Practical Prepping Podcast
Practical Prepping Podcast
Real solutions for real emergencies—no apocalypse required.
The Practical Prepping Podcast cuts through the noise of extreme doomsday scenarios to focus on what actually matters: simple, actionable steps that help everyday people safeguard their families and lifestyles.
Why Listen?
- Knowledge Over Gear: "The more you know, the less you have to carry." We emphasize skills that lighten your load because the right know-how beats an overloaded bug-out bag every time.
- Real Threats, Real Solutions: From power outages to wildfires, snowstorms to supply shortages, we tackle the emergencies you're most likely to face.
- Family-Friendly Content: Our podcast maintains clean, judgment-free advice that's appropriate for all ages—prioritizing practicality over paranoia.
What Sets Us Apart
Unlike some other preparedness podcasts, we focus on practical readiness for realistic challenges:
- Weather emergencies like tornadoes, hurricanes, and winter storms
- Power outages and water disruptions
- Financial preparedness and debt reduction
- Family communication plans
- Everyday carry essentials
- Food storage and preservation
- First aid and medical preparedness
- Much more
Our Approach
Hosts Mark and Krista Lawley combine decades of experience in emergency response, outdoor skills, and home resilience to deliver advice that works in real-world situations. Whether you're just starting your preparedness journey or looking to refine specific skills, our content meets you where you are with clear, actionable advice.
No bunkers. No zombies. No alien invasions. Just practical prepping.
Join Our Community
With over 500 episodes and a growing library of free and premium resources, we're building a community of like-minded individuals focused on responsible preparedness. From our private Facebook group to our newsletter and online courses, we offer multiple ways to connect and learn.
Stuff happens. Stay prepared.
Episodes
571 episodes
Prepping for People Who Live Alone or Whose Spouse Cannot Help
Preparedness advice often assumes there are multiple capable adults in the home, but that is not always reality. Some people live alone, and others have a spouse who may be out of town, sick, injured, caring for others, or unable to help during...
What to Do When an Emergency Happens Away From Home
What happens if an emergency starts while you are not home? In this episode, we discuss the often-overlooked problem of being away from your supplies when roads close, cell service slows, or your family is separated. We cover how to assess whet...
Extreme Heat Preparedness: How to Stay Safe and Cool During Extreme Heat
Today’s episode of Practical Prepping focuses on staying safe during extreme heat, especially if the air conditioner goes out or you have to be outside. We discuss practical ways to stay cooler and reduce the risk of heat-related problems.<...
The Core Categories Every Prepper Should Cover
In this episode, we look at the major categories of prepping and why balance matters. Preparedness is more than food, firearms, or gear. We discuss starting with the needs that apply to nearly every emergency, including water, food, finances, f...
Survival Uses for Ordinary Office Supplies
Preparedness is not only about buying specialized gear. It is also about recognizing how everyday items can solve urgent problems when normal systems fail. In this episode, we look at ordinary office supplies and the practical survival uses hid...
Choosing the Right Generator: Gasoline, Propane, Natural Gas, Diesel, or Solar
In this episode, we explore the world of home backup power and break down the essentials of generators and solar power systems. From portable solar generators to gasoline, propane, natural gas, and diesel units, we explain how each option works...
Building A 30 Day Buffer On A Budget and Handling Heat Related Illnesses
If your paycheck stopped for thirty days, would your household stay steady or start scrambling by week two?If extreme heat knocked out the power, would you know how to recognize heat stroke before it turned deadly?Today we are tal...
17 Overlooked Everyday Items With Real Survival Uses
Walk through your house with me for a minute. That baking sheet in your oven? It’s not just for cookies, it’s a radio antenna ground plane, a cooking surface over coals, and a drying rack for seeds. That petroleum jelly in the medicine cabinet?...
Redneck Engineering and the Lost Art of Self Reliance
What if survival is not about expensive gear but about mindset? Redneck engineering proves that resilience comes from creativity, grit, and knowing how to use what is already in your hands. When things break or systems fail, practical self reli...
Flooding Is One of America’s Deadliest Weather Hazards. These Decisions and Actions Save Lives and Property
Flooding kills more Americans each year than many storms that get far more headlines. Over 100 lives are lost annually, and most of those deaths follow the same predictable pattern. The water doesn’t surprise us. Our decisions do. Today, we’re ...
Emergency Evacuation and Getting Family Onboard in Prepping
Emergency preparedness is more than checklists and supplies. It is about making critical decisions under pressure and navigating the emotions that come with them. In this episode, we look at the essentials of evacuation planning, including how ...
Get-Home Bag Food Guide: Lightweight, Heat-Stable, Ready-to-Eat Options
A get home bag is designed to get you home within 24 to 72 hours. It is not a long term survival kit. The goal is simple. Carry efficient fuel that supports movement, not full meals that slow you down. Every item in your bag should earn its pla...
Power Outage, Gas Savings, and Forgotten Small Things
This episode has three segments: Building A Lights Out Kit, Paying Less At The Gas Pump, and Often Forgotten Small Things.Mentioned In This Episode:ReadyFam Preparedness App
12 Military Principles That Improve Our Preparedness Plan
What can preppers learn from the military? In this episode, we look at 12 proven military principles that can strengthen your preparedness plan. From logistics and redundancy to teamwork, fitness, and mental resilience, these lessons will help ...
Road Trip Readiness: Preparing Your Vehicle for Travel
If you were stuck on the side of the road, or hung up in stand-still traffic for three hours this summer, would you be comfortable… or suffering? Most people assume they’re fine, until they’re not.Krista sat alone for five ho...
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,...
The Calm Before the Chaos; Preparing For Hurricane Season
The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season is officially underway — and while forecasts call for 12 to 15 named storms, 5 to 9 hurricanes, and up to 3 major storms, there’s one number that matters most: one. It only takes one storm making landfall in y...
17 Multi Use Items That Earn Their Keep When Things Go Sideways
17 Multi Use Items That Earn Their Keep When Things Go SidewaysWhen things go wrong, it is rarely the big, expensive gear that saves the day. More often, it is the small, overlooked items that can handle multiple problems without ...
Prepping Pitfalls: The Mistakes, Myths, Failures, and Lessons Learned
Download This Episode HereToday we’re taking a hard look at the gaps that can q...
15 Prepper Uses for Honey That You Should Know
15 Prepper Uses for Honey That You Should KnowMentioned in this episode: Manuka HoneyAdditional Manuka Honey OptionsDownload This Episode
Ten Prepping Items That Could Save Your Life
Most people picture preparedness as expensive and overwhelming. A garage full of gear. Thousands of dollars spent. Months of planning.In reality, the gap between no preparation and meaningful preparation is much smaller.It comes d...
Cyber Disruptions Are Coming. Build Redundancy for Data, Money, and Communication
Most disruptions don’t arrive as dramatic failures, they show up as small, compounding inconveniences. In this episode, we explore what happens when the digital systems you rely on every day become unreliable, and how to build simple, practical...
When the Grid Fails: Chronic Illness Continuity Planning
Most preparedness advice is built around a healthy, mobile adult who can adapt on the fly. But real life looks different for millions of households. If you rely on dialysis, insulin, oxygen, CPAP, a ventilator, or time sensitive prescriptions, ...
Top Twelve Prepping Items After Water And Food
This episode focuses on the kind of preparation that rarely looks exciting on social media but makes the biggest difference when real life hits hard. The theme is simple and consistent throughout the conversation: prepping is not about fantasy ...
Home Preparedness Basics: Water, Food Storage for Emergencies, and the “Poop Plan”
Today we wrap up a three part series on the basics of prepping. We’ve covered the planning and protection stages. And in this episode we are covering the provisions stage; what it takes to keep daily life functional when the power goes out, the...