Another kind of surviving

My minimalist self has struggled with the idea of prepping, because by definition you are supposed to have stuff you may not ever need to use. And to keep extra items of food and so on.
My ideal is little stuff, and everything I have in good use. But I want to be prepared for different scenarios now. I’m just trying to think of a way to do it efficiently, with minimal stuff to store. And this stuff can be used for camping too, so it doesn’t need to just be sitting there.

Right now being prepped means we have food and everything we need with my daughter and cats, including my medicines, for a few months should it get really bad and we’d mostly want to stay inside, or “bug in” as the prepper saying goes. We have stuff to bake fresh bread with. We have some books, we have cookies and candy and soft drinks too. Yeah, I think those are important in a bug in situation 😀 Currently I have still gone to the store though I try to go as little as possible.

But I started to think about REAL prepping. For like the society starts to crumble, there is no water coming out of the tap and no electricity -kind of scenario. I also have another reason I started to think about prepping even before the corona pandemic.

After I told my STBXH I wanted a divorce and he flipped out and I had to ask him to leave, and he almost attacked me in his anger (and I’ve never seen him like that before so it was scary), I called my dad to come and stay the night with me and my daughter. STBXH came back the next day anyway, and I actually made a grab-bag, or go-bag. And I told my daughter to put aside the things that she would want to take if we have to leave – that if things got out of hand and he would start to yell again like before, I would just tell her that we are leaving, we don’t have to listen to this, and to then take her bag and get out with me, and if we couldn’t take the car I’d call a cab for us and we’d go to my dad’s house. I told her this without any panic, just as a pre-caution.

I haven’t talked to her about prepping now, other than the “normal” talk about stocking up on flour and yeast so that I don’t have to go out for fresh bread as I try to avoid contact with other people as much as possible due to the epidemic. It’s weird that talking like that is “normal” now!
But I will pack some clothing etc. for her and if ever a situation came that we’d have to leave fast, she would have to grab her important things then, but as she doesn’t have a lot of stuff I don’t think it’d be very hard.

So I kind of want to keep the lot of woody land I own with STBXH. If we sell it, I will think about buying another lot. It does not need to have a cabin or anything. I could totally live in a yurt or a large 4 -season tent. I’d build a fenced garden around it for my cats. I’d love it if it was by a lake or even a pond. The current land is one mile away from the nearest lake so not bad even though not ideal.

I’m not realistically expecting to having to live in a tent (unless I want to, for fun! Though I have actually thought semi-seriously about living in a yurt! ) but I guess spending time practically locked down in my home getting prepped better is like a mix between a new hobby and an insurance.
My practical skills include spinning yarn from various fibers, knitting and sewing with a machine or by hand. Those are activities that can produce income or be used to barter (in a truly serious shit-hit-the-fan situation), and they are a great way to pass the time and make sure we’ll have warm clothing.

So what does my survival kit include?

-A four-season tent
-Two person sleeping bag and self-inflating mattress
-Mosquito net
-Foldable water basin
-Small foldable wood stove
-Cooking pan set
-Two set of spoon, knife and fork
-Two water bottles with purification filters
-Water purification system with pump
-Fire making supplies
-Multi-tool
-Money belt
-First aid kit with essential medicines and wound cleaning spray
-Reflective tarp
-String
-Freeze dried food packs with 25 year shelf life plus instant coffee (ha!) and dried fruit, nuts and candy
-Solar panel with usb outlet
-Flashlight and battery charged lamp, batteries
-A Bible
-Another book
-Merino wool clothing and sock and gore-tex shell clothing plus gloves
-The above clothing for daughter as well
-Toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, soap
-Cash (gold coins would be even better)
-My jewellery
-Important documents and papers
-Important phone numbers written down
-Knitting needles and a ball of yarn, thin so it will take a little space and take longer to knit to pass the time! Sharp needles are also useful for self-defence and so on..

These divided into two bags, one of which could always stay in the car. It’s good to have a first aid kit and change of clothing there, anyway.
If it were not possible to drive, I’d take the bag from the car.

The other bag could be a grab-bag at home, in addition to which I’d just take my phone and small shoulder bag with my keys and driver’s licence, plus a laptop.

What would you add?
Have you made any preps recently?