Doomsday Prepper Checklist

The doomsday prepper or survivalist mindset is defined by the need to anticipate the worst and prepare for it. A lot of people would call this sort of thinking extreme, yet these same people wouldn't dream of not preparing for personal disasters such as loss of a job or a loved one on even simple safety precautions such as locking their doors at night.

These individuals won't argue the likelihood or the imminence of the disaster. Most of the agree that things in general are going from bad to worse in almost every area. The difference is the scope. Issues that doomsday preppers prepare for are much larger in scale and therefore outside of most people's ability to grasp. These people expect someone else to take care of these bigger problems for you. So who do they expect to take care of it? The military? The CDC? The governments of the world?

It depends on the issue but the simple fact is that in every case, regardless of the disaster, it simply is too big to cope with.

In each case, the alternate body that will deal with the disaster will have priorities that simply don't include taking care of you and your loved ones. The overall situation will in all probability be very bad before it gets better and your safety, comfort and overall quality of life (if you can call it that) will be completely and totally up to you.

Taking responsibility for you and your family in extreme situations is what is referred to as the doomsday prepper or survivalist mindset.

Anticipating disasters and preparing for them is both rational and in general a very good idea. If you spend the effort considering the possibilities and preparing for them, you will not be surprised and will put you and your family in a much better position when bad things actually do happen regardless of what they are.

The following are some checklist items in priority order you need to consider for almost any disaster:

Documents Checklist

How useful this checklist will be depends upon the type of disaster but the goal is to be prepared in general not just for the zombie apocalypse.

Please refer to our "Documents Checklist" for more on making sure you have your important documents available in an emergency.

Food and Water Checklist

This one is obvious but also one of the more difficult. Focus on long term food storage and short term water storage. Then put some thought into a water purification plan. You will more likely be able to find water needs to be made safe to drink than you will food. Once a disaster happens, you will want to secure a supply of both but give yourself time to either outlast the disaster or come up with longer term plans.

For more details on both food and water, refer to our food checklist and our water checklist.

Medical Supply Checklist

Accidents can and will happen especially in the most extreme situations. Be prepared for this by having a well considered medical supply kit and taking other steps to make sure you can survive the worst.

Refer to our "Medical Supply Checklist" for more on this.

Self Defense Checklist

Refer to our "Self Defense Checklist" for ideas on self-defense preparedness.

Communication Checklist

Being able to stay in communication with both your loved ones and with the rest of the world will be critical to your ability to survive and anticipate your next move.

Refer to our "Communication Checklist" for ideas on communication equipment.

Clothing and Shoes Checklist

Humans don't have fur. Well, most humans anyway. The reason for this is we are generally intelligent enough to make sure we have clothed ourselves appropriately for the weather conditions we will be facing. In a disaster, you may not have access to the shelter you have come to rely on and you need to make sure you have accounted for this when planning your clothing supplies.

You will want to review our "Clothing Checklist" for efficient ways to prepare for a disaster.

Evacuation Checklist

Know when to evacuate is as important as being able to do so.

Please refer to our "Transportation and Evacuation Checklist" for more on this.

Remote Safety Shelters Checklist

There are obviously more things to consider than we have covered in this article but this and the accompanying articles should give you a pretty good start.

See you on the other side!