If storage is the equivalent of insurance, then skills are the equivalent of preventative action.
All over the prepper community, you hear people doling out the advice, “Stock up! Stock up!” Quite often it’s coupled with examples of when storages have saved people in times of crisis. I have a few of those tales myself. It’s great advice. It’s like buying insurance. We all buy insurance on our cars, our houses, even our very lives. We should absolutely have insurance invested in the form of our pantry and preps.
That said, insurance isn’t the end all be all.
We don’t just buy insurance on our car. If we’re wise, we also practice defensive driving to try and prevent getting into a car wreck.
We don’t just buy insurance on our home. We maintain it and actively protect it to prevent damage.
We don’t just buy life insurance. We also… well… we should also work at maintaining our health. Most of us aren’t so good at that part.
Just like most of us aren’t so good at pro-actively pursuing skills that will supplement and help maintain our stored preps.
When others challenge your prepper mindset, they come up with all kinds of ridiculous excuses.
If SHTF happened, all the non-preppers would come to your house and steal your stuff.
If TEOTWAKI (the end of the world as we know it) happened, what would you do when your storage ran out?
What if there was a fire or a flood and you lost everything you invested? Then you’ll have wasted all that time and money and effort. You’ll be doomed! DOOMED I tell you!! Hahahahahah!
They may laugh. You may argue or try and mock them in return. Or attempt to ignore them. But the truth is, every one of those scenarios are legitimate. We have to face it.
So, what do we do in light of the possibility of our insurance failing against disaster, SHTF, or TEOTWAKI? The same thing we do with the other stuff we insure. Or… should be doing. We gain proactive skills to supplement, protect, prevent, or replace.
Need to shelter in place, but so long-term that your food supplies will run out? Learn to forage, hunt, trap, fish, and garden.
If you have to shelter in place, you’ll probably run out of water before you run out of food. Know how to collect more, and how to make it drinkable.
What do you do to replace worn or outgrown clothing? Learn to repair, alter, sew, knit, or crochet new clothing.
Need to bug out but there’s no gas for the car when it runs out of fuel? Better be skilled at hiking and hauling on foot. Know how to support your ankles, knees, and back. Be in decent shape and learn how to balance a load for the best carrying capacity.
Here’s another for a bug-out scenario. Learn how to make shelter and build a fire.
For all scenarios, either bug-out or shelter in place, what do you do if the electricity goes out? You better know how to cook your food without the range appliance in your kitchen. You better have a manual can opener, among other manual tools, and know how to operate them.
Is it possible you could lose all your preps in a drastic disaster? Yes.
This happened to several people in Oregon during the summer of 2020 when entire towns and multiple homesteads were lost to fires raging from Medford near California all the way up to Portland and beyond into Washington State.
And that’s just one example. It doesn’t account for other parts of the country commonly affected by things like floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, blizzards, etc.
Is it possible you could lose all your skills that could supplement your preps? Not as likely.
And even if you did suffer some sort of injury that impeded your ability to practice your skills, you can still pass that knowledge on to someone else who can utilize it to your benefit. Using skills, you can not only supplement and protect your preps, you can ultimately replace them.
To start with, pick one skill. Then add another later if you feel so inclined.
No matter what, look for others that can supplement your skill with theirs, and visa versa. I knit, am learning to forage, and preserve food. My husband gardens. My father can build basic furniture with wood. My mother-in-law sews.
What skills do you have? Who do you know in your area that you can work with and combine skills if necessary?
If you don’t have a useful skill for this area of your life, pick one and start learning it today. Go to youtube or an online learning platform like Udemy or Skillshare and take a course.
Comment below and let us know what you do, or are starting today, to supplement, protect, or replace your preps if needed.
