It’s true. I admit it. I was intrigued.

Have any of you had the jaw dropping opportunity to watch an episode or two of that reality show, Doomsday Preppers? When it first came out, I set my DVR to tape every episode and the first two captured my attention.

I mean imagine a women who could feed a gourmet meal to a huge group of people, using just the foods she had stock piled, all the while having her guests completely impressed with how delicious everything was, yet they had no clue until after she told them that half of the items were dehydrated or “prepped,”  yes, that women is my hero.

After that,  it got a bit crazy, but I admit, I rallied some of my closest friends and we dove into discussion.

All over the United States,  groups of people  have taken the skills and gifts so typically taught during our “Little House on the Prairie” era to completely crazy, new levels, as seen on that show, yet there’s a larger community that sees what’s happening around the world with natural disasters or economic difficulties and thinks,  “Hmm…I’d love to be more self sustaining.”

You see, I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

One of those deep down, I only share with my good friends since they know I am a normal, not a fanatical girl, kind of secrets.  I have a tiny, itty bit of a Prepper in side of me.  Let’s make sure we are on the same page. I am not the stereotypical “Prepare for Doomsday, Zombie Apocalypse, Hunker down in a bunker because a Solar Flares might hit and wipe out life as we know it”, kind of prepper,  but more the “I want to be more self sustaining. My husband works in finances and sees our dollar slowly collapsing” kind of prepper.

Before you think I’ve lost my mind, those tendencies have been in me for awhile, and if you’ve read between some of my posts, you’ve seen it. (Read Enough is Enough or Stockpiling 101)

I spent the weekend away with some girl friends and this topic tends to make it’s way to the surface over the course of three solid days with me. I’d like to think that I just give people something to think about such as where does your food and water supply come from on a daily basis, and if disaster hit, would you be fine?

In NC, we have hurricane and ice storms that often leave us without power and basic emergency preparedness is something every one should know, but  how long is your family able to be self sustaining? Can I learn to garden and live more efficiently off the land or purchase from farmers who do and can things myself? (I have yet to acquire that skill, but want too.)

My niece works in downtown Manhattan. She shared about the complete devastation from the hurricane, but she was more concerned about how many acted after just a few days. Complete panic and anarchy. She mentioned the stuff that wasn’t shown on the news, but I also know that many areas bonded together and supported one another. The problem is you never know how people will respond until tragedy hits.

Since my husband works for a international company, one of his daily tasks is tracking how the American dollar is doing on a global level. Frankly, you know it’s not doing too well if you follow the financial news at all. Many unbiased economists see huge inflation coming and for most of us, we’ve already felt the beginning steps of that at the stores. I just want to be a bit prepared now, just “in case,” and if nothing happens, that is wonderful, since I’ll use it all anyhow.

I think everyone should have at least a three month supply of food and basic items in case of an emergency. (I am personally working on a bit longer period of time that that, but not all think that’s necessary.) Now, I am not meaning feed your family gourmet for that time, but I am encouraging friends to stock up enough so that if an emergency hits, like what has happened in many floods recently, families wouldn’t have to go into a complete and utter panic mode. When you have prepared, you don’t have to panic. My desire is that we’ll never, ever have to use anything we’ve stock piled. In fact, I only buy things that I already use, so I am continually rotating out my dried oats and black beans for new ones, since I use them on a regular bases. I have a few boxes of specialty cans that have a 30 year self life for dry ingredients and I am not touching those.

I’m often met with, ” I don’t have room to stock pile,” but it may be as simple as a few Rubbermaid containers under ones bed filled with rice, beans, canned goods, dried milk, dehydrated veggies, water, batteries, candles etc.

It’s just about having a plan, even if it’s a small one, just start somewhere.

One of the reasons I am convinced you can’t go wrong with being prepared is one never know about their own financial future. My father owned his own business and we were quite well off during my middle school and high school years, but due to many unforeseen circumstances, we ended up losing everything. Everything!

Guess what? My parents had a large stock pile of food and thankfully, we ended up using every little bit of that. It got us through some very difficult times and were able to do much of it without burdening others or needing to ask for handouts. The same thing occurred for our family when my husband went through a year of  unemployment just three years ago. We lived off much of my stockpile due to preparing ahead of disaster hitting us.  People might chuckle, but having seen the benefit of emergency preparedness, I’d never do anything different.

My girl friends and I gather a few times a year to talk about our prepping. Our families represent doctors, CFO’s, government officials, teachers, entrepreneurs, and a host of other occupations.  It’s not just a bunch of radical, fringe reality show people, but just regular folks desiring to stretch ourselves a bit and challenging ourselves to think outside the box.

(And for a chuckle – I Walked onto the Set of I Love Lucy: bulk food storage)

So Doomsday Prepper: Fact or Fiction?

That crazy, reality show is definitely aired for ratings, but I’d love to serve you all a gourmet meal with my stock pile. 🙂

Do you have any questions? Do you have any prepping tendencies or am I alone with my confession.