When you’re starting out as a prepper, it can get overwhelming quickly as you begin to take stock of everything that has to be done to ensure your and your family’s survival. From basic decisions to purchases and action-oriented tasks, success requires time, money, and strategic thinking.
First, know that getting started is a first step that most people sadly never take. So you’re already farther ahead than most. And this isn’t something you must stress out about and have done in a day.
Survival prepping is a long-haul effort where you’ll gain ground with every task you accomplish. It’s something you can do on your own or as a family, and it’s wise to include others so they know how to handle things in any event.
Below, you’ll find fifty tasks to get you started in your journey of survival prepping. You can do one per day or as you find time. The key is to learn what needs to be done and begin making progress so that you won’t have to panic if and when a SHTF event occurs – because you’re well-prepared.
Task #1: Start a Survival Supply Journal to Track Your Stock
Keeping track of your supplies will be one of the most fundamental tasks you’ll need to carry out. This will prevent you from letting supplies go to waste or spoil and ensure you don’t overbuy in one area while underbuying in another.
You don’t want to use an electronic spreadsheet for this task. If the grid goes down, you’ll need a manual journal or tracker to refer to. You can buy a digital, printable one or order a book designed for tracking supplies.
Be sure to mark down the item, size, number of items you have in stock, and the date they must be used by. Keep in mind that everyone needs to update the journal if they use some of the supplies or throw them out as expired.
Task #2: Get a 72-Hour Bug Out Bag Packed for Each Family Member
At the very least, everyone in your family must have enough supplies to last three days. A 72-hour bug-out bag is perfect for taking on the run in the event you have to escape your home to go somewhere else.
It should have enough food, water, clothing,, and medical supplies to last at least this long. You may be able to add shelter to the bug-out bag, but make sure everyone has something for warmth at night if sleeping outside.
A bug-out bag needs to be camouflaged and fitted to the size of the person carrying it. You don’t want to get a seven-year-old child the same size bug-out bag as an adult because they won’t be able to carry it.
Task #3: Carve Out a Safe Space for Your Supplies
You want a cool, dry place to store your food supplies in your home or somewhere nearby. You don’t want a hot environment like an outdoor shed, where food will spoil faster.
You’ll also need room in your home for other easily accessible supplies, like first aid, water, camping gear, and more. This is a great time to do some Spring cleaning and get rid of stuff you no longer use or want to free up space for must-have equipment.
Task #4: Begin Stocking Up on Long-Term Water Supplies
Long-term water supplies can be a mix of things. For example, you might often have individual plastic water bottles on hand. But for the long haul, you’ll want things like rain barrels to capture water months down the road.
You will want survival water straws to stick into any body of water and drink directly from it safely. You also want water purification tablets. You can find things like water bladders that fill an entire bathtub and color-safe water containers that hold seven gallons of water that you can stack up in a cool, dry place.
Task #5: Make a List of Shelf Stable Foods You Can Start Buying
Every time you go to the store, you want to add a few items that will eventually make for a wonderful survival supply. Rice, beans, sugar, flour, salt, spices, coffee, hard candy, and more are great for addressing your family’s nutritional needs and wants.
Canned goods are okay, too – but they’re not going to last as long as some other foods. You’ll want to purchase items your family currently enjoys so that you can rotate the stock as you use them.
Whenever something nears its expiration date, use it in a family meal and replace it with a product that has a longer expiration date. You’ll want to make sure your food is stored safely from pests and any other hazards—and don’t forget to stock up for your pets, too!
Task #6: Order Extra Prescriptions You May Need
Before you get too far into your survival prepping efforts, take note of any prescriptions your family has – whether it’s contacts, allergy medicines, blood pressure pills, and more – and see if you can stock up on the prescription in case an SHTF event takes place and pharmacies are inaccessible.
Task #7: Get a Hand Crank Radio That Keeps You Informed
A hand crank radio (which can also be battery operated) is a great tool to have on hand in case of a major survival event. Without it, you may be unable to log onto the Internet or turn on the TV to find out what’s happened or what you need to do.
Emergency services will be broadcast on the radio, and you can access that with a solar-powered, battery-operated, or hand-crank radio. The hand-crank option ensures you’ll always be able to tune in, while solar and battery options may not be available 100% of the time.
Task #8: Make a Plan for Cooking without Power
How would you cook each night if you were to lose power today and not have it again indefinitely? You would need ways to start a fire—to boil, fry, grill, and bake food for your family.
For outdoor cooking, you need fire starter equipment and gear. You might use a grill, but that requires charcoal or wood. You’ll also need flint, matches, and more.
Task #9: Invest in a Sturdy Survival Knife for Multi-Purposes
When you have to live in a survival situation, you’ll find that a knife comes in handy for many reasons. From skinning animals that you’ve killed for meat to whittling wood and even as a defense mechanism, knives are an important tool.
You might need it to help you build a shelter or even for first aid purposes. Make sure you have access to a multi-knife tool or a variety of knives that can help you survive in any situation.
Know the difference between a fixed blade and a folding blade. Have a way to sharpen your knives, too. If the survival event lasts a long time, the knives will become dull and useless over time.
Task #10: See How You Can Fortify Your Home from Intruders
Some survival events will mean your home becomes a target by unsavory individuals. Whether it’s a short-term civil unrest situation or a long-term survival event where intruders are trying to access your home to steal your supplies, you want to ensure that they can’t get in.
Start by checking the durability and sturdiness of each door and window in your home. You want strong locking mechanisms on them. If you have weak entry points, replace them with something made of stronger materials.
While things like a Ring camera might come in handy in a short-term event, you may lose electricity, so it would be useless in a long-term SHTF situation. Make sure you have a way to check to see who’s on your property (like a peephole) before you open the door to anyone.
Task #11: Join an Online or Offline Prepper Community
Prepper communities are great for keeping you informed about upcoming events, as well as teaching you things you may not know about survival prepping. There are many people who join these communities and have plans (based on their camaraderie) to build homestead communities near one another.
Use a pen name on the forum or in person, and never give out your location or specifics. Sharing information with others puts you at risk of having your supplies stolen.
Task #12: Get the Supplies Ready to Seal Up Your Home
There are some events where you’ll want to seal up your home more than just locking it properly. Even the best weather seal might let something in. In the event of a nuclear fallout, you want to have your windows and doors sealed quickly to prevent anything from getting in.
Task #13: Prepare for Cold Weather to Keep Your Family Warm
Cold weather events can be treacherous, even if you’re inside your home. If you lose power and it’s freezing outside, it will soon drop to the same temperature indoors. If this happens, you want to have things like a tent, warm blankets or sleeping bags, and other ways to keep you and your family warm.
Make sure you have a safe way to warm food inside, even if it means using MREs (meals ready to eat) with heating elements inside. You’ll be amazed at how comforting warm food can be in a cold weather.
Task #14: Set Aside Cash for a No Power Event
If the grid goes down, not only will ATMs not work, but you won’t be able to walk into a grocery store and charge supplies onto your debit or credit card. Many places will become cash-only establishments from that point on, and most people will rarely carry cash anymore.
Make sure you have enough to help you secure what you need immediately after a major disaster. Supplies will go fast, and you don’t want to wait for banking options to get what you need.
Task #15: Go Over an Escape Plan with Your Loved Ones
There will be situations where you can’t stay at your home. You may not be with or near your family when this happens. So everyone needs to know what to do if they can’t stay or return to their current home.
Have a place to meet up, and make sure there is more than one option, depending on the circumstances. For example, if the city is under attack, fleeing to a nearby wilderness may not be an option if it’s caught fire.
Ensure everyone knows how to get from point A to point B without staying along the main roadways. These may be compromised or have people who aren’t safe to be around.
Task #16: Pinpoint the Whereabouts of Natural Water Sources Nearby
Before the power goes out, go to Google Maps and do a visual search for natural water sources within walking distance of your home. These could be rivers, lakes, streams, and more.
When and if the power goes down, your water may not work—or if it does, it may not be safe to drink. If there’s no water, you want to know exactly where to go to access water that you can purify. Print out the bird’ s-eye view so you’ll remember.
Task #17: Consider Keeping Animals for Survival Purposes
Animals can be a handy resource in the event of a survival situation. Some people don’t like the idea of butchering an animal, but you don’t even need to do that if you don’t want to.
You can keep hens to lay eggs, use various animals for milk, use them for wool if you need blankets or clothing, and more. Of course, if you did end up needing to use them as food, you could if the alternative meant starving to death.
Task #18: Look at the Solar Survival Gadgets Available and Save Up for One
There are many solar gadgets for survival that you should consider investing in. Some, such as a solar cooker, you might even be able to make yourself. They have readymade ones, too.
You can also find solar-powered generators, solar phone chargers, solar lights, and more. These may cost a little more upfront, but you won’t need electricity or batteries to use them from this point on, so they’ll pay for themselves in the long run.
Task #19: Make Sure Every Member of Your Family Can Be Armed
You have to check the laws in your state or country, but in many areas, you can purchase and teach your children how to safely and carefully use firearms. Many kids in states like Texas are raised this way.
Gun safety is paramount to carrying out this task. Without it, the potential for a catastrophe is heightened. Purchase firearms, ammunition, and a large safe to store this gear.
Task #20: Get Every Loved One a Paracord Bracelet
A paracord bracelet is a survival tool that can come in handy for a multitude of reasons in a survival situation. From helping you erect a shelter to assisting you with food, it is a tool every man, woman, and child should have at their disposal.
Task #21: Purchase Used or New First Aid Books and Start Learning
There are many first aid books that teach you how to treat minor scrapes, bruises, headaches, broken bones, and CPR.
You can buy first aid books to have on hand so that you can not only start learning them yourself but also teach your loved ones. You don’t want to have to take a book with you or stop and learn on the go.
Look at used bookstores or purchase new ones and make a plan to go through the lessons page-by-page. Have each family member practice applying first aid in certain situations, and if you find that you don’t have a needed supply, put it on your list to get.
Task #22: Make a Survival Garden Plan for Your Current Space
Growing your food is an important task that everyone should do. Whether you live in a cramped apartment with only a balcony for a container garden or have an acre or more land to grow on, start planning and planting.
Grow foods that are rich in nutrients and calories whenever possible. You want foods that grow fast (such as radishes that only take three weeks) and those that will deliver many results, such as potatoes.
Task #23: Learn How to Can Your Food
Canning food is a skill people used to pass down from one generation to another, but it’s become somewhat of a lost art among the masses. If you’re growing your own food, it will help to be able to can your fruits and vegetables for later use.
Task #24: Teach Survival Stealth and Self-Defense Measures to Your Family
Being stealthy during a survival event can help keep you alive. You must teach your family how to stay quiet, move without being detected, not draw attention to yourself, and take other stealth measures.
You also can’t be unprepared if the worst-case scenario takes place and someone or something attacks you or your family. Be knowledgeable about and prepared for attacks by wild animals as well as individuals, even if it means enrolling everyone in a self-defense course.
Task #25: Start Stocking Up on Personal Hygiene and Toiletries
As we witnessed at the start of the pandemic, the strangest things can go early. While you may have thought food and water would fly off the shelves first, toilet paper was the first item to sell out in stores across the globe.
When planning your survival supplies, make sure you don’t neglect the toiletries your family needs and uses. From contact solutions to deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and more—it’s all going to be sold out if a major event occurs.
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