I grew up in a Prepper home and my father tried to prep for most eventualities which came good during some extreme weather and natural catastrophes. I have my own house and I prepped just like my Daddy taught me. I'm a big fan of the tv show Doomsday preppers though a lot are crazy or misguided, some seem to just want their 15 minutes of fame like that group prepping for a Red Dawn scenario " WOLVERINES!!!" lol. I came across this one prepper who was actually prepping for a global pandemic and it got me thinking that I was and neither was any prepper I knew prepping for a global pandemic in any semi serious way.
Before the Coronavirus we've had a large number of pandemics in the last decade or two: Ebola, Zika virus, swine flu, bird flu etc. The last major pandemic was the 1918 and if you look through history there's been some serious pandemics that have wiped out huge percentage of the global population. Scientists tell us that the vaccines and antibiotics that have kept pandemics away are becoming less effective in preventing infection and death from new strains. Think about all that we are protected from and most dont even realise. Stuff like chicken pox, cholera, diphtheria, influenza, leprosy, malaria, measles, mumps, pertussis, rubella, scarlet fever, smallpox, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, typhus, yaws, yellow fever etc stuff most of us haven't heard of. During the columbian exchange this stuff wiped out about 90% of the native Americans first encountered by the Spainish, so deadly were these outbreaks that when the English started colonizing New England they found few natives and whole villages empty that had been occupied a few years before. So the threat of pandemics and others are quite serious.How I prepared.
1. PPE, disinfectant, medical supplies and soap stockpile.
Long before the coronavirus hit I had already stockpiled masks, respirator masks, visors, gloves, disinfectant mats, sterilising wipes, bleach, alcohol solution and disinfectant. I have a few first aid kits as well. As well as a few various hazmat and chemical warfare suits.
2. Food
Food prepping is a major aspect of prepping no matter what you prep for, the only is issue is how long you can feasibly Prep for depending on your needs. Between me and my parents I believe we can eat for maybe a year or two as we've got various irons in the fire. So we've store bought canned goods, dried food tins, combat rations vacuum sealed meals, salted meats, frozen foods, smoked meats, a small aquaponics green house, a chicken coup, a potato plot, small fish farm as well as hunting and fishing.
3. Guns & Ammo
Owning a gun and being able to protect your own and what's yours has never been this important in a long while. The longer the crisis goes on with so many out of work and police stretched to the limits those that have not prepped will become desperate and criminal thugs will see the crisis as an opportunity to do and take what they want. I dont own an obscene about of gun. I have two Garrands, a lee Enfield, 1913 Springfield, I have 4 Ar15s, one Norinco AK, Norinco SKS, mini 14, two mosseburg 500 shotguns, one ithica shotgun, a glock 19, 1911, Remington police revolver, s&m police revolver, m1911 colt I've a few others. My go to every day weapon for carry and for by my bed is my Glock 19L, maybe not the best you might say for carry it's just what I'm used to, I keep an AR in my Truck too. During a home invasion my go to gun would be the AR15 which a long with a kevlar vest in my closet is always ready to go. I keep a good bit of ammo but not enough to put me on an FBI watch list. When everybody was emptying gun shops I was sitting pretty. It's no joke out there, its best to be prepared to defend yourself and yours at home and outside if some thug tries something.
4. Power
When the SHTF and there's power cuts and rolling blackouts keeping the lights switched on will be a necessity especially for heating, refrigeration and cooking etc so what I have is solar panels on the roof that feed into two Goal Zero Yeti 1400 Lithium batteries as well as two generators that run on gasoline. I would really have like to have the Tesla power wall but just didn't work out. Some schemes in Australia and new Zealand intrest me where you can power your home using solar power and store it and then if you've a surplus feed it back into the grid and get paid.
5. Water Storage.
When the crisis hit water can be difficult to get just look at the hurricane Katrina incident, how long did it take to get water to the stadium. FEMA recommends you keep at least 3 days worth of water in their home at all times for drinkingand cooking. I keep 2 200 gallon under water storage tanks and an in house water storage tank in case the water supply is cut.
6. Fitness equipment
I've been working out every day in the morning and evening since the crisis hit, honestly I've never been stronger or fitter. I've actually got a six pack. Fitness training is a great way to relieve stress and anxiety especially when stuck inside. Dumbbells, punch bag, weights bench running machine, rowing machine, kettlebells, slam ball, tyre and sledge hammer I'm glad I invested in a home gym before all this went down. My girl does her yoga and her shuffle dancing.
7. Home theatre system
I'm sure I'm not the only one but I've been watching a lot of tv and movies. So I got this 55 inch tv set with surround sound as well as Disney and netflix.
8. Home Security Cameras
Technology is brilliant these days, the cameras are linked to my phone and if someone comes around or to the door I get an alert. It's also good in case you need evidence in court in a home defense situation where you had to put a thug down. Last year before Christmas at 12 at night some girl was banging at my door pretending she needed help but I could see via the cameras that there were two guys standing out of sight of the door peephole ready to rush whoever's opened. I calmly informed her that the police were called and if the three of them didn't get off my property in 60 seconds I'd start shooting, they ran.
9 Bug out bag
A bug-out bag or BOB is a portable kit that normally contains the items one would require to survive for 72 hours when evacuating from a disaster, although some kits are designed to last longer periods in case you dont already know that.
Everyone has differing views on what you need but for me if you need to bug out on for then you dont need an 80llb bag that weighs you down, no you need to be light on your feet so you can move quickly like the vietcong through the jungle. Really you need a knife, blanket, small media kit, water bottle, some food, water purifier tablets maybe socks and spare ammo for your gun. A portable phone charger would be a gun idea too. In my view anything more can be carried in a vechile.
10. Contraception
Ok so me and my girl really dropped on this front, she ran out of birth control and I very quickly used up the big box of condoms as literally we've been going at it like rabbits since the quarantine started, were both red raw. A few times I've failed to pull out or she failed to get off me. I think all the sex has been the best part of the quarantine, weve both never had so much. Weve been experimenting with the karma sutra, weve done it outside, watching porn, we even bought a load of sex toys. Anyway its likely that's she's pregnant. So always prep condoms, ALWAYS!!!
11. Alcohol & weed.
I stocked just before it hit but I leave it for Friday and Saturday nights. My girl is so funny when she high. To be honest it was fun for a while but we both kind dong bother as it's not the same as being in a bar, nightclub, party, bbq etc.
12. Financial Prepping
I've been financially prepping for year ie saving, no loans, never buying on credit, budgeting, shopping around and never paying more than I have too. Everything I have from my home to my truck is mine without a mortgage or car payments to make so that's a major plus even though my home does need some work but at least its mine not the bank. I've been furloughed this last few months and due to start again soon but some of the issues I can see next year is reduced wages, high unemployment, high taxes, high inflation rates, high utility bills and high food prices that quite frankly is going drive working and middle class families under warmly worse than the financial crisis. I have some savings,, some hard cash, stocks and bonds and some silver dollars but high prices and inflation will vastly devalue that and to be honest in a SHTF situation resources such as gas, food and bullets are going to be worth more than silver dollars to barter. I would like to be prepared more but it is what it is.
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