How to Go About Getting Members of Your Family and "Group" To Prep a little?

[plank white]

Ok Ill Admit Im kindof new to the whole prepping Idea.

Its always been in the back of my mind, but I have not really made any large plans or prepping moves.

Now in my family I would have me My mother 2 brothers 1 sister

My wife has stepdad and mom, 3 sisters

Between the groups there are spouse and children aswell

Now to Look at there Skills.

One Of my brothers is an ARMY Ranger also Sniper with sfas Training asewll and 4 tours under his belt

I was In the military but have nowhere near the experience my brother Has.

I also Have Numerous Friends who I served with not to far away and my brother does aswell.

1 of my sister in Laws is an EMT so that would come in very handy in a TEOTWAWKI Type situation.

My Wifes Stepdad is an Avid Hunter with many guns and really skilled at numerous task such as farming, gardening, hunting, and just all around as far working the land is concerned.

My Wifes Stepdad and Mom have a nice piece of land but its not really that big and still kind of close to town.But if something were to happen tomorrow it would work.

Questions

How would I go about talking to some of them about maybe putting back some Food ammo weapons etc. without sounding like some kind of nutjob

How would I go about maybe finding a better peace of Land further out at a decent Price to maybe put a small hunting cabin on for now without breaking the bank.

Ive got a few guns and really need to start working on stocking ammo more

But more so food, First aid, toiletries, etc.

it all seems like so much it makes it kind of hard to start anywhere in particular.

Edited February 27, 2012 by plank white

[mcurrier]

Tell them that if some States are doing it, they might want to consider doing it themselves -

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/wyoming-advances-doomsday-bill-to-help-residents-during-possible-collapse/

[plank white]

wow never saw that thats kindof cool wyoming is ahead of the curb there

[RobertNashville]

The best way to get people to agree with you about anything is to make them think it was their idea and I think you can help them think it was their idea just by pointing out the obvious.

We all know that disasters happen, be they man made or natural and it just makes sense to have essentials put away for such emergencies - I think if you start "there" the rest could well follow of its own accord.

I thought about prepping for a lone while but about a year ago I went from thinking about it to doing something and it was what has happened in just the past few years that got me moving...I SAW an F5 tornado pass a 1/2 mile form my house...I saw the results of major flooding in Nashville and the results of Katrina in New Orleans...after a while a person would just have to be a bit crazy to not prepare (either that or they simply refuses to accept reality) and preparing for possible emergencies is not "nutty"; it's just common sense.

I can pretty much guarantee that if you start out with "end of the world" talk you'll almost certainly lose them and they will think you are nutty.

[Guest ochretoe]

I have a core group of friends that have a basic plan. It is simple and based on a natural disaster turning economic. We all know there will be another Katrina of some kind. Whether it be eathquake or storm or whatever. a basic plan is not crazy. My group have a wide skill set. we have LEO's, ex military, hard core farmers and machinist. Everyone one has there own weapons. I have given guns to one of the group who needed them and he is teaching his girls to shoot. I have a real advantage most don't so I do most of the planning and prepping. e.g. I have ammo, 1000+gal. of fuel, medical supplies, water purifiers, saws and equipment and lodging for up to 40 people all set up. I also have state mandated emergency and panic files and the authority to initiate those plans. Most folks just have to plan and wing it. Food is my greatest concern.

[plank white]

I have a core group of friends that have a basic plan. It is simple and based on a natural disaster turning economic. We all know there will be another Katrina of some kind. Whether it be eathquake or storm or whatever. a basic plan is not crazy. My group have a wide skill set. we have LEO's, ex military, hard core farmers and machinist. Everyone one has there own weapons. I have given guns to one of the group who needed them and he is teaching his girls to shoot. I have a real advantage most don't so I do most of the planning and prepping. e.g. I have ammo, 1000+gal. of fuel, medical supplies, water purifiers, saws and equipment and lodging for up to 40 people all set up. I also have state mandated emergency and panic files and the authority to initiate those plans. Most folks just have to plan and wing it. Food is my greatest concern.

Man that is just awsome and really good to hear I think this weekend im just gonna start small with some food and then start to build from there and then Im shure I can slowly start to bring folks around Im sure most of them would do it if they saw me doing it so I just gotta make my self start some where atleast I have quite a few good "guns" now amo food water filtration "we live near Huge water sources" and Meds are my main concern, I guess i can worry about land later . Im not certain the economy will crash and send out mass histeria or anything simlilar but there are various warning signs that it could happen Id i believe if it did happen tomorrow Id surely hate myself for not atleast planning a little ahead.

Thanks for the help Guys I guess this is one of those things you just gotta do.

Edited February 28, 2012 by plank white

[Guest A10thunderbolt]

I am going to start as well, I think it is to easy to get caught up in working all the time and forgetting that one day everything may be different over night, No power, no Way to access you bank account or even if having money would matter.

[Guest Catfish36]

I am too just in the "thinking about prepping" stage. And I also don't feel overwhelmed with the whole process and dont know where to start. My biggest problem with starting this is Storage. I simple do not have room to stock pile food etc.

So maybe some professional preppers can give us a starter list...food ..what kind...etc...???

[RobertNashville]

I am too just in the "thinking about prepping" stage. And I also don't feel overwhelmed with the whole process and dont know where to start. My biggest problem with starting this is Storage. I simple do not have room to stock pile food etc.

So maybe some professional preppers can give us a starter list...food ..what kind...etc...???

I would suggest your first item should be to start a list of things you think you'll need...imaging yourself without "grid" supplied stuff for a couple of weeks and what you would need to get through it..after you get a bunch of things on your list you can start prioritizing.

While I can easily and quickly bug out if necessary (such as for a natural disaster), my main idea is to stay here and work/cooperate with my neighbors...we started a Neighborhood Watch group about a year ago and through that, many of us have gotten to know each other much more than ever before...maybe something similar would work for you?

I've been slowly preparing...I could easily last a couple of months or more on what I have in my house right now and by the end of this year I think I could last at least two years on what I'll have stored...I've essentially dedicated one of my bedrooms to be my "prep" room; other stuff is in my garage.

[Turf]

Survivalblog.com is a great resource. They have articles from the users of the site ranging from those in the thinking about stage all the way up to people that could live comfortably for the rest of their lives if everything goes down tomorrow. Literally years of articles are stored in a searchable archive on the site.

[Caster]

Okay, no one is going to like this

Tell them you will go above and beyond to help them now, provided they put forth an effort to help themselves. The alternative is, WTSHTF, they can suffer, join a FEMA camp and/or starve. Do something now because you either help build the ark, or you drown when the door is shut. It's just that simple. The people that are technically my blood relatives will suffer because they are blind fools and I will not help them after the scorn a ridicule I've put up with in the past. But I digress, you tell them DO IT NOW and you'll get help but your apathy today will be your death in the future.

Life is cruel, swimming against it's current will only leave you exhausted when you get to the same end anyway.

[camp]

dont forget the small things, i discovered yesterday when we lost power and cell phones in the storms , that while i had lights,food,water and communications, in the storm room(which worked great) i did not have toys for the 3 year old grand daughter.

wont make that mistake again

[Moped]

I'd approach them about prepping for small natural disasters first as Robert says. Once you reach that level, start them along the road to prepping for long term disasters. Baby steps can go along way. And leave out the Zombie takeover. That's sure to spook them!

[Guest page90lx]

I'd approach them about prepping for small natural disasters first as Robert says. Once you reach that level, start them along the road to prepping for long term disasters. Baby steps can go along way. And leave out the Zombie takeover. That's sure to spook them!

I agree with everyone, my wife didnt think much about it till the ice storm a coulpe of years ago and she saw how much those people had to go thru and that was only 40 miles from my home and she has come on board small steps at a time.

[Timestepper]

I guess I'm lucky in that respect. We always had a garden when I was growing up and between Mom and and my grandmother, we always had canned vegetables, fish, etc... around. My mom turned 80 back in November and still raises a small garden and cans what she doesn't consume herself or give away. As far as storage, she has lived in a tiny retirement apartment since Dad passed away and you'd amazed how much food you can store just in a closet or on a sturdy bookshelf.

As for my wife and I, at any given time we have enough preserved food to last us at least six months and that doesn't count the eggs we get from our chickens every day (we have a combination of Bantams and Rhode Island Reds) or the wild plant foods we gather nearby in the Spring, Summer and Fall, nor what I'd be able to procure through hunting and fishing. And the thing is, it really doesn't take up as much room as a person thinks it would. For example: That corner of the living room/bedroom/den/whatever that doesn't do anything but collect dust? (Come on now, everybody has one!) Fill that corner with five gallon buckets containing preserved/dehydrated foodstuffs! Stack 'em two wide, all the way to the ceiling and cover them with a curtain or a wall tapestry - BINGO! You've just found a place to store several months worth of food and use some otherwise wasted space. Be creative! I lived in a one room efficiency apartment for a while 30 years ago and was constantly amazed at how easy it was to hide stuff from myself even in that tiny little place.

As to getting your family on board, one thing you might try is just leading by example. When they come over, show 'em what you've accomplished and explain to them why you've done it. One way to do this is with something I tried: Friends came over for dinner and I told them "We're gonna' mess with your heads a little bit tonight and pretend that we've just had an ice storm or an earthquake or something and don't have any power or running water, just to see what we can come up with." Then I flipped the breaker, lit some candle lanterns and my wife and I (with their willing help) proceeded to whip up a meal for four, complete with dessert and cocktails, using only what we had on hand. Most of the main course cooking was done on the kitchen table with a couple of little alcohol stoves that I'd made from Colt 44 beer cans. And I made dessert (an absolutely delicious strawberry, blueberry upsidedown cake!) in one of my Dutch ovens in the back yard using charcoal from my smoker grill. Needless to say, it was a hit and they had a blast helping us. When they left, we sent a bucket of basic foodstuffs with them and a week later my buddy bought his first Dutch oven and started peppering me questions on how use it. They have since started their own basic preparedness plan.

Luck!

...TS...