I recently read an article discussing what the writer believed were the 5 most overrated pieces of prepper advice. Some of their suggestions made sense, but there were some things in there that just don’t sit well with me.

This isn’t me bashing another prepping site. I’ve read several articles on the same site and found them to be very interesting. This is more me just thinking out loud.

Are these pieces of advice overrated?

The five pieces of advice they recommend ignoring are stockpiling wheat, focusing on the worst-case scenarios, stocking up on freeze-dried foods, having a bug out location and reading prepper fiction to get good ideas for prepping.

The main problem with the article is the fact that each piece of advice is taken in the most literal way. Being a prepper means that you have to THINK! You need to look below the surface and read between the lines.

Above all else, prepping means preparing.

Read prepper fiction to get good prepping ideas.

The assumption here is that people will take prepper fiction as truth and try to imitate it.

I’m personally not a very big fan of prepper fiction. I don’t often find it compelling and a lot of what I’ve read hasn’t been all that well written. That being said, I have read several prepper fiction novels.

Hopefully, no one is reading these books and taking them as “the way” to become prepared. They are fiction, but some of the ideas should trigger you to think deeper about potential disasters.

In the end, I don’t think anyone should feel left out if they haven’t read any prepper fiction.

You must have a bug out location.

Do you need to buy a new home or a piece of property in order to have a bug out location? Absolutely not.

Should you at least consider where you would go if you did have to bug out? Absolutely.

The assumption they made is that having a bug out location is expensive and not something that most people are able to do.

Having a relative’s house that you plan on going to if the need arises is having a bug out location. At a minimum, everyone should at least have an idea of where they would go in a bug out situation. I see bugging out as a last resort, but I’m at least prepared to leave my home if I need to.

You should stockpile “prepper foods”.

The assumption here is that prepper food companies try to scam customers and con you into purchasing their products. Additionally, freeze dried foods are limited in their menu selections.

I was a little confused by this one. You’re really only limited in menu types if you limit yourself to one manufacturer, and if a company is using hard-sell tactics then you shouldn’t be doing business with them.

I recommend that people not only have freeze-dried “prepper” food as their only food storage all the time. It’s just for completely different reasons.

Freeze-dried food is expensive compared to other food storage items and it needs water to rehydrate and cook. That’s why I tell people not to solely rely upon it.

It should still make up a part of your food storage in my opinion.

Freeze-dried food provides diversity and flavor. Two things that can keep you going in an otherwise horrible situation.

It also lasts for a long time. This means you have food that you don’t need to worry about.

Focus on the worst case scenario.

I come from a background where you always assume the worst. That way you’re prepared for anything. Telling people to ignore the worst case scenario is completely counterintuitive to me.

The assumption they made here is that if you’re preparing for an EMP then you’ll ignore electronics since they could be destroyed in an EMP attack.

When you’re first starting to prep, you should get the most important things first. Then prepare for the most likely disasters as you continue to make progress for what you believe is the worst case scenario.

Just because you assume the worst doesn’t mean that you’re ignoring everything else.

You should stockpile wheat.

The assumption here is you or a family may become gluten intolerant or develop Celiac disease so stockpiling wheat isn’t a good idea.

While it may be true that someone would eventually become unable to eat wheat, it makes no sense to ignore wheat as a whole because of what may happen in the future.

Wheat is a great source of cheap calories that lasts for a very long time. To discount that fact makes no sense to me.

Conclusion

It’s not always easy to read an article and know what the writer is actually thinking. As I was reading the article in question, I thought to myself several times that these assumptions were more for the sake of the article than any other reason.

Sometimes it’s difficult to come up with unique ideas for articles. Sometimes something you write just misses the mark and comes off as something other than what you really meant. I understand that.

I really just want to urge people that have taken it upon themselves to try to help out the prepper community to fully think through what they’re suggesting. (This goes well beyond the article in question.)

Again, I’m not slamming anyone with this article. I just wanted to address something I read over the weekend.

What do you guys think? Is this the most overrated prepper advice?