how to start

[1911vm]

I have been reading and watching stuff and it all seems so overwhelming. How do I start ? My wife and I desided to dedicate $200 dollars a month towards the prepping. What now. Water, food, medicine. What's first?

[FloridaWoodsman]

What's first?
Build shelves.

[fixit69]

Then ammo and food. I say ammo first because you can hunt if need be. Or take someone's food...

That was a joke. Nobody get riled up. This is not my area of expertise but I think food and ammo are cornerstones.

[FloridaWoodsman]

He's right. If you're not secure, there's no sense in accumulating things.

[1911vm]

Got shelves And ammo. started teaching all family members to use firearms . a lot of places say to first stock up on water. I have a well and a way to bring water up even wit no power , do I still need to stock water? what type of food do I start with?

[LMT Shooter]

Sounds like you have water & ammo somewhat covered at a minimum, so I say next should be food, and the easiest & least expensive way to do that is to build up & maintain a deep stockpile of canned & dry food, probably from your local grocery store. Canned & dry foods are probably already part of your regular diet, so organize a rotation, and you can have a year or two worth of food on hand. It ain't cool like MRE's, but it makes the most sense to me.

Don't get caught up in buying gadgets, you'll waste a lot of money. Focus on practical items that you know, or can easily learn, how to actually use. Don't ask me about the foolish things I've spent my money on figuring this out.

Medical & trauma kit is good to have, but again, buy what you know how to use, or learn how to use what you've bought. I'd love to have a penny for every one of the dollars spent on prepping every year by folks who have no idea how to use what they've bought.

I can seem overwhelming. The secret is to do it like you'd eat an elephant- one bite at a time.

[FloridaWoodsman]

How you handle the food aspect depends on whether you plan to hunker down or bug out. The expensive dehydrated meals may be the best for lightweight travel and a retreat to the deep woods, but if you are staying home, stick to ordinary stuff that keeps well. The Mormons fairly routinely keep a year's supply of food, so you might want to look at how they do it on a budget. I've been kind of testing the expiration dates on products I normally buy and have found that some are exaggerated while others are extremely conservative - You don't know for sure until you try it.

[Khackee]

What am I preparing for? For how many people?
Food & food storage Do I have enough to feed my family until order is restored? 2000 calories a day as a basis.
Water and water Purification & storage
Food & food storage
Firearms: Can I defend my family, property and preps?
Medical and personal hygeine items. Personal hygeine is often overlooked.
Heating:How will I heat my home? How will I provide light and electricity?
Gardening and implements
Comms and contacts

[fyrediver]

Food, water, shelter, security, power (heat, electricity, etc), debt.

Pay down debt. If you have an ordinary financial issue (job loss, cut in hours, new bill) this will help you relax while your other preps take your burden. If you've got a month's worth of food that will buy you time to get a new job and will supplement any unemployment etc. Keeping your bills low isn't sexy but it really is the first step in becoming self-sufficient and reliant.

Food: initially start with food you already eat. Build up a month of spare food that you KNOW you eat regularly. If you buy it know how to cook it. If you hate beans and rice then don't buy any! Look for sales, coupons etc. Penny pinch. Don't forget some treats and not just have 60 lbs of rice and beans!

Water: spare, source, treatment system. Have extra water on hand and a way to resupply. Then you need to be able to treat which can be as simple as boiling (which leads to energy). Bleach! Can be used to treat water and to disinfect an area.

Shelter: can be simple like a roll of plastic sheeting (useful for improvised shelters and repairs if your home is damaged) or could be a tent or RV. Sleeping bags, wool blankets, etc.

Energy: camp stove, wood stove, spare batteries, inverter in your car . . . Provides the ability to cook, treat water, charge the cell phone or radio batteries, can use to run the fridge for a bit to keep your food cold.

Security. You're on the M4 forum so I think you know what this is about.

Start small building redundancy in the key elements then start expanding your other abilities. Learn skills and don't rely upon gadgets. Youtube can be your friend but practice and don't think that because you read it or watched a video that you can DO it.

I second the hygiene and medical/first aid concerns. If you get sick you're in a world of hurt and you can't help your family.

Good luck!

[fixit69]

One thing I would like to add, be prepared for a non-end of the the world event ie Katrina type situation. Where you will get back to normal, but you will be on your own for quite a while.

I know I need to better my "prepping" all around but this seems like the a more likely future possibility than the end of the world. Well at the time...