Why Prepping Is Just Common Sense

If you lived through the last 5 years, then you may already have a good idea about the importance of prepping. Here's how to get started!

When most people hear the word prepping, they may imagine bunkers and gas masks and people stockpiling for the end of the world. But that’s not what preparedness is really about. Preparing for emergencies is about more than just supplies: It’s about mindset, leadership, personal responsibility, environmental awareness (like mold and air quality), community, and practical skills such as growing resilient food crops.

True preparedness is just common sense. It’s the wisdom your grandparents lived by before we had 24/7 supermarkets and fragile supply chains.

In the past few years alone, we’ve seen supply shortages, rising food prices, natural disasters, and unexpected global disruptions. When trucks stop rolling, grocery store shelves go empty within days if not hours. Having your own emergency supply is not paranoia. It’s peace of mind.

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The Case for Preparedness

We live in a world that runs on “just-in-time” delivery. Supermarkets keep only a few days’ worth of stock. If a snowstorm, flood, or strike interrupts trucking, shelves go bare within the day. That’s not theory. In fact, the recent pandemic put a spotlight on some of the more fragile aspects of the supply chain. But even an ice storm, like the one in Texas in 2021, can catch people unprepared.

What are the solutions? In a market economy like ours, customers hold the power of the purse. Being prepared and using prepping skills all the time may trigger the few, very powerful food corporations to rethink the shrinkflation and other profit-margin strategies that are making the cost of goods continue to rise.

And if they don’t, then you are still prepared and have created your own sources for food, water, and goods.

History shows a similar lesson. During the Cold War, citizens as well as governments stockpiled supplies in fallout shelters. But fears of “the worst” never came to fruition. Yes, ultimately the point of prepping is to be ready for “that day” — yet even if the worst doesn’t happen, as we hope and pray it does not, you will feel confident and prepared no matter what comes your way in your community or in your personal life.

Today, with supply chains stretched thin and more people living in cities, the need to prepare hasn’t gone away. It’s more important than ever.

Did You Know? Zohran Mamdani, Democratic candidate in the 2025 mayoral race in New York City, proposed government-controlled and operated grocery stores. This would put control of the grocery stores in the hands of one — the government — instead of the hands of a few big-name grocery chains. What could go wrong?

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What to Store for Emergencies