Links and Resources
There is an abundance of information about prepping on the internet, much of it completely free and very comprehensive.
Of course, a lot of the information involves subjective statements of opinion, and it generally is prudent to read multiple articles from multiple sources about any topic you’re trying to get an accurate and broad understanding of. Can we also delicately add that just because a person can self-publish an article on a topic, and attractively illustrate it with pictures, that does not automatically make the article a definitely complete and/or reliable source of information on the topic.
Prepping resources usually fall into two general categories. One category is unavoidably speculative, and involves considerations of what might go wrong and what could happen as a result. Such speculation is helpful and necessary – if we don’t know what the potential risks and problems are that we are prepping for, we don’t know how/what to prep. But they are all speculative, and so it is very helpful to read through a broad range of opinions so as to get a broader feeling for what might actually happen.
The other category is more in the form of ‘how to’ articles that tell/teach you how to do all sorts of things, ranging from how to grow food to how to preserve it to how to cook it, and so on through all the elements of a ‘low-tech’ lifestyle such as we may possibly encounter in the future. These are more factual, but remember the phrase ‘There’s more than one way to skin a cat’. Depending on exactly how low tech a lifestyle you end up with, and exactly what your resources and capabilities will be, some of these ‘how to’ approaches will be more relevant than others. Again, read broadly.
You’ll also note sites that are primarily reader forums – these can be useful places to ask questions and get answers, but be sure to double check any information provided.
Oh – one more thing. Of course the cautionary comments we offer about other sites you might visit apply equally to the content on our own site, too.
The following is a very incomplete list; the inclusion of a site is not necessarily a recommendation, and definitely, the omission of a site is definitely not a downcheck. If your favorite site is not included, please let us know its url and why you like it, and we’ll add it.
General Information Sites
American Preppers Network – Online since 2009, this site has a great deal of information and a large base of visitors.
Apartment Prepper’s Blog – This is an extensive blog, going back to April 2010, maintained by Bernie Carr. As its name implies, it is focused on people who live in an apartment, giving them a very different set of constraints and considerations than people in a private house. Carr has also published a couple of books.
Armageddon Medicine – Dr Cynthia Koelker has put together a site that primarily promotes a range of books she writes on prepper type ‘do it yourself’ and field medicine issues, but which also has some helpful content on it too. Worth a browse through.
Homestead Survival – A large compendium of general prepper resources on a broad range of relevant topics.
Joel Skousen – Joel Skousen has made a name for himself in the field of relocation issues, and has written several books on this and related topics which are promoted on his site. Some helpful sample data is shown on the site. His books are perhaps good as general overviews rather than as detailed drilled-down complete coverages, and care needs to be taken to ensure you are using the most uptodate information. His site also has a reader forum section which seems to have no new messages in it.
Middle Tennessee Preppers – A fairly recent site with a somewhat regional flavor to it, and a forum too; but with a broad range of articles of generic interest to all in the prepper world.
Modern Survival Blog – This site comprises content mainly written by its publisher, Ken Jorgustin, and I find myself agreeing with almost everything he writes.
Prepping to Survive – This blog, with its first post back in March 2011, seems to publish a new entry every day or two, covering a wide range of prepping topics and so now has a lot of content and resource.
Radio Free Redoubt – This site mainly distributes podcasts, and also has resources for ham operators located in the American Redoubt region (ie ID MT WY and eastern OR & WA).
reThinkSurvival.com – Damian Brindle’s extensive collection of content going back to 2010 and possibly earlier; describes itself as ‘Suburban Family Preparedness for 99% of What Life Can Throw at You.
SHTF Plan – At present (March 2013) this may possibly be the most visited prepper site out there. Literally tens of thousands of people read every article. Something we can aspire to, but may never match!
Survival UK – Who’d have thought it. Preppers in Britain. A country with the highest population density of the entire EU, immigration problems that make ours look like nothing, and – oh yes, no guns worthy of mention. How on earth do you prep for TEOTWAWKI in the UK – other than by buying a plane ticket to the American Redoubt! Go visit this comprehensive site with some great articles and a forum to find out.
SurvivalBlog – Published by author (of both fiction and non-fiction survival related books) Jim Rawles, and these days largely featuring reader contributed content (send in an article yourself and be eligible for a generous monthly prize if it is selected as the best article that month), and with archives dating back many years, this is one of the most extensive sites out there. Unfortunately, sometimes Rawles publishes reader pieces that are not ‘quality controlled’ for their content, and you need to realize that just because a piece appears on this respected site does not mean it is for sure correct (eg I just read a ridiculous claim about shotguns ‘then you can rest assuredly [sic] hit effectively out to 150 yards and sometimes more with slugs and a “ghost ring sights” setup’).
Curated Content Sites
Prepper Website – This site deliberately adopts a Drudge Report approach to Prepping, and comprises a continually updating list of recent notable articles that website owner Todd Sepulveda finds around the web.
Survival Pulse – Daily roundups of what they feel to be the best new prep articles on the web.
Forum Sites
Homesteading Today – Much on this site applies equally to preppers as to homesteaders.
Prepared Society – This site mainly has an active reader forum section.
Survivalist Boards – An active reader forum site
SurvivalMonkey – This long-established site has two main parts to it – reader forums and a very large library of downloadable files, manuals, and suchlike.
Resources and Files
Appropedia – A large Wikipedia type collection of information which can be automatically formatted into PDF or other eBook formats and downloaded.
CD3WD Third World Project – This is probably the most confusing site I’ve ever encountered, but there’s the promise of 13GB of data if you can work your way through it and actually access and download their files. Warning – downloading the files is just the start of it, you then have to run them and, oh, it makes my head hurt just to think of it! But, hey, 13GB of free data….
Drive on Wood – A site with a lot of interesting information about wood (producer) gas generation and using it to power vehicles. This is likely to be a big thing when TSHTF.
Journey to Forever – A very eco-sensitive site but with a lot of online resource. A bit of a hassle to try to download it, but there’s some good stuff in among all the ‘greeny’ materials.
Pole Shift Survival – A site that currently (Mar 2013) offers 3999 files totaling 14.1 GB of reference material, well categorized making it easy to get the information you might want. The site’s authors predicted the end of the world in mid 2012 (not the 21 Dec 2012 event); happily that didn’t happen and even more happily the site’s resources are still online for us all to share.
SurvivalMonkey – This long-established site has two main parts to it – reader forums and a very large library of downloadable files, manuals, and suchlike.
Survival Retreat Consulting – I know Todd Savage and he seems a fine honest person to work with. This is his website, explaining how he can help people find their ideal retreat within the American Redoubt.
Miscellaneous Sites
These are sites that aren’t primarily prepper focused but which are interesting or relevant for ‘broader bandwidth’ readers and researchers.
Alt Market – Published by Brandon Smith, this site advocates the use of barter and helps set up local markets. They are also trying to establish a ‘safe haven’ in western Montana, although nothing much seems to have happened on that concept in the last fifteen months or more.
Home Distillation of Alcohol – An intriguing topic for some of us, and this site seems to be one of the most comprehensive, reinforced with an active user forum section as well.
New Geography – This site is about patterns of where and how people live, and some of the social and economic factors that variously impact on where people live and result from where people live. It has a lot of interesting information about changes in society’s patterns, and helps one get a better feeling about where to consider relocating, and what to expect.
