I know there are likely some holes in my prepping

But a few things in my life has made me prepare for the worst and hope for the best. The first real hardship I had had was when I went through my divorce with my ex husband. It left me penniless with 3 toddlers and very little resources to feed them. I was supporting them on less than $400 a month. I was drowning and applied for food stamps but it took 5 months for them to approve me. During that time I was only eating every 2 to 3 days to make sure I could feed my kids. My rent was $250 for a piece of shit trailer and I had less than $150 for my bills and food. I went to every food bank trying to make sure I had all I needed for my kids but it sucked big time. When they finally gave me the food stamps they gave me 5 months of back pay in food stamps. Which doesn't make sense, as I can't go back in time to use them. But I did think wow I can stock up using the first in first out rule and if we ever have tough times we will have months of food. So that is what I did. I also found a cheap deep freezer and bought it, that I had till a little over 2 years ago when it finally stopped working.

That was the first stage of me becoming a prepper

I didn't have anything but excess food, and as things got better I also made sure we always had plenty of Toilet Paper and started also stockpiling toiletries. Then 2005 hit and with it a major ice storm hit my area and our home was without power for 11 days. So that got me thinking about other preps I should be doing. We lived in an all electric house with no back up heating. So we invested in a kerosene heater so we would have back up heat, we also bought some oil lamps and oil so we will have light. We have grill so we are not worried about how to cook food. But even then I thought we were good.

Then I had a dream well more of a nightmare

I don't know exactly what it was about, but I woke up freaking out because we didn't have any Bug Out Bags and I felt we needed to have bug out bags for everyone my household, as I felt in the next 5 to 10 years or so something bad was going to happen, I didn't know what or when or why but I just knew we needed to have more preps than just extra food, alternative heat, light but a lot of other preps. So I started researching and preparing for the unseen. I figured natural disaster, pandemic, war, or personal disaster or hardship was all really good reasons to be more prepared. So we started gathering items for when Shit Hits The Fan SHTF. I am not going to show off all my preps but I am gonna show you one of our overflow stocks, all the cabinets are full, and I have a couple of these shelves with different items on it, when the cabinets get bare, I go to the shelves that are the first in and put them in the cabinet and go restock the overflow. Rinse and repeat so when something happens I don't have to rush out for supplies for my family.

Other preps we did was create

Was we started stockpiling ammo, if the supply chain goes down we will be able to go into our woods and hunt. But not only for hunting if things go sideways in a pandemic situation we also want self protection. The major thing we created was customized bug out bags. We went and had everyone fitted for their own hiking packs, that have the camel packs inside that hold 2 liters of water. We have a change of clothes, a few pair of underwear and socks, a months worth of dry beans and rice in each pack for one person. Why beans and rice, because a lot goes a long ways and isn't as heavy as can goods. You have to be aware of the weight of a bug out bag. Most people can carry 1/4th of their weight. I have emergency blankets, 3 different ways to start a fire, and the knowledge on starting one without any matches, lighters or fire starters. We have some small heavy duty tarp, as they are not heavy and paired with a one pound 2 person sleeping tent we can also make it a 4 season tent without the weight of a 4 season tent. We have mummy sleeping bags that rate up to -15 degrees, we have rope, and lots of tools, knives, a shovel that folds up, a saw that is compact along with a mess kit, and first aid supplies. Not only do I have a premade kit I also made my own kits. Cause when SHTF those premade kits are lacking. I was ways to clean water, and we even bought a camping shower so we can stay clean or at least cleanish. We are starting to do a major inventory. Once it is done I will do a detail post on what is in our bug out bags. Everyone has a little bit of everything but my pack has the excess medical supplies and my husband has the excess food supply as he can carry more than I can. But guys if this goes sideways you might need to bug out, if you don't have a bug out pack create one.

This isn't the complete list of our preps

But I am posting this to encourage those who were not ready when this hit to prepare for when something like this happens again cause it will, it isn't if it is when. So prepare, when you are prepared it helps everyone and lessen the load on the demand of supplies.