Priorities of preparedness…..

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

  1. Food & Water

  2. Shelter

  3. Medical Supplies

  4. 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 categories 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.   

 

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

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9 thoughts on “Priorities of preparedness…..”

  1. I believe you are right, everyone’s priority is different. Most usually fall into
    a) Water/Food
    b) Shelter
    c) Protection

    My brother just started getting into preps middle of last year, he started with H2O. He purchased a metro rack and filled the bottom two shelves with 6.5 gal container’s for a total of 14 plus a couple on the floor. He lives in California’s Earth Quake country. He is in a wheelchair and is aware of his severe limitations but is doing what he can so his line of defense is to supply himself and bug in place. To add to his dilemma he is on Dialysis 4 times a week, he understands that if something severe happens he is most likely going to end up on the short list.

    For me the above three items form the core of my (Survival Triangle). a) and b) are pretty much self explanatory. Food and H2O are stored in two categories (Mobile and Static) ex: Water? 5 to 6 gal containers are intended for mobility, hunting trips, camping trips, bugging out etc. The 15 gal drums are intended for Bugging in place or Base use as I refer to it. Food is both in MRE’s, DIY MRE’s (Homemade designed around a LRRP or Combat ration concept), Dehydrated and Freeze Dried types packages and #10 cans. These are light weight and some of it takes up little space. for base use we have both commercial and home canned goods to include pickling, smoking.

    Shelter? includes my home and if bugging out if have a couple of tents and a tarps and hammocks. I even have a spare room to take a prepper or family member in.

    Protection? includes firearms, medical/dental supplies, primitive hunting tools (bow, crossbow, traps,fishing tools) CQB tools and H2H and the logistics to keep them going. This also includes tools around the house or homestead that manual powered. Comms and logistics and redundant systems:

    Here are some examples of a survival triangle

    Nuclear triad of the past of the US nuclear force
    1. Strategic Air Command (ALCM’s)
    2. Naval Sea System Command (SLBM’s)
    3. ICBM force

    Propagation of the natural human race
    1. Man (Husband/Father)
    2. Woman (Wife/Mother)
    3. Children

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  2. I agree .. Prep order has much to do with individual need and location. Age, medical condition, financial ability and the list goes on to your knowledge level. The more you KNOW and can do for yourself, the less you need to prep or store for that topic or area. When you drill down into the high level areas you get into a great deal of detail that is all about the particular individual. While I have seen a few things .. I suppose the real value is being able to accurately evaluate your situation and where to begin, and maybe how big a bite to take and how often. I can’t do everything at once and some days my progress seems pretty hap hazard. Then I reevaluate, think some .. and pick a thing to focus on… It’s still a lot to do if my goal is to be totally sufficient… I am lately thinking not totally alone.. but a few folks I can trust and can cooperate on some skills and abilities. I have been doing that anyway for learning .. bartering and then what’s left ? Anyway if anyone has links to books, blogs and whatever… I would be interested .. Read analyze and use it or not .. next book etc.. I’ll read several book maybe 2000 pages a month and consider one good idea once or twice a year to be a good pay back for the effort. Some day I’ll get around to my event library… sigh!!

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  3. When I read this post I said, “Wow, this man is on target with not setting priorities in a one size fits all mentality.” Part of being a successful survivor is the ability to adapt to your environment. Disaster change your environment and so requires you change with it. To be a “refined prepper” requires each one of us to have basic PLAN for each possible disaster. And then on a individual situation develop a plan of what you will need to survive. From my experiences, maintaining a core body temperature is key. And that encompasses the right clothing, tools to make a fire, and barriers to weather. Next would be a way to procure water. Let me stop here to note that if you have viewed any of the SURVIVOR shows, that those two elements are the ones that cause failure to survive. This is a good time review and memorize the rules of 3.
    1. sufficient supply of air = 3 minutes
    2. exposure of extreme heat/cold = 3 hours
    3. dehydration w/o water = 3 days
    4. maintence of calories/food = 3 weeks

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  4. preparedness is fine and any list and order is fine just remember one thing, if your dead none of it means anything, except to the guys that are using your preps!!!!!!!

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  5. Yup .. You have to be alive for all your efforts to count.. For sure non-preppers .. prep plan will be to take what they need… or want. Nothing turns a group to socialism faster than hunger and them needing stuff and you have a pile of it .. You would be expected to share it equally with all so you could starve together. Indeed a few of the tenants of martial law is that . Weapons ownership is illegal and all goods are property of the state to be distributed as it sees fit .. Instant communism. No such thing as private property. And guys that makes me very angry .. Just be careful who you share your plans with right ? I can’t blame them really .. If my family were hungry and all I had was a weapon .. even if improvised .. I’d likely use it to feed them. If that makes me a bad guy .. SO BE IT! It won’t be where I start no way .. and I have no plan to do anything of the kind certainly .. I personally hope I never have to think about it.

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  6. I believe you are right it does not matterin the order as long as you get started. When i started i did some of each as i went along on my Quest this has worked well for me.

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  7. The bottom rung of Maslow’s hierarchy is food, clothing, shelter. I agree with PIT Bob’s rule of 3’s!
    If you have time to sit down and brainstorm to come up with a list of EVERYTHING you can imagine that you might need then ask yourself: If it happened right now, do I have what I need to make it to next week. Then start prioritizing the list based on how soon you would need each item based on your particular circumstance.
    To many times people worry about acquisition and fail on the FREE things they need to DO.

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  8. To me, there’s never been any real order. I don’t think any single item is more important than the others, but at the same time, they all matter. I’ve just always focused on time periods. Once I had enough of everything for 3 days, I worked on collecting enough for 2 weeks, and so on. If you leave out one of the essentials, the other things won’t do you much good.

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  9. Rourke and Single Mom-good points. I believe that every situation is unique-number of people, geographic location, medical needs etc. However we all must have water to survive and food and shelter.
    If a person eats meat or is a vegetarian or vegan etc. every situation calls for a similar but varied plan.The important thing is to be as prepared as possible for any emergency. Try to utilize the resources of your own
    area.For ex. if you live in the south then various fruits and vegetables will be more readily available to you- say grapefruit,oranges, etc. Here apples are plentiful. Stock up on whats ;less expensive and then branch out from there. Arlene

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