By the author of Be Ready for Anything and The Prepper’s Water Survival Guide
As a prepper, even though our numbers are growing, we have a pretty unique view of the world. Because of that view, there are things people outside our sphere say to us over and over when they learn of our survival mindset. And if you are one of those unprepared folks, let me put you on notice. There are some things preppers are sick of hearing.
Don’t get me wrong. Most of us love to answer questions if you’re really serious about becoming more self-reliant. (If you want to get started prepping, check out this guide.) But if you’re just asking about your “crazy friend” out of morbid curiosity, we’re not too interested in satisfying that.
10 things preppers are sick of hearing
Have you heard any of the following things preppers are sick of hearing from a significant other, a family member, friend, or acquaintance? I’ve heard all these things more than once, so I can’t be alone, right? (For more prepper solidarity, check out this article.)
I’ve included my responses to the top 10 things preppers are sick of hearing.
10.) Don’t you already have enough X?
Have you ever thrown something in your grocery cart only for the person at the store with you to say, “Don’t we have enough toilet paper/soup/rice/Oreo cookies?” Or perhaps you open the hall closet and dodge the avalanche of paper towel rolls and your visitor says, “Got enough paper towels?”
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No.
No, I don’t have enough. There’s no such thing as “enough” if I feel like I’m facing a long haul ahead.
9.) Do you think it’s morally okay to have all this stuff when other people can’t buy any? Save some for everyone else.
I can see your eyes rolling from here. Don’t you just love the morally superior folks who feel as though you are personally responsible for any shortages in the stores, as opposed to governmental policies, mandates, port closures, and transportation issues?
If we preppers are taking care of ourselves, then the self-proclaimed “morally superior” will have less competition when it comes to getting their government-rationed supplies in the future. I’d much rather take care of my family than stand in line waiting for a handout, and I also don’t want to take those handouts from people who truly need them if I’m able to supply them myself.
8.) Isn’t this selfish?
The media loves to portray preppers as selfish folks grabbing the last case of water and the last roll of toilet paper off the shelves during an emergency. But here’s the thing. We already got our stuff. We are not the ones out there clearing the shelves like a horde of hungry locusts.
Preparing to take care of your family is anything but selfish. It shows a sense of responsibility and forethought. Prepping is one of the most loving things you can do for your family members and I can’t understand those who deem that “selfish.”
7.) Are you a hoarder?
Yep, sometimes there’s a fine line between hoarding and prepping and we try to be careful not to fall onto the wrong side of that line. I consider prepping items that you need currently or potentially, not just piles of old newspapers and rubber bands. As well, if your supplies are well organized and you can walk through your home without tripping over supplies, you are on the prepper side of that line.
Hoarding is no laughing matter and actually a serious obsessive-compulsive psychological disorder.
Hoarding disorder is a persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them. A person with hoarding disorder experiences distress at the thought of getting rid of the items. Excessive accumulation of items, regardless of actual value, occurs.
Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Countertops, sinks, stoves, desks, stairways and virtually all other surfaces are usually piled with stuff. And when there’s no more room inside, the clutter may spread to the garage, vehicles, yard and other storage facilities. (source)
If you believe that you may be suffering from hoarding disorder, here are some resources for getting help.
If you find yourself with more stuff than you can keep organized, here are some tips for organizing your stockpile.
6.) You are never going to be able eat/use/drink all this.
Some folks can’t imagine stocking more food than they could eat in a month. They can’t fathom stashing away a year’s worth of food or more.
These folks don’t understand that prepping is a system of first-in/first-out. Most preppers keep careful track of “use by” or “expiration” dates and rotate their supplies accordingly. We’re not investing all this money just to waste our supplies. We also spend a great deal of time and effort properly storing our food for the longest possible lifespan.
I have rarely thrown away food (except for an unfortunate dehydrated hash brown/weevil incident – don’t ask) and occasionally, when things are getting closer to the end of their lifespan, I donate them to a food bank or someone in need.
5.) Do you have a bunker?
Thanks to overblown television shows like “Doomsday Preppers,” ordinary folks often think preppers have a WW2-era bunker or bomb shelter in their basement. (This is NOT to say I wouldn’t love to find a house with an existing bunker.) But most of us are pretty ordinary and while we might have a storm cellar or supply room, we don’t have a full-on, self-sufficient bunker in which to ride out the apocalypse.
The correct answer to this question is, “Yes. But if I tell you where it is I have to kill you.”
4.) Do you have guns?
If the uninitiated find out you’re a prepper, they usually think you have a dedicated Hollywood-style weapons room. (Alas, like the bunker, it’s not like I’d turn this down.)
Just about every time I am interviewed by someone in the mainstream media, they ask me, “How many guns do you have?” My go-to response is a sweet smile accompanied by, “That’s the prepper equivalent of asking a lady her age.”
See the answer to #5 for the answer if the polite version doesn’t work.
3.) You’re crazy.
Who among us has never been called a crazy prepper at least once? My friend Brian at Mind4Survival considers it a badge of honor. I know that more than once after things have happened and people have found themselves unprepared, they’ve come back and said, “I guess you aren’t so crazy after all.”
A lot of the “crazy prepper” hype comes from the mainstream media. Shows like “Doomsday Preppers” and “Naked and Afraid” don’t really do us any favors.
But if there’s been one good thing to come out of the past two years, more people than ever have seen for themselves that we aren’t so crazy after all. We’ve gone through a pandemic complete with lockdowns, an economic crisis, massive job losses, systemic collapse, and supply chain shortages. This doesn’t even include our regularly scheduled apocalypses like wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and freak blizzards. Really, you’d be crazy NOT to prep after all that.
2.) How much food do you actually have?
Has anyone ever gotten a glimpse inside your cupboards or storage area and said, “Holy cow, how much food do you have?” It’s happened to me a couple of times – once with an extended family member and another time with a repair person who had to enter an area I hadn’t expected.
The right answer to that question depends on the person answering it. To the repairman, I truthfully said, “I donate regularly to the food bank.” I do – just not the contents of my basement. To the family member, since it’s someone I expect to house if things went sideways, I said, “I try to stay well-stocked in case of an emergency or a family member going through a difficult time. I buy things when they’re on sale.”
Much like the gun question, I’m not giving anyone specifics that is not personally involved in my preparedness.
1.) If something happens, I’m coming to your house.
Hands down, out of all the things preppers are sick of hearing, this has to be number one. Oh, the dreaded, “I’m coming to your house.” What prepper hasn’t heard that once or twenty times?
Just about everyone knows a feckless non-prepper who blithely thinks that they have no need to prepare because they’re in with you and will just arrive with an overnight bag in hand and be served a steaming hot meal from your stockpile with a space waiting for them in the guest room.
If you have no intention of teaming up with that person, it’s important to set that straight well before it ever happens. It might be time for a sit-down about why they need to be prepared themselves, or about what the requirements and contributions are if they are someone you’d let come to your place. As Selco notes, in a real societal breakdown, more people (as long as they’re willing to work) can be a benefit, so turning them away might not be your best bet. It really depends on the person saying it, but whatever the case, I prefer to set clear expectations.
What can you add to this list of things preppers are sick of hearing?
Have you been asked any of these things preppers are sick of hearing? How do you respond? Do you have anything to add to the list? Let’s talk about it in the comments.
16 Responses
Heard them all!! During the pandemic one of my friends said “You’re the reason there’s no toilet paper!” Uh, no, I didn’t need to get any toilet paper! (And how did te friend know about my toilet paper? She helped me move!).
I told my neighbor I was going to roast her chihuahua like a hot dog when shtf. She no longer comes over asking me stupid questions that piss me off. O I’m not invited to her house anymore either. The other neighbor feeds the deer around here n I told her I’m going to eat Bambi and to keep on domesticating that deer for me. She actually looked horrified and cried. Needless to say, my husband feeds them much better n the herd stay in my yard.
That chihuahua would be a “hot dog,” all right.
LMBO, that’s freaking awesome!!
When the covid panic and crazy started, I called my brother and said, “You need to go take inventory of what you NEED and got to the store NOW and get it.” For once he listened (probably because I said they were going to lock the country down and he said it would never happen and then it started) Then he asked me what should I do next? I told him when they were done hoarding up all the cleaners, they would start stripping the food shelves. He got what he needed and asked again what to do next. We went through seeds and then canning supplies. But the crowning moment was when he said, Well, you don’t look so crazy now do you? Being aware (and I want to thank Hal Turner and Daisy Luther for the great job they did) kept not only myself safe and out of the fray but also extended family and friends. Be a scout. Be prepared!
An additional comment I’ve gotten to #1 is “I don’t need to prep or stock up, I’ve got a gun and I’ll just take yours or someone else’s.” After going totally cold inside, my response is simply, and in all seriousness, “Thanks for the warning.” At least you now know who to keep a close eye on and never turn your back on.
Great Response!
I guess the fool didn’t bother to think that the person he wants to take stuff away from is also armed!
One Second After , I have three well worn copy’s of the series
Ms Luther
This story has broken the most hardest who debate
The end of the world as we know it
Today it is no longer
IF
It is only a MATTER OF WHEN !
My sister is always telling me I have too much food and I should stop buying. I have about 3 months worth of food for 7ppl. I just ignore her and keep prepping telling her “someday you’ll be grateful I stock food”
I wont stop and I wont let people try to intimidate me. They will be greatful someday, hopefully not in the near future! But Im going to do my best since all but my brother who just bought a farm/ homestead doesn’t think Im crazy and will even build me a root cellar.
I have my reply, when someone calls me, “crazy”.
I tell them, “I hope I am buried as crazy and NOT a hero. Because, if I am buried a hero, it means,, things went bad. If I am buried as a crazy person, then nothing happened.”
Full response to all questions:
10.) Don’t you already have enough
No, more is better than less.
9.) Do you think it’s morally okay
Yes, I paid for it with MY own money last year.
8.) Isn’t this selfish
It’s attempting to be self sufficient.
Again.. MY money!
7.) Are you a hoarder
Eh, don’t care, aren’t you a nosy?
6.) You are never going to be able use all this.
So? AGAIN, MY money, my time.
5.) Do you have a bunker
Wishes and dreams.
4.) Do you have guns
Does it matter? no, Do you talk too much? apparently.
3.) You’re crazy.
And? You are a Karen, go away.
2.) How much food do you actually have?
Enough for a week or two, I could feed you to my dog.
1.) If something happens, I’m coming to your house.
No, YOU-ARE-NOT (spoken directly to this person’s face)
Best to end these questions, this line of questioning before
it causes problems, because if you give honest responses it will cause problems,
Gossips and rummer-mill prevail.
–
In reality, number 9 is the only one I have never been asked.
No offense to legitimate Karen by birth name : )
Often people just can not understand the simple (MY MONEY, MY TIME, gtfo.
They question, they pry.. they look, they talk.
Hi, interesting and well thought out responses.
You are correct, people talk, sometimes with evil intentions, mostly because they don’t consider the consequences for others when they gob off..
I don’t have people over, so they don’t actually know what I have, but my Mom (now 91) didn’t run out of food or TP because I kept her stocked up. During Faux-vid, when I went to Sam’s and saw that chicken breast was $19.00 for a 10 lb bag, and went to Costco and saw it for $40.00, I went back to Sams and bought as much as I could keep frozen safely, then I pressure cooked it and then pressure canned it. I have only two jars left, but I will do it again now. Time to do it while times are good, so that we have it when times are bad. I think it is a good idea to invest in plastic barrels and bury them around your property, filled with food, ammo, water filters, TP, or what ever. I have started to invest in some of those barrels now. My property is too wet to make a root cellar, or even a basement, so food grade plastic barrels and buckets are a very good investment. If someone comes and steals what you have legally purchased and own, or some gov’t official comes to take your stuff for redistribution, you still have some back up, even if it is a small amount. If you have a bug out location, don’t leave all your preps in the main structure, because someone might get there before you.
Well if you don’t talk about or allow folks to see what you have, you won’t hear I’m coming to your house. I know some that have ample food supplies let their kiddos know – kiddos who aren’t into blabbing that is.
Given the idiotic “actions” of late, I’ll be making another trip to the store. The supply chain can turn on a dime, just like it did during Covid-19 (and now the flu, measles, and who knows what else are on the rise).
A semi-prepper coworker who likes to openly discuss certain situations once said at lunch “if we’re in a group and someone disagrees with me or my family, I’m just going to shoot them. I don’t need crazy people in my group when everything breaks down.”
The irony was lost on many…