When you’re just getting started, disaster preparedness can be very overwhelming…and expensive. There are a ton of products on the market out there, some that are real quality investments, some that are pretty much just designed to make money.
But if you are a low-budget or fully broke prepper, it can seem like there’s not much you can do. If you’re thinking this, don’t worry! There’s still plenty you can do to prepare entirely for free while you’re saving up to build that bunker.
1. Learn Skills
The #1 free way to prep is to learn survival skills. Read this blog, watch YouTube videos (we post a bunch of helpful ones!), learn about fire builds, basic first aid, situational awareness, etc.
2. Get In Shape
Exercise also doesn’t have to be expensive. Even if you just start jogging a few mornings a week, you will get way healthier, build up crucial endurance, and thus greatly increase your odds of survival in virtually any situation in which your survival relies on your physical prowess.
3. Save clothing
Old clothing that’s torn, stained, or worn out can be cut into strips and stored. Saving up scraps of fabric can be useful to bandage wounds, to use for cleaning, and, if you stash a good sewing kit as well, you could make blankets to keep warm, repair clothing, backpacks, tents, etc.
4. Render tallow or lard
You can often get free beef or pig fat at a butcher shop if you ask for it, and make your own tallow or lard that will keep if stored in an airtight container, in a cool dark place, for a year or longer. Rendered animal fat is a great source of calories that will add fat and nutrition to things like beans and rice.
5. Find free herbs
Highly medicinal and nutritious herbs like dandelion and plantain herb grow in virtually every yard, field, or hiking trail. Look for them in your area and take not of their location for future reference and/or collect them to make salves, balms, and tinctures.
Your world is full of completely free ways to prepare yourself for a disaster, and the most important thing to get started is to start looking for ways to prepare that won’t cost you a dime.
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