Running up to 2020, people largely ignored preppers, or even thought that they were weird. But thanks to recent events such as pandemics, soaring inflation, fuel supply shortages, and even problems growing enough food, more people are getting into prepping. They’re investing now to prevent dire consequences in a grid-down situation. 

In this post, we take a look at how to prepare for a grid-down situation while also living as naturally as possible. 

Build Your Infrastructure

In a grid-down situation, all you really need are the basics: food, water, shelter and energy. With these four, you can survive indefinitely. 

Of course, during a real disaster, all of these can be in short supply, so you need to build out your infrastructure. 

Top of your list of priorities should be a cool, dark storage space for your food. A large pantry is ideal, but a pest-free basement will also suffice. 

For water, you’ll need something sustainable that you can replenish. Rainwater tanks are your best bet. They can survive for years in the open air and are 100 percent pest resistant. All you need to do is collect rainwater using an approved system and top them up periodically when the opportunity arises. 

For power, solar and wind are your only viable options, and preferably, you will have both. 

As for shelter, you need something capable of withstanding conditions in your region. Brick-and-mortar isn’t always essential, but it is preferable.

Collect The Food You’ll Need

The next step is to collect all the food that you will need. Ideally, food should require little to no water to prepare, have high nutritional value, and should be highly varied. You don’t want to live off white rice or ramen for a year. 

Pick canned beans, vegetables, fruits, and meats. Also select freeze-dried foods for extremely long-term storage, dried dairy products, pasta, peanut butter and grains, such as white rice. Brown rice can survive for around six months but will go rancid after that due to the oils that it contains. 

To make your food taste good, you’ll also want salt and pepper, spices, some chocolate and cooking oil. 

Take Cash Out

It is not certain what will happen in a grid down situation, or whether people will continue to accept cash or not. If they don’t, then you will need something else to barter with. Gold, cigarettes, and food itself are all good substitutes. Think about what will be rare in your location and what people can also derive value from and collect that. You may want to store several “currencies,” such as soap, toothpaste, razor blades, fertilizer, or corn. 

Plant A Garden

At some point, your food supplies will run out and you will have to grow your own. During a protracted disaster, you may be able to store two years of food, but more than that is challenging. 

Therefore, during the first year, you will need to start planting. Crops take several months to grow, so you want to refine your techniques as soon as possible so that you don’t run out of food later on.