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So maybe talking about survival prepping in the middle of a pandemic during a month fraught with natural disasters, from wildfires across the western United States and multiple storms forming in the Atlantic, not to mention the flood warning that Middle Tennessee is under while I type this, might be a bad idea. But, then again, we need to talk about having plans in place for when the proverbial shit hits the fan. Do I think a situation like AMC’s The Walking Dead is going to happen in the future (as much as I love that show and its spinoffs)? Not likely. But, here we are, having required facial masking, social distancing, and stay at home orders to curb the spread of the pandemic-that-must-not-be-named.

I’ve been digging into the ‘survival prepping lifestyle’ for the past 5 years or so. It was a much bigger past-time for me before moving to California. Our first house had an unfinished basement that I kept stocked with several months worth of supplies – non-perishable food, paper products, laundry needs, health, and first aid needs. When we moved to California I didn’t have as much space as I was used to having in order to keep as many supplies. But, I tried to keep 3 months worth of cleaning and paper supplies, a month or more of non-perishable foods, and started organizing the household paperwork for easy evacuation or ‘bug-out.’ I don’t currently have a traditional bug-out bag which is a pre-prepared bag or backpack that contains emergency supplies, clothes, food, and personal documents that will allow one to live for about a week on the move. I’m not going to get really detailed in explaining these items, a quick Google search will get you the answers you need. Pinterest is also a great resource.

Many people take ‘apocalypse prepping’ much farther and darker than I could ever imagine humans needing to be, hoarding water, food, and supplies that would last their family much longer than a year. They anticipate that the world would become more like The Purge than a coming together for survival akin to The Kingdom in The Walking Dead. I take a much more community minded, self-sufficiency mindset. I don’t like or approve of that type of survival of the fittest mentality. I don’t think it should ever be an us against them situation. Our biology says to create community, and we can learn to love and support everyone so that we can each live as we desire. To help create that close knit community, I want to know what resources I can accumulate that will help my family and my community become less reliant upon the global economy and scale down to a local, homesteader economy. 

The main way that I have been survival prepping since the beginning of my journey is by collecting a digital and dead tree library of resources on survival, first aid, and homesteading. I have resources on living in a super changed world or in the wilderness. It’s also helpful for that camping life – not that I’ve been since my Girl Scouting years – but I’m terribly out of practice. The most important resource any family library could have is information on homesteading or country living and especially gardening. I am going to should on my life and plan on some solid gardening in pots happening once we’re settled in our new house for next year. Unfortunately my neighborhood Homeowner’s Association doesn’t allow chickens or I’d be building a coop this winter, too. What are the ways that you prepare your house and family for possible changes in the way we live our lives? Are you ready and willing to help your neighbors near and far stay safe, fed, and healthy during challenging times by giving of your time, talents, and resources?

Coming soon to a book club near you, AND the blog, is one of my favorite gardeners and homesteaders from Cheap and Dirty Hoer to share some of her dirty knowledge. Here’s a picture from Heart.Wants.Books.’s last in-person planning session where we sent her picture of us with her favorite dirty magazine. We know you’ll be excited to read her take on one of the books on my survival resources shelf!  

~Ashley

That’s right dear readers, in addition to being a gardner and homesteader, Cheap and Dirty Hoer is also a reader.  She’s joined in our Virtual Book Club before, and she’s very much looking forward to discussing  Shelby Mahurin’s debut Serpent & Dove on 18 September at 7:30 p.m. CST.  She’s even already registered here too, in addition to sliding into my DMs while she was reading a couple of my favorites recently (you’re always welcome to chat me up about books)!

At my house, we don’t talk about survival prepping, we talk about preparing for the zombie apocalypse, because then you’re ready for anything.  I wish I was kidding.  Sometimes the similarities between Ashley and my Adam creep me out.  This is one of those times.  Jeeps are not one of those times, although they also have that in common.  We’ll come back to cars.  For now, let me say, I am not the prepper in my house, that’d be my partner.  Why is this creepy you ask?  Well, they’re both enneagram 1s, which is known for needing to follow the rules.  I’m an enneagram 6, which is known for needing to have all the plans, and then some additional back up plans.  Let me now repeat, I’m not a prepper, but they are.  See why it’s creepy?  At home, I mostly just say yes dear because his requests and purchases are mostly reasonable, and sometimes, you just chuckle and acquiesce to the request of purchasing 12 lbs of pinto beans because it’s just $12 and it’ll make him feel better (I wish I was joking.  They’re in the garage.  Please send me recipes.  I’ll send you back a video of B at 18 months sharing what zombies say.)  

Our biggest prepping purchase at my house is cars.  I’m told it is required that we have at least one four door, four-wheel drive vehicle at all times.  Presently we have two, one is a Jeep (and for sale, please), and mine is bigger 😉  (Although really, it’s all relative since we now rarely leave the house and we bought a third car in November so he could prepare to sell the XJ…y’all, the struggle is real.)  

We store about a month’s worth of non-perishable foods in the pantry (the floor to ceiling shelves behind the door in the laundry room), and generally keep a stocked freezer.  While I grocery shop weekly (including yesterday, which was a bit of an adventure getting home as my town was 14 kinds of flooded – and that’s not an exaggeration), we can usually go two weeks with minimal adjustments, and could eat for longer if we needed to for whatever reason.  Part of my planning for groceries is not buying and storing things that feel unnecessary (to me, I don’t judge your choices because we’re all different).  I don’t buy pancake mix or muffin mix because both are quick and easy (again, for me) and I do keep frozen berries to put into either.  (Beware, frozen blueberries may lead to purple tinted muffins.)  

I also keep a minimal number of different cleaning products on hand.  I have an all purpose cleaner, a shower cleaner, and homemade glass cleaner for when the norwex cloth isn’t enough (generally because my dog likes to look out the window and I’ve waited an excessive length of time to clean it).  I adore dry Swiffer cloths for the floors and for dusting (mostly because my littles are touchy about their cleaning products and the wet norwex is not their preference for dusting, but I adored it over the weekend, especially on the high places where they can’t reach and no one taller has bothered in a bit).  

I do not have titles on my shelf dedicated to prepping.  I do have The Lazy Genius Way, which includes principles that 100% apply to prepping and I have an e-book copy of Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House I purchased a few months ago.  (Have I opened it?  Nope, it has no deadline.)

How do you prepare at your house?  Is there one person who needs a bit more than another?  What books or resources do you love for prepping?

~Nikki