Greetings everyone. I'm hoping to solicit some opinions and thoughts with this post. Since we are all fairly like-minded on the topic of prepping, I'm wondering how you choose to deal with folks who don't share our desires to prepare for emergencies. I have had numerous discussions with family and friends about the fact that most people assume the lights will always turn on, the toilets will always flush and the water will always come out of the tap. I only have one acquaintance I know personally who has made ANY preparations whatsoever. Aside from him and his family, I don't know anyone who has even the government-recommended 72 hours worth of emergency supplies.

My step-father has gone to great lengths to secure his home from violent threats, but has very few supplies to see him through a disaster. His argument is that if we see TEOTWAWKI, he doesn't want to survive it. Life would be too hard for him to deal with. I tried explaining that his own human nature to survive would likely preclude the chance that he would simply lay down and die. I told him that if he gets hungry, he'll likely try to find food. If he gets thirsty, he'll likely try to find water. Oddly, he and my mother have a decent-sized disposable income. Yet, the only preparations he's talking about is purchasing a very large whole-house generator, so that if they lose power he can live in total, uninterrupted comfort for a month or two...after that, if the world hasn't returned to "normal," he has no interest in surviving. I've heard this from many people.

Other typical things I hear a lot of, are the sheeple who think the government will save them, or the government won't let something happen. Or things like "I have a gun so I can get the supplies I need, if the need arises." I try to point out to these folks that even the government recommends having at least 72 hours of supplies on hand before rescue efforts can be mobilized. People look at me like I'm from Mars when I try to stimulate discussion on these topics.

I am not an alarmist or a conspiracy theorist, but I have seen firsthand what wide-scale disasters, long-term power outages, riots and other social break-downs can do. Society's utter reliance on "convenience technologies" is it's Achilles Heel when it comes to survival. When I try to get people thinking about the possibilities, and how unprepared most people are, it is out of my desire to help protect friends and family from terrible things. But because things happen rarely, people seem to think it will never happen. It's only after something bad has happened will they prepare for another eventuality. I realize that most people would not take preparations to the level that I try to, but to not have even an ounce of that type of security seems so foolhardy to me.

How do we encourage others to be at least minimally prepared? Should we waste our time and effort to encourage and educate them? I don't advertise that I'm a prepper, because competition for resources will be fierce if disaster strikes. A few of the people that do know I'm a prepper (mainly family) have stated that they're coming to my place if/when disaster strikes. While it's nice to feel like others have confidence in my ability to provide, I certainly don't have the resources to support very many people for very long. I have a feeling I'll have to turn a few people away at my door. I certainly can't stock enough supplies for a small village for 6 months or a year!

Thoughts?

No amount of preaching will make someone see things your/our way. I've been dropping hints to friends and family for several years. I've had very limited success with opening their eyes to the distinct possibility that things could get as bad or worse than the 1930's. I've mentioned the natural disasters and how long it took to get help to those affected. It falls on deaf ears.
Most of us have grown up in the "baby boom" generation and America has always been the "top dog". We have never experienced real hardship and not many people think it could happen here. They are sure the .gov has everything well in hand.
Things will get ugly rather quickly when no help arrives (think Katrina, and that was relatively short term) and unfortunately these folks that roll their eyes at us will become refugees or casualties of their own shortsightedness. I do what I can but you can only take that "look" so many times before you have to just let it go.

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And To The Republic For Which It Used To Stand

I find this post and the sentiment behind it very complex. On the one hand, you want to share your knowledge and want people to be prepared. But on the other hand, you don't want to fully expose your preparations to others (especially those that have indicated they have no desire to prep) because when and if the SHTF, who is the first person they are going to run/turn to?

I have a hard enough time financially preparing for my family. The last thing I want is friends/acquaintances, etc. seeking me out looking to mooch off of my supplies because they wouldn't listen to me earlier.

It's a delicate balance that I don't think I've found just yet.

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If it's in your pack, but you don't know how to use it...it's useless. So, always test your skills as a form of preparation...Don't wait until your life depends on it. That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way.

I think you put it better than I did in my original post, as your statements here echo my sentiments exactly.

I don't like the idea of preaching to anyone, but I also don't want to see my friends be so woefully unprepared for things. The idea that the lights will always magically turn on, and the water will always magically come out of the faucet has really handicapped so many people. Perhaps as few as 5% of my coworkers would have any sort of idea of where/how to obtain clean water and food if the SHTF.

My biggest problem is keeping my mouth shut, both about the need to prepare, and my own preparations. I'm afraid I've set myself up to be the default philanthropist if TEOTWAWKI happens!

Something I find harder to deal with is the people who acknowledge that they should be preparing... but don't.

People know I am an "avid gardener" and am into disaster preparedness in terms of a BOB, own and shoot guns plus spend time learning about wild edibles and herbs... but I don't tell them anything else. Another prepper will hear the message between the lines if I happen to meet one. To everyone else, I'm just a normal office drone.

At least these folks are one step ahead of the rest of the sheep...I can only hope that one day, the folks who acknowledge the need to prepare will actually start.

See if they will build a small stockpile. If not for themselves, your family. You want to survive and it would be a comfort for you and them knowing their house is available and has supplies if you need it. Perhaps they get recued during a small disaster but your family is still in the area or they were away when disaster struck. At least there would be some small peace of mind knowing their house was stocked and that you knew about it and could make use of it.

One thing you can stress is how the food bill drops once you have a stock of food in the house. If a certain brand is expensive one week, you don’t buy it and depend on your stock. Once it goes on sale you fill the stock back up. When stocked you only buy items that are on sale and can ride out the higher prices.

This is exactly how I recommend people to start prepping, and how I started. Every time I use an item, I put it on my shopping list. When I go buy food I buy what I need to replace what I used, and add one can, bag or whatever container the food comes in to my purchase. This adds to my food stocks slowly, and by purchasing what I actually eat I know that the stock will be rotated and used before it goes bad.

I had to start over with my food stocks in March because of a divorce and my ex kept all of the food. I spent $500 to get started and get a basic stock in the house. By using my methods I spend $200 a month on food. By using bulk packaging and repackaging into portions I have been able to eat well enough to keep me happy and increase my stocks as well. I am currently at approx 6 weeks of food comfortably, and I believe I could add 2 more weeks if I was real careful and able to keep the refrigerator and freezer running with my generator.

The only thing I have done different than most people would is I do hunt some of my own meat. By the time hunting season is over, I usually have a pretty well stocked freezer and I am able to avoid buying a lot of the meat that I eat. This does save me a lot on food.

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Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

I just joined this forum, and it was to address this exact same concern. I've recently been rather horrified by three close friends who know and agree with what is going to happen, but refuse to actually do anything. My bitterness is kicking in, especially when we sacrifice a great deal of time and money for this. My husband works two well paying jobs; we should be living it high, instead it goes towards prep and my time goes towards research. I am becoming less and less favorable towards helping others, when my warnings are ignored. I base my case on experts, historical precedence, and current facts/trends- but get handed the crazy card too often. I greatest fear is how parasitic these 'friends' and family will be when it really hits. Will they keep acting like entitled fools?

I have found one area with a bit of solution. Not a great one, but still a help. I have been stocking up on cheap bulk food. Where I live, Costco has 45 lbs of wheat in storage buckets for $13; with water, that's at least 60 lbs of food. Rice and beans are cheap; with $100, you can feed a dozen people, not happily, but feed them for a month. I also garden in preparation. There are huge issues with helping others, but the reality is that you will want to help those you love. That is my one bit of solution- and I hope to have potluck parties when food prices 10x. A gallon can of food is $4 right now; $40 later- but is food for 10 people. That with rice or beans, and each person can supply dinner for 10 once every 10 days- thus food would still run about $50 a meal for 10 ppl, $150 a month each for everyone to have dinner. $450 per person for all 3 meals if everyone can keep it together. I hope I did the math right!

I do not know what to think about the sheeple effect, but it is a painful reality. I greatly hope that this can be a continues discussion, as it really is one of the greatest issues we will be facing in the future. Best of luck to you

My brother lives in the mountains and has an older home with electric heat and a fuel oil heater. Last year, the electricity went out in his neighborhood due to heavy snow and he had to go stay with friends for a week.

Sooooo, did he fill up on fuel oil this summer? Heck no! Some people never learn.

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Vanquish Fear and Panic!
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