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I have been writing articles and doing survival courses for years, and while it is much easier to show the importance of basics in real courses, it is a bit harder to do that in my articles. That’s because we as humans tend to look for flashy things. We love quick and interesting facts that will occupy our attention. But you must also prepare for the basics so that you can perform those things during the confusion, panic, and mayhem of SHTF. You must observe your surroundings before anything terrible happens.

Basics are simply that: basic – and because that we often overlook it, or forget it.

For example, an article with news about the latest development in tensions between the US and Iran with all the flaming rhetoric will catch more attention than an article about how to grow tomatoes.

We look for flashy stuff, but the majority of us need to go back to the basics (or at least to refresh them).

Every now and then, I like to remind people about that.

Why I don’t like list posts

Lists about what to do and what not to do in the form of “10 things to do” or “10 things not to do” or “10 things to have” are not my favorite, because some people tend to think those “10 things” are definitive lists that solve all problems.

But, as we write, it is easy to put it in that way as a concept. You as a reader must understand it is a list that continues, and as long as you understand that you need to constantly refresh your basics.

Big world events usually will happen no matter what you do or think about it. You need to operate in your “small circle” where you actually can change things for real.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

5 Things You Never Thought You Needed In Your Prepper Gear

August 5, 2018

5 Things You Never Thought You Needed In Your Prepper Gear

Preparing for the worst is often looked down upon by those who don’t think there’s any reason to prepare for even a natural disaster by storing a bit of extra food. But when you live in an area where even major blizzards are possible in winter, thoughts often go to the most obscure items and their potential use. Here, we will list five things you may or may not have thought to add to prepping supply or gear and some possible uses.

While food, water, and ammunition seem like the obvious items to hoard and store safely for a SHTF scenario, these five items could also help, even though it may not have been considered before now. But once you see the things we’ve come up with, we are confident you could think of even more ways to use these valuable items!

1.A PENCIL SHARPENER

A pencil sharpener is small and light, but that’s only one reason to toss it in your bug out bag or put it in your bunker or food storage room. You could even save a few pencils if you so desire. But a pencil sharpener could be an invaluable tool to help you make kindling. You would simply use the pencil sharpener to sharpen a pencil (or a twig) and get kindling to help you start a fire. Most preppers carry a lighter but stop short at thinking they could need kindling to help get a fire going. Obviously, you can shave down wood into tinder using a great knife (if you have one handy) or you might be able to find some small twigs, but nothing you can carry can make kindling quite as easily and more safely as a pencil sharpener.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

3 ‘Powerful’ Things You Can Do NOW To Prepare For A Future Grid Failure

July 27, 2018

3 ‘Powerful’ Things You Can Do NOW To Prepare For A Future Grid Failure

In the event of a grid failure, would you be prepared? Many who prep save extra food and water, but have no idea what actually going “off the grid” would entail. But there are some tips and tricks to preparing so you don’t find yourself or your family at the whims of those currently running the political system.

So what could happen in the event of a nation-wide power grid failure? If you rely on FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), the situation could be dire. And what if it’s winter time? You will most likely be forced from your home in the dead of winter, with nothing more than the few supplies you were able to carry amongst yourselves. You would then be shuttered and locked into a community center (FEMA camp) with thousands of other families, displaced from their homes as well, relying on what few supplies the government could provide. You would have to wait in long lines to use the portable bathroom and security guards would monitor your every move. It wouldn’t exactly be a utopia – it would be more like a prison.

Living off the gird and staying out of those camps is your other option. Of course, that’s far from ideal as well, considering you will be without the basic modern amenities we’ve all come to rely on, but you’d have your freedom. If you choose to “bug in”and live off the grid in the event of a prolonged power grid failure, here are three”powerful” tips to help you survive and make the most of your supplies or gear.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How to Create a Personal Emergency Preparedness Binder (with FREE Templates)

July 20, 2018

How to Create a Personal Emergency Preparedness Binder (with FREE Templates)

You can buy prepping books, stockpile food, and learn first aid, but unless you have organized your personal information and documents, the aftermath of an ordinary disaster is going to be much more difficult. Mind you, I’m not talking about an apocalyptic situation that changes the world as we know it, but something like a house fire, a flood, or a tornado. That’s why every prepper needs a personal emergency preparedness binder.

The good thing about such a binder is that it is very inexpensive to put together. You only need a 3 ring binder, some inserts with pockets, and paper to either print or handwrite the personal information. Oh – and you may need to go to Staples and make some photocopies, too.

What goes into a personal emergency preparedness binder?

In your binder, you want to have all the pertinent information to deal with medical issues, contact friends and family members, and handle insurance companies should a disaster strike that wipes out all your records.

So things like:

Personal information

Medical histories
Prescriptions
Insurance policies
Bank account information
Savings and investment account information
Insurance policies
Home inventories
Photographs
Important receipts
Local contacts
Contact information for friends and family members
Serial numbers
Registrations and licenses

You get the idea. All the stuff we need to function in this modern world and replace the things that have been lost.

I’ve made this really easy for my subscribers. I have put together a Personal Emergency Preparedness Binder template that has all the forms and checklists you need to customize your own binder. (Subscribers, check your email today!) If you aren’t a subscriber, you can sign up below to get your own PDF absolutely free.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Most Americans Are Not Prepared For A Major Disaster! Are You?

June 19, 2018

Most Americans Are Not Prepared For A Major Disaster! Are You?

Most people living in the United States are ill-prepared, or not prepared at all for a major disaster. According to the results of a recent poll, a natural disaster would devastate the majority of the population.

A recent poll conducted by Business Insider partner MSN asked people about their emergency preparedness levels. The results, although not alarming, show just how poorly prepared most of the population is for a natural disaster. After conducting the survey, MSNused machine learning and big data, such as the census, to model how a representative sample of the US would have responded.

According to the poll as reported by Science Alert, only three in ten Americans say they have an emergency preparedness kit, 42 percent of Americans say they’re not at all prepared for a disaster, and 46 percent say they’re only prepared a little. What’s perhaps more troubling, some parts of America are even less prepared than this. In 16 states, 25 percent or fewer residents said they have an emergency preparedness kit. In those same states, almost half of the population said they’re not at all prepared for disaster, while more than 40 percent said they’re a little prepared.

Are you living in a disaster zone? If so, now would be a great time to start preparing for what could happen.

States which tend to be more prone to disasters tend to also be more concerned about natural disasters. The majority of South Carolinians, for example, say they understand the need to prepare for hurricanes and unsurprisingly, South Carolina is one of the most prepared states.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How to Convince Loved Ones to Prep (and When to Give Up)

May 11, 2018

How to Convince Loved Ones to Prep (and When to Give Up)

Lately, those who live the preparedness lifestyle have been more concerned than ever about the events going on in the world, and for many of us, the urgency to convince loved ones to prep is at an all-time high as worries increase. The economic collapse of Venezuela, our own shaky markets and banking system, the threat of natural disasters, and worries about cyber attacks all have the potential to become life-changing catastrophes. These are the events we prep for and we clearly understand the ramifications of facing them without the necessary supplies.

And many of us have friends and family without those necessary supplies. Raise your hand if you have ever tried to convince loved ones to prep. Yep, just as I thought. Hands everywhere.

Chances are that when you brought up the topic, your friends and family considered you anywhere on the nuts scale from “a bit eccentric” to “downright certifiable.” If you’ve ever broached the subject with them, the responses were probably one or more of the following:

“Lighten up!”

“I don’t want to sit there and think about the bad things all day long.”

“You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Live a little!”

“If the disaster is that bad, hopefully, I’ll just die in it. Who’d want to live in a world after ***fill in the disaster of your choice***”

“Hahahahahaha!!!!”

“You worry too much.”

“I’ll just come to your house.”

There’s the smug dismissal, the deer-in-headlights fear, the rolled eyes, and the outright denial that anything bad could ever happen to them. There’s the justification of “We keep a case of water in the pantry at all times” and the “I have survival skills” delusion. Most folks just don’t even want to think about it.

So. Incredibly. Frustrating.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Russian TV Instructs Citizens How To Prepare Bomb Shelters For Nuclear War

April 12, 2018

Russian TV Instructs Citizens How To Prepare Bomb Shelters For Nuclear War

Russia-24 (Россия-24), a state-owned Russian-language news channel from Moscow, spent five minutes on Tuesday advising its viewers how to prepare for a nuclear war amid the increasing tensions with the United States over Syria. The television anchor urged the country’s citizens to purchase essential items and emergency supplies to stock their bomb shelters.

The title of the television broadcast “Inviolable stock: what should I take with me to the bomb shelter?,” explains how a nuclear war with the United States would be “catastrophic,” as a TV anchor from Russia-24 informed citizens how to get ready for World War III.

“If some people did give in to the panic, and decided to spend all their savings on a survival kit, we’ll tell you how to not waste money on something you won’t need.”

He recommended that people purchase salt, oatmeal, and other products that have a long shelf life. He even said powdered milk, grains, and sugar could last for years in storage, as one video during the broadcast demonstrated how to cook pasta while hiding in a bunker. The special broadcast then transitions to the next TV presenter Alexey Kazako, who explains the number one rule of surviving a nuclear blast is “fewer sweets, more water.”

He said: “All chocolates, candies and condensed milk will have to be left behind.

“Glucose is an unrivaled energy source but sweets will make you thirsty, and water will be the most valuable resource for bomb shelter residents.”

Eduard Khalilov, a specialist in survival, explained to viewers about the importance of stocking fresh water.

He said, “people can only survive up to three days without water, but can go up to three weeks without food.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

It’s Not Doom and Gloom: Preparedness is the Ultimate Act of Optimism

March 28, 2018

It’s Not Doom and Gloom: Preparedness is the Ultimate Act of Optimism

Does this sound familiar?

You’re talking to a friend or family member who isn’t on board with preparedness. (And it’s even worse when they think they know what’s going on in the world but garner their so-called “information” from network news sources.) You try for the millionth time to get them to consider stocking up on a few things and they say this:

Life’s too short for all of this doom and gloom. Live a little! You’re such a pessimist!

My response to this is that preparedness is the ultimate form of optimism.

One who practices skills, makes dramatic lifestyle changes, and studies current events critically may come across to the uninitiated as a person who has buried himself or herself in negativity, but in fact, one who prepares is saying to life, “Whatever comes, we are not only going to live through it, my family is going to thrive!”

I think that methods of preparedness can be compared to love songs on the radio. Bear with me through this analogy.

If the songs that make you think of your significant other are sad, with reference to breaking up and getting back together, unsatisfied yearnings, arguments, frustration, anger, and broken hearts, you just might be doing the whole “love” thing wrong. Shouldn’t the song that makes you think of the one you love be happy, upbeat, full of joy? Shouldn’t thoughts of that special someone make you more prone to goofy smiles and a warm glow than to melancholy longing or the urge to gleefully burn all of their belongings in a great pile in the front yard?

It’s exactly the same with preparedness. Thoughts of your plans, your lifestyle, and your loaded pantry room should give you a sense of peace and security. If your state of preparedness makes you feel unhappy, stressed, angry, or resentful, you’re doing something wrong.

Here are some examples of how prepping is pure, unadulterated optimism.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

12 Bad Strategies That Will Get Preppers Killed

March 27, 2018

12 Bad Strategies That Will Get Preppers Killed

If you’re involved in the preparedness lifestyle, you’re probably into planning. Most likely, you research and study the excellent preparedness strategies put out by experts. Whether we prepare for incidents small or large, we all ponder what we’d do if something world-as-we-know-it-ending went down.

The trouble is, a lot of the plans that get made are more likely to get you killed than to save you. And people post these plans online, then new preppers read them and think, “Wow, what a great idea.”

I really love being involved in the preparedness lifestyle. I get to meet and correspond with lots of like-minded, down-to-earth people. We have those awesome conversations that you just can’t have with the checker at the grocery store cash register. I get to engage in email and social media discussions too, the likes of which would never occur with my second cousin who thinks that missing a pedicure appointment is a disaster worthy of government intervention.

But sometimes, I kind of cringe. Not all preparedness plans are well-thought out and practiced. In fact, there are several recurring themes that I hear or read that are not good ideas for most preppers, and I bet that many of you reading have also privately rolled eyes at one of the following strategies. (Or maybe even publicly.)

I’m truly not trying to be mean when I share them with you here, nor am I trying to say that I’m the Queen Prepper of the Universe, who knows absolutely everything. I’d just like you to consider the variables if one of these plans happens to be your default strategy.

Note: Some people really are ultramarathoners, expert hunters, ex-special forces, and super-farmers. If you are one of those folks, this article may not be for you. If you already regularly practice these skills, this article may not be for you. If you do nothing but talk about these ideas and daydream about your action-hero future, this article IS for you.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How To House the Whole Family in a SHTF-Emergency

December 27, 2017

How To House the Whole Family in a SHTF-Emergency

One of the complications of a major disaster event taking place (with or without warning) is not having supplies and equipment before the event takes place. In line with this dearth is the shortage of preparations for members of the family who live in other locations who may wish to band together. I’m going to propose a solution here that is slightly “unconventional,” so try to remove your mind from the constructs imposed upon it by your entire life spent from the army of skeptics and closed-minded establishment mindsets.

The imposition is that we all are channeled to live in “cookie-cutter” houses, plopped down akin to so many Hershey kisses in a row: identical construction in an approved, regulated, homeowner’s association-sanctioned manner.

We’re referring to the end of the society, and if you’re a multi-millionaire and you want a house for each member of the family retreating to your location, more power to you. We do what we can in life, and do the best we can. In the absence of millions, there is another route. Let’s go over the basics first.

The principle is for all the family members (and anyone close to that family) having a place to meet up and reside together when it all falls apart. From a logistics perspective, unless you have a gigantic manorial-type residence, your space and resources will be stretched thin. What I propose here are sheds…cabins, if you prefer. You can build them yourself or you can buy them.

Once again, much of this is going to depend on the geographic location you reside, and the social and legal impositions placed upon you. Only you know them. Armies of bureaucrats who want to tax you into insolvency are behind the hordes of conformists (commonly labeled as homeowners’ associations) and “friendly” neighbors who wish to impose their wills upon you.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Winter Survival: Practical Preps for an Emergency Bug Out

December 19, 2017

Winter Survival: Practical Preps for an Emergency Bug Out

“I got to, got to, got to, get away…turn me loose, baby.” – Jimi Hendrix, “Stone Free”

Yes, ReadyNutrition guys and gals, there comes a time when you just “got to get away,” so to speak. This doesn’t mean to the sands of (what used to be) St. Bart’s. This means “E&E,” or “Escape and Evasion,” as we used to call it in the Army. But what if your car is not working because of an EMP…and you have two feet of snow on the ground? What if you have a sheet of ice so thick on the ground that the Olympic Hockey Team could practice on it? The “suck” factor will be high, and the adrenaline will be pumping. You have to get out of there. Are you prepared?

You can be. Firstly, let’s refresh a few things that have been mentioned already. You have your BOB (your happy “Bug-Out Bag”) if you wish to call it that. It should be packed and ready in your vehicle.

And at this stage of the game, you should have already switched off for your winter needs, as we covered in numerous articles before.

You need both a Gore-Tex top and bottom for extreme cold weather. First things first! What are you facing? If it’s the ice, you need a pair of Yak-Trak’s or Crepons (like these) to place upon your feet with metal spikes on the bottom to give you some traction. Yes, these guys will run you about 30 to 40 bucks, and it’s well worth it. The rubber harness that holds either springs or spikes/metal cleats are durable and will last you for more than a couple seasons if you use them regularly.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Your Disaster Response Is Limited By Your Imagination

December 6, 2017

Your Disaster Response Is Limited By Your Imagination

I touched on this in a previous article. You need to imagine the many forms a disaster will take and have a plan to cope with the changing situation.

I am sure there were many people in the areas affected by the recent hurricanes that had prepared for such an occurrence only to find they were still lacking in some form. It is good to have several months of supplies on hand to deal with a crisis but how many of these people had to evacuate due to flood waters and leave the bulk of these supplies behind? I often wonder how many ended up in evacuation sites anyway and how many had a plan and were able to load up their supplies and get to an alternate safe location.

It is difficult to know how any disaster will play out but your response to it is only limited to how much imagination you put into planning for it. I’m often accused of having crazy ideas but those ideas provide me with a data base to draw on in times of crisis. It is often hard to think straight when disaster approaches and time is short and it is in those moments that you must rely on what you already know.

For instance, following the unprecedented flooding in the gulf states I wondered what I would do if I suddenly found my home surrounded by rising flood waters. I live on a small hill which is one of the highest places in the area. Any flooding would cut off vehicle evacuation long before water reached the house. I concluded my only options would be to sink or float.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

You Are Either A Prepper Or A Future Victim

September 26, 2017

You Are Either A Prepper Or A Future Victim

The recent disasters around the world have shown most people are ill prepared for sudden disruptions to normal life. Just as there was a lack of imagination that allowed 9/11 to happen, the population suffers from a lack of imagination that allows them to suffer from sudden occurrences. Survival favors the prepared mind.

Simply having supplies piled up in preparation for some occurrence is not enough to insure your survival. There are several other things you must keep in mind and balance out among your preparations.

You must imagine the potential catastrophic possibilities
You must prepare yourself mentally to deal with whatever happens
You must have knowledge of how best to employ your resources
You need to use your imagination to think outside the box
You must be able to improvise, adapt and overcome obstacles
You must have a flexible plan to guide you

Many people have spewed hateful rhetoric at preppers over the years and today some are finding themselves in dire circumstances as infrastructure and supplies are cut off for an indefinite period of time. Those unprepared individuals have few options and now rely on the actions of others to insure their survival.

As many in the Caribbean can now attest to, having to wait for help to come from hundreds or even thousands of miles away is slow and stressful to those who wait. They do not know when help will arrive and what resources will be available when they arrive. It could take years for many locations to return to some type of normalcy and this is at a time when help is available and forthcoming. What happens when that help is not available following an event?

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why and how to wargame your emergency/disaster plans

September 24, 2017

Why and how to wargame your emergency/disaster plans

I spent a lot of years in the military and have worked with many different agencies and countries in that time. One thing I found universally true is the more effective and higher-level a groups (Delta, Special Forces, Navy SEALS, S.A.S, etc, the more they wargame their scenarios and specific missions.

These practice run-throughs (drills, exercises, dress rehearsals) includes everything from being generally prepared for possible missions to building mock-up buildings and neighborhoods and using all available intel to make things as realistic as possible. I’m not saying that you need to be prepared for emergencies to that level (this is their job), but I think you do need to use dress rehearsals to flush out vulnerabilities and deficiencies in your plan(s), and the more realistic you make these rehearsals, the better.

According to a 2015 FEMA report, 60% of Americans aren’t practicing for disasters. Pretty much every part of your emergency plan (your family emergency communications plan, bug out route plan, using a ham radio, dealing with medical emergencies, surviving in the woods, dealing with a power outage at home, and many, many other topics, require hands-on training as well as just walking through the plan you currently have so you can update it and try again. The danger is that if you don’t actually walk through the process in a semi-realistic fashion, you won’t realize you’re not prepared until it’s too late. As they say, “Don’t practice until you get it right; practice until you can’t get it wrong.”

Discovering your abilities and shortcomings

One of the biggest mistakes that preppers or others that try to prepare for emergencies or survival situations (and don’t want to call themselves preppers) make is about what they put in their bug out bag.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Where Do You Go in a Hurricane?

May 1, 2017

Where Do You Go in a Hurricane?

As a West Indian, I’ve lived through quite a few hurricanes in my time. My level of responsibility in each varied quite a bit. I was eight years old in my first hurricane and I thought it was great fun, as it was so exciting during the hurricane and, afterward, the landscape had changed so much that I had lots of new places to play.

On the other end of the scale, in 2004, my country, the Cayman Islands, experienced a Category 5 hurricane, with winds up to 200 miles per hour that sat on us without moving for 36 hours. I was responsible for ensuring that safety be provided for scores of my employees prior to the hurricane. After the storm, one of my companies took on the complete rebuilding of the country’s wholesale and retail food distribution facilities in order to ensure that the country’s population would have the most essential commodities—food and water. (A big change in level of responsibility over the years.)

In addition to having spent decades planning for hurricane damage, I’ve also spent decades as an economist, planning for major economic storms. In 1999, I determined that the world would experience what Doug Casey has termed a Greater Depression that would be more devastating than any economic event the world had ever seen. I predicted that it would happen in stages and that the final stage would be the most devastating. I would have been quite pleased to have been incorrect, but unfortunately, my predictions have come to pass. I believe we’re now quite close to the final destruction stage, a period that will lead to the collapse of many of the world’s formerly strongest economies, coinciding with a period of devastating warfare. In both the economic and warfare cases, those who are the world’s major players will believe that they’ll be able to control the extent of devastation and even profit from it, but events will go beyond their control and take on a life of their own.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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