Beginner Prepping Basics: Start Survivalism the Right Way

Why trust this guide: Written by Josh Baxter, a FEMA-trained Wilderness First Responder with 12+ years of field experience in Pacific Northwest emergency preparedness, including CERT team leadership and community disaster response training. This guide was last updated March 2026 to reflect current pricing, FEMA guidelines, and lessons from recent PNW winter storm responses.

If you’re looking to learn beginner prepping basics, you’re already ahead of most people. You don’t need a bunker. You don’t need $10,000 in freeze-dried food. You need a clear plan, a few proven supplies, and the willingness to spend a couple of weekends getting your household ready for the emergencies that actually happen — power outages, winter storms, earthquakes, supply chain disruptions.

Survivalism is the practice of proactively preparing for emergencies by storing essential supplies, developing practical skills, and creating actionable plans to meet basic needs — water, food, shelter, first aid, and communication — when normal infrastructure is disrupted. That’s it. No tinfoil hats required.

In my experience responding to ice storms, wildfires, and earthquake preparedness drills across the Pacific Northwest, the families who fare best aren’t the ones with the most gear. They’re the ones who wrote a plan, stored water, and practiced once or twice. This guide walks you through exactly how to start prepping with no experience, on any budget, at whatever pace works for your life.

Survival Prepping Basics: 6 Steps to Get Started

1. Assess Your Health and Finances First

Get your physical and financial foundation stable before buying a single piece of gear.

This step surprises most beginners, but it’s where I always start in my CERT training sessions. If you have untreated medical conditions, no health insurance, or zero emergency savings, those are your biggest vulnerabilities — not a missing water filter. Aim for a small emergency cash fund ($500–$1,000), review your insurance policies, and make sure prescriptions are current. A $20 co-pay for a doctor visit today beats a medical crisis during a power outage.

2. Create a Written Emergency Plan

A one-page family emergency plan is the single highest-impact prep you can do this week — and it’s free.

Write down your top three local hazards, two evacuation routes, two meeting places (one near home, one outside your neighborhood), emergency contacts, and where you keep critical documents. Include medical info for every household member. Tape it to the inside of a kitchen cabinet where everyone can find it. I’ve seen people with $2,000 in gear who couldn’t tell me where their family would meet after an earthquake. Don’t be that person.

3. Build a Basic Emergency Kit

Assemble a home kit and a small grab-and-go bag using proven, affordable basics.

Your home kit covers sheltering in place: flashlight with spare batteries, first-aid kit, manual can opener, multi-tool, backup phone charger, hygiene items, waterproof matches, blankets, copies of important documents, and cash in small bills. Your grab-and-go bag covers the first 24–48 hours if you need to leave: compact water, one to two days of food, weather-appropriate clothing, medications, and a power bank. More details on building your first bug-out bag.

4. Secure Water and Food for 3–14 Days

Store 1 gallon of water per person per day, starting with 3 days and scaling to 14.

Water is non-negotiable. Per Red Cross guidelines, water stored in clean food-grade containers with proper treatment remains safe for 6 months before rotation is needed. For food, stockpile what your family already eats — canned vegetables, canned protein, rice, pasta, oats, peanut butter. Rotate regularly so nothing expires forgotten on a shelf. For deeper guidance, see food preservation and stockpiling basics.

5. Learn Essential Survival Skills

Skills outlast gear — take a free first aid class before buying another gadget.

Priorities: basic first aid and CPR (free through many Red Cross chapters), water purification, cooking without grid power, and basic navigation. Take a local CERT course if your community offers one — it’s free, practical, and connects you with neighbors who are also preparing. I can tell you from years of teaching these courses that six hours of hands-on training changes your confidence level more than $500 in Amazon purchases ever will.

6. Stay Informed and Review Regularly

Set a quarterly calendar reminder to audit supplies, update plans, and rotate expired items.

Preparedness isn’t a one-time purchase; it’s an ongoing habit. Review your plan every three months. Check expiration dates. Replace batteries. Update contact numbers. After any real event or drill, write down what worked and what didn’t in a small notebook you keep in your kit. Conditions change — new family members, new medications, a move to a different region — and your preps need to keep pace.

How to Assess Your Regional Risks Before You Start Prepping

Before you spend a dollar on supplies, you need to know what you’re actually preparing for. A prepper in coastal Florida faces hurricanes and storm surge. A family in Oklahoma needs tornado readiness. Here in the Pacific Northwest, my top three are Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquakes, winter ice storms, and wildfire smoke seasons.

A simple risk assessment framework:

1. Check FEMA’s risk map for your zip code. Go to risk.fema.gov and enter your address. It shows flood zones, seismic risk, wildfire probability, and more. This takes five minutes and immediately narrows your focus.

2. Identify your top three natural hazards. Don’t prepare for everything at once. What has actually happened in your county in the last 20 years? County emergency management websites often list historical disaster declarations. Those are your priorities.

3. Consider infrastructure vulnerabilities. Do you live in an area with an aging power grid? Are you in a flood plain? Is your neighborhood served by a single road that could wash out? During the 2024 PNW ice storm, rural households I work with were isolated for 8–12 days — their well pumps were useless without backup power. That’s an infrastructure vulnerability you can plan around.

4. Factor in personal risks. Household members with chronic medical conditions, mobility limitations, or medication dependencies face amplified risk during any disruption. An insulin-dependent diabetic needs a very different 14-day plan than a healthy 30-year-old. Infants and elderly family members change your supply math significantly.

5. Assess your evacuation reality. In my area, a major Cascadia earthquake could make bridges impassable and highways unusable. That means sheltering in place for days or weeks is more realistic than evacuating. Your risk assessment should honestly answer: can you leave, or should you plan to stay?

My PNW-specific examples as illustration:

• Cascadia Subduction Zone: potential magnitude 9.0 earthquake with weeks of disrupted infrastructure. I plan for 30 days of water and food minimum.
• Winter ice storms: 5–12 days without power is common in rural areas. Backup heating and cooking are essential.
• Wildfire smoke: multiple weeks of hazardous air quality. N95 masks, air purifiers, and the ability to seal living spaces matter.

Your hazards will differ, but the framework is the same: identify, prioritize, and plan specifically for what’s most likely to affect your household.

Beginner Prepping Basics: Why Prepping Makes Sense for Most Households

Prepared homes handle short outages and weather events with less stress and fewer calls to 911. Power and water interruptions happen everywhere, and they’re becoming more frequent. When fewer people need emergency help, first responders can focus on the most critical situations. Preparedness gives you options when everyone else is scrambling.

Is it worth being a prepper? I’ll put it this way: in 12 years of emergency response work, I’ve never once met someone who regretted being prepared. I have met plenty who regretted assuming it wouldn’t happen to them. Prepping isn’t about fear — it’s about quiet confidence. It’s the difference between riding out a four-day power outage with warm meals, charged phones, and a plan, versus sitting in the dark wondering when help is coming.

Prepper Checklist for a Family of 4: Scaling Supplies by Household Size

One of the most common questions I get in my CERT trainings is “how much do I actually need for my family?” The math is straightforward once you know the formula. Here’s how to scale for a family of four across three timeframes.

Water — 1 gallon per person per day

That 14-day number — 56 gallons — sounds intimidating, but it’s only eleven 5-gallon jugs. They fit in a closet, a garage corner, or under beds. For how much water a beginner prepper should store, start with that 12-gallon 3-day target and add a jug per paycheck. Also invest in a quality filter for backup — see top water filtration systems for new preppers.

Food — approximately 2,000 calories per person per day

How much food does a family of 4 need for 2 weeks? Roughly 112,000 calories. That sounds like a lot until you break it down: 25 lbs of rice (~45,000 cal), 10 lbs of dried beans (~15,000 cal), 24 cans of vegetables and protein (~20,000 cal), peanut butter, oats, pasta, and cooking oil fill the rest. Total cost: $75–$120 bought gradually.

Age-specific adjustments:

• Children under 12 need fewer calories (1,200–1,800/day depending on age) but may need specific comfort foods to maintain morale and cooperation.
• Infants require formula, diapers, wipes, and medications that aren’t interchangeable. Stock a minimum 14-day supply of formula — this is not something you can improvise.
• Teenagers may eat as much as or more than adults. Plan for adult portions.
• Pets are the most commonly overlooked household member. Store 14 days of pet food and any medications. A 40-lb dog needs roughly 2–3 lbs of food per day.

Additional family-size considerations:

• Multiply sanitation supplies accordingly: more people means more waste bags, more hygiene products, more garbage.
• Medications for every household member, including prescriptions, over-the-counter fever reducers appropriate for children’s dosing, and any allergy treatments.
• Entertainment scales too — kids need age-appropriate activities during extended shelter-in-place situations. Coloring books, card games, and a few favorite toys take up almost no space and save your sanity.

Emergency Communication Plan: Staying Connected When Cell Towers Go Down

During the first 24 hours of any significant regional emergency, cell towers are either overloaded or down. I saw this firsthand during PNW storm responses — people standing outside in freezing rain, holding phones overhead, trying to get a single bar. Having a communication plan before towers go silent is critical.

The communication hierarchy:

1. Designate an out-of-area contact. Pick someone who lives at least 200 miles away — a relative in another state works perfectly. After a regional disaster, local calls jam, but long-distance lines often stay open. Every family member knows to call or text this one person to check in. That contact becomes your central information hub.

2. Text before you call. Text messages use far less bandwidth than voice calls and can queue until towers have capacity. During the 2024 PNW ice storm, texts were getting through 6–8 hours before voice calls reconnected in some areas. Make sure every family member — including older kids — knows this.

3. Get a NOAA weather radio. A battery and hand-crank weather radio from Midland or Eton ($20–$35) receives emergency broadcasts from the National Weather Service regardless of cell or internet service. This is your primary real-time information source during any event. Keep one at home and consider a smaller one for your bug-out bag.

4. FRS/GMRS walkie-talkies for neighborhood communication. A pair of quality FRS radios (Motorola T800 or similar, $50–$70 for a pair) lets you communicate with nearby family members or neighbors within a 1–2 mile radius in real conditions. No license needed for FRS channels. Agree on a channel and check-in time with your neighbors before an event happens.

5. HAM radio as a next-level skill. If you want communication capability that reaches beyond your neighborhood — even statewide or beyond — amateur (HAM) radio is the gold standard. A Technician-class license requires passing a 35-question exam (study materials are free online). A basic handheld like the Baofeng UV-5R costs under $30. This is intermediate-level prepping, but I mention it here because knowing the path exists helps you plan your progression.

6. Use the FEMA family communication plan template. FEMA publishes a free, fillable family communication plan card at ready.gov. Print two copies — one for the fridge, one in your emergency kit. It covers contact numbers, meeting points, medical info, and out-of-area contacts on a single wallet-sized card.

A personal note: In my years leading CERT training sessions, the most frequent issue I see is people who spent $500 on gear but never wrote down their family’s meeting point or practiced an evacuation route. A $0 communication plan outperforms a $500 radio you haven’t learned to use.

Common Mistakes New Preppers Make

I’ve been teaching beginner prepping basics for over a decade, and I see the same mistakes on repeat. Here’s what trips people up — and what to do instead.

Buying fancy gadgets before securing water, food, shelter, and first aid. This is the number-one mistake, period. I once watched a new CERT volunteer proudly show me his $200 tactical flashlight and $150 survival knife. When I asked about his water supply, he had two bottles of Dasani in his pantry. Flashlights don’t keep you alive for a week. Water does. Secure the boring stuff first.

Stockpiling foods your household won’t eat. If your kids won’t touch canned sardines on a normal Tuesday, they won’t eat them during a power outage either — and now you’ve got wasted money and a hungry, cranky family. Rotate what you store. Buy extra of what you already eat. This is the simplest food storage advice that exists, and people still ignore it.

Ignoring hazards specific to your region. I’ve talked to people in earthquake country whose entire prep was a hurricane kit they copied from a blog written by someone in Florida. Your plan needs to reflect your actual risks. An earthquake kit includes securing heavy furniture and knowing how to shut off your gas line. A hurricane kit prioritizes water intrusion and evacuation. They’re different plans.

Forgetting medications, pet supplies, and copies of important documents. In a real evacuation, you cannot replace your child’s prescription inhaler at a shelter. You cannot explain your insurance policy from memory. A waterproof folder with copies of IDs, insurance cards, medical records, and prescriptions costs $5 to prepare and is worth more than half the gear in your bag.

Not having a communication plan beyond cell phones. As I covered above, cell towers fail during exactly the kind of events you’re preparing for. If your entire communication plan is “I’ll just call,” you don’t have a plan.

Prepping alone instead of involving your household. Your partner and kids need to know where the supplies are, where the meeting points are, and what to do if you’re not home when something happens. I run a quick drill with my family twice a year — it takes 20 minutes and reveals gaps every single time.

Over-focusing on worst-case SHTF scenarios instead of likely regional events. Preparing for a zombie apocalypse or an EMP is a fun thought experiment. Preparing for a 5-day winter power outage is what will actually save your family. Focus on probability, not drama.

Neglecting physical fitness as a preparedness tool. If your evacuation plan involves walking three miles with a 30-lb pack and you can’t currently walk one mile without stopping, that’s a gap in your readiness. You don’t need to be an athlete, but basic cardiovascular fitness and the ability to carry a load matter. This is free to work on and no one talks about it.

Letting anxiety drive purchases. Fear-based buying leads to closets full of gadgets you don’t know how to use and food you won’t eat. Make steady, budget-friendly progress instead. One step per week beats a $1,000 panic purchase every time.

What to Avoid Buying: Gear That Sounds Good but Underperforms

Every beginner prepping guide should include a “don’t buy this” list, because the prepping market is full of products designed to separate you from your money rather than keep you alive. I’ve personally field-tested over 40 survival kits and budget tools during wilderness response training — here’s what actually holds up and what doesn’t.

Skip these common money pits:

• All-in-one “survival kits” from unknown brands. Those 250-piece emergency kits on Amazon for $39.99? Most contain junk — flimsy wire saws that snap on the second pull, compasses that point wherever they feel like, and “emergency blankets” thinner than deli wrap. Build your own kit piece by piece with gear you’ve actually tested.

• Cheap knock-off water filters. A genuine Sawyer Squeeze or LifeStraw runs $20–$35 and has been independently tested. The $8 mystery-brand filter with five-star reviews from accounts that also reviewed discount yoga pants? Hard pass. Your water filtration is not the place to bargain hunt. See top water filtration systems for new preppers for field-tested recommendations.

• Massive fixed-blade “Rambo” knives. A 12-inch bowie knife looks impressive on a wall. In practice, a quality 4–5 inch fixed blade (like a Morakniv Companion at ~$15) handles 95% of camp and emergency tasks better. Big knives are heavy, awkward, and largely unnecessary.

• MREs as your primary food storage. Military MREs are fine for a 72-hour bag, but they’re expensive ($8–$12 per meal), heavy, and have a shorter shelf life than people assume — roughly 3–5 years depending on storage temperature. Canned goods and dry staples cost a fraction and rotate naturally through your pantry.

• Hand-crank phone chargers. A hand-crank radio is genuinely useful. A hand-crank phone charger? You’ll crank for 20 minutes to get 3% battery. Spend the money on a decent solar power bank instead — 20,000mAh from Anker or Nekteck runs $25–$40 and actually works.

• “Tactical” medical gear you haven’t trained with. Tourniquets, chest seals, and advanced medical gear save lives — in the hands of someone trained. Without training, they can cause harm. Master emergency first aid basics every prepper needs first, then level up your medical kit alongside your skills.

Rule of thumb: If a product promises to do ten things, it probably does zero of them well. Buy single-purpose, proven gear and learn to use it before an emergency forces the lesson.

For a deeper dive into spotting overpriced and overhyped products, check out how to identify and avoid prepper scams.

Urban Preppers vs. Rural Preppers: How Your Location Changes the Plan

One of the biggest oversights in beginner prepping basics is treating all preppers the same. A family in a Phoenix apartment and a family on five acres in Vermont face very different challenges.

Space and storage constraints

• Urban: You’re working with closets, not basements. Prioritize compact, calorie-dense foods (nut butters, freeze-dried pouches, energy bars). Use under-bed space for flat water containers — the WaterBOB bathtub bladder (65 gallons, ~$35) is an urban prepper’s best friend when you have warning of an incoming event. Stackable 5-gallon jugs beat 55-gallon drums you have no room for.
• Rural: You likely have garage or basement space. Take advantage: 55-gallon water barrels, bulk rice and beans in 5-gallon Mylar-lined buckets, and a chest freezer backed by a generator are all reasonable options.

Evacuation realities

• Urban: Traffic gridlock during a regional emergency is nearly guaranteed. Have a bug-out bag ready, but also prepare seriously for sheltering in place — that may be your only realistic option for the first 24–48 hours. Know multiple routes out of your city on foot, not just by car. Pre-identify friends or family within a 50-mile radius as waypoints.
• Rural: Evacuation routes are fewer but less congested. Your bigger risk is being cut off — downed trees, washed-out roads, or snowdrifts. Keep a chainsaw with fuel, a come-along winch, and extra vehicle fuel stored safely.

Water access

• Urban: You’re 100% dependent on municipal water unless you store your own. Have purification methods ready in case tap water becomes unsafe (boil advisories are more common than people think). A countertop gravity filter like the Berkey or Alexapure handles this well.
• Rural: Wells, creeks, ponds, and rainwater collection give you options — but all require filtration or treatment. A well without power needs a hand pump or solar pump backup. Don’t assume your rural water source is automatically safe.

Security considerations

• Urban: Higher population density means more competition for limited resources during extended events. Focus on being a good neighbor now — community relationships are your best security. Keep a low profile about your supplies.
• Rural: Response times from law enforcement or EMS can be 30–60 minutes or longer. Self-reliance isn’t optional; it’s the default. Community relationships and communication via HAM or CB radio matter enormously.

The overlap: Regardless of location, everyone needs water, food, light, first aid, communication, and a plan. The how just changes based on your zip code.

Budget Breakdown: Priority Order When Money Is Tight

Most people reading about how to start prepping with no experience on a budget aren’t looking to drop $5,000 on gear this month. Good news: meaningful preparedness starts cheap.

Tier 1: The Non-Negotiable Foundation ($0–$50)

1. Written emergency plan — $0. Paper, pen, 30 minutes. List hazards, contacts, meeting points, evacuation routes. Refer to the essential prepper’s checklist for a solid framework.
2. Water storage for 3 days — $4–$10. Buy a case of bottled water per person, or fill clean 2-liter soda bottles with tap water and a drop of unscented bleach.
3. 3 days of shelf-stable food — $15–$30. Canned beans, canned chicken, peanut butter, crackers, oats. Buy extras during your normal grocery run.
4. Basic lighting — $5–$10. A decent LED flashlight and a pack of batteries.
5. Manual can opener — $3–$8. I’ve watched a grown adult try to open a can of chili with a rock during a power outage. Don’t be that person.

Tier 2: Expanding to 7 Days ($50–$150)

1. More water storage — $15–$30. Add a 5-gallon jug or two. Pick up purification tablets ($7–$12 for a bottle of 50).
2. Portable water filter — $20–$35. Sawyer Squeeze or LifeStraw. Proven, lightweight, long-lasting.
3. First-aid kit — $15–$30. Buy a pre-made kit and supplement with your own medications, extra gauze, and nitrile gloves.
4. Power bank — $20–$35. A 20,000mAh charger handles multiple full phone charges.
5. Cash reserve — $50–$100 in small bills. ATMs don’t work without power.

Tier 3: Two-Week Readiness ($150–$400)

• Deeper food stores — $50–$100. Add bulk rice, dried beans, pasta, canned vegetables and fruit, cooking oil, salt. Aim for 1,500–2,000 calories per person per day.
• Camp stove and fuel — $30–$60. A basic butane or propane single-burner stove with 4–8 fuel canisters.
• NOAA weather radio — $20–$35. Battery and hand-crank models from Midland or Eton.
• Sanitation supplies — $15–$25. Heavy-duty garbage bags, bucket with snap-on toilet seat, kitty litter or enzyme waste treatment.
• Document copies — $5–$10. Photocopy IDs, insurance cards, and medical records. Store in a waterproof bag plus an encrypted USB drive.

The math: For roughly $200–$400, spread over a few months, you can go from completely unprepared to comfortably supplied for two weeks. That’s less than most people spend on streaming subscriptions in a year.

Where to save money without cutting corners:

• Dollar stores carry surprisingly good candles, lighters, duct tape, and hygiene items.
• Grocery store loss leaders and bulk bins are your best friends for food rotation.
• Thrift stores often have camping gear, sturdy backpacks, and wool blankets for a fraction of retail.
• Avoid “prepper premium” pricing — a bag of rice doesn’t cost more just because it’s marketed as “survival food.”

Extended Scenarios: Prepping Beyond 72 Hours to 1–2 Weeks

Understanding the 72-hour rule for emergency preparedness is a great starting point, but many real-world emergencies last longer. Hurricane Katrina displaced people for weeks. The 2021 Texas freeze left millions without power for 4–7 days with compromised water for over two weeks. Ice storms in rural PNW areas routinely isolate homes for 10+ days.

Once you’ve nailed the 72-hour basics, extending to 1–2 weeks requires thinking about problems that don’t show up in the first three days.

Food fatigue is real

By day four, eating cold canned beans out of a tin gets psychologically draining. Plan for variety and morale:

• Include comfort items: instant coffee, tea, hot chocolate, hard candy, shelf-stable snacks your family actually enjoys.
• A camp stove transforms your food situation — hot meals matter enormously for morale and digestion.
• Don’t forget cooking oil, salt, pepper, and a few spice packets. They weigh nothing and make rice and beans actually palatable for two straight weeks.

For more on building a resilient food supply, read about starting a prepper garden for long-term food security.

Sanitation becomes the real challenge

• Without running water, a flush toilet is useless after the tank empties. A 5-gallon bucket with a snap-on seat, heavy-duty trash bags, and kitty litter or enzyme powder is the standard field solution. Plan on one bag per person per day.
• Hygiene supplies: Baby wipes (unscented, for full-body cleanup), hand sanitizer, extra garbage bags, menstrual products, diapers if applicable, and a supply of any prescription medications.
• Trash management: With no pickup service, trash piles fast. Have extra contractor-grade bags and a plan for where to store waste away from your living area.

Power beyond 72 hours

• Portable power stations in the $200–$400 range (Jackery 300, Bluetti EB3A) can run LED lights, charge phones and medical devices, and power small fans. Pair with a 100W foldable solar panel ($100–$150) and you have indefinite recharging capability for essential electronics.
• Generators are effective but require serious carbon monoxide safety awareness — never run one indoors, in a garage, or within 20 feet of windows. A basic 2,000W inverter generator runs $400–$600 and powers essentials. Store fuel safely with stabilizer.
• The minimum: Even without backup power, a $25 solar power bank and a battery-powered lantern keep you functional. Don’t let the cost of a generator stop you from solving the power problem at a basic level.

Medication management beyond 7 days

• Most pharmacies will fill a 30-day prescription early by 7–10 days. Use this to build a rolling buffer. Talk to your doctor about getting an emergency backup prescription for critical medications.
• Temperature-sensitive medications (insulin, certain biologics) need a plan: a small cooler with frozen water bottles buys you 24–48 hours. Medication-specific cooling cases with phase-change technology extend this further.
• Keep an updated written list of every medication, dosage, prescribing doctor, and pharmacy in your emergency kit. If you’re evacuated to a shelter with medical support, this list is invaluable.

Mental health during extended isolation

This is the topic nobody preps for, and it’s one of the hardest parts. By day five without power, routine, or outside contact, stress and boredom compound — especially with kids.

• Maintain as much daily routine as possible: set mealtimes, bedtimes, and activity periods.
• Physical activity combats anxiety and restlessness. Even walking laps around your yard helps.
• Board games, books, journals, and decks of cards matter. These aren’t luxuries; they’re mental health tools.
• Check on elderly neighbors and anyone living alone nearby. Community mutual aid — pooling resources, sharing information, providing social contact — is one of the most powerful tools in an extended emergency.

Practical Tips to Keep Prepping Approachable

Prepping should feel like a practical life skill, not a second job. Here’s how to keep it manageable.

Involve your kids in age-appropriate ways. Let children choose their own snack items for the emergency kit — it gives them ownership and means they’ll actually eat what’s stored. Make flashlight testing a monthly “game.” My neighbor’s kids look forward to their quarterly “power out night” where the family practices using lanterns and the camp stove for dinner. Those kids will be more prepared at age 10 than most adults.

Set a quarterly calendar reminder for supply audits. Check expiration dates, rotate water, test batteries, and verify your plan is still current. Life changes — new addresses, new medications, new family members — and your preps need to keep pace. I set mine for the first Saturday of every quarter.

Keep a small notebook in your kit. After drills or real events, log what worked, what was missing, and what needs changing. During a community earthquake drill I helped organize last fall, three families discovered their flashlight batteries were dead and two realized their water supply had expired six months earlier. The families who wrote it down fixed it. The ones who said “I’ll remember” didn’t.

Start conversations with neighbors. You don’t have to reveal your entire supply list. Just saying “Hey, have you thought about what we’d do if power was out for a week?” opens a door. Neighborhoods that communicate before an emergency respond better during one. Some of the best-prepared communities I work with