Can you survive one month without any outside support? Then you are a prepper says this article

[Demovictory9]

Long article about minorities becoming preppers in higher numbers

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna142806

said that what shapes individual preppers — which he defines as someone who can live for a month with no outside support — is how they react to a single question: “Do I feel safe?”

[ret5hd]

1. I feel safe...

(not a minority)

and I don't consider us "preppers". I consider us as being prepared for things beyond our control...weather to war.

I (we) could easily live fairly comfortably for well over a month. We have "practice runs" (well, actually it's just camping).

1) food
2) water and water filtration
3) shelter (outfitted van with solar)
4) a bit of liquor
5) a bit of cash (just in case!)

I would say the biggest problem we would have would be air conditioning in the summer...but you just head north and head up (altitude).

[NanaCat]

13. You reminded me that I need to get new water filters.

And propane for the camp stove.

[ret5hd]

19. re water filters:

get one of these while you are out and just throw it somewhere safe:

https://www.sawyer.com/products/squeeze-water-filtration-system

with a regular old disposable screw top water bottle you have a complete water filtration system that will work for thousands of gallons.

you might not ever need it, but you won’t regret it.

[Sympthsical]

2. Kind of a loose definition there. That makes me one

We have water, batteries, food, supplies, filtration, etc. because we live in California. Doesn't take much for a natural disaster to go down, whether that's wildfires or an earthquake. Better safe than sorry.

I kind of liked the part of the article that tangents off, "Oh look, an ax!"

Do people . . . not own axes? Like, is that a weird thing to own? I've always had an ax around.

I take "no solicitors" very seriously.

[NanaCat]

7. One earthquake that destroys the road

Into one of their ubiquitous cul-de-sacs where you live will teach you to keep lots of necessities on hand until you can get out again.

I lived around the corner from such a cul-de-sac in San Mateo County, right after Loma Prieta. So I could get to and from my house if need be, but my neighbours apparently weren't so lucky. The entry to their cul-de-sac buckled up so much that they couldn't get cars in and out until the county could repair the road. They were having to rent cars, park on the main road, and hike with their groceries to their homes.

One older couple apparently lasted for quite a while without needing to buy groceries, because his wife was paranoid about not being in a bind during an emergency. He joked that it was because her grandparents had survived the Really Big Quake of '06 up in the city, and never got over it.

[Sympthsical]

14. Well, that's a new paranoia unlocked

Because we do live in a development that only has one entrance road and surrounded by a steep creek and an actual wall. After reading your post, I walked outside to see if we could squeak a car through the post barriers to the walking path that connects to the main road.

Whew. Might have to take out the morning tai chi group, but we could manage it.

[BlueSpot]

15. But you could chop down the post if you had an ax

Just sayin'.

[Sympthsical]

20. Pfffft

I have solar power and an electric rechargeable chainsaw.

Come at me!

[BlueSpot]

21. Was just making a funny on your earlier post

I'm not coming at anybody.

See? This is why I rarely post.

[Celerity]

22. they were just having a laugh m8

[Sympthsical]

23. Just making a joke

Ax vs. chainsaw.

It's ok. Sometimes tone doesn't convey well online ^^

[yardwork]

30. We got the joke and it was funny. You're fine.

The poster was joking with you. It's easy to misunderstand tone with posts. You're fine. Keep posting.

[haele]

37. Single access roads for communities are dangerous.

Even in large cities, if there's natural topography, it can be dangerous.
I live in San Diego; 3 million people living on 6 mesas (200+ ft hills with crinkly outcropped edges dropping into canyons), in creek-bed valleys or canyons, or on coastal peninsulas. Too many people packed into dense little 1/2 or single sq.mile or so residential communities with only one or two main roads connecting either to large "strip road" (former highway), highway or freeway that can get them to safety or resource areas.

Currently, because I used to camp for up to a week, I have a Sterno stove with about 2 weeks fuel, 2 large coolers, a small Costco solar RV setup with with a "night use' battery pack for phone/laptop charging and spouse's CPAP if needed. We still have the cobbled styrofoam cooler/battery desk fan "swamp unit" from when we lived in a place with no AC. I have an axe and billhook from when I had a yard with trees, and a 50lb pull bow, a longsword and a couple 6" daggers from when I did medieval recreation, if I really need "protection" All stuff I already had for hobbies, not prepping.

And I'm thinking of getting a 3-wheel bike with a large back basket for hauling larger items around, like I did when I was younger living on base. They are sturdy and stable over dirt or damaged roads, and can be adapted to be electric to assist old joints when going up hills and can double as an emergency transport vehicle (my neighbor has enough tools and plywood to turn one into a Tuk-Tuk) or haul a small cart behind them if needed.
That's enough "prep" that I can think of for a city dweller.

Sanitation, medicines and water will always be an issue, properly prepped or not. City dwellers - heck, most and town/rural dwellers - don't have wells or easy access to water after a few days (the 50 gallon drum of water that can last a family of 4 a month is impossible to keep in an apartment and difficult in a house as it is), and the emergency will inevitably always occur the week before the prescription refill is ready...
The only good thing about being in a city in a natural disaster is that the city is likely to get services back quicker than suburban or rural locations. More infrastructure and scroungable resources available.

Haele

[NanaCat]

3. Huh?

Some of us have learned from living in certain parts of the country to maintain and continually update well-stocked pantries and the like. I also carry a full kit of bad weather gear in my car, in case the worst happens when I'm on the road.

I've been in blizzards that lasted 10 or more days. It hasn't happened often in my life, but once was enough to teach me to have plenty of spare everything on hand, in case the worst hits. And invariably, what we think can get us through two weeks, usually isn't enough. We need what would seem to us a month's supply to last a couple of weeks without access to grocery stores, or even our neighbours.

It's common sense to keep enough on hand to get through an emergency without starving or freezing to death, not some kind of freakish 'prepper' behavior.

[IA8IT]

4. Add Prepper to Eat The Rich?

[Arthur_Frain]

11. no, no. "Pepper"

I'm sure they still taste pretty nasty, but you can gag it down with enough pepper.

[Raine]

5. I can but don't consider myself an actual "prepper"

I'm in California and because of fires, floods and earthquakes have preparations

[Caliman73]

6. A lot of minorities have ALWAYS been "preppers".

Lots of minority communities including Black Americans, Latinos, Chinese Americans, Native Communities, etc... have always had some sort of collective or at least familial "survival stashes" We have had to because of being locked out of the full economic benefits of society.

White people into "prepping" tend do do so for different reasons, typically because they have been told about "society's pending collapse" which they tend to blame on (insert your right wing conspiracy here).

[NanaCat]

12. My experience as well

Every mixed or 'minority' dominant neighbourhood I've ever lived in has been far more community-minded than the fancier burbs.

[cachukis]

8. Are none of you aware of "ghetto?"

The "underground economy?"

There is a lot of survival talent out there.
There is a whole world living in emergency.

[Uncle Joe]

9. On the other hand, if you can't survive for a month without

any Dr. Pepper, then you're Pepper....and probably in need of counseling.

Thanks for the thread Demovictory

[prodigitalson]

16. that guy was in American Werewolf in London

[surrealAmerican]

10. Too many articles like this are written from an exclusively upper-middle-class perspective.

People who have a history that includes "food insecurity" will tell you they always have food in the house "just in case".

You may be eating only breakfast cereal and rice and beans, but you'll be eating for the rest of the month.

[Demovictory9]

29. "Surviving for month" equals more than just eating for preppers

Imagine no water or electricity from city sources for a month

[meadowlander]

17. I'd draw a distinction between people who are stocked up for an emergency and preppers.

After all, any farmer or gardener who did some canning or freezing produce to get them through the winter would be a prepper by that definition.

There's a difference between planning for basic resilience to reasonably foreseeable natural or economic disasters (for me, earthquakes, floods, maybe unemployment/inflation) where you have enough in the house to shelter in place through the initial shock before continuing to adapt as part of society and being a prepper where the focus is on self-sufficiency in the face of societal collapse.

I have enough food in the house so I don't need to go to the grocery store if there's another 40 day quarantine. But I haven't built a Farraday cage in my house so I can still use electronics after a nuclear strike. I don't have a room full of plastic buckets with a 10 year food supply or a closet full of guns. So I don't think I'm a prepper.

There's a lot of discussion on this in the permaculture community where there is some overlap in terms of growing food at home but permaculture focuses on food resilience as part of a cooperative network while preppers focus on self-sufficiency.

[Timewas]

18. Well

I don't really think we are "preppers" but we could easily go several months with nothing but what we have on hand and maybe longer if we practiced a little rationing.Actually quite a bit longer since we have cattle,chickens,pigs and milk cows. and depending on weather and time of year a 2 acre garden along with 2 40X20 green houses.

[madville]

24. I'm in hurricane country

About 10 miles from the coast on 6.5 acres. We’re set up pretty well, always have enough food and fuel on hand to make it at least a month, probably two, with no utilities. Have a generator that will power the whole house including AC, two smaller generators if we just need minimal power at times like to run the freezers a few hours a day or just a small portable AC in one room. Have a shallow hand pump well and can purify water from that if needed without electricity. Have a septic system so sewer service isn’t an issue.

I do want to get a solar system with battery storage at some point, would be much less dependent on the gas generators. Also need to be better about having extra dog food on hand, I let that dwindle down pretty often but she could always just eat people food for a bit in a pinch.

Been also kicking around Starlink internet because the Xfinity cable internet here has gone out during hurricanes here in the past since the lines are overhead on the power poles.

Nothing wrong with being prepared and just being in the habit of rotating and replenishing your stockpile of food and fuel.

[niyad]

25. JFC, it has nothing to do with the implied idea of "safe". A blizzard that

closes the roads, including the highways so the semi trucks are stranded so the grocery stores are empty. An earthquake. A grid failure. Those of us who live in physically vulnerable areas know to be prepared. It is simple common sense, does not need the pejorative "prepper" bs.

[underpants]

26. My wife did a 2 month "Pantry Challenge" last year

We did order fruit and produce to be delivered but other than that every meal came from the pantry and/or one of our freezers.

[Bettie]

27. We could.

It wouldn't be fun, but we could.

[Johnny2X2X]

28. Covid

Covid caused us to stock up on food some. We keep enough food and water in the basement for a few weeks now.

Nothing wrong with being prepared, within reason of course.

[TheKentuckian]

31. By that standard, I come from a long line of preppers

My grandmother passed in 1983 and we had the last jar of her pear preserves about 1997.

[BluesRunTheGame]

32. I just got back from Costco...

Does that count?

[Aristus]

33. When I think of a prepper, I think of some guy with an insufferable personality, a rat's-nest beard,

and who says 'fuck' a lot.

I don't know what those things have to do with prepping, but I guess this is not my area.

[Hotler]

34. Stocking up on supplies before the election might be a good idea. If they take power

there could be martial law after they start shooting protesters in the streets.

[elocs]

35. "Preppers" prepare for TEOTWAWKI,

while the prepared are just ready to survive ordinary emergencies that might last for days, weeks, or even months.

I am prepared for at least 3 months, even keeping warm in a Wisconsin winter for that long.
My philosophy is to better have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

[Happy Hoosier]

36. 1 month?

Since the pandemic, I keep a good supply of non-perishables in the house. I could probably go a month on stored food. Don't consider myself a prepper.

[Demovictory9]

38. Thats smart