Why I do solo prepping.

Posted by LittleUrbanPrepper@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 40 comments

People typing community here have no idea what they are wishing for. If I prep solo I already have to prepare for me AND MY FAMILY. Let's say that's 4 members. Now suppose you get two like minded neighbours. You three discuss, practice , share your knowledge. But remenber, they have their family and relatives too. Once shtf the fan, it won't be you 4 +2 of them. It will be you 4 + 2 of your friends + about 8-12 of their own family members. He might be your friend but he won't leave behind his family. He won't leave behind his 16 year old son and it doesn't matter if he contributes or not. He won't leave behind his wife whether she aligns with prepping mindset or not. That wife will want to help her brother or parents or her friend. That son might have a girlfriend he won't leave behind (love of his life). That girl won't leave her family or her ACTUAL boyfriend behind . Same with your second prepper friend and this shit goes on and on and on. You may have the best relation with your prepper friends but you won't be in perfect harmony with all of people that come with them. You'll have disputes and that's where your fort falls. They'll always choose their wife/husband/children/siblings over you. When you are prepping alone , remember that there are already half a dozen (directly) or even a dozen people (indirectly) who knows about your preps AND THEY WILL COME TO YOU. Anytime you include an outsider you don't include one person, you include him/her and half a dozen people who WILL BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU.

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40 Comments

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No-Shame1401@reddit

I think 28 days later highlights this well. When the three lone survivors make it to the large camp, they think they are safe. In any size group, over time someone will take on the role of leader weather you like it or not. Society is sculpted over thousands of years to function in a democracy. In the case of this movie they make it to the larger group, the leader seems welcoming at first but it’s revealed he is somewhat tyrannical in certain circumstances. In end times laws, voting, etc won’t determine who is in charge, resources will. It doesn’t matter how nice or rotten of a person, if they have something a group of people wants they have control. In the case of the somewhat fanciful film of 28 days later the threat is zombies which is obviously unrealistic, but what I think is realistic is the dichotomy between the threat of the militant camp members vs the outside threat of zombies. The 3 survivors quickly realize after staying at the camp, the members are even more of a threat than the zombies. They crave to have sexual relations with the two women, and will stop at nothing to get it. I find it funny that during the film, the viewers fear transitions from zombies being the biggest threat, to the humans themselves. The three lone survivors were better off by themselves rather than in the group. Yes I know 28days later is a scifi movie and far from reality but I think it captures the true barbaric nature of humans well. Society is barely glued together by modern amenities, people are docile now because we have tv shows, and food at the snap of a finger and water constantly flowing, anything we want is here. Strip all that back and take it away, strip back the conformities of modern laws and it’s still survival of the fittest. Might I remind you only 264,000 days ago the Mongolian invasion and conquest was going on, when humans were literally burning and ripping each other apart. Those characteristics are still in our DNA.

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smc4414@reddit

My experience totally illustrates that…so I couldn’t agree more, friend. And then at the other end of the spectrum is a neighbor of mine, got a few acres - some chickens, few goats , is a high school industrial arts teacher and mentions his preps to his classes…invites them to drop by if SHTF…his life his choice, I know….but I just can’t see that going well.

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LittleUrbanPrepper@reddit (OP)

People forget that the survivors don't only need supplies. They want satisfaction and purpose too. When laws are down people will be raided just to satiate carnal desires and fill the power vaccum. He could be attacked just for fun, to own his supplies to get monopoly or because of envy. Though, stay low, stay safe friend.

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Correct_You_Are@reddit

"Three can keep a secret, if two are dead."

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LittleUrbanPrepper@reddit (OP)

spot on.

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smc4414@reddit

I advised my sister and brother in law ONLY about our preps and bug out location…next thing I know her best FRIENDS son…(w wife, 2 kids) was calling for directions… Sis knows better now. She’s kinda always been sheltered….sees SHTF as being like a pic nic, bless her heart

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LittleUrbanPrepper@reddit (OP)

That's what I'm trying to tell them. That people have a life other than your Co-prepper. They have friends, family and colleagues who they will tell and they will tell their own friends, family and colleagues. Either in seriousness, or in chatter or they'll joke about you but you are out there, in their mind, as the guy who has stuff. And they WILL come for you.

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Creative_Listen_7777@reddit

You'll get raided regardless bro

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LittleUrbanPrepper@reddit (OP)

Random raid at a normie is much different than a planned raid on a prepper.

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ResolutionMaterial81@reddit

A lifeboat built for 5 will sink with 15! If the "community" members decided maxing their CC on expensive vacations, tattoos, piercings, supporting baby mamas & children, new boats, etc.... instead of basic preparedness....well, that was their choice. Add to that the ones with mental issues, drug & alcohol issues, criminals, spoiled rotten kids & worthless spouses...that I do not associate with during "Good Times"...much less want them near me when things go sideways. That societal decay is what you can expect in the outlying community of the 2020s. I prepare for me & mine...& prep with those who are "like-minded". A movie quote comes to mind.... “To hell with them fellas. Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms”

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Upset-Pin-1638@reddit

>A lifeboat built for 5 will sink with 15! That sums it up, pretty well. >Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms” Thay goes wellwith "Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy".

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ResolutionMaterial81@reddit

Exactly!! 💯

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TheBluestBerries@reddit

That's all well and good. But the more severe the situation you want to prep for. The more unrealistic it is to think you can make a meaningful difference on your own. People don't do communities because they're fun. People favour communities because it's a more realistic approach to success.

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AffectionateIsopod59@reddit

I don't normally respond, just enjoy reading and learning. I grew up in a small farm community. The men worked wherever they could. Neighbors often planned their gardens together. Children helped pick them. Canning was done together. I'm not a doctor but I can fix almost anything mechanical. I'm good at hunting but don't know much about gathering natural plants. I can make furniture or build a building but can't sew very well. The advantage to working together is sharing the labor and each person's skills. If someone refuses to do their share, they have to go. Trying to do everything by yourself is not realistic. What if you are down several days with a cold. Twist an ankle or have an accident

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demedlar@reddit

I grew up in a similar community. This is how you prep for long-term economic or social collapse. You live in a community that, as a whole, is prepared to support itself when the global supply chains go down and whose members are ready to help each other. Personal prepping is for natural disasters and evacuations. If your long term plan for a major collapse is "hole up and eat my preps until everyone around me has starved" you're screwed.

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AffectionateIsopod59@reddit

I definitely agree with you there!! I do have books on medicinal plants. Along with books on everything from processing meat to gardening, how to make cream and butter. I do process my own meat when I hunt. I only hurt what I'm going to eat. Watch the estate sales. You can find stuff like old manual grinders. If nothing else, it makes a neat conversation piece in the china cabinet. I also highly recommend that regardless of their education, everyone should learn a trade even if just done for a hobby. No matter what happens with the economy you can always find a job if you have a trade. You may have to move to find work, but someone somewhere will be willing to pay you to do it. In the event that money becomes meaningless it also gives you something to barter with.

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demedlar@reddit

My brother in Christ, if shit hits the fan so bad that preps make the difference between life and death, your neighbors will come for you whether they know you prep or not. *Not* because they know you have food, but because they know *they* don't and you *might*. And if we're talking about rural or suburban prepping where you have solar panels for power, a big subsistence garden, etc, you can't hide that shit. You can't hide that you have power, that you have food, that you're healthier than everybody else as the winter gets bad. And if you haven't been a *good neighbor* - especially if you're a city born outsider who fled to the rural area when the world turned ass over taint and don't have family or go to church - you're going to be at the top of the local sheriff's' requisitioning list. The reason you prep with your neighbors and community is so *nobody* gets desperate enough to get violent.

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Ashley_Sophia@reddit

Exactly. It's not so much about 'sharing' your preps with others. It's more about building relationships with others. You want to have a face and a name in your community when things go south. You want people to know you and think of you and your family as 'one of us.' You don't want to be the 'creepy ass reclusive prepper with a shittonne of hidden food and medical supplies' when people in your community are getting desperate. People will come for you and your cache, and nobody wins in a gunfight.

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demedlar@reddit

>You want to have a face and a name in your community when things go south. You want people to know you and think of you and your family as 'one of us.' That's the sad thing about "preppers" who buy rural property and think they're going to "bug out" there. There's no piece of land in the world that isn't claimed by *some* local community, and the more remote and rural they are the less welcoming they're going to be towards strangers. If there's some nationwide or global disaster so bad law and order break down and people flee the cities, and some stranger shows up with a bunch of gear and supplies and claims he's going to live on your people's land now, that stranger is going to be the first one on the chopping block when times get hard. And that's not even discussing the urban/rural divide in America and the absolute contempt country folks have for modern urban liberals.

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Ashley_Sophia@reddit

I'm not from America so I wouldn't know the cultural/political nuance. :) That said, I truly believe that buying a rural property and eventual assimilation within your immediate community is an incredible prep tactic.

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BeautifulWord4758@reddit

I dont involve anybody in my prep. If/when SHTF, we will keep a tight circle and go extremely rural until things calm down. Plenty of food, medicine, ammunition to hold out for a good and long time. Off grid capable. The moment you start involving a bunch of people in your plans, things get incredibly complex. Too many variables for my liking. To each their own. If you want to involve your neighbors in your prep, more power to you. Just don't be surprised when you end up with more heads than you even began to start prepping for.

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ResolutionMaterial81@reddit

This! 😉👍

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Hairy-Situation4198@reddit

I prep to cover 20-25 people, that's not including the stuff of the few who are also prepping

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Correct_You_Are@reddit

For how long?

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Hairy-Situation4198@reddit

Currently, I can feed, house, and have water for 9 months. I'm working towards a full 12 months. Granted, that's not by today's standards, but we'd basically live an Amish lifestyle.

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feudalle@reddit

This is the way to go. It's relatively cheap and easy to prep basics in quantity.

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Hairy-Situation4198@reddit

And I look at the long and short term. In a true SHTF scenario, there's no way I'm doing my farms day to day labor without gas or electricity alone, plus being able to defend dozens of acres of land alone.

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swohcpl71@reddit

These are the posts that make me question the prepping community. There is a need for a level of privacy, balanced with community building and a bit of well placed "advertising." In a long-term grid down situation, no matter how big your cache you will eventually run out of canned goods. Then what? You're going to start your homestead? Have a horse? Have a plow? Jeddiah does, but you never bothered to get to know him. You were too busy solo prepping. You have a garden going now? Your neighbors already know you will have food. I hunt our property - tells the neighbors that we are armed AND can aim. Our neighbor across the lane gave me the heads up on a buck and some turkeys he saw. That info will earn him a Thanksgiving bird. Now, what if your kid catches a cut from a rusty nail and it's infected? Steve, two houses down was a vet tech and has all kind of skills, but you never got to know him. You were too busy keeping secrets - so he never gets the chance to help. Jane comes down and asks for some food for her hungry daughter. I'll walk out to my garden and grab something. Why? Cause I'm not a heartless selfish asshole. Why am I secure in that? Because Jane sees the guns on our hips. She doesn't see the cache of canned goods. Because by helping Jane - she'll let us expand our gardens in her yard. And when the imaginary horde of those I'll intentioned who have ammo but no more canned cream corn come - I'll have Jeddiah, Steve, Jane, and the neighbors who I've been trading with, laughing with, drinking beer with... I'll have my community to encourage those ne'r-do-wells to keep on moving. We didn't get out of the caves and build a modern society by solo prepping. We did it by working together in community and keeping our noses out of other people's business.

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xXJA88AXx@reddit

This runs through my mind all the time too. I am in a fortunate situation. I'm a transplant from another place, meaning it is just 3 of us in 1 house. I have a friend that is prepped in other ways. He is also a transplant. No other family around. So it is literally 2 families in my MAG/Tribe, maybe one more family but that is it. We bring different skill sets together to make this work. I'm medical, he is security, the last family has heavy equipment.

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o0TaterSalad0o@reddit

Solo prepping is the only way. Remember this. Everyday, law abiding Jane/Joe WILL kill you over a bottle of water or can of corn before before they watch little Jimmy/Jane doe of thirst or hunger. NO amount of prepping will determine how members of a community (8 besties or not)will act when the SHTF. Community may happen organically or after the fact.

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LittleUrbanPrepper@reddit (OP)

💯

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Available-Page-2738@reddit

Amen to all this. If possible, don't let anyone know you prep. Not even family. Loose lips... In a real bad disruption, something that won't just trigger low-level mayhem, but like fires raging through the night and shootings? I would hope I have a bug out location and that I had split my supplies.

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a-flayer@reddit

I "prep" because if I get sick, no one is coming to help me.

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swirlything@reddit

I don't prep with my neighbors. But I recognize that in a serious crisis, we will likely be helping each other.

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LittleUrbanPrepper@reddit (OP)

Yes, That's what I'm trying to tell. Prepping alone is not same as surviving alone. Ofcourse I'll help other. Yes I'll barter some stuff with needy. Yes I'll share medications if someone is about to die. But I prep alone. Only I know what I bought, made and learned. I have secrets. And they will remain secrets. From their perspective it won't be " oh remember we did prepping with John last year. Let's go to his house he definitely has extra beans. And call Rachel too. Her insulin finished 3 days ago. John should have some" Instead it'll be "Honey, have you asked John, maybe he has some food he can share. " In second case you are like just another neighbor. Nothing special about you.

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EffinBob@reddit

You don't have to give away the farm to build community. My neighbors know they can count on me for help. They don't know the extent of my holdings because it is none of their business, just as what they have is none of mine. We all take care of our own should it ever become necessary. Doesn't mean I won't help remove a tree from somebody's driveway, as my neighbors have helped me do so in the past. That's community.

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malaliu@reddit

And if your house burns down in the middle of the night? Or you break your leg and need someone to drive you to hospital? A mouse eats all your vege seeds and you need some more? Community doesn't mean you have to share mre's with your neighbour's extended family and their boyfriends when an apocalypse happens. I think it's pointless to be dreaming up hypotheticals like that.

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LittleUrbanPrepper@reddit (OP)

Then I'll ask for help, I'll rent a room, I'll pay with labor, I'll ask them to drive me to hospital and will do vice versa in their case. But that's not community prepping. That's basic neighborly relationships. Those hypotheticals are not nonsense. That's what happened during cyclones, during covid and that's what happening during current wars. If you discuss in advance then you'll definitely share what you discussed. Either willingly or unwilling. If people know you have food stashes they'll come to ask for it and preserve their own stocks. Thus the best thing would be to prep alone but be there when someone needs you, instead of prepping with everyone and everyone will be there whether they need it or not.

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Mothersilverape@reddit

That’s why you try and prep extra if possible! but keep private things, private. tThere’s no need to send anyone into your food storage areas to see what you have stored. I think that it’s also fair to ask others, if we do fall into emergency circumstances what they can contribute? Most people are going to want do their best. Trouble times won’t last forever, and people are going to want to get back on their feet on their own as soon as possible. Usually most people who are best of people are going to want to help and pitch in.

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LittleUrbanPrepper@reddit (OP)

Yes. We keep 50-100% surplus to our stocks. Just for sharing. But that doesn't mean community prepping. That's not me prepping with others. That is basically neighbor sharing. Bartering skills and supplies is just that, bartering. It's not community prepping. Most peoe are going to want to do their best FOR THEMSELVES. Their survival is their priority and you will be an expendable if need arises to be.