense when another person claims something else is number one. On the other hand I don’t want to have the first line of my list of the most important ten things to say “in no particular order…”. So it is what it is. Water is always #1 to me but numbers 2-10 are pretty important too and I will adjust to the situation as best I can. I also know that in a SHTF situation there will be something I don’t have with me that I really wish I had. But next time I might not need it. So keep looking at the lists and keep revising your list but don’t get too protective about your list.
By Leah, November 10, 2010 @ 7:16 pm

When prioritizing you also need to think about who you are preparing for. It was certainly easy to be prepared when it was just me. Shelter, supplies, and security for an adult is pretty easy to secure. Then I added a few kids and that plan went right out the window. Priorities change and you need to continually assess and reassess what you are doing.
By cm, November 10, 2010 @ 8:49 pm

For those not what I would call ‘overly prepared’ I would list things in this order:

Food – because the shelves will be empty in short order.
Shelter – get to the closest outdoor gear shop as soon as you leave the grocery store.
Water – Decide where you are going to get it – the government won’t supply it for days – see: Katrina, Andrew, etc.

Firearms? – you aren’t likely to be able to buy, beg, or borrow one if things are looking bad.

Now, as mentioned above, ‘Preparedness’ is deciding AHEAD of a problem scenario that the problem could happen, or may have some chance of happening. From the time of that decision, you should make reasonable efforts, based on what you feel is the likelyhood of the problem happening, to gather everything you think you may need.

As a rule, I follow some advice my dad gave years ago regarding starting a business. ” Add up every possible expense, every tool, pencil, piece of paper, stock item, energy cost, etc. Everything down to the last little detail. THEN DOUBLE THAT, and you will find that you have 1/2 of what you really needed.”

As to medicines, if you know you have issues now, take care of them now – It may be difficult to get that hernia fixed in a long-term bad scenario. If your doctor tells you to lose weight or risk diabetes – then do that.

I think everyone puts off some aspect of becoming “prepared”, and I am no exception, but sites like this do have the benefit of pointing out something you may need to cosider, if not act upon.
By Rourke, November 10, 2010 @ 9:10 pm

I like Dad’s advice…….

Rourke