In Light of the Election Results, Should We Change our Prepping Habits?
The election of the century is over and Trump wins. There are just 5 weeks or so before inauguration, assuming we make it that far. With the evils Joe Biden is cooking up…it doesn’t feel certain yet. For those of you, myself included, who were prepping for the worse case scenario, what do we do now? Do we change our current mix of prepper supplies? Do we stop prepping? In this article, I’ll tell you what I’m doing.
Don’t Stop Prepping
The first rule of course is, don’t stop prepping! I always felt like there were two kinds of prepping; preparing for the catastrophic end of civilization, or preparing for a short period of upheaval until Jesus returns. I talk a bit about that in this article, but let’s move on. This is not about hardcore, end of days stuff, but rather sensible preparation for 30-90 days or so in the event of a loss of major services.
What I’m Changing
The biggest change I am making right now is to phase out the short-term food stuffs. I’m talking canned meats, canned vegetables, peanut butter…stuff like that. I’ll be acquiring a bit more of the 30-year survival food from folks like ReadyWise or Augason Farms in their place. I’d like for Mrs Boomer and myself to have 90-days of food, if possible.
Prepping Habits I am Not Changing
The first thing I am not changing of course is water. I will continue to have at least 30 days of bottled fresh water on hand, and at the first sight of potential trouble, I have a 90-gallon storage tank available that I can fill. The 20,000 gallons in my pool may not be drinkable, but it’s great for toilets and cleaning and what not.
I also continue to have an EMS-grade medical kit on hand, as well as another solid first aid kit. I still have 10 gallons (two 5-gal) of stabilized gasoline that I will keep, with the option to potentially cycle out in one of the cars and refill. Ideally, I’d like to have one more of those for a total of 15 gallons.
I still have four emergency battery power stations in a range of sizes, and solar panels to charge them. We use a couple of them pretty regularly, but the two largest remain charged. Come summer, I’ll test them out again, run down the batteries and charge them with solar just to make sure all features are working correctly.
New Prepper Habits
The only new habit I have picked up is trying to have a 90-day supply of prescription medicines, as well as plenty of dog meds, like their flea, tick, and heart worm meds. I also have a pretty strong supply of dog food. Again, we aren’t prepping for the end of the world here…I believe we will be raptured before then. What we are prepping for is temporary political upheaval, a shutdown of the power grid, or perhaps just a really bad spell of destructive weather.
On The Fence
I’m a little on the fence about the dried rice, pasta, and beans I have. I have them in a big storage tote, with plenty of those moisture absorbing packs. Since most of those supplies are less than two years old, I think I’ll continue to store for a while longer. Most of these items, stored the way I have, should go to 3-4 years without any problems. If they remain unused by EOY 2025 though, I may replace with more of the long-term survival food.
Protection
Last but not least of course is as much protection as possible in quantities that still makes sense. A sufficient supply of dirt nap invokers and the means to propel them is mandatory. I’ll also continue having good locks and additional stoppers on all the door jambs, along with lots of cameras around the house, both inside and out. You can only do so much, ultimately your fate is in the hands or our Creator, but I believe He’s a big fan of common sense.
