Is prepping pointless?

Prepping means preparing for any scenario you can see being possible. Including "normal" life.

In this scenario, make a plan to live through that and get the stuff you would need.

I suggest packing light and head for the wilds as far as possible from civilization.

If you need to defend your home, build up a bullet proof barrier. Could be a refrigerator, dresser full of sand, brick wall, washer full of sand, etc...

Also have an escape route.

I think the biggest prep one can do is train with your weapons and be physically fit.

It sure seems like it's pointless. Not because the starving herd will take it all from you, but because there's never going to be a starving herd.

It looks like humans are going to be able to keep the train moving forever. A decade has almost passed since I moved out of the city. I could have made enough money to retire by now.

I am thinking of a catastrophic event in this scenario, such as a grid down situation for at least a few weeks...which I fully expect this Winter.

The problem most homes face is the number of windows. Unless you have enough armed people to cover them, there will be points of entry and weak spots. Plus, if you are facing an angry mob of a hundred surrounding your home...what can you do?

so you would prefer to be among the "starving herds" ?

they will lock down the cities first ... so if you live in the country, you won't have to worry about the them... you need to stay OUT of the kill zone ...

You might be able to keep yourself alive for a little while longer, but the question remains if you want to extend the torture of merely existing. You'll exist, keeping your organism more or less alive, but other than that everything will be intolerable.

Imagine the psychological state you'd be in. It's the darkest of depressions compounded by terrorizing fear and unspeakable hardship.

Watch the movie "The Survivalist" ... It's a great flick regardless.



Last Edited by Rotten Luck on 11/14/2021 10:31 AM

Prep everyone, install water buts everywhere

Yes, they will lock down the cities, but only after the death and destruction starts. Lock-downs are containment procedures, not for protection of the masses.

Prep for what? Think of that for a minute? Since you don't know if..what...when..where..whatever will happen...what exactly do you prep? just food & water & bullets? The flood washed away all that. Political? Earthquakes? I realize there is some constant underlying assumptions as to a police Steve etc...however they can't even get enough to get the vax. So whatever scares you.. Prep for that and hope its not one of the other 10 things. They all require different solutions.

Prepping for whatever will cause a mob mentality to take over.
It would have to be widespread and something that outlasts the 3-4 days of food most people and store shelves carry.

Once a large group of people are determined to enter your house, they will eventually succeed. That was my point in the original post. If based on your location, you will be overrun by angry mob, is it pointless to prep, since they will take i from you anyway.

Obviously, it is much better to leave crowded areas, but even where I live, in a small rural village, there will be hundreds of locals who have not prepped.

Last Edited by Templar Knight on 11/14/2021 10:51 AM

1) Don't live near mobs of people that are likely to be starving
2) Live rural with neighbors close enough to help, but not so many they can become a mob
3) Buy firearms and learn how to use them. IN general a mob will avoid a hard target where they are being shot at as long as there are alternate soft targets.
4) Fences, thickets, and other rough terrain around your homestead
5) Lookup and read the accounts of Ferfal and other survivors of mobs
6) store food, fuel, ammo and water ( if you don't have an independent source like a well)

Lack of water kills in 3-4 days
Lack of sanitation and disease spread starts at about 2 weeks ( remember how people were crapping in their own stairwells during that hurricane)
Lack of food will kill in 3-6 weeks.
Extreme Cold or heat will kill in a day

Like that joke where two men encounter a bear, and one man puts on his running shoes, only to be told that he can't outrun a bear, you only need to run faster than those around you.. most of whom are stupid, conditioned to a routine, and used to delegating their own safety to others.
These peolpe will find being unable to check social networks will render their lives pointless and not worth living. Most will probably lie in their beds and just not get up. They think electricity comes from the wall,and food comes from the store.

The mob danger will simply be over after 4 weeks. After that its the armed gangs who are running out of resources in the cities start moving out - but they will be limited by fuel, and will eventually be rendered to camping in the open and traveling on horseback or by foot ( how many urban gangs can make such a transition?) and will eventually be whittled down by attrition as long as the rural folk don't capitulate

Living in an area that gets cold and difficult to traverse ( like mountains) makes you a hard target for such gangs.. who will probably start simply start demanding tribute from others .

So is it pointless to prep in urban area? Yeah probably.
In a rural area? Well we will see...in my opinion trying to survive is what one must do, even if one fails.

OP: not as long as if makes me feel good and I don't have to run to the grocery store every week. And there's the savings I accrue by taking advantage of sales. One week Hamburger is $1.99/lb and the next it's $3.49/lb. - that kind of thing.`

Everybody should have a small surplus of food and supplies at all time, to prep for anything.

I live where we get hurricanes and if a hurricane starts approaching, people will rush and stock up at the store emptying the shelves quick, but if they would have been prepped, before they wouldn't have to worry about it.

The fact that most modern people don't bother to can or store any supplies, just shows how out of touch with nature and reality our modern high tech disposable convenience lifestyle has made us.

It wasn't that many generations ago that people had to prep every year, for winter. At least if they wanted to live to see the next spring.

As soon as we heard of food shortages and prices shooting up, I went out and bought a freezer. Not ideal for prepping in case power goes out but, better than nothing. I have a good discount meat market within an hour drive so we are stocked up pretty well.

And things got better or worse over that decade?
The reasons you moved are gone now?

Economic problems fixed and no inflation?
No diseases that will spread through populations like wildfire?
Government is less powerful?
No current threats to your liberty or livelihood?
Your nation obeys the rule of law?
Supply chains all working well??

Do you really think you would be better off in a city at the moment? How much money would that risk be worth to you?

I too left a decade a go and I too took a pay cut -- and my life is only better than it was in the ways that mean something - good and loyal neighbors, self-sufficiency, the satisfaction of improving my lot and constantly learning new skills , and time with family . No my house isn't as nice as my old one, and my cars are old, and no I haven't attended many Broadway shows or taken many fancy trips. But its a good life, and I am happy with it if Doom never comes. But given the current state of things, I suspect doom will arrive in some form - be it a little doom ( grid down for weeks, food and fuel shortages) or something akin to Nazi Germany.

A lot less hungry mouths after the vaccinated die in the next few years.

There is a bunch of overlap. And no you can't prep for everything.. that doesn't make it useless.

Starting with a single firearm and 1000 rounds, a water purification system, and a 5 gallon bucket with 3 days of food covers a lot of short term scenarios.

Then up it to a month of food, a small generator with two 5 gallon gas cans, fire starters, shovel, tent, crank powered radio and a knife. (or whatever)

You simply progress to longer periods and cover as many of the scenarios as you can for as long as you can. If you have the money for fully equipped 5000 sq foot mini thorium reactor powered EMP/nuke proof bunkers with 20 years of food on different continents and the Captain Nemo submarine to travel to them- through underground water tunnels, go for that too.

You can't do that? Maybe instead do what you can. Over time. As you can afford it.
You don't need to outrun the bear- you have to outrun the people around you. Every little prep you make increases your chances of survival.. even if in the end they just make surviving the event a little easier than it would have been
The preps were lost in the flood? Them is the breaks. At least you took responsibility for your own life and tried which is more than 90% of the people out there will do .

It depends. It's not pointless if you can protect and defend what you have.

I'm not sure how doable that is in a city or even suburban environment. I'd say make a decision to go all in or don't bother. By going all in that includes moving out to a rural area, a good chunk of land, have a roving team of attack German Shephards, lots of family members who know how to shoot, etc...

Considering what's going on in the world today, there's no way I'd live in the cities.

Has prepping ever been useful in your own lifetime? Just asking

If you think you need a freezer and meat to survive, you are a moron.

It's the most american thing ever.

Last Edited by Dolan Trumb on 11/14/2021 11:31 AM

Prep spiritually because in the progression of all things if you believe yourself eternal we all shall arrive at same place.

Thread: A message to those who would be strong enough to survive what is coming.

Buying five years of food that tastes bad, costs too much and lasts forever is not a good prep.

You know what doesn't cost anything?

PLANNING.

Even better are preps that save you money.
Like cheaper ways to heat your house. Maybe not dependent on electricity.

Or buying in bulk.(Have some place to put it first)
When buying garden lights, maybe opt for the better ones.
Buying a barbecue grill? Maybe one with a side burner.
You probably have a camping stove. Have some fuel on hand.

Figuring alternative routes out of your city is free.
Having a vehicle that goes thru snow or mud is sensible.
Keeping fix a flat in your car is reasonable.


Or have fun preps.
An RV.
A hot tub.
What about a food dryer?
Or even a frigging place to put a clothesline.

Just get a leg up on reasonably likely future events.

Last Edited by Swamprat on 11/14/2021 11:39 AM

Even a broken freezer will store non-perishables and keep the mice out.

When the power goes out, I look at my flueless gas heater, and his buddy Mr Carbon Monoxide Detector, and I smile.

A few plastic jugs of water add time. Fill one half way and then invert it after it freezes as a safety.

So, because it hasn't happened in my experience, it can never happen?
What about in my Grandparents experience?
How about in the experience of those who don't live in an industrialized western nation?


And yes, prepping has made recent events far less important and eventful, as I have alternatives. Or have you been asleep

Oh there is a potentially fatal disease circulating? I have the option to not interact with others. Oh they are threatening to fire me from my job . am ready for that. Shortages? Ready for that too. Grid down for a long time and without heat? Ready for that. All these happened in the US in the last year.

It also greatly improved my quality of life by putting me in a better area, with better people, always learning new skills, spending time wrestling with nature, nurturing animals, and focusing on things that are far more satisfying and rewarding than the typical human rat race.

Many times!

More than once, the heat has gone out in extreme weather and a 400K BTU heater has kept the house comfortably above freezing. I've been snowed in lots of times when it took up to a week to get to a highway. I've just hunkered down and enjoyed myself for a month knowing I have the necessities. Even if I'm not in the mood to go to a store, I can just nibble at what's available.

The woodstove is great for colder weather, and I have several sources of power when needed. Power goes out when you least expect it.

In short, being prepared for most things just leads to an easier and less stressful life.

Prepping is like a condom or parachute, better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. That goes for firearms as well!

What is a prepper?

In my opinion it's someone who can see the writing on the wall..you either curl up and die or have the WILL TO SURVIVE by any means..gain knowledge, skills and resources...these take time..Preppers have been around a long time..some it has been a hobby, others it has been a lifelong pursuit..

Many saw what is to come and prepared...

We now have people prepared to SURVIVE what's coming and some will not be forgiving of others stupidity.

There are security films you can put on windows that make them difficult to break. Amazon lists several of them. In latin america, most homes have bars on their windows for security, and fences all around, some with razor wire on top.