The Six Most Frequently Asked Prepping Questions

Today we are talking about six of the most frequently asked prepping questions, the ones that I see in our inbox, or that are asked in prepping groups, again and again. If you are just getting started or even if you have been at this for years, you have probably asked at least one of these yourself. 

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Episode #542- The Top Three High Probability Emergencies To Prepare For First

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Today we're talking about the six most frequently asked prepping questions, the ones that we see in our inbox or that are asked in prepping groups again and again and again. If you're just getting started, or even if you've been at this for years, you've probably asked at least one of these yourself. Maybe you still don't have the answer, or maybe not the right answer, but we'll offer the best information that we know. So let's go through these six prepping questions, everybody ask.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Welcome to Practical Prepping. Today is May 11th, 2026, and this is episode 554. This is the prepping podcast with no bunkers, no zombies, and no alien invasions. Just practical prepping, where we teach everyday people how to prepare for life's emergencies, disasters, and crises. And we're here to help you get prepared. I'm Krista.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

And I'm Mark. And if you'd like the expanded notes for this episode, which will include everything that we mention in here today, go to practical prepping.info forward slash five five four. Let's talk about those six most frequently asked prepping questions.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

The first one is, how much food should I store?

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Well, a lot of preppers or most preppers aim for anywhere from three weeks to three months of shelf stable food per person. Now, a longer-term planner may look to store six to twelve months. And those that are looking at post-apocalyptic situations may store much more than that, plus the seeds and such to grow food as time goes on.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Yeah, I mean that's a that's those 25-year bucket people. And we have those too. We don't diss them, but that's not our usually our initial game plan. If we're in the middle of a four-day or four-week crisis, we're not going to bust open a 25-year bucket.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Yeah. Now the 25-year bucket is not that it lasts 25 years, but that it is a shelf life of 25 years instead of it's freeze-dried and such as that. But when we're looking at how much food I should store, that really depends on the persons that you're prepping for.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Oh, yeah. Free family's got, you know, anything from babies to teenagers to older folks.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Our seven-year-old princess granddaughter that weighs what, maybe 70 pounds?

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Well, we jokingly say she's got bird bones because she's she doesn't weigh that much, not nearly.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Probably not. But we also have a 17-year-old grandson who is six foot five, 250 pounds.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

And he eats food by the refrigerator load. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

So he's on that seafood diet. If he sees food, he eats it. Let's talk about determining how much that is. There's a couple of ways to do that. Talk about calorie counting.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Well, yes, you can just do a calorie count based on the calories of all the foods that you and your family consume each day for a total of seven days, and that would be your week's worth. And then that number can be multiplied by four to get a month's worth. Now, here's what I'm talking about. The average adult requires just on regular days, anywhere from 1,800 to 2,000 calories average. But if you're doing heavy labor or post-cleanup after a disaster or where you're really being strenuous, you may have to up that calorie count to 4,000, maybe even 6,000 calories per day. So do allow for what you think you may have to endure and consume in order to cover those needs and take that calorie number, multiply it by four, and that's your month's worth for you and your family.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

But you would also have to know what calories are in the can that you open.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Or the you know, pack of spaghetti that you open.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

And it might be easier to do it another way. Tell them about it.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

I like this way, and it's food logging. It's basically keeping a log of everything your family eats for one week, and then multiply that times four, and that's about a month's worth of food.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

That's pretty realistic.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

So you've gone through X number of cans of food in a week, you've gone through X number of boxes of pasta or rice or beans or whatever, and then you multiply that times four, and that's a month's worth. Now, how many months do you want?

SPEAKER_00 4:34

And there's also tables that you can consult on Google or Pinterest where, for example, if you're preparing a roast for the family, how much pot roast, what's the calorie count on something that doesn't have a can or a box to read? There are ways to be able to determine that. But anyway, you're logging the food, you're logging how much of the food in terms of ounces or pounds, and then multiplying that whatever your multiplier is by four for a month or eight for two months, and so on.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Question number two that I see quite often is how much water do I really need?

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Well, and you know, that's the number one thing we have to have, even before food is water. The minimum recommendation has always been a gallon of water per person per day. And that's just for consumption or just very minimal hygiene, like brushing teeth and so on. Most people will store at least three to seven days' worth of water, but it's more preferable to have at least two weeks, if not more. But from personal experience, I can tell you that Mark and I prefer to store three to four gallons per person per day, because a lot of that has to be used for the preparation of all those dry beans and rice bags that we have.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

And the way we arrived at that was literally measuring how much water we use in a day. Exactly. And we did that over several days, and it comes out to averaging about three and a half gallons per day for us personally, plus the two cats.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Exactly. Yes, you've got to include your pets in that count, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Question number three that we hear quite often is what are the most likely emergencies to prepare for? And we're hearing a lot of folks that are really scared of this new virus that's out there.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Well, it's not new, but we're hearing about it too. We're hearing about it in a cruise ship.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

We've heard a lot of folks that were worried about nuclear war and all of those various things. But you know, is it possible those things had happened? Yes. But it's not very probable.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Well, you've also got to consider that our listeners are as varied as there are people to listen, and they're all over the world. And their emergencies and disasters and crises may differ slightly one from the other. Most of the obvious ones would be power outages or severe weather, natural disasters, which would include hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, and the like. And then there's other types of emergencies that happen that's just as much a crisis as anything else. And that would be a job loss or even supply chain disruptions.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

You know, we saw that.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

We've experienced the empty store shelves. We didn't panic, but we experienced them.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Also, what about a medical emergency or a long-term illness or recovery from an injury? I've known of people that have had two broken legs, and it's taken them 14 months plus to recover fully. So those types of things can happen to people.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

So most prepping is really about the common disruptions that happen to you in your area, not necessarily a post-apocalyptic scenario.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

And everybody's risk will be different. Sure. You may be in a job that can be volatile. You may be in an industry that there's a lot of churn. You might be in an industry where you've been there for 20 years and you expect to be there for the rest of your working career. Everybody's situation is different. So you have to look at your own personal risk. Now let me recommend a couple of past episodes that we have that you'd find quite useful if you want to dig further into this. Episode 542 was the top three high priority emergencies to plan for first. And we're not giving you plan for this, plan for this, plan for this. We're helping you figure out what your top three are. Uh-huh. And those are the ones you need to prepare for first. To go kind of along with that is episode 491, which is the risk assessment reality check, common mistakes, and how to avoid them.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

And the links to both of those will be in the show notes at practicalprepping.info forward slash five five four. Now let me recommend something else to you. Something that Krista bought for me for Christmas a couple of years ago, and that's the proof minimalist pocket wallet. You know how uncomfortable it gets driving with a bifold or a trifold wallet in your back pocket? Well, the proof wallet solves that problem. It slips into your front pocket, holds up to 25 cards, and it has a band for storing cash. This thing is RFID blocking, so you don't have to worry about someone stealing your card information with a scanner. It's also the last wallet you'll have to buy because it comes with a lifetime guarantee. If you break it, and I'm not sure how you would do that, but if you did, if you lose it, even if it's stolen, they'll replace it. CarryProof is a company started by two Marines, and they really nailed it with this wallet. They're not cheap, but quality never is. But we can save you 10% if you'll use the code PREPR when you check out. You can go to CarryProof.com or click on the link on our website and then use that code PREPR. Now, question number four: how do I start prepping on a budget?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

I was doing this very thing yesterday. I was at the grocery store and I was picking up the regular things that I was wanting to buy, and then I picked up a second can, a second bag, or a second box of some of the things we're most likely to consume. And those extras go into my prepper pantry and they're put aside so that I can use them when needed. And I rotate through them week by week, month by month. I'll go into my prepper pantry and I'll pull out some foods that I have stored since, oh, I don't know, Thanksgiving or so, maybe even earlier, and I'll rotate them in to our daily use and then replace them. And it's just an ongoing revolution of food coming in and going out, but we also have enough put aside so that if we didn't have an opportunity to leave the house, let's say for four to six weeks, we have food here that we can consume and we don't have to worry.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

So start slow and easy. That one or two items, they really do add up quite quickly. You want to build a 72-hour kit first. And when I'm talking about 72-hour kit, I'm talking about the things you're going to have at home. This is your kit for getting through emergencies. This is not the bag that you bug out or you use for your get home bag. This is your main 72-hour kit. And you want to focus on water, food, lighting, and first aid primarily. The next thing you you can do to prep on a budget is reduce your debt and bill that emergency fund. The less debt we have, the better prepared we are to face many things that could come. Question number five. What should be in a 72-hour bug out bag?

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Well, first we need to define what is a bug out bag.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

A bug out bag, now the way we define it, this is not the grab the bag and go to the woods.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Yeah, this is not like an alternative way to live your life.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

This is the bag that has whatever you need to live somewhere else for 72 hours.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Let's just say you get a call that you need to sit with a loved one in the hospital.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Right. Could be the hospital, could be, you know, family member, it could be a hazmat situation. Sure. You could have to leave your home for fire, flood, and you could go to a hotel, you go to a friend's place of residence, you could go to a family member's, but whatever you would need to live for 72 hours somewhere else, include some non-perishable food or snacks. Sure. And I'm thinking here the hospital waiting rooms have some things to snack on. Uh it's a lot cheaper to bring it with you than it is to buy it out of those vending machines.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Exactly. But and it's going to be what you want, not what they've got. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

And a first aid kit. Put a first aid kit in there. I carry one in my ADC bag all the time. I think Krista carries uh a form of a boo-boo kit in her bag all the time. And we have more serious kits in the car, but these are kits that we can take with us in case we need. It's got the OTC medications, it's got the bandages, self-adhesive bandages and such as that. So build that. Flashlight and batteries.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

It's good to have that in there. You ever tried to fumble around in a hotel room at night and find something without turning the lights on, waking up Krista? Flashlight and batteries comes in handy.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Not recommended. Yeah. Flashlight, I'm gonna say, yeah, flashlight batteries is recommended. Waking me up in the dark with nothing to see, not recommended. Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

A multi-tool. There's a couple of really good ones at practical prepping.info forward slash featured. A multi-tool just has so many uses. It's a tool that goes with me everywhere I go. And I use it quite regularly.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

Yes, he does.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Weather appropriate clothing.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

Certainly.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Maybe you need to change the clothing in there to be seasonally appropriate.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Yeah, obviously you're going to have maybe more layers in the wintertime, and you need less layers in the spring and summertime, depending on where you live. Now that's entirely opposite on the lower hemisphere. They're exactly opposite us.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Right. But this this comes down to having enough underwear, enough socks, enough t-shirts, enough deodorant, enough toothpaste, all of those kinds of things to live for 72 hours. How about your important documents? Such as well, it it helps to have those important documents with you. You might wind up needing to get into a hospital, or you might need to sign up for some type of assistance after a disaster. And having those types of things with you is just good business to have those. I like having them on a thumb drive as well, digital backups that I can pull up on my computer. Obviously, the phone charger, the power banks, the cords, I like to carry a six-foot extension cord in there because when I've been in a hospital waiting room, the outlet is three chairs over there.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Underneath the little table. Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

And so I can plug this in and run it closer to me and plug my chargers into here. So one of those rides with me all the time. And some cash in small bills. We want to be able to have that money that we can buy things. I went to a vending machine a while back, and lo and behold, it would not take a debit card. And I kept trying to stuff that debit card into the cash slot.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

When I found out it was a cash-only machine, I could put a couple of dollars in there.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Let's put a higher power of reading glasses in your bag, too. How about that?

SPEAKER_01 16:34

That's not or at least some backups. At least some backups.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Now let me tell you that you can also go back to episode number 490, and it's called Building a 72-hour kit. Now it goes into much greater depth about how to store the food and water in your kit, how to seek shelter and be warm, the tools and supplies you'll need, as well as the comms and the navigation. And if you need gear, we have it at practicalprepping.info forward slash featured.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Now we'll get to question number six in just a minute. But today's cup of coffee comes from Dr. Joy. Thank you. She's been a supporter for over a year now. And Dr. Joy, we really do appreciate your support.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Now, do you learn from our podcast? Are you getting some great ideas or somehow are you receiving some value? We certainly hope so. That's our whole point. So would you help us out by giving back a little? You can start your Amazon shopping from practicalprepping.info. There is a banner on the homepage. It'll take you straight to Amazon. Just log into your Amazon account and shop as you normally do. Shopping through our banner doesn't cost you any extra. And we do actually earn a small commission when you do so. It really does help. You can go to practical prepping.info forward slash support. And there you're going to find ways that you can support the show, including the coffee membership. It's only$5 a month, but that really does help offset some of the expenses of our show. So please consider helping us out. Go to practicalprepping.info forward slash support.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

Now to question number six, and I see this in especially in groups all the time. Should I bug in or bug out?

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Kind of like, do I stay or do I go? Like the song.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Yeah, do I stay or do I go? This actually is an easy one to answer. There's a really good answer to this. Staying home or bugging in is usually safer if your home is safe.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Now bugging out is leaving your home. And bug out only if staying becomes dangerous.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

If it's more dangerous to stay where you are than it is to leave, then leave. And the things that come to mind for us, the only real things I can think that will cause us to bug out is wildfire, chemical spill, or mandatory evacuation.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Or God forbid, tornado aftermath. That that could sometimes you cannot stay in your home if it's been. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

But we're not bugging out as long as we're safer at home.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

I think that's the way most people feel.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

And it's in the episode notes at practical prepping.info forward slash five five four. We do appreciate you being here today. And as Krista always says, Stuff happens.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Stay prepared. And we'll see you next time.