• azimir@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    I’m in the “be prepared” group where we usually have a couple weeks of food and water around. We also have two forms of heat for when the power goes out.

    Will we survive WW3 on this? No, but it has been very helpful after big winter storms that took out the city power.

    Having some supplies to use in the short term is good for everyone. Being ready to go out to help neighbors and get the community back on its feet is how we get through to the next good times.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 month ago

      I wouldn’t call that being a prepper. That’s just sensible preparation for something like a natural disaster. Preppers think they’ll survive whatever their conception of “the big one” is.

      • Shapillon@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I’m neither American nor a native English speaker so take it with a grain of salt.

        That’s where I’d put the line between a regular prepper and a doomsday prepper.

        Not to forget the very elusive Sergent Prepper.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 month ago

          I guess in my mind, ‘prepper’ is just short for ‘doomsday prepper’ and it’s not the same thing as doing, like I said above, sensible preparation for natural disasters.

          • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Anyone that has been through even a bad blizzard knows it’s important to have some basic supplies. Depending on where in the US you live, it would actually be considered unusual and irresponsible to not have some basic preparation for weather and related stuff. Not having a cold-weather car kit and home preparations for losing power in a blizzard in the upper Midwest, for instance, would be considered stupid.

            No one thinks tornado shelters are that weird if you live in tornado alley. I’m sure hurricane prone areas probably have their own set of ready prep stuff that would seem weird in other parts of the country.

              • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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                1 month ago

                Yeah that’s what I’m saying. The stuff I mentioned is just reasonable preparation for, like… life. Sometimes stuff gets disrupted for unexpected reasons. Like toilet paper during a pandemic lol.

      • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Preppers think the pencil nose accountants will all die screaming in regret while all the high school jv cheerleaders come begging them for help, in full uniform, and everyone finally recognizes how they were right all along.

        I have tons of food, a generator and other backup power and a gun, and if shit really hits the fan I know I’m not living 5 minutes longer than everyone less prepared, the resources actually make me a target.

        But then again, I have Pge, so it’s not doomsday prepping, it’s just ‘Wednesday, or whenever they next screw up resulting in 100s of deaths, weeks without power, and massive rate hikes resulting in huge bonuses to their upper management’.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 month ago

          Honestly, if the great civilization-ending disaster they think they’re prepping for happens, I hope I die in the first wave. I don’t have any Mad Max fantasies.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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              1 month ago

              Definitely not. And anyone who thinks that it is the reality isn’t going to be Immortan Joe, they’re going to be one of the people at the bottom of the cliffs begging for water.

              • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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                1 month ago

                Or a human-shaped piece of sex furniture rented out to the water marauders in exchange for food and supplies. I’ll take not making it through the initial disaster, please and thank you!

    • tomkatt@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      You should always have enough supplies for a short term emergency. That’s not doomsday prepping, it’s just common sense.

      I’m not a prepper IMO, but I have rooftop solar with battery backup, a few smaller portable batteries and UPSes on my critical stuff, and some oil filled radiators since my heat pump isn’t connected to the solar setup.

      At any given time we generally have a month or more worth of food in the house in frozen and dry/canned goods. Also, several gallons of bottled water.

      I also keep some stuff under the back bed of my car’s hatch, first aid kit and emergency blanket, and battery jumper kit as well as a battery powered tire inflator.

      I live in a semi-rural area, and in an emergency, getting out and/or getting food and necessities may not be possible. And if there’s a wildfire I may need to evacuate fast, so important to have what’s needed. This sort of thing is like… If you have the means, why wouldn’t you?