Doomsday Prepping for Beginners

For those who are just getting started on their preparedness journey, there are some ways to take care of the basics. Keep reading on for my Doomsday Prepper Basics List.

Doomsday Prepper Checklist

1. Food & Water

Clean drinking water is the single most important item to put away for an emergency.

• The baseline amount of drinking water to store away is one gallon per person, per day, with enough to last three days as a starting point. But you’ll also need water for cooking, laundry, personal hygiene and many other activities. So try to put away at least 1.5 times that amount.
• Commercial bottled or jug water is a great way to start prepping since it’s FDA-inspected and doesn’t need to be purified.
• If your water supplies aren’t factory-sealed purified water from a grocery store, you’ll probably need to purify them occasionally with some common purification methods. Boiling is effective in a pinch, but you don’t want to have to rely on it.

Food, meanwhile, is a close second to water.

• It doesn’t take great amounts of work or money to build up a basic food stash for a month or two. 1,200 calories per day for a woman and 1,800 per day for a man are considered basic minimums for an adult human’s survival So do the math for your family’s needs (leaving a little cushioning room) and invest in canned and non-perishable foods. Fortunately, these are usually relatively cheap.
• Make sure you’ve got cooking utensils and supplies on deck, such as a camp stove and paper plates and bowls. Many preppers consider disposable plates to be superior to washing dishes, which wastes water.
• For long-term prepping, canned food is still good to have, but it will only take you so far. When you’re looking at a scale of months or years, it’s time to start investigating permaculture and home farming practices such as gardening, aquaponics and canning.

When making any decision involving food and water, you should also consider the needs of children and/or elderly people who live with you. Pets will also need food and water supplies set aside for them.

2. Documents & Cash

In many emergency situations, these will be among your most important possessions. They’ll help you travel, buy supplies, and interact with officials. So make sure they’re squared away.

• Getting back-up copies of all important documents is one of the first things you should do. Have at least one set of physical copies in a waterproof document container and one set of digital copies stored through a cloud storage service. Some of the most critical documents include:
  • ID documents such as birth certificates, drivers’ licenses and passports
  • Insurance documents
  • Property deeds
  • Medical records
• Preparedness experts differ widely on how much cash you should keep on hand, but it’s a good idea to keep at least a thousand dollars cash in your emergency kit. This can be used to buy supplies or other necessities in a situation without a functioning internet or electrical grid.
• More esoteric currency options like gold and cryptocurrency have their admirers and detractors in the prepper community. But for basic preparedness, stick with good old paper currency.

3. Health & Safety

Maintaining sanitation is a must for this doomsday prepping for beginners checklist. Health and safety during an emergency can make all the difference So make sure you’ve planned for it.

• A well-equipped first aid kit is another high priority that you should assemble as soon as possible. Commercially available first aid kits are a good place to start, but make sure that they at least include:
  • Common OTC medicines such as painkillers and antihistamines
  • Sterile bandages and gauze
  • Basic tools like tweezers and cotton swabs
  • Saline, antiseptic wipes and hydrogen peroxide for cleaning wounds
  • Burn gel
  • Hand sanitizer
  • A manual describing first aid treatments for common medical emergencies
• If you’re prepping for more than a few days’ survival, familiarize yourself with waste disposal techniques such as composting and burying waste. These are essential to prevent the creation of waste disposal biohazards in your home.
• Have fire safety gear like extinguishers, fire blankets and single-use fire escape masks on hand and in an easily accessible place.
• Whether you want to keep weapons or other personal defense items is a personal choice that will largely hinge on your beliefs and whether you feel more or less safe with these items around. However, common household essentials like kitchen knives can double for self-defense in a pinch.

4. Shelter & Clothing

Ideally, you’ll be able to hunker down in your home should an emergency strike. But there may be situations in which you’ll have to strike out on the road. In these cases, it’s important to have options for mobile shelter and suitable clothing.

• Having basic portable shelter options such as tents that provide enough space to accommodate all family and pets is a great way to make sure that you’re ready to go at a moment’s notice.
• Keeping extra clothing in an emergency may not be an ideal use of space. But it can give you savings in water consumption because you’ll need to do less washing.
• Unless you live in a tropical climate, it’s important to make sure you have durable insulated clothing for all family members. Make sure you’ve also got at least one good pair of rugged work gloves, these come in handy in all kinds of ways.

Finally, don’t forget to also have at least a full tank of gas ready in jerricans so that you can gas up your vehicle in an emergency. Gas is often one of the first things to be rationed in a disaster. Also, keep flashlights, lanterns and extra batteries handy for light sources.

Doomsday Prepping For Beginners Conclusion