Survival & Preparedness

Perhaps the only way I can describe Pennsylvania’s knife laws is disappointing. Upon cursory review, you might want to congratulate the state for being so pro-knife: you can own virtually any kind of knife except automatics and switchblades, and may legally carry pretty much any other kind of knife you want, to include such common … Read more

It is rare to encounter anybody who does not have a smartphone these days. Rich or poor, prince or pauper, the proliferation of smart devices is approaching “total saturation” in the West. Even the most devoutly Luddite prepper probably has a smartphone on or about their person at all times. And let’s be honest, it … Read more

Bugging out is a core tenant of prepping, and integral to the concept of bugging out is having in mind one or more bug out locations, places where you and your loved ones can head to in times of trouble so that you can better ride out whatever the problem is in safety, or at … Read more

Prepping is sometimes portrayed as an endeavor that you undertake by yourself, for yourself, to ensure you will survive the collapse of society or the outright end of the world. Survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle and the continuity of the competent, all that jazz. However, prepping is so much of the … Read more

Chances are if you have been shopping for camping or survival gear you have come across space blankets. These silver, crinkly, shiny blankets are featured as a standard item in many survival kits, and more than a few preparedness experts will advise you to keep a couple handy no matter what sort of activity or … Read more

For any preppers who have kids, you naturally want them to become capable, competent adults when they grow up. I don’t know of any good parent that does not want that for their child. But while they are small, it is only natural that you, as their parent, will spend an inordinate amount of time … Read more

Keeping yourself and your surroundings clean and free of germs is critical if you want to stay healthy. This is easy enough in kind times though it can be a struggle when far afield for extended forays. But where most people struggle to deal with keeping clean bodies and surroundings, including preppers, is during long- … Read more

Raising cows as part of your survival plan is not for every prepper – I feel the need to just throw that out there right off the bat. Keeping cattle is an excellent idea for some survival homesteaders, but will prove disastrous for others. Cows are arguably harder to raise than poultry birds, but they … Read more

Out of all the possible globe spanning catastrophes that preppers prepare for, far and away one of the most likely to occur is a pandemic. A worldwide outbreak of disease has terrible and far-reaching consequences, and is more than capable of toppling a civilization. Accounts of pandemics and bygone errors paint a very grim picture … Read more

More and more people are preparing today. Why? There are a lot of reasons and if you are visiting this website; you likely already have yours. The bottom line is – this world is not a safe place, and it is just flat out common sense to put some supplies back, just in case. So, … Read more

If bugging out is a mainstay plan of prepping in general, then bugging out to the woods is about as bread-and-butter as that plan can get. Anyone you talk to, so long as they don’t live in the desert, will regale you with their idea of just heading off into the woods to find a … Read more

If you are a proponent of self-sufficiency and personal readiness, you have no doubt heard the terms prepper and survivalist bandied about in conversations both on and offline. Whether they were used in a positive context or not chances are they were being employed as labels, as shorthand to easily inform the listener of the … Read more

Quite a few preppers have based all of their training, accumulation of provisions and other material or intangible preparations on plausible, society-toppling events like a second civil war. The way things are going, a civil war is no longer purely theoretical. A never widening chasm between the Haves and the Have-Nots, increasing cultural balkanization and … Read more

Abduction and kidnapping has ever been a fixture of human violence. Be it done for purposes of ransom, as a psychological or emotional weapon or just to quench the sadism and bloodlust of the kidnapper, being the victim of such is certainly one of the most harrowing and most dangerous things that can possibly happen … Read more

For preppers who lack the built-in survival group of a family made up of well-prepared people, like-minded friends or just a loose coalition of associates who they can turn to in times of trouble, the solution to the “lone wolf” prepping problem might be a mutual assistance group. A mutual assistance group, or MAG, is … Read more

Bugging out is a central idea in prepping, and serious preppers are constantly refining, inventing and debating which procedures are best suited for keeping themselves and their families alive when the time comes to hit the road during a major disaster or some other crisis. For many preppers, making use of a motor vehicle’s speed … Read more

When most people think of a safe room, they envision a completely enclosed, hardened vault-like room within an existing structure that is completely safe against any threat, against any form of attack or natural disaster. While these popular conceptions certainly do qualify as safe rooms, and very good ones at that, this typical imagining is … Read more

Armed robbery is an ancient crime that persists even today. Call it whatever you want: a hold up, a mugging, a stick up, daylight robbery, a shakedown, the outcome is the same. If you don’t part with what the crook wants, it may cost you your life, or if you’re lucky, just some flesh and … Read more

Preppers are champions at making lists; some of us even have lists of lists to ensure we keep all of our preps in order. Stockpiling gear and supplies is an essential part of a prepper’s survival plan, but those vital goods (and skills) will only be beneficial if you know where they are, how to … Read more

This sounds counter intuitive doesn’t it? Stockpiling alcohol however doesn’t mean being drunk and disorderly and unable to cope with the situation… In fact, there are a number of very good reasons why you should stockpile alcohol – particularly wine and spirits rather than beer, which does not have such a long shelf life. Drinking … Read more

No prepper who has spent any amount of time focused on improving their personal readiness to face disasters needs to be told that a big part of being prepared is having the right supplies, the right equipment and enough provision to make it through. The myth of the one, lone survivor who knows absolutely everything, … Read more