Prepping 101: The Survival Triangle

Today I would like to introduce you basic prepping principles starting with the survival triangle, I don't know who invented the original "survival triangle" I suspect it was adapted from an old military manual and has evolved from there. As you can see in the image it's pretty straight forward. There are three essentials in life that we need to survive whether it be in a SHTF or not.
Food/Water is the obvious first. The human body can survive (on average) 3 minutes without oxygen, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. (This is called the rule of 3) Now consider that the average grocery store only has 3-4 days worth of inventory on its selves on any given day. In the modern world we follow JIT (Just In Time) inventory which is a complicated web of technology and logistics. The computer in the stores sends a message back to the home office saying that the registers has sold x number of "stuff". A message is then sent to the distribution center and a work order is produced to pull more "stuff" and load it on a truck. The "stuff" is then sent it to the originating store and the store shelves are stocked to full again. It's perfect! Well, almost perfect. In the event of a disaster there is no back inventory to put on shelves in case of a run on a certain product. This is why people who prep keep food stocked in their own home. Because when the authorities get on the TV/radio and say "A blizzard is coming, we are shutting down the interstate." the prepper is already thinking of how there is already enough food stored to hold them over. Thus avoiding the danger in not having enough or even being caught on dangerous roads.

Shelter is perhaps the most over looked of the three main essentials. You have your house, condo, or apartment so you're good right? As long as the rent is paid or the mortgage is up to date no problems. Well have you considered the "what ifs"? Lets start with the big one, electricity. If you are like me and live in an apartment (Get out soon!) you more than likely have electric heat, I do. Now if the electric goes out what's your back up heat source? Do you have camp heater or something you can use inside? If you own your own home what about a generator? Do you have enough fuel for it stored to keep your house heated? Is your home protected from possible break-in? Is your shelter really a shelter or is where all your stuff is and you sleep there at night?

Protection is the most important of the three. Why you might ask? When SHTF for more than a few days impending WROL is always present. During Hurricane Katrina a person dialed 911 and reported that his neighbors house was being robbed. The operator told him there was nothing they could do, there was no one to send. Now imagine that was you. Only once the gang of thieves gets done with your neighbors house they start eyeing yours, the police aren't coming and there is no one coming to save you. What are you going to do? The answer is simple give up you possessions and maybe your life or defend you and yours. So, can you shoot a gun? Can you strip that gun and clean it? Do you have ammunition stored up for it, because I promise you that is first thing after food to go off the shelves when the sheople start feeling insecure. If you have a gun, is it a powerful enough one to stop someone in the first shot? If it's semi-auto how many mags do you have? The difference in a shootout might be who can keep shooting the longest.

Energy. While this isn't essential it deserves honorable mention. Consider all the things in your life that run on electric or gas. If those get turned off do you have a back up plan for the refrigerator? Or to power your TV/Radio to hear those messages telling you to take cover before a storm hits? Things to consider.

I plan to cover all these topics in further detail in the coming weeks. And more importantly start showing somethings you can actually start doing to prepare for emergency.

*Note: Special thanks to TJ for the graphic.

PrepperBro's Picks

This posting is something I hope to do regularly here on the blog. As you start to see the need to prep in your life you will come to a point where you think "gosh this is going to cost me a fortune!" not to worry. We all hit that wall and as a prepper I'd like to share with you some places you can get great deals on good things to stock up on.

I plan to add several different companies to my list to check through but today I'll just be showing you five awesome preps from The Sportsman's Guide. (And for you trolls and morons, I am not affiliated with this company and not responsible for price changes or shortages.)

1. 8 Pack of LED lights. $17.97

Like ammo you can never have to many small flash lights. Even in everyday life it's just nice to have some extras to keep in the car, bathroom cabinet, or other strategic places throughout the house.

2. 12 Wool Blend Blankets. $55.97

They look like a cross between moving and refugee blankets. But hey if you live in the North having 12 extra blankets could be a life saver. Again stash one in the car, box the others up and save them for when those relatives you don't like show up.

3. Spy GearTM Night Vision. $49.97

Ok, ok, so it's technically a toy. However if you are on a poor mans budget and want to beef up your defensive strategy with night vision this might be a diamond in the rough. It only goes out to 50 feet but that's still 50 feet farther than the guy without. And when you can finally afford a nice set give this to the kids and they'll love it.

4. Kaito (R) Voyager Weather Radio. $44.97

This is dual solar/crank operated radio. Receiving both FM/AM, NOAH, and a few other frequencies. It's got a few extra lights and bells and whistles on it. Definitely another addition to the car.

5. Portable Camp Stove. $69.97

This is the best find of the whole catalog. It's small, breaks down easily and has a nice dual flip out rack to accommodate different size pan/pots. It has a small smoke stack that, with a little creativity and a trip to the local hardware store, could easily be adjusted by adding two 90 degree elbows for inside use by running the smokestack out a window.

Number 5 is without a doubt my favorite find of all. It is more than another knife or case of Campbell's soup. It brings lasting value and a multitude of functions with it. This is going on my personal need to get list.

Red pill or Blue pill?

If you have ever seen the movie the Matrix you understand the title and even more understand that this is a question with in a question. If you haven't seen it you can watch the short clip here. The underlying question is, do you want the truth? And if you choose the truth are you willing to accept that things you have taken for granted all your life may not be as they seem?

I was faced with this question not long ago and began my decent "down the rabbit hole" well over a year ago. The question started out as many, small and fragmented. They mostly started out "what if...". What if America takes on more debt? What if the inflation rate is as low as reported? What are the unseen forces in this world that seem to be driving us toward some financial meltdown? Could there be a meltdown, and if so how bad would it be?

My brother and I often talked about the economy and how things seemed so gloomy. We often pondered the questions I raised of economic instability. Then one day he said showed me a video he found. It seemed to make sense what these people were saying but I didn't want to accept anything at face value. I spent the next two months reading and researching everything I could find on the problem of inflation. My conclusion is that it is not only a very real possibility it is already here and beginning to snowball. This will leave us in a depression far worse than 1929 because most of the people in the era had the skills needed to fall on to survive.

It was as if i had taken the "red pill" and had awoken to a world I had never seen before at least not in this condition. As began to study I found many authors of various articles saying we should use this time to prepare and buffer ourselves against tough times ahead. Now this wasn't "run for the hills and live in a cave" type survivalism but rather new emerging trend I found called "prepping".

The truth is prepping is not new. In fact the principles of it are very old. Keep extra on hand for emergencies is something I grew up with in the blizzard prone Northeast but keeping a years worth of food, and stocking toilet paper seemed a little excessive, at first. As I continued to research I saw that even the simple things are going up in price. (last week peanut butter went up in price 40%, expect to see more of this). I started to also study Argentina which in the late 90s went from a thriving first world nation to pitiful near third world country in less than 20 years. In part to hyperinflation and government corruption, sound familiar? Could it happen to us? Could the US the greatest country the world has know to date be slipping down the same slope?

The more I studied the more the more question I created than answered and the more upset I became until I became obsessed with looking for answers. Obviously I alone can not undo years of bad fiscal and monetary policy but can I do to save me? I felt like I was standing on the deck of the Titanic and the iceberg was there in site and no one even cared. This is the Titanic, dang it! It can't sink! This is the United States of America, dang it! It can't fail! Oh the pride that goes before the fall.

This, this is my story of looking, and in many ways, building my own life boat. I hope sharing my findings with might help you if you are also considering which pill to take.