I realized, today, that I've been prepping and writing about prepping for a decade and a half. This year marks eleven years since my first book (on prepping) was published and next year will be a decade since the book Deus Ex Machina and I co-authored was published.
I'm probably not the best prepper there is, though. I don't have a bunker in my back yard. I know. You're shocked.
I also don't have a bug-out "camp" tucked up in the unincorporated areas near Baxter State Park that's already stocked and just waiting for TEOTWAWKI so that we can begin living the life we really want to live. I'm sorry to disappoint.
My mantra has always been, "Do what you can with what you have where you are." And I have always planned to stay in my suburban home. I know there are preppers out there who are shaking their heads, thinking I'm silly, or worse ... doomed.
The thing is, that EVENT that we've all been preparing for is happening, right now. The last two years have seen serious natural disasters (and I'm not even including the virus), world wide financial devastation and hardship, increasing prices on everything from fuel to socks, and massive shortages on all manner of products from toilet paper to housing - at least here in the northeast, where even finding a place to rent is a challenge. This article, published just last week, details some of the current shortages people are likely to see at their local supermarket.
My goal, with prepping, has never been to have every thing I need forever stored in my house, and used on a rotational basis with lots of really keen calendars, bookkeeping, and spreadsheets with "best if used by" dates. I'm just not that organized, frankly.
My friend, Larry Kollar, commented on my book review post. He mentioned the really big issue with storing water, and that is, will it be good when we need it? And he is correct. How many of us, preppers, started buying up canned goods and supplies and storing those things in the extra bedroom, only to discover that many of those canned goods are now beyond their "use by" date? Or worse, checked the water storage to find that the plastic jugs of water are now leaking, because those plastic containers actually do break down over time. If we're not constantly using and resupplying those things, then, we've wasted our money.
And at this moment, right now, as I'm typing this, and thinking back over the last decade, I am incredibly thankful that I never invested in a 50lb bucket of wheat berries, because eight years ago, Deus Ex Machina was advised to eliminate gluten from his diet, and so we wouldn't be able to use them anyway, but also, would I have used them? My emergency storage food? Since there has been no, real, emergency, in which it was eat wheat berries or die? At best all of those wheat berries would have become chicken feed - not a bad thing, but then, if/when TSHTF we'd still be in the same situation we were in before buying a 50lb bucket of emergency rations - with no food.
I also don't have 50 gallons of water stored in the basement, nor do I have a well ... or a basement.
Fact is, I only have about a day's worth of stored water - in glass canning jars (which I can when I need to add extra jars to my canner because I'm canning a small batch of something). It's not much, but I'm not worried.
And I'm also not naive. I have been accused of such in the past, but the reality is that I do have something a lot more valuable than 50 gallons of water stored in leaky plastic jugs. I have the materials and the knowledge to make undrinkable water safe to drink.
For me, that's the point and primary reason to prep, at all. It's not to have everything we'll ever need or want stored up, but rather to have enough of a back-up of whatever we need so that we have TIME. My small supply of stored water gives us the time to collect unpotable water and make it safe - before we are in a severe state of dehydration.
I linked to an article above that lists 9 things that are in short supply at the grocery store right now. The implication is that we can't find those things, and the reality is that when we do, they will be a lot more expensive. A recent article at the Organic Prepper cautions that we will, likely, experience some "sticker shock" in the next few months, due to a ban on fertilizer exports from Russia to the US, which will increase the cost of growing our nation's produce, which will increase the price of just about all food items.
That's the second reason I prep, because I don't like getting to the cash register with $200 only to find that my bill is more than the cash in my hand. That's not only mortifying, but it also means that I will have to make some quick, and likely, inefficient decisions. Having to make hasty decisions is usually not a good idea.
When the pandemic started two years ago, we started making some changes in the way we do things here. Most notably, I started shopping differently. Specifically, I started ordering from online companies, and I started ordering in bulk. I tried a bunch of different services, and finally, settled on three.
We get a weekly delivery from Misfits Market**. In its early stages, Misfits only sourced and delivered produce, and their customers didn't really have a lot of choice on what they received. Misfits has completely transformed their business model, and now also sources other groceries, including pantry items like gluten-free bread. They don't have the variety that the grocery store offers, but they do have most of the products that we use.
What Misfits doesn't have, I have been able to find (mostly) on Boxed.com, which is a bulk ordering service - like Costco without the membership fee, or the need to visit the store and wheel around a cartload of heavy groceries.
All of our pet food purchases are now through Chewy.com.
Two things have happened since I started limiting my grocery store visits for things that I just absoluely can not find at either of those three places (i.e. local dairy and local meat, which I still buy at the closest little Mom&Pop grocery store).
The first is that we have saved an embarrassingly large amount of money. It's embarrassing to note how much I was spending, and to realize that a much too large portion of our weekly grocery bill was my inability to resist those impulse buys. We eat just as well, probably better, than we did back in those days when I was shopping in person, and our grocery bill is two-thirds of what it used to be.
Let that sink in for a second.
In actual dollars, while the rest of the world is watching their grocery bills sky rocket, I have actually spent less, because I changed how and where I bought groceries - but not really what we buy. We're still buying, mostly, the same things. Yeah. It is weird.
The second is that there is no sticker shock. Aside from the amazing conveniece of shopping with my fingers while I'm wearing "not pants" (a.k.a. pajamas) and drinking a cup of coffee, I can see my total AS I'm shopping, which means that those impulse items that rachet my bill higher than it should be, can be taken right out of that cart before I reach the check out. I can also increase/decrease quantities, or do a little price comparison, before I buy, without having to drive to Hannaford and drive to Shaw's and drive to wherever. Without having to spend hours scanning sales flyers.
It's as easy as open website A, open website B, and search for item. For instance, both Boxed.com and Misfits carry a particular brand of organic sugar. I can compare the prices at both places, and order from the place with the lowest price.
Interestingly, a side benefit of ordering online is that our gasoline bill has also gone down, because I'm not driving the 12 miles round trip to go weekly grocery shopping, which saves about $6/month. Not a lot, but it's something.
Thing is, after spending so many years in the prepper community, writing, reading, talking with other preppers, one begins to develop a different mindset, which has also been incredibly beneficial during these times.
For instance, when gas prices started increasing last fall, Deus Ex Machina started driving our more gas efficient car to work. It's that idea that we need to start making a change, and that willingness to do what needs to be done. Deus Ex Machina has a longer commute to get to work, and while he would certainly rather drive his beautiful truck with all of its bells and whistles, and I prefer my little sporty coupe, the truck gets half the gas mileage of the car. Even with the gas prices having almost doubled over the last several months, we have actually saved about $100/month with just that one, very simple change.
It also didn't hurt last fall that we live close enough that I can walk to work, and so I wasn't using any gas at all :).
My prepping isn't motivated by some innane idea that I can store up everything and thereby continue living the way we are living when things go south. I prep, because in doing so, I give myself and my family, time to adjust to the "new normal" with things that are familiar to us so that when we are no longer able to find those things, it won't be so sudden. It will be gradual, comfortable, like slipping into a pair of warm socks.
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**This link is a referral code. If you follow the link and sign up with Misfits Market using my link, I will get a discount on my next purchase ... and I would be REALLY grateful!
