Prepping on a Budget And Ways To Prep For Cheap

Wanting to prepare for worst case scenarios makes sense.

Disasters can happen at any time to anyone - they’re not prejudiced.

No one should be foolhardy enough to believe that their perfect little bubble might not ever burst.

Some people like to go all out in their prepping. Building an underground bunker, getting the entire family kitted out with gas masks, stockpiling with enough food for 6 months or more.

Unfortunately we can’t always afford to do all of that. Besides some products can come in way more handy than others.

And the real trick to prepping on a budget is to be very selective on what it is you decide to include in your survival kit.

That said if you do want to go all out and want to be able to afford more items, then by all means start putting money aside from every paycheck you get, to better fund your prepping. 

Some preppers put aside 10% of their paycheck, which isn’t over the top if you can afford it.

Prepping On A Budget: Here's How...

Sure you can buy a lot of stuff to help you do various things when SHTF, but more important than the buying and the stockpiling is the planning.

You begin by listing the situations that you want to prepare for and then working on each one individually, step by step.

The more plans you have in place the more confidently you can say that you’re prepared for anything.

This may involve a little research. You can Google the scenario you most want to prepare for (or are most likely to happen to you).

Or you can invest in a really good prepper/survival book. There are plenty out there to choose from.

One of the key things you have to factor in is where you’re going to be when SHTF, and what resources you have available at that particular location.

That is why we recommend that you have survival kits at all of your most frequently attended locations: home and vehicle, and more importantly, on your person.

And since the best tools you can ever have are the ones you have with you, then one of our foremost recommendations is that you get yourself an EDC, and Every Day Carry. We’ll be showing you one of our favorite EDCs very shortly.

Once you’re entirely happy with your EDC, you can then concentrate on your bug-out bag, should you ever need to get out of your building quickly. And your get-home bag.

What are the more essential items

Being able to breath is essential. Clean drinking water is essential. Being able to eat is essential.

Other than that, what can be considered essential is very subjective and depends very much on the particular scenario. In other words it depends on where you are and what particular resources you have available.

What you need when SHTF in a big city is a whole lot different than what you’ll need in the wilderness.

Similarly if you like to spend a lot of time outdoors, then your EDC needs to be appropriate for that environment, rather than just consisting of your keys, wallet and phone.

Here’s a brief list of some of the most common items that many preppers like to carry around with them (in addition to keys, wallet and phone).

• Water purifier or bottle of water
• Food or fishing kit
• Medical first aid kit
• Permanent match
• Flashlight
• Poncho
• 3 ply face mask
• (Any) device with GPS

You may not need to carry around all of these things all of the time. You could however keep most of them in your vehicle’s glove box.

You’ll probably think of way more things that can come in handy in an emergency, but on the flip side, you need your survival kit to be lightweight and easy to carry around, so don’t overpack.

Now, we’ll show you one of our favorite ready-made EDCs here. If you’re not too keen on this one, be sure to make up your own.

What we like about this EDC, is that although it is orientated more around outdoor survival (as most survival kits are) it also contains items that might be useful in more urban areas.

For example, there’s the tactical pen, which has a tungsten point that is strong enough to break class for an emergency escape on public transport. It can also be used as an implement of self-defense.

Other key items include:

• A compass.
• A thermal blanket for retaining body heat when out in the cold.
• A wire saw for cutting firewood, a scraper and a flint fire starter.
• We also like the inclusion of a paracord bracelet. You can wear it like a watch while you’re hiking, and whenever you need to, you simply cut the inside cord to unravel hundreds of feet worth of good, strong cord. 

The kit comes in a waterproof box, and contains 18 different items altogether, including some multipurpose items.

 In it you’ve got everything you need to: make a fire, carry out basic first aid, and draw attention for rescue.

It’s also very lightweight at just 1.4 pounds, and is very compact, a little over 6 inches in length, 4.3 inches in width, and just under 2 inches thick. So it will fit in your vehicle’s glove compartment, or your camping backpack no problem.

It’s not a perfect EDC, by any means, because there’s no water filtration system or water purification tablets.

Neither is there any food, but the included Saber Multi-Tool Card which is just credit-card sized (with a total of 11 different functions) does have a can opener function.

Prepping On A Budget Conclusions

Hopefully, this article has given you a good head start in knowing the very basics of prepping.

Remember, once you’ve sorted out your EDC, you also need to prep your bug-out bag and your get-home bag.

There are plenty more articles here on our website that can help you research more into prepping. And please do you research, because being forewarned means being forearmed.