Prepping Mistakes To Avoid

ByKen J. Last Update
Prepping mistakes to avoid

Prepper / Prepping mistakes to avoid during the process of becoming better prepared. We all make mistakes along the way. I certainly have, and still do make mistakes. The best we can do is try to learn from them. So I thought that I would list some prepping mistakes to avoid during your journey towards being prepared on a higher level.

Prepping & Preparedness Mistakes

It’s simply my opinion. There are plenty of potential prepping mistakes. However here are a few to pay particular attention to…

Not enough focus on the most core essential of preparedness – water.

We take it for granted. That is, the constant availability of water. However, water is ridiculously essential for survival. Not only do we need clean drinking water to stay alive, but also for the many additional day-to-day uses.

Two things to consider. The first thing is easy, and most preppers easily accomplish this. The second thing though, is where preppers need to focus more of their time, assuming you’re prepping at a higher level.

First, store a supply of drinking water for short term situations, and get a good drinking water filter. Easy enough, right? Do not make this prepping mistake! Store some water.

[ Read: Aqua Tainer Water Jugs With Spigot ]

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Big Berkey Countertop Water Filter
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ZeroWater 52-Cup 5-Stage Water Filter Dispenser
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Second, however, is ‘the long term’. And, then the really long term. Should the worst happen, and if you are unable to procure water day after day after day.. you will die. Period.

Do you live on or near a lake, river, constant stream, or spring? Excellent! All you need now is the method of transport back and forth to your home (and again, a great water filter – and spare filter elements).

However, many or most people do not live on, or very near one of these water sources. You better figure out what you’re going to do about getting water. That is, if you’re considering SHTF scenarios such as grid-down and/or infrastructure collapse.

[ Read: How To Transport Water From Source To Home In An Emergency ]

I’ve written about this very topic a number of times here on the blog. And I believe that avoiding the details and mitigation of long term water procurement – is one of the big prepping mistakes that could happen along the way towards a higher level of preparedness.

Not thinking through the reality of surviving without the power grid – longer than just the short or medium term outage.

Again, on the road towards a higher level of preparedness, the many potential and very significant impacts of a non-functioning power grid. Short term is easy. But a long, or very long grid-down timeline will be quite difficult, and could even become deadly.

The prepping mistake is to not evaluate this like it should be evaluated and mitigated (at least for a much higher level of overall preparedness).

Consider every single thing, appliance, utility, or whatever it is that’s powered by electricity in your home and throughout your day to day living. A few major concerns come to mind, if applicable..

  • Got a well pump? What about the long term without power?
  • Do you have alternative energy? Enough of it?
  • If you have alt-energy source(s), what about EMP protection?
  • How are you going to heat your home during the winter? This is an important priority for those living where deadly winter cold could kill you..
  • Non-electric appliance alternatives for those which you may consider necessities.
  • Think about your kitchen without electricity..

You get the picture? It can become pretty daunting to consider surviving without electricity for a long term period of time. It may be a mistake to overlook giving this some deep thought and mitigation.

Overestimating what you have for stored food, figuring that you have enough.

Maybe you do have enough! However, thinking that you have enough – could be a very big prepping mistake. Believing that you have plenty of stored food for a long term, or very long term SHTF situation – could be wrong.

The fact is, each person will require about 750,000 calories of food to survive for one year. That’s right, about 750,000 calories for each person, at a minimum to get through one year. Got that one figured out properly?

A prepper mistake is overestimating what is stored on shelves, or in their pantry, closet, stash, wherever.., with regard to the number of calories. Plus, do you have a variety? Have you thought about the extras that make a more complete meal?

It’s easy to stash several weeks worth of food, or even a month or two with some more effort and space. However when you’re looking at 6 months. Or a year. Or more? And for each person in the household..

Obviously it all depends how long you want to take it. In the context of a higher level of preparedness, that’s up to you.

Not putting enough emphasis on your personal and home security to get through a long, or very long term SHTF.

While an uncomfortable subject for some, there will likely be significant security risks during a period of SHTF collapse. Although no one will be immune or free of this, your location will greatly impact these risks.

There is a lot to consider and lots to do for your personal and home security if you want to be in a higher level of preparedness for SHTF.

I’ve written about this topic quite a number of times here on the blog. The bottom line is that we’re talking about a security situation where it’s going to be dangerous (for some more than others).

There are more potential prepping mistakes to be made. Better to think about it ahead of time. Measure twice, Cut once.

[ Read: Prepper Food Storage Mistakes To Avoid ]

[ Read: Security Concerns During Timeline Of The Rolling Societal Collapse ]