The quick start list for Prepping beginners
So you have decided that you want to get started prepping? Awesome! Prepping for beginners can seem like an insurmountable task.
So where do you start?
There are so many factors to consider when deciding the best gear, bug out plans, or bug in plans. The fact of the matter is that there is no one-size-fits all solution to prepping. Every individual has different situations to prepare for including:
- Environment – We each live in different climates, terrain, and population densities.
- Size of Family – We all have different size families or group sizes to consider
- Eating Habits – Each person has different dietary restrictions and eating habits
- Skill Level – Everybody has different backgrounds and levels of survival skills
While I can’t give you everything you need to consider for your own situation, I can provide you with a basic starting point that will at least cover the basics of what every prepper should consider as they begin their prepping journey. This beginners prepping list is not all inclusive but is a fantastic place to start.
Welcome to the world of prepping!
Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)
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Prepping doesn’t have to be rocket science and you don’t have to be a “doomsday prepper”. It doesn’t all have to be done at once either. Small actionable steps and following our beginners prepping list will get you to a basic preparedness level that will give you the peace of mind to know that if an emergency happens you will have the necessities for you and your family covered.
What are you prepping for?
The fact is that prepping doesn’t have to be the sterotyped “crazy tin-foil hat wearing doomsday prepper” type prepping. The vast majority of us are just making sure that we have adequate supplies on hand to protect ourselves and our families if an emergency scenario happens.
There are several emergency scenarios that are very real threats, and some that are not. You need to think about what the most likely scenarios are and the likelihood of their occurrence.
- Loss of Job – Very likely Let’s face it. We live in uncertain economic times. Many companies have gone bankrupt (Sears anybody?) or have placed workers on fulough (including the US government).
- Injury – Very Likely Similar to loss of job above, if you are injured or sick and cannot work for a period of time it is going to place your family at a financial hardship.
- Natural Disaster – Somewhat Likely Depending on the location you live you may face a wide range of natural disasters such as wildfire, tornado, hurricane, or severe snow storm.
- Terrorist Attack – Somewhat Likely There is an obvious concern over terrorist attacks after the horrible events of 9/11. The chances of being killed in a terrorist attack are pretty slim. In fact, you are more likely to be attacked by a shark, killed by a dog, or hit by an asteroid. However, while you may not be killed directly by a terrorist attack it could disrupt your way of life if close enough to it and is worth considering.
- Financial Collapse – Somewhat Likely Some experts out there believe that an economic collapse in the US is imminent. Even as close as the year 2020. If the economy collapsed there would be a whole host of problems including work drying up, hunger, and desperation of the public.
- Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack – Less Likely An EMP attack is probably the most likely of “doomsday” type scenarios. Such an attack could knock out the national power grid and leave citizens stranded without power for weeks, months, and potentially years. I know…scary stuff.
- Active Shooter Scenario – Less Likely While active shooter scenarios are playing out all across the country at an alarming rate, the chances of actually being involved in one yourself is slim. You should still arm yourself with knowledge on how to react and respond if you are caught in this type of event.
The fact is, you don’t need to be prepping for any one particular scenario. The chances of one of these specific scenarios happening is not the concern. The concern is that collectively, these threats are all real possibilities and the chances of something happening is very likely.
But Out Vs Bug In
If you are just beginning prepping and are new to these terms I will break it down for you here.
Bug-Out – This is an emergency evacuation scenario. You want to have a dedicated bug out bag that is set aside for the sole purpose of 72 hours/3 days of surviving if forced to leave your home. Keep in mind, this is a worst case, S*** Hit The Fan (SHTF) scenario. Bugging out should be your last resort.
Bug-In – Sheltering in place and hunkering down in your home. You want enough supplies to be self reliant for a minimum of 14 days/2 weeks. This is what you want to be preparing for before anything else. You can keep a large stockpile in your home and ride out most scenarios.
So Where Do You Start When Beginning Prepping?
Now you have a better idea of the possible scenarios that you want to prep for. The most likely to happen are ones where you are out of work for a period of time, or a natural disaster disrupts the utility infrastructure.
It can be very tempting to go crazy when you start prepping and start buying all kinds of different survival gadgets and tools. While this can be a lot of fun, it is important to start with the very basic necessities before getting too crazy.
Start by setting up your home for self sufficient living for a two week period, then build a dedicated bug out bag for evacuation scenarios, then add additional items or improve your capabilities a little at a time.
Where do we go from here?
Beginner preppers should start with building your emergency supplies for your home to last a minimum of two weeks time. We recommend starting with the items most needed to preserve life before moving on to the nice-to-have, or luxury items.
Our beginners prepping list will lay out the very basic necessities you should build as your prepping foundation before anything else. Following our guide will keep you from wasting a lot of time and money on items that may not give you the return on investment that you are looking for.
Summary of Beginner Prepping List Items
- Water Storage
- Food Storage
- Heat and Warmth
- Emergency First Aid
- Communications
- Light
- Fire Starting
- Hygiene
- Emergency Cooking
- Tools
- Medication
- Important Documents
- Cash
- Bug Out Bag
- Weapons/Self Defense
#1 – water storage
You use a lot more water than you think you do. We can also only survive about 3 days without water.
The first thing you want to do is store a minimum of 1 gallon of water per person, per day. If you are doing the math that works out to be a minimum of 14 gallons per person.
Get yourself some good quality water containers like this 5 gallon water can, and fill them up. You can just fill them up with tap water from the house. These containers are an opaque blue color that slows down the growth of algae and bacterias.
Speaking of algae and bacteria, it is a common misconception that you need to treat your water before placing in storage. Even if you do this, chances are that the water will still not be suitable for drinking right from the can if it has sat for some time.
That’s where a water filtration system comes in to play. As long as you have a way to filter out any bacteria that has grown in the water you will have plenty of high quality H2O to consume.
#2 – emergency food supply
Food is not nearly as essential to life as water, but it is the next thing that you should be stockpiling for once you have your water supply secured.
You really have to think about you and your families typical eating habits. Are you living off of dry beans and rice right now? Could you if you had to? Sure….But would you want to?
Dry beans and rice can be a pain to prepare and will get old real fast. Supplement dry foods like beans and rice with canned goods that you typically use and just rotate through your stock as you use.
Pick up a little extra of each thing you typically buy at the grocery store and set up a well organized system to use the oldest items and replace with new. I also suggest adding large bags of noodles and different sauces to your stockpile to add some variety.
In addition to canned and dry foods I also recommend purchasing an emergency food supply kit. They can be pretty pricey so only do this after you have a decent stockpile of long term dry goods. The best tasting option is Mountain House Just In Case Bucket.
We have a buyer’s guide to help you determine what emergency food kit is right for you.
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#3 – Heat and warmth
Even in warm weather locations it can get cold during the night. You want to make sure that you have an adequate and SAFE way to heat your home and stay warm.
You want to have a way to heat your home without adding high levels of carbon monoxide, which will kill you. I know this seems like common sense, but I don’t want to assume anything.
The easiest place to start preparations for keeping warm is in the form of additional blankets and cold weather gear. You can survive some pretty severe cold weather with enough heavy blankets and the proper clothing.
Additionally, you may want to consider adding a propane heater to your supply list. A propane heater such as the Mr. Heater Buddy is a safe and cost efficient way to have some emergency heat if the need arises.
#4 – First aid kit
A high quality first aid kit is an essential item for the home, the car, and your bug out bag. Emergencies can happen at any time and having access to some life saving equipment could mean the difference between life and death.
The Everlit 250 piece emergency IFAK is a fantastic option for the home, office, car, or any outdoor adventure. It is a MOLLE accessory bag so it can easily attach to any of the tactical backpacks above.
In the event of a natural disaster it may take a long time for emergency responders to get to you. Having a great first aid kit on hand will give you peace of mind that if anything happens to your family you will have the equipment needed to assist.
We have a buyer’s guide for emergency first aid kits also! Check it out here.
#5 – communications
You want to make sure that you have a way to keep your cell phone charged and a good way to do that is by obtaining an emergency hand crank weather radio that has a feature to allow for charging of external devices.
A weather radio is an important piece of equipment during any severe weather event or natural disaster. The best models come with a feature that will alert you of any severe weather events in your immediate area.
When the power grid is down there is no way to know of imminent weather (and other) threats unless you have some tie to the rest of the world. A weather radio can provide you with information that is critical.
One of the very best weather radios on the market is the Midland ER310. It can be powered by the built in solar panel, by cranking the hand crank, or by battery backup. For more information on weather radios, including models that can keep your cell phone charged, check out our buyer’s guide!
#6 – Light
When the power grid is down for an extended period of time you will want to have emergency light sources available.
Having battery powered flashlights is OK as long as you have a decent supply of batteries on hand, but you will also want to get a couple of hand-crank flashlights just in case the power stays off longer than expected and your battery supply is diminished.
We really like the Thorfire hand-crank and solar powered flashlight. It is affordable and will work for an hour after only one minute of cranking.
As a supplement to your flashlights it is a good idea to have some emergency candles like these 115+ Hour emergency candles. They last a long time and are great for providing light in a room where you are spending most of your time.
#7 – Fire
You will need multiple ways to make fire. Fire is essential for heat, boiling water, cooking, lighting candles, drying clothes, etc.
Storm proof matches and a ferro rod will get the job done and ensure you are able to make fire easily when needed.
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#8 – Hygiene
When you are living through a disaster or emergency scenario it is important to keep hygiene at the top of lists of priorities.
It is important to have a supply of hand sanitizer on hand as well as some wet wipes for hand washing and light hygienic cleansing. We like Combat Wipes.
It is also a great idea to have an emergency shower set aside for these types of scenarios. If you find yourself without electricity and running water for any extended period of time it is important to have a way to clean up.
#9 – Emergency cooking stove
It is important to think about having something that you can cook on if the utilities are out. You cannot count on being able to use your own appliances unless you have a reliable source of energy.
Most people should look at purchasing a portable propane stove for things like cooking, as well as a good way to boil water to make it safe for consumption.
Most fireplaces don’t have a great way to cook over the flame or boil a pot of water. We recommend this one from Gas ONE. Keep in mind that you cannot get the propane cylinders shipped to you through the mail, so you will want to stock up on some.
You can purchase them at any Walmart, or other local store that carries camping equipment. They only run a few dollars per cylinder. You will want to have one per day, so in our 14 day scenario you will want a minimum of 14 propane cylinders on hand.
#10 – Tools
Tools are not something that you should go crazy on when you are just beginning prepping, but it is important to have a few items in your arsenal.
One item that I consider to be highly valuable to any job that you may need to do is a good quality multi-tool. The Leatherman Wingman is a great option due to its outstanding versatility for the price.
Additionally, items such as work gloves, duct tape, and basic hand tools should suffice to get you started.
Additional Considerations
- Medication – Tylenol, prescription medications, epi pens,
- Important Documents – Birth certificates, marriage certificates, passports, social security cards
- Cash – Storing some cash is important because if the grid goes down you may not be able to access it
- Bug Out Bag – Bug out bags are for emergency evacuation. See our bug out bag page for more.
- Weapons/Self Defense – Non-lethal, or lethal. Depends on your own personal philosphies.
