Category: supplies

What You Need to Know About A Prepper Convention

Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced prepper, prepper conventions are a great way to get more information.  At the convention, you’ll find people who share in your lifestyle.  You’ll also learn about new gear and tools that can make your life easier and increase your chance of survival.

What You Need to Know About A Prepper Convention

Prepper conventions are a great way to learn and grow.  You’ll find people with a wide range of skills, and you can gain valuable knowledge by spending time with other like minded people. 

What You Need to Know About A Prepper Convention

Although most people think that living as a prepper means every man for himself, that’s isn’t the case for conventions.  Many preppers enjoy coming together to learn new techniques and gain valuable knowledge about survival and other important life skills.

What Is a Prepper Convention?

Prepper conventions are large events that are held annually.  They usually have respected experts who speak at the events so you can learn about new techniques and ideas to use.  There are usually vendor tables with gear and equipment so you can learn what’s new.  It’s a great way to see the equipment before you buy it, and sometimes you can get great deals.

However, the best part about attending a prepper convention is that you’ll meet like-minded people and families that you can learn from.  Although you may not live close to each other and may have different goals and needs, you can still learn from each other and help each other grow.

What Is a Prepper Convention?

Although you may be looking for a prepper convention that is specifically for preppers, there are only a few of these held in America.  However, there are several conventions for emergency preparedness and homesteading that will have a lot of overlap with prepping.

The following are the larger conventions related to prepping, survival, and homesteading.  These conventions often attract thousands of people from surrounding states and even all across the country.  However, you can usually find small prepping conventions that may not have as many vendors and exhibitors, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t find valuable information there.  

Great Lakes Emergency Preparedness Expo

The Great Lakes Emergency Preparedness Expo is held in Whitmore Lake, Michigan, in September each year.  It’s not one of the most well-known prepper conventions, but it is a great one to attend. 

This convention has information about communications, gardening, cooking, first aid, and more.  It has a variety of topics that will appeal to preppers of all levels.

Although it is a smaller expo, there are several training classes and demonstrations available.  There are also vendors so you can see new products and tools.

Great Lakes Emergency Preparedness Expo

Prepper Camp

Prepper Camp offers peppers the full prepping experience in the Appalachian Mountains. .  It features living off-grid, homesteading, camping, survival, and preparedness.  It focuses on hands-on training with demos so you can learn more than you can at just a speech.  

Other expos and conventions provide information from speakers, but Prepper Camp lets you do things.  You’ll learn from the experts who not only tell you about it, but they also show you.  You’ll also get to participate and gain valuable experience.

Lodging isn’t an issue because you can camp on site.  You can also hike and boat while you’re there.

Survival, Gun, and Outdoor Show

The Survival, Gun, and Outdoor Show is held in Rock Island, Illinois.  It’s a large convention with 100s of vendor tables.  You’ll find gear and equipment for prepping, defense, fishing, outdoors, and more.  

In addition to vendors, there are seminars and classes for attendees to learn more about preparedness.  

Survival, Gun, and Outdoor Show

PrepperCon

PrepperCon is held in Salt Lake City, Utah.  It covers first aid, survival, prepping, gear, defensive training, and food storage.  There are just under 100 presentations and classes offered.  They have trusted experts who have extensive knowledge to share.  This is a family-friendly convention, and many people bring their children.  

Sustainable Preparedness Expo

The Sustainable Preparedness Expo is held in different locations around the country.  It focuses on self-reliance and preparedness for natural disasters.  Although the focus is on survival, it teaches valuable life skills for preppers and homesteaders.

Homesteading Life Conference

The Homesteading Life Conference in Missouri is geared towards homesteaders, but there’s a lot of overlap for preppers and survivalists.  It focuses on day to day life rather than a disaster.  You’ll learn how to grow food and how to preserve the food that you grow.  It also has information on off grid living, herbal remedies, and how to protect your homestead from predators.

National Preppers and Survivalists Expo

The National Preppers and Survivalists Expo is held in Jacksonville, Florida.  It is a two-day event where attendees will get hands-on experience for survival skills.  It has classes and lectures about survival and emergency preparedness.  

Prepper Convention Books

Prepper Convention Books

These prepper conventions are sprinkled throughout the country, so you may not find one close to you.  However, there are several smaller shows in many areas of the country, so do a quick Internet search to see if there’s a smaller show near you.  

If traveling isn’t an option, then you might consider looking at books and other resources for prepping.  Although you won’t get to talk to other people like you do at a convention, you will be able to gain knowledge from home.  

You may also want to read homesteading or prepping blogs.  These blogs are written by people who are living this life, and they will have tips and tricks as well as general knowledge to help you learn and grow.

When you’re prepping, there’s always new information to learn.  Attending a convention is a great way to learn from experts through talks or through hands-on demonstrations.  In addition, you’ll also be able to browse vendor tables to see the latest tools and equipment available to purchase.  

Attending an expo is also a great way to get to know like-minded people.  Although these people may not live close to you, you can exchange information and keep learning from each other long after the convention is over.

Other articles you may find helpful:

Prepping Your Arsenal for Personal and Home Protection

Prepping Your Arsenal? We all know that we are vulnerable to crime in our day-to-day lives. Staying prepared with the necessary tools and knowledge is the key to successful personal protection. Stocking up a proper arsenal for personal and home protection can be complicated, but there are some basic guidelines you should follow when deciding what items will best suit your needs.

Prepping Your Arsenal for Personal and Home Protection

When the SHTF, you will be more than happy that you have taken a few measures to prep your arsenal so you can protect not only your loved ones but everything else that you have prepped.

Stocking Up a Proper Arsenal

I’ve broken this down to five separate tips to try and keep it simple for you. Bear with me as some of these seem like more than one actual item.

Choose Guns with Common Calibers

Picking guns with commonly available ammo is a much better choice than choosing something obscure because you may not be able to find more of it around if you run out. Why is this important? Having a gun that you can use to protect yourself is important but being able to actually find ammunition for that gun if need be will make all the difference.

Even it if gets to the point where you have to swap with people to get more ammo – having a rare kind of caliber will make it difficult.

The last thing you want to do is to advertise that you have guns, have ammo, or even worse, that you are out of ammo and can’t protect your home.

Buy Sturdy, Quality Guns

If this is a hobby or something that you really want in order to protect yourself from day-to-day crime, then buy guns that will last for years and not need to be replaced every few months.

Prepping Your Arsenal

Try to buy guns that are made from quality materials and not cheap plastic or other breakable components. Your life may depend on it in the future, so you want a gun that is going to work when needed without breaking down easily.

Get Some Diversity in Your Arsenal

One gun won’t always do everything you need, preferably you’ll have at least three: a shotgun for hunting and defense, a rifle for ranged defense and larger game hunting, and a pistol for times you can’t carry a long gun.

The shotgun is the one weapon that you should have in your arsenal if possible.

Shotguns are great for self-defense because they can go through doors, locks, and other obstacles with ease – but also because of their widespread shot and how easy it is to hit someone at close range with them.

The rifle would be a perfect choice too as it can take out most of the smaller games and then have enough ammunition to be used for self-defense.

The pistol is a good weapon if you’re going into areas where long guns are not allowed, but it should never be your only choice because they don’t do as much damage as other weapons like shotguns or rifles would.

Prepping Your Arsenal

Don’t Choose Something Underpowered

Trying to fight off attackers with birdshot or a .22 rifle isn’t impossible, but using something like buckshot and a 5.56mm is much easier.

The first shot you take should do enough damage, and the criminals will know this as well. They’ll also know that they can’t get away with stealing your belongings because if it comes down to it, you would be ready to fight back or make a last stand.

Get Plenty of Practice

All that firepower is wasted if you can’t hit your targets. If you have no experience shooting, start off on a .22 and work your way up, then practice plenty with the guns you own to get a feel for them.

You should also practice regularly to make sure you are still on target and can use your firearms when needed to protect yourself.

If you don’t know where to practice, find a range or shooting club near you – some are even open to the public. A good place to start is to ask the gun shop that is selling you the weapon.

Often those places have someone who can give you hints and tips on how to use, clean, and shoot that weapon.

Prepping Your Arsenal

Proper Arsenal Maintenance is Key

Storing firearms and ammo improperly can result in them malfunctioning more often or even not working at all, which would be deadly in a sudden defense situation.

To prevent rust or even worse, you’ll want to make sure the guns are stored in a dry and cool place. Storing them inside of safes is also a good idea as it will keep children out of them more easily without needing an alarm system. Make sure that all your ammo storage containers are locked up if they have keys so that children can’t get into them.

If you don’t want to be tempted by the gun, then store it away from where you sleep. Storing guns and ammo together is never a good idea because that way they are more likely to get stolen or taken as well.

This should be your first step in preparing for personal and home protection – but you need to do more than just that! Stocking up on other weapons, ammunition, food supplies, medical equipment is all important too so make sure you take care of those as well!

If you follow these steps, you’ll have a proper arsenal for personal and home protection.

Other articles you might find helpful for protection and preparation if you liked prepping your arsenal:

Five Ways to Keep Kids Occupied During Survival

When you’re in survival mode during an emergency, it’s hard to think about ways to keep the kids occupied and entertained, but it’s essential. You don’t want your children to feel any more stress than they already do because of everything going on around them. 

Five Ways to Keep Kids Occupied During Survival

It’s vital to try to make things feel as normal as possible when you don’t know what to expect or what can happen next. Check out these five ways to keep kids occupied and busy during any survival situation.

Five Ways to Keep Kids Occupied During Survival

Even if you’re limited to what you have available for your children to use, there are still several great ways to keep children of all ages occupied.

1. Give Them Something to Read

Provide each child with something to read. A good book that isn’t too long or too heavy can keep children entertained while broadening their minds and helping them improve their reading skills. 

Choose the Right Books 

The types of books you’ll select will depend on the ages of your children. If you have younger children who aren’t great at reading, you can always grab a kid-friendly magazine for them to look through. Kid-friendly magazines often have bright and colorful animations with large text and smaller words that are easier for little ones to recognize. 

Reading is Relaxing

If your children are spending time reading books, it can take their minds off everything. It’s good to have something that can put them in a better mood and leave them feeling a bit happier instead of stressed and anxious over being in survival mode and dealing with life-threatening situations.

Keep Kids Occupied During Survival

2. Give Your Kids Some Simple Tasks

Make your children feel like they’re more useful by providing them with a list of simple tasks to complete. These tasks allow the children to get involved in doing things that can help with survival and improve everyone’s chances of getting through a challenging time.

For example, you may want to send two of your children to gather a bit of firewood that you’ll use at the end of the night to start a campfire. Once you have the fire set, you’ll get to stay warm and prepare food over it. 

Keep Kids Occupied During Survival: Small Tasks are Welcomed

Some of the other tasks that your children may have no problem completing would include gathering different types of food to bring back to you for inspection. You can look through the items they’ve brought back and make sure everything is safe to consume.

Keep Kids Occupied During Survival

They can help with washing any of the food found with water if you have it available. These small tasks provide kids with something to do while making them feel good about being helpful.

3. Bring Along a Few Toys

While you don’t want to overpack because that can hold you back, you should bring along a few toys for the children to play with to stay busy. It brings a slight sense of normalcy to the situation.

Don’t bother bringing toys that operate with batteries because you don’t want to waste the batteries you’ve collected on the toys. You might end up needing those batteries for flashlights in the future.

Toys to Bring Along 

Some of the best toys to bring include dolls, crayons with notepads, coloring books, puzzles, and board games. These are items that won’t require you to use batteries to keep your children occupied. They can use the toys to stay busy and play alone or with one another when there is time for them to do so. Let each child bring a toy or two of their choosing with them when you’re leaving home.

Keep Kids Occupied During Survival

4. Play Some Basic Games With Them

Try to play some basic games with kids that can take their minds off of being in survival mode and leave them smiling and laughing. You can play I Spy and 20 Questions, to name a few of the games that are easy to play without any supplies. It’s a great way to bond with the children, forget about the things happening around you for a few minutes, and spend a few hours while together. 

Play Games Together 

Not only can you play these games with the children and make it a family ordeal, but you can also teach them how to play these games with one another. It can spark some creativity in their minds, encouraging them to come up with even more fun games to play together to get the time to pass a lot faster. Make a list of any games you can come up with together, and then try to play those games for at least two hours per day to kill some time and keep busy.

5. Remember Some Riddles to Keep Them Thinking

Try to think about some of the riddles you were taught when you were a child and then teach those riddles to your children. When you were a child, your parents may have told you a few riddles to put your brain to the test and to see if you could come up with the correct answer. 

It’s something you can pass down to your children, asking them some of the same funny and exciting riddles to see what they come up with right away and a few minutes or hours later. Some riddles are tricky enough to get children thinking for lengthy periods. If they’re worried about trying to solve a tricky riddle, it can take their minds off everything else.

Keep Kids Occupied During Survival

Ways to Keep Kids Occupied During Survival

When you’re in survival mode, you’re going through a lot, but the children are experiencing it all with you. Making the experience as normal as you can for the kids is important. The best way to keep things normal is to develop different ways to keep your children occupied. You can get them to lend a helping hand with some survival tasks, such as collecting firewood and scavenging for food. 

However, you can also give them time to read, play with toys, and even meditate. Get creative when dealing with any survival situation. You’ll get to temporarily take the trouble off your children’s minds and leave them feeling more optimistic about what can happen in the future.

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Best Guns for Any SHTF Situation

The best guns for any SHTF situation are the ones that you can rely on to perform when chaos is all around. This means that firearms with low recoil, high magazine capacity, and good accuracy are going to be your best bet.

best guns for preppers

We’ve compiled some of the best guns for this type of emergency below. Read on to discover which gun will work best for you!

A 12 Gauge Shotgun

The 12 Gauge Shotgun is a standard staple. This is a great all-around gun because it can fire pellets of different sizes and types depending on the situation. These shotguns are also very easy to use, which means that even beginners will be able to pick one up quickly in an emergency situation or SHTF event.

This makes it extremely versatile, inexpensive, and often very reliable.

The 12 Gauge Shotgun can be used to hunt anything from rabbits and birds to deer and even defend against bears just by using different rounds.

Here is the bonus: ammo is extremely common.

If you are looking for a reliable, versatile gun that is easy to use and won’t break the bank then this shotgun will be perfect.

Mossberg 500 12 Gauge Pump

The Mossberg 500 12 Gauge pump-action shotgun can also work well in an emergency situation or SHTF event because it has a higher firing rate than other shotguns – which means more pellets hitting your target. It also has a safety mechanism so it can be stored and used easily without accidentally shooting someone,

The Mossberg 500 12 Gauge pump-action shotgun is also lightweight – which means that you won’t have to worry about the gun weighing down your pack or bag when carrying it in an emergency situation or SHTF event.

9mm Pistol

A 9mm Pistol should be your second item to stock. Again, it uses a very common round, so you should be able to stockpile your ammo. It is also small enough to carry on you at all times.

That means it can easily be used against most attackers, assuming they’re not large animals like bears.

You will find a wide variety of prices on these guns ranging from high-end competition to bargain-bin pricing, yet functioning should all be roughly all be the same.

The Glock 19

The Glock 19 has a good reputation for reliability and is available in most areas.

It also comes with the added bonus of being lightweight, so it won’t slow you down when carrying it around during an emergency situation or SHTF event. There has got to be a reason the police use it.

“Finding one gun that can do everything may not be possible – but finding a few guns that can do most things is.”

The AR-15

If you have the funds for it, we recommend investing in an AR-15 or Similar Rifle. This rifle has many uses and will be reliable as long as it’s kept clean. It also comes with a variety of optics available to suit your needs, which makes it handy to be used against attackers at a longer distance.

The AR-15 is also good for hunting, as it can be used to take down a deer or other large game with ease.

Again, 5.56/.223 is widely available all over the US, so stocking up on ammo should be fairly easy.

Bolt-Action Rifles

If you’re looking for more of an all-around gun in the best shtf guns list: we recommend having two bolt action rifles on hand and plenty of shells (preferably .308).

The bolt action rifle is a great weapon for long-distance shots, as it will be able to take down most targets with one well-placed shot. It also requires less ammo and can fire off more rounds before needing to reload.

And if you’re in need of defense at closer ranges: the pump shotgun.

These are common for hunting, usually well built and suited for outdoor environments. They should be able to take some abuse from a survival situation and still work well.

Where can you hide your guns?

If you don’t have a gun safe but want your weapons stashed around your home? Get our FREE Printable list of places that will work for any SHTF situation. Please make sure ALL family members know the locations as well as how to handle the weapons safely.

where to hide your guns
Where-to-Hide-your-Guns-from-BugOutWithDannelleDownload

Last, but not least, I want to mention a .22 Breakdown Rifle.

While a .22 isn’t particularly powerful and shouldn’t be your first choice when looking at the best guns for survival, but the ammo is very cheap, meaning you can get a lot of practice with it. The rifles can be used by the whole family due to low recoil, and the breakdown versions allow them to be easily stored.

These are great for small game hunting, and a good choice if you’re not going to be shooting at anything farther than 100 yards. They can take down lots of small game up to coyotes and can kill people if really needed in a split decision situation.

It’s also less expensive than other rifles due to the weapon being made of fewer parts, making it easier on your wallet in a SHTF situation or survival scenario.

If you’re looking for a rifle but have to keep a low profile in public, the Ruger Mini-14 is perfect for you. It can be discreetly carried and quickly drawn when needed without drawing attention as an AR-style weapon might.

Which one is the best gun for a prepper?

The best guns for any survivalist or prepper?

I always recommend trying out different firearms until one clicks with you so that you can make your own decision.

For some people, the feel and weight of a gun will be more comfortable than others.

What might suit someone with smaller hands better may not work for an individual with larger hands, so it’s important to try out different weapons until one clicks for you personally!

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Which Survival Vehicles Should You Own?

Which Survival Vehicles Should You Own? Flashy cars are certainly a status symbol – and there’s nothing quite like cruising to the beach in a newer model convertible with the top down and the wind on your face. Except the flash won’t do you any good when a disaster strikes.

Which Survival Vehicles Should You Own article cover image with a camper on it

When a disaster strikes, many people become stranded because the roads are impassible to ordinary cars. Debris clogs the roads – and if you try to take a flashy little car over debris on the road or through the slick mud-covered trails, you’re not going to make it very far.

Which Survival Vehicles Should You Own?

You have to have a vehicle that’s not going to wimp out when there’s a little trouble on the road. You need to get a four-wheel drive that will give you the traction you need when things get a little rough.

Not only do you need a four-wheel drive, but you have to have something that gives you some space. Having a small four-wheel drive is okay if it’s just you. It’s okay if you and your family want to run up to the corner supermarket, but loaded down with all the gear you need to take, that small four-wheel drive isn’t going to make the cut.

So get a vehicle that offers you all the room you and your family will need to pack it up and haul out of any bad situation. You want something easy to maneuver – so that doesn’t mean that you have to go out and buy a truck with monster wheels.

You need to be able to get the vehicle through the area you want to go. So a good rule of thumb is to get a vehicle that can handle going off the road and make sure that you, your family, and all of your bug-out gear can easily fit into it.

Sometimes, not even a decent vehicle is going to cut it when the road floods. To make sure you’re covered by land or by water, you should have a survival boat. Don’t waste your time on an inflatable boat for long-term use.

The debris in the water will make sure it doesn’t last very long. You want something that your family can bug out in – but something that will also provide shelter if you have to stay on it for several days.

In the best scenario, a boat is merely a means of getting where you need to go, but the great thing about boats is that you can buy one that’s big enough to hold all of the equipment you need to survive temporarily.

You also want to have a four-wheeler. You want to have a four-wheeler if you need to get out and your vehicle can’t make the trip out. You can use the 4-wheeler to transport yourself and your family members (even if you have to make several trips) to an area where your boat or an alternative escape means awaits.

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The Top 5 Prepper Survival Vehicles You Can Own

When it’s time for survival, or when you’re planning to live on your own homestead off the grid, you want to have various vehicles at your disposal. The terrain will be different depending on where you live and where you want to get to, so you have to plan everything in between.

PREPPER VEHICLES

1 – Trucks or SUVs are good for carrying lots of items for a short-term emergency. They’re durable and can help you pass over things that a regular small car may not make it past.

2 – Motorcycles, Bikes and 4-Wheelers are essential because it allows you to get through certain obstacles without a lot of room necessary to get by. They’re also good for going off-road.

3 – Boats, Canoes, and Amphibious Craft are perfect if you need to go in or on the water. You might start with a small watercraft and build up to a formidable yacht that would take you seaward if you needed to go that route.

4 – Campers and Trailers are great for families who want to have a bit more protection than what a tent allows for – and they’re portable without having to pack up and set up every time you need to move. Trailers can store supplies for you while campers give you a ready-made shelter. We like Crazy Camping Gal for all things camping.

5 – Horses aren’t usually considered a vehicle, but you must have a way to navigate without fuel, and animal transportation is the way they did it in the old days, and it isn’t too good for us in a crisis now.

If you are building a homestead somewhere other than where you live now, and storing vehicles at another property, make sure you maintain their care. A car that goes unused can develop flat tires and rot in its shell if enough time goes by without it getting turned on and maintenance.

Consider getting some additional accessories for your vehicles, like fuel bladders that you can fill up and take with you if gas stations aren’t working or aren’t in your vicinity. Luggage racks might also help if you have more to carry than what your trunk allows for.

Consider getting the best off-road tires you can afford. There may be many cases where the roads are blocked with obstacles, or they’re not safe to travel openly – and you’ll want tired you can depend on to take you off into unpaved terrain.

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Which Survival Vehicles Should You Own with a horse

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