Appalachian Traders

A lot of people hear the word preparedness and think they need to go spend thousands of dollars on gear, food, generators, and everything else.

You don’t.

If you’re just getting started, start with the basics and build from there.

Look around your house and ask yourself, what would we need if the power went out for several days? What if the stores were closed? What if we couldn’t get water?

Start with water. Get some stored up and have a way to purify more if you need it.

Then start building up your food supply. You don’t have to go buy a year’s worth of food all at once. Every time you go shopping, pick up a few extra things your family already eats. Canned goods, rice, beans, pasta, peanut butter, canned meat and other shelf-stable foods can add up pretty quickly.

If you have the space, start a garden. Even if it’s just a few containers on your porch. Learn how to grow something, save seeds and eventually preserve some of what you grow.

Then look at your power situation. Do you have flashlights? Batteries? Power banks? A generator? Do you actually know how to use and maintain it?

And don’t forget the basic stuff. First aid supplies, medications, hygiene items, batteries, blankets, tools and important documents should all have a place where you can find them.

Most importantly, learn the skills.

Knowing how to grow food, store water, cook without power, preserve food and handle basic emergencies is worth more than having a closet full of stuff you don’t know how to use.

You don’t have to do everything at once.

Pick one thing and start today.

That’s what we’re going to be doing here at Appalachian Traders. We’re going to work on getting prepared, learning useful skills and figuring out what we actually need without wasting money on stuff we don’t.

Preparedness doesn’t have to be complicated.

Just start.