FEMA study on Preppers... on the rise.

SavedByGrace3 · Dec 22, 2021

Amazing article. Prepping on the increase.

New statistics on modern prepper demographics from FEMA and Cornell

Suggesting that with the onset of COVID, the number of people living in prepping households may have increased to 20 million.
3.8% of households were counted as a Resilient Citizen (preppers) in 2017. That grew to 4.5% in 2018, then 5.2% in 2019.
7 million out of the 120 million households in the US are prepared.

bekkilyn · Dec 22, 2021

SavedByGrace3 said:
Amazing article. Prepping on the increase.

New statistics on modern prepper demographics from FEMA and Cornell

Suggesting that with the onset of COVID, the number of people living in prepping households may have increased to 20 million.

3.8% of households were counted as a Resilient Citizen (preppers) in 2017. That grew to 4.5% in 2018, then 5.2% in 2019.

7 million out of the 120 million households in the US are prepared.

I'm not a full-out prepper with a homestead and everything, but I do tend to buy a couple of extra cans of something at the grocery store whenever I go, typically have a few 5 gallon containers of water stored up for emergencies, and a few other odds and ends here and there that I pick up when I can. I'd likely still be in some trouble in a truly catastrophic scenario as described by four popular prepper letters, but should be okay for a while for most emergencies.

SavedByGrace3 · Dec 22, 2021

What strikes me is the most is that is the large majority of these households are secret, or at least quiet preppers. The study indicates that 1 in 20 households prep to one degree or another. The criteria seem to be if you are ready to rough it for 90 days or more, you might be a prepper. This would seem to indicate that if your street has 100 houses, then 5 could be prepping. I don't know any preppers on our street, but there are a few I suspect.
The wife and I have a habit of peeking at other shoppers in the grocery store to see if we can detect if someone is a prepper or not.
If you have 5, 20 pound bags of rice, you might be a prepper.
If you have 10 bags of dry beans, you might be a prepper.
If you have 10 containers of old fashion oatmeal, you might be a prepper.
If you have 20 bars of soap, you might be a prepper.
If you have 4 cases of bottled water, you might be a prepper.
If you have Food Saver vacuum bags, you might be a prepper.
You get my drift.

SavedByGrace3 · Dec 22, 2021

bekkilyn said:
I'm not a full-out prepper with a homestead and everything, but I do tend to buy a couple of extra cans of something at the grocery store whenever I go, typically have a few 5 gallon containers of water stored up for emergencies, and a few other odds and ends here and there that I pick up when I can. I'd likely still be in some trouble in a truly catastrophic scenario as described by four popular prepper letters, but should be okay for a while for most emergencies.

Good deal. Even a little will help. Toss a bag of rice and maybe a pack of beans in the cart too.
Over a year, you could have a couple hundred pounds of preps. We do this when we shop. On the average we add about 10 bucks of preps per trip. Once every couple months we will get about 100 bucks online via Sam's club. Mostly canned stuff. Our membership allows for free shipping. We buy cans by the case which cuts the cost also. Our oldest son visits the local Mormon Store once or twice a year. He picks up some wheat, flour and other boxes of 6 #10 cans. These get put into deep, long-term storage. Good for over 20 years.
Praying for your success!

SavedByGrace3 · Dec 22, 2021

bekkilyn said:
I'm not a full-out prepper with a homestead and everything,

No, as we are in our late 60s, the homestead idea is not possible. We do have a large garden and if push came to shove, we could enlarge it to where half or more of our food could be home grown. We have grown over 1200 pounds of veggies in one year. Our prepping goal is not to survive forever on stored food. That is not possible. Our goal is to have enough preps available to last until order is restored or until we can attain self-sufficiency.

Aldebaran · Dec 22, 2021

bekkilyn said:
I'm not a full-out prepper with a homestead and everything, but I do tend to buy a couple of extra cans of something at the grocery store whenever I go, typically have a few 5 gallon containers of water stored up for emergencies, and a few other odds and ends here and there that I pick up when I can. I'd likely still be in some trouble in a truly catastrophic scenario as described by four popular prepper letters, but should be okay for a while for most emergencies.

Food is a great place to start, and good to stock up on what you can buy if you're unable to grow it yourself. Other things would be to make sure to have some good flashlights/candles/lanterns for lighting during power outages or grid collapse. Alternative heat source would be good too if you live in a cold climate. I wish I had a wood-burning stove, but I don't. Wood is plentiful around here.

bekkilyn · Dec 22, 2021

SavedByGrace3 said:
No, as we are in our late 60s, the homestead idea is not possible. We do have a large garden and if push came to shove, we could enlarge it to where half or more of our food could be home grown. We have grown over 1200 pounds of veggies in one year. Our prepping goal is not to survive forever on stored food. That is not possible. Our goal is to have enough preps available to last until order is restored or until we can attain self-sufficiency.

I have been thinking of looking into some of those indoor hydroponic containers for growing some things.

ralliann · Dec 22, 2021

SavedByGrace3 said:
What strikes me is the most is that is the large majority of these households are secret, or at least quiet preppers. The study indicates that 1 in 20 households prep to one degree or another. The criteria seem to be if you are ready to rough it for 90 days or more, you might be a prepper. This would seem to indicate that if your street has 100 houses, then 5 could be prepping. I don't know any preppers on our street, but there are a few I suspect.
The wife and I have a habit of peeking at other shoppers in the grocery store to see if we can detect if someone is a prepper or not.
If you have 5, 20 pound bags of rice, you might be a prepper.
If you have 10 bags of dry beans, you might be a prepper.
If you have 10 containers of old fashion oatmeal, you might be a prepper.
If you have 20 bars of soap, you might be a prepper.
If you have 4 cases of bottled water, you might be a prepper.
If you have Food Saver vacuum bags, you might be a prepper.
You get my drift.

Not a prepper. How long does bottled water last?

bekkilyn · Dec 22, 2021

Aldebaran said:
Food is a great place to start, and good to stock up on what you can buy if you're unable to grow it yourself. Other things would be to make sure to have some good flashlights/candles/lanterns for lighting during power outages or grid collapse. Alternative heat source would be good too if you live in a cold climate. I wish I had a wood-burning stove, but I don't. Wood is plentiful around here.

I actually bought a wood burning fireplace insert a few years ago but have a tree growing too close to the chimney that I've been afraid to use it. It's been on my "to do" list for a while. I'm pretty good with the flashlights and candles and I do have one of those buddy burner heaters that doesn't depend on electricity. I want to get a tent that I can use indoors along with that heater if need be since it would be easier to warm up a smaller space. I'm in NC so we typically don't get strongly severe winters for lengthy periods of time, but it still gets below freezing.

bekkilyn · Dec 22, 2021

SavedByGrace3 said:
What strikes me is the most is that is the large majority of these households are secret, or at least quiet preppers. The study indicates that 1 in 20 households prep to one degree or another. The criteria seem to be if you are ready to rough it for 90 days or more, you might be a prepper. This would seem to indicate that if your street has 100 houses, then 5 could be prepping. I don't know any preppers on our street, but there are a few I suspect.
The wife and I have a habit of peeking at other shoppers in the grocery store to see if we can detect if someone is a prepper or not.
If you have 5, 20 pound bags of rice, you might be a prepper.
If you have 10 bags of dry beans, you might be a prepper.
If you have 10 containers of old fashion oatmeal, you might be a prepper.
If you have 20 bars of soap, you might be a prepper.
If you have 4 cases of bottled water, you might be a prepper.
If you have Food Saver vacuum bags, you might be a prepper.
You get my drift.

Well sometimes I've peeked into prepper forums from time to time and it seems like some of the stealth is due to wanting to avoid roaming bands of mercs and the like knowing where all the food, water, and ammo is in the area.

SavedByGrace3 · Dec 22, 2021

bekkilyn said:
I actually bought a wood burning fireplace insert a few years ago but have a tree growing too close to the chimney that I've been afraid to use it. It's been on my "to do" list for a while. I'm pretty good with the flashlights and candles and I do have one of those buddy burner heaters that doesn't depend on electricity. I want to get a tent that I can use indoors along with that heater if need be since it would be easier to warm up a smaller space. I'm in NC so we typically don't get strongly severe winters for lengthy periods of time, but it still gets below freezing.

We are a little south of you and we may get some freezing during the winter.. but not bad and it usually warms up during the day. It is supposed to get down to 31 tonight. We have a couple space heaters that keep it comfortable. We do get some hurricane problems as we are closer to the coast than we like.
You could always cut down that tree and use it for firewood. Two birds with one stone.

Aldebaran · Dec 22, 2021

bekkilyn said:
I actually bought a wood burning fireplace insert a few years ago but have a tree growing too close to the chimney that I've been afraid to use it. It's been on my "to do" list for a while. I'm pretty good with the flashlights and candles and I do have one of those buddy burner heaters that doesn't depend on electricity. I want to get a tent that I can use indoors along with that heater if need be since it would be easier to warm up a smaller space. I'm in NC so we typically don't get strongly severe winters for lengthy periods of time, but it still gets below freezing.

It sounds like you may be better prepared than I am. I don't even have a heater. Just a grid-connected natural gas furnace.
That tree you mentioned could go from being a curse to a blessing with the help of a chainsaw.

SavedByGrace3 · Dec 22, 2021

ralliann said:
Not a prepper. How long does bottled water last?

Good question.
It lasts pretty much forever. Make sure you get it in plastic that will not leak chemicals into the water. That happens and should be illegal to sell it that way. Keep it in a cool dark place. Should be good. Consider investing in a rainwater catchment system. For a couple hundred bucks you can harvest water off your roof and store it in 50-gallon barrels. Again, get the food safe plastic barrels.

bekkilyn · Dec 22, 2021

SavedByGrace3 said:
We are a little south of you and we may get some freezing during the winter.. but not bad and it usually warms up during the day. It is supposed to get down to 31 tonight. We have a couple space heaters that keep it comfortable. We do get some hurricane problems as we are closer to the coast than we like.
You could always cut down that tree and use it for firewood. Two birds with one stone.

It's a huge crepe myrtle tree and I don't think they are good for firewood. If I can get the branches cut down really low though it would be good for a while and still provide some shade to the window it's near.

bekkilyn · Dec 22, 2021

Aldebaran said:
It sounds like you may be better prepared than I am. I don't even have a heater. Just a grid-connected natural gas furnace.
That tree you mentioned could go from being a curse to a blessing with the help of a chainsaw.

I've been at it off and on with it for a while, but it's all a bit too disorganized for my liking. I have a gas furnace as well, but the problem is that the blower is electric, so wouldn't do me much good without the electricity. My hot water is a gas tank though.

See above about the tree.

SavedByGrace3 · Dec 22, 2021

bèlla said:
The study mirrors similar results mentioned in the Prepper Demographics report.

I don’t consider myself a prepper but we fall in the UHRC demographic. We could last a long time (food wise) and live in an urban area. But we plan to homestead.

~bella

Great. I wish we could. We would enjoy the best of both worlds while we could. But if stuff hit the fan, moving into a full self-sufficient mode would be easier.

SavedByGrace3 · Dec 22, 2021

bèlla said:
The study mirrors similar results mentioned in the Prepper Demographics report.

I don’t consider myself a prepper but we fall in the UHRC demographic. We could last a long time (food wise) and live in an urban area. But we plan to homestead.

~bella

This certainly blows away the common opinion about preppers:

Prepper Demographics (Emergent Market Research):
Married 67%
Homeowners 67%
Earn over $100,000 per year 43%
Hold a college or advanced graduate degree 45%

Trusting in Him · Dec 22, 2021

We don't do any prepping whatsoever, I would guess that it's probably not all that necessary to have a stove to do cooking on, if you don't mind eating tinned food straight from the can. That is of course assuming that have got a few cans in your kitchen, as most ordinary peple will already have anyway. If you can get to the countryside it's not that hard to live of the land in most places, if you know how to do it. Storing more food than you can easily carry around with you, is not really all that sensible. Surviving by staying in one place all the time, might not be a great strategy. Sometimes you need to be mobile and go where you can live off the land.

SavedByGrace3 · Dec 22, 2021

Trusting in Him said:
We don't do any prepping whatsoever, I would guess that it probably not all that necessary to have a stove to do cooking on, if you don't mind eating tinned food straight from the can. That is of course assuming that have got a few cans in your kitchen, as most ordinary peple will already have anyway. If you can get to the countryside it's not that hard to live of the land in most places, if you know how to do it. Storing more food than you can easily carry around with you, is not really all that sensible. Surviving by staying in one place all the time, might not be a great strategy. Sometimes you need to be mobile and go where you can live of the land.

I understand what you are saying and there are some that agree with you.
Due to our age and health, "bugging out" is not an option for us.
Some good people say the opposite. They suggest that bugging out to a place that may be less secure and more dangerous is not the thing to do. It also may depend if you live in a city or out in the sticks. We are fairly confident that the cities will blow up with violence when the reality of the situation hits the masses. So we would not want to be in the middle of that. If you live in the sticks, then you risk the arrival of many desperate city folks with their starving families. I think it may be impossible to know what is going to happen in all cases. We are planning on the masses of starving people not making it to our little community in the back hills of the Carolinas. It is a terrible thing to assume.. but I do that many many people will succumb to the rioting, violent masses. We assume there will be little gas to power vehicles. Most gas stations will be empty within hours of the realization. Trucks will not be delivering gas as they are attacked and confiscated on the open highways.
My book details several scenarios where things may go. None of them are good.

bekkilyn · Dec 22, 2021

Trusting in Him said:
We don't do any prepping whatsoever, I would guess that it's probably not all that necessary to have a stove to do cooking on, if you don't mind eating tinned food straight from the can. That is of course assuming that have got a few cans in your kitchen, as most ordinary peple will already have anyway. If you can get to the countryside it's not that hard to live of the land in most places, if you know how to do it. Storing more food than you can easily carry around with you, is not really all that sensible. Surviving by staying in one place all the time, might not be a great strategy. Sometimes you need to be mobile and go where you can live off the land.

The thing to consider is that prepping isn't just about surviving world ending types of scenarios, but many of the more frequent types of emergencies, such as a major weather event. For example, a tornado may come through and wipe out half of the buildings in your community. Obviously if yours is one of those, prepping (outside of a cellar) might not have worked, but if you weren't hit, you still might be without basic utilities for weeks. Same with hurricanes and the like. If you're in a populated area, you may experience brownouts and blackouts. You need to be prepared to go for a few weeks in these types of situations, even though things will eventually return to normal.

For example when COVID hit, I didn't have to worry about running out of toilet paper when all the panicked people bought it up for some reason. For one, because I already had a supply of it on hand, and two, I have old towels and bidet bottles. I wasn't stuck wondering what to do because I'd never thought of the scenario before. There are scenarios that I know I'm unprepared for, but that wasn't one of them.

FEMA study on Preppers... on the rise.

Jesus is Lord of ALL! (Not asking permission)

Contemplative Christian

Jesus is Lord of ALL! (Not asking permission)

Jesus is Lord of ALL! (Not asking permission)

Jesus is Lord of ALL! (Not asking permission)

NCC-1701-A

Contemplative Christian

christian

Contemplative Christian

Contemplative Christian

Jesus is Lord of ALL! (Not asking permission)

NCC-1701-A

Jesus is Lord of ALL! (Not asking permission)

Contemplative Christian

Contemplative Christian

Jesus is Lord of ALL! (Not asking permission)

Jesus is Lord of ALL! (Not asking permission)

Well-Known Member

Jesus is Lord of ALL! (Not asking permission)

Contemplative Christian

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency