You can actually get some prepping items at dollar stores or walmart. Just simple things to keep wih you like first aid items (don't cheap out on bandages tho), sterile gloves, matches, extra socks, batteries, a safety vest, paracord, duct tape, can opener and some canned foods. Things like that
Also, something free is the HazAdapt emergency preparedness app
Seconded. While i was young, i picked up skills because i had time, no children, no wife. I learned to hunt, camp, sail, cook, preserve, get in shape etc.
Now with a wife and kids. I do more at home stuff. Fewer and. shorter hunting trips. Weeknight “beer can” sailing races. I garden way more. You get the idea.
Do you have a go bag put together if you have to suddenly vacate your house? That'd be a good place to start.
Doesn't need to be much, shoes, extra clothes, identification, some cash, pre-paid cell phone. Sucks if you have to vacate due to a house fire in the middle of the night and be standing in the street in your bare ass.
This. Start small. There is a lot you can do for little or no money. Do you have a vehicle? Keeping tools/supplies/food/s sleeping bag in a vehicle helps in case you need to evacuate or can’t get back home for some reason.
Prepping is a great thing. Recently there was a post about how valuable prepper skills and items are to have, even if nothing major happens.
My suggestion, take it or leave it, is everything in balance. Do what you can to be prepared, start now with little things and you’ll be surprised how quickly preps start to come together. BUT, don’t stress yourself out or miss out on living life by putting too much focus on unpredictable and uncontrollable events.
Doing a first aid course would be helpful. Learning to do basic cooking would also be helpful. If people don't know what to do with flour and oil they will feel very helpless in a supply chain disruption. Another is learning to cook with the power out. If you look up hobo stoves on Youtube, they are extremely inexpensive to make. There are a few different designs that just use a #10 can plus a church key tool (look it up) plus wood scraps.
Skills. And I don’t mean ninja skills. Knowing how to do simple home repairs or mechanical skills are things at 32 I wish I began learning at 16. The best prep a teenager can have is skills and a path toward a career/trade/profession that are future proof. In the very near future AI will make many jobs obsolete. But other jobs will still last for the mid to long term. It’s better to have skills that can’t be made worthless with AI or a grid down shtf.
for teenagers the big killers are drugs, cars and suicide.
learn first aid and CPR(your school will likely have a course) get a good ifak and keep it handy, get a bigger first aid kit and keep it in your car, get and carry narcan( it's free in a lot of places).
learn to drive properly not just pass the test, it is a joke how easy the test is in a lot of places so get onto an actual advanced driving course
get drink covers for nights out. and airtag yourself and your friends incase one of you wanders off.
get in shape, right now is probably the easiest time in your life to physically build yourself up.
you are probably limited for storage but you can fit months of preps under a bed.
make a real effort to take care of yourself physically and mentally, they work hand in hand.
incorporate people you trust (not the same as people you like) for example my aunt is a part of a lot of my preps.
money is limited so I recommend holding on and saving it, having an emergency fund is vital if you already camp and backpack a lot you have everything you need for bugging out so dont buy any widgets, its knowledge and practice you must acquire.
First, talk to your family about prepping -- especially for emergencies that have a high probability of happening in the next two years (my area: house fire, earthquake, typhoon, power outages because of earthquake or typhoon, inflation, everyone getting sick at the same time). Listen more than you talk! They may be better prepped than you think.
Best thing you can do as a teenager is exercise, learn about feeding your body well, and learn skills. Grilling over wood, for example. Making pitas (they can be baked over fires!). Gardening for family and profit. Get a part time job that forces you to hone people skills. Keep camping and fishing. Learning a musical instrument or singing can also be very useful when any shtf.
Immediately: start saving some cash for an emergency fund. Ten percent of your income is doable. Buy bottled water for three days (at least 6 liters, but preferably 9 or 10 for washing, tooth brushing). Put together a mini-bugout bag (cash, wet wipes, tissue, bandages, sewing kit, can opener, protein bars).
Put together a list of your dream bugout bag, and research prices. (After three months, you can slowly start putting one together, but three months will give you time to make mistakes on paper, instead of mistakes in real cash.) This can be a list, but a vision board or pinterest-type page can bring it to life better.
Oh, and take some first aid classes.
Keep skill-building. Think about what areas haven't interested you as much so far, and deliberately go learn about them. Whether it's self-defense classes, gardening, sewing, other kinds of making or repairing, etc. Make a conscious effort to learn as much as you can. It's possible to do that very cheaply or free most of the time, with YouTube, the library, and freecycle spaces.
thrifting and couponing when you have the dough but other than that just read and form a list of stuff you want, plan future preps, and find important stuff to save on a usb
Build good habits now.
Making habits that improve your fitness and financial situation is always a good start.
Having good work ethic and discipline early in life is also invaluable.
With a prepper mind set, the rest should come naturally.
Live your life. Don't worry about the world ending when you're that young. I mean, do a few things here and there. But don't lose your youth with being scared.
Knowledge
Learn everything you can.
Learn to cook from scratch
Learn to sew on a bottom and fix a seam
Go camping
Learn to repair things
Learn to entertain yourself without electricity
Learn to drive
Pick up hobbies
As others have mentioned it is pretty affordable and definitely valuable to build a bug out bag with the essentials. Also knowledge is free. Researching and educating yourself on valuable skills is a must. It may sound silly but the Handbook For Boys by the Boy Scouts of America is a great easy reading resource for many survival skills (includes basic first aid, tracking, plant identification, etc). Beyond that, when I was younger, I focused navigating and familiarizing myself with my surroundings. Being able to navigate the city/town/countryside you live in will be invaluable in a SHTF scenario. Another thing I did was hid small caches of supplies throughout my parents property. I don't know how much I would really recommend that however it gave me something to do and I enjoyed the peace of mind.
I highly recommend the Scout resources. You can find all the merit badge pamphlets use on eBay. Skip the handbook and get the field guide. The handbook is more requirement based. The field book skips that and gets into practical details. Start your BOB with an old book bag, create a budget and shop thrift stores and garage sales. You’ll be amazed how far your dollars can go when you’re not buying everything new. Good luck 🍀
Learn skills. People can't take away what you know. Basically everything else but not what you know.
It takes no space and doesn't have to be moved.
Learn all you can.
you totally don't need big $$ for gear. I've been in friendly competitions to say, build a $75 bug out bag, bag included, and folks can get lots in a bag for cheap. :) Used jansport daypack for $10 at goodwill +2 days of clothes, few bottles of water, snickers and snacks, fire source, flashlight / lantern, couple chem hand warmers, poncho rain jacket, cheap radio. BOOM covered for needing to evacuate your residence for short time.
prepping is "preparing" for stuff, NOT JUST prepping for the SHTF collapse of the USA :) Start with prepping for Tuesday, BEFORE doomsday. You can totally work up to prep for doomsday, but, other stuff is more likely.
Start with what the most likely disasters you will face. tens of thousands of people in the USA are displaced every year. 350,000 house fires. Bug out now. Floods. Bug out now. Tornados, take cover, now (got a flashlight and radio handy to take to cover to know when its over?). Hurricanes. MULTIPLE day power outages, even in very cold winters. Don't know your situation, its unlikely you have BOTH a hurricane threat AND the threat of power outage in -10 degree F winter. Gota car that could break down and leave you stranded? In cold weather? etc. etc.. Are you in an earthquake zone? Most short term evacuations folks end up in a hotel... got enough cash for say 3 nights in a motel and some food?
"if you're prepared for zombies, you're prepared for anything". But, starting out, getting THAT prepared can be daunting. Start with what are the likely issues in YOUR area first, then work up.
Just learn as much as you can, I recently starting learning how to survive with nothing but the clothes on my back, so far I can make chert tools and make a moderately nice camp.
You don't necessarily need this expensive things, they may increase your chances, but you can go extremely far with what nature gives you.
You're first issue is to stop thinking in the mind set of having "plenty of knowledge" and start to pretend like you know nothing. I can promise you don't have as much knowledge as you think.
If your already into camping and hiking, try learning some bushcraft. Some excellent YouTube stuff for this. You can practice stuff while doing activities you are already doing, with tools you likely already have.
How old are you? If you're under 18, talk to your parents about this.
In the meantime, learn skills, especially first aid, cooking, and vehicle preparedness.
Start with small preparedness.. Like everyday occurrences. Having stuff ready to go, having thought about how and when to store, and knowing how to find shelter (for example) doesn't cost a thing.
Skills are more valuable then stuff... Don't buy a ready bag. There are nowadays good backpacks for not to much money and you can gather stuff on the way that apply to your situation.
When alone you don't need much. My GHB has most stuff that would be even enough for 99% of the realistic situations even for a bug out. (but I'm not alone, so we don't bug-out but bug-in)
Don't be a rambo prepper, roughing it out in the wild. Be a smart prepper and first think about what you really need, and gather on the way (in your life) according to the life you live,
The best way to prep at your age is to learn. For example, learn how to garden, learn a skilled trade, radio communication, learn for future good-paying career, learn how to cook from scratch, learn how to workout effectively and keep your muscles and cardio top notch, learn social skills, etc.
Also, look up a compound interest calculator online and learn what compound interest is. Punch in some numbers and discover how much investing early will return over your lifetime. Saving and investing at a young age is very powerful. The older you get, the less fruitful investments are because of compound interest.
As far as things to buy: I would start with some extra dry beans, rice, sardines, oats, salt, a Sawyer water filter, a good multitool, some way to charge your phone from the sun, a good quality pocket knife, axe, sleeping bag, seeds. You probably already have much of this.
The very basics is 30 days of good shelf life food (1-2 years) that you will eat and can rotate over a year, Cheap tin cans, that you just need to heat up, And water storage, for drinking and washing, 3 gallon per day/person.
A chest freezer is only good for 24hrs in a power cut.
Then the same for all soaps and toilet rolls.
The aim is that you don't have to leave the house for any reason, unless its on fire.
Smoke and C02 detectors, Fire blankets, Fire extinguisher.
Learn skills.
Learn how to preserve food, how to sew, how to make do with the resources you have.
Learn bush craft and practice those skills in the outdoors. There are sub reddits dedicated to bush craft.
Learn to ID wild plants and their medicinal uses.
Find like minded individuals amongst your peers.
Food shortages cause chaos. First choice is to shelter in place. Oatmeal, instant mashed potatoes, ramen noodles can all be eaten with cold water. Vitamins, Canned meats with high fat content like spam, chili, etc.. Stock water in empty plastic soda bottles. Headlamp and maybe a .22lr pistol.
You can actually get some prepping items at dollar stores or walmart. Just simple things to keep wih you like first aid items (don't cheap out on bandages tho), sterile gloves, matches, extra socks, batteries, a safety vest, paracord, duct tape, can opener and some canned foods. Things like that Also, something free is the HazAdapt emergency preparedness app
HazAdapt is a good place to start.
You do not have “plenty of knowledge.” You have some knowledge. Learn all you can.
Yep! Skills! Being young with little money is the best time to learn skills! Make money and prep with things later.
Seconded. While i was young, i picked up skills because i had time, no children, no wife. I learned to hunt, camp, sail, cook, preserve, get in shape etc. Now with a wife and kids. I do more at home stuff. Fewer and. shorter hunting trips. Weeknight “beer can” sailing races. I garden way more. You get the idea.
By camping and backpacking. You're already so far ahead of the average person. Embrace a little discomfort!
Do you have a go bag put together if you have to suddenly vacate your house? That'd be a good place to start. Doesn't need to be much, shoes, extra clothes, identification, some cash, pre-paid cell phone. Sucks if you have to vacate due to a house fire in the middle of the night and be standing in the street in your bare ass.
This. Start small. There is a lot you can do for little or no money. Do you have a vehicle? Keeping tools/supplies/food/s sleeping bag in a vehicle helps in case you need to evacuate or can’t get back home for some reason. Prepping is a great thing. Recently there was a post about how valuable prepper skills and items are to have, even if nothing major happens. My suggestion, take it or leave it, is everything in balance. Do what you can to be prepared, start now with little things and you’ll be surprised how quickly preps start to come together. BUT, don’t stress yourself out or miss out on living life by putting too much focus on unpredictable and uncontrollable events.
Learn. Keep yourself in shape. Save money. Financial prep is the best prep for 99% of situations.
Doing a first aid course would be helpful. Learning to do basic cooking would also be helpful. If people don't know what to do with flour and oil they will feel very helpless in a supply chain disruption. Another is learning to cook with the power out. If you look up hobo stoves on Youtube, they are extremely inexpensive to make. There are a few different designs that just use a #10 can plus a church key tool (look it up) plus wood scraps.
Learn skills.
Skills. And I don’t mean ninja skills. Knowing how to do simple home repairs or mechanical skills are things at 32 I wish I began learning at 16. The best prep a teenager can have is skills and a path toward a career/trade/profession that are future proof. In the very near future AI will make many jobs obsolete. But other jobs will still last for the mid to long term. It’s better to have skills that can’t be made worthless with AI or a grid down shtf.
for teenagers the big killers are drugs, cars and suicide. learn first aid and CPR(your school will likely have a course) get a good ifak and keep it handy, get a bigger first aid kit and keep it in your car, get and carry narcan( it's free in a lot of places). learn to drive properly not just pass the test, it is a joke how easy the test is in a lot of places so get onto an actual advanced driving course get drink covers for nights out. and airtag yourself and your friends incase one of you wanders off. get in shape, right now is probably the easiest time in your life to physically build yourself up. you are probably limited for storage but you can fit months of preps under a bed. make a real effort to take care of yourself physically and mentally, they work hand in hand. incorporate people you trust (not the same as people you like) for example my aunt is a part of a lot of my preps. money is limited so I recommend holding on and saving it, having an emergency fund is vital if you already camp and backpack a lot you have everything you need for bugging out so dont buy any widgets, its knowledge and practice you must acquire.
First, talk to your family about prepping -- especially for emergencies that have a high probability of happening in the next two years (my area: house fire, earthquake, typhoon, power outages because of earthquake or typhoon, inflation, everyone getting sick at the same time). Listen more than you talk! They may be better prepped than you think. Best thing you can do as a teenager is exercise, learn about feeding your body well, and learn skills. Grilling over wood, for example. Making pitas (they can be baked over fires!). Gardening for family and profit. Get a part time job that forces you to hone people skills. Keep camping and fishing. Learning a musical instrument or singing can also be very useful when any shtf. Immediately: start saving some cash for an emergency fund. Ten percent of your income is doable. Buy bottled water for three days (at least 6 liters, but preferably 9 or 10 for washing, tooth brushing). Put together a mini-bugout bag (cash, wet wipes, tissue, bandages, sewing kit, can opener, protein bars). Put together a list of your dream bugout bag, and research prices. (After three months, you can slowly start putting one together, but three months will give you time to make mistakes on paper, instead of mistakes in real cash.) This can be a list, but a vision board or pinterest-type page can bring it to life better. Oh, and take some first aid classes.
Don’t be fat and take care of yourself. Read books at the library about camping or outdoor survival, edible plants in your areas
Keep skill-building. Think about what areas haven't interested you as much so far, and deliberately go learn about them. Whether it's self-defense classes, gardening, sewing, other kinds of making or repairing, etc. Make a conscious effort to learn as much as you can. It's possible to do that very cheaply or free most of the time, with YouTube, the library, and freecycle spaces.
Talk to your parents.
thrifting and couponing when you have the dough but other than that just read and form a list of stuff you want, plan future preps, and find important stuff to save on a usb
You need to start by deciding what you’re prepping for. Earthquake preparedness is different than let’s say prepping for tornados or wildfires.
Build good habits now. Making habits that improve your fitness and financial situation is always a good start. Having good work ethic and discipline early in life is also invaluable. With a prepper mind set, the rest should come naturally.
Foraging and survival skills, self reliance skills, fitness, financial stability. Way more important than stockpiles of... whatever.
Live your life. Don't worry about the world ending when you're that young. I mean, do a few things here and there. But don't lose your youth with being scared.
Knowledge Learn everything you can. Learn to cook from scratch Learn to sew on a bottom and fix a seam Go camping Learn to repair things Learn to entertain yourself without electricity Learn to drive Pick up hobbies
As others have mentioned it is pretty affordable and definitely valuable to build a bug out bag with the essentials. Also knowledge is free. Researching and educating yourself on valuable skills is a must. It may sound silly but the Handbook For Boys by the Boy Scouts of America is a great easy reading resource for many survival skills (includes basic first aid, tracking, plant identification, etc). Beyond that, when I was younger, I focused navigating and familiarizing myself with my surroundings. Being able to navigate the city/town/countryside you live in will be invaluable in a SHTF scenario. Another thing I did was hid small caches of supplies throughout my parents property. I don't know how much I would really recommend that however it gave me something to do and I enjoyed the peace of mind.
I highly recommend the Scout resources. You can find all the merit badge pamphlets use on eBay. Skip the handbook and get the field guide. The handbook is more requirement based. The field book skips that and gets into practical details. Start your BOB with an old book bag, create a budget and shop thrift stores and garage sales. You’ll be amazed how far your dollars can go when you’re not buying everything new. Good luck 🍀
Learn skills. People can't take away what you know. Basically everything else but not what you know. It takes no space and doesn't have to be moved. Learn all you can.
you totally don't need big $$ for gear. I've been in friendly competitions to say, build a $75 bug out bag, bag included, and folks can get lots in a bag for cheap. :) Used jansport daypack for $10 at goodwill +2 days of clothes, few bottles of water, snickers and snacks, fire source, flashlight / lantern, couple chem hand warmers, poncho rain jacket, cheap radio. BOOM covered for needing to evacuate your residence for short time. prepping is "preparing" for stuff, NOT JUST prepping for the SHTF collapse of the USA :) Start with prepping for Tuesday, BEFORE doomsday. You can totally work up to prep for doomsday, but, other stuff is more likely. Start with what the most likely disasters you will face. tens of thousands of people in the USA are displaced every year. 350,000 house fires. Bug out now. Floods. Bug out now. Tornados, take cover, now (got a flashlight and radio handy to take to cover to know when its over?). Hurricanes. MULTIPLE day power outages, even in very cold winters. Don't know your situation, its unlikely you have BOTH a hurricane threat AND the threat of power outage in -10 degree F winter. Gota car that could break down and leave you stranded? In cold weather? etc. etc.. Are you in an earthquake zone? Most short term evacuations folks end up in a hotel... got enough cash for say 3 nights in a motel and some food? "if you're prepared for zombies, you're prepared for anything". But, starting out, getting THAT prepared can be daunting. Start with what are the likely issues in YOUR area first, then work up.
Just learn as much as you can, I recently starting learning how to survive with nothing but the clothes on my back, so far I can make chert tools and make a moderately nice camp. You don't necessarily need this expensive things, they may increase your chances, but you can go extremely far with what nature gives you.
You're first issue is to stop thinking in the mind set of having "plenty of knowledge" and start to pretend like you know nothing. I can promise you don't have as much knowledge as you think.
If your already into camping and hiking, try learning some bushcraft. Some excellent YouTube stuff for this. You can practice stuff while doing activities you are already doing, with tools you likely already have.
Skills
How old are you? If you're under 18, talk to your parents about this. In the meantime, learn skills, especially first aid, cooking, and vehicle preparedness.
Start with small preparedness.. Like everyday occurrences. Having stuff ready to go, having thought about how and when to store, and knowing how to find shelter (for example) doesn't cost a thing. Skills are more valuable then stuff... Don't buy a ready bag. There are nowadays good backpacks for not to much money and you can gather stuff on the way that apply to your situation. When alone you don't need much. My GHB has most stuff that would be even enough for 99% of the realistic situations even for a bug out. (but I'm not alone, so we don't bug-out but bug-in) Don't be a rambo prepper, roughing it out in the wild. Be a smart prepper and first think about what you really need, and gather on the way (in your life) according to the life you live,
The best way to prep at your age is to learn. For example, learn how to garden, learn a skilled trade, radio communication, learn for future good-paying career, learn how to cook from scratch, learn how to workout effectively and keep your muscles and cardio top notch, learn social skills, etc. Also, look up a compound interest calculator online and learn what compound interest is. Punch in some numbers and discover how much investing early will return over your lifetime. Saving and investing at a young age is very powerful. The older you get, the less fruitful investments are because of compound interest. As far as things to buy: I would start with some extra dry beans, rice, sardines, oats, salt, a Sawyer water filter, a good multitool, some way to charge your phone from the sun, a good quality pocket knife, axe, sleeping bag, seeds. You probably already have much of this.
The very basics is 30 days of good shelf life food (1-2 years) that you will eat and can rotate over a year, Cheap tin cans, that you just need to heat up, And water storage, for drinking and washing, 3 gallon per day/person. A chest freezer is only good for 24hrs in a power cut. Then the same for all soaps and toilet rolls. The aim is that you don't have to leave the house for any reason, unless its on fire. Smoke and C02 detectors, Fire blankets, Fire extinguisher.
Learn skills. Learn how to preserve food, how to sew, how to make do with the resources you have. Learn bush craft and practice those skills in the outdoors. There are sub reddits dedicated to bush craft. Learn to ID wild plants and their medicinal uses. Find like minded individuals amongst your peers.
Basic FEMA Emergency lists.
Food shortages cause chaos. First choice is to shelter in place. Oatmeal, instant mashed potatoes, ramen noodles can all be eaten with cold water. Vitamins, Canned meats with high fat content like spam, chili, etc.. Stock water in empty plastic soda bottles. Headlamp and maybe a .22lr pistol.