12 Big Mistakes for Newbie Preppers

what's going on guys sensible prepper live and we're gonna have Robbie Wheaten show up in a few minutes he's running a little bit late and I told him to just come on so when he does we'll just join in uh today we're going to be talking about the 12 worst newbie mistakes for Preppers now me just say this up front this really applies to us all a lot of times you know we could be doing prepping for a long time and these are some areas that you just might Overlook you might be doing and so it's going to give you some uh just some tips and pointer to kind of shore up your preps get yourself more organized get yourself more focused that's probably the biggest thing but before we get started uh I want to give a big thank you to Sarah Ma she's over on the computer monitoring the questions and comments and if you have something that you want to ask you can ask it at any time and we'll take a break and she can go to some questions um also we really appreciate exotac some of the best Fire Starting tools and implements out there uh they're made down in wer Georgia I mean it's between FOH rods lighters match holders Strikers all kind of different tools and uh they give a 20% discount using S2 with the link Down Below in the description and we appreciate exotac for offering that having a fire kit guys is it is vital to survival Cooks your food it boils your water it gives you light gives you warmth it can keep Predators at Bay it gives you a good morale and so having a fire kit and redundancy in your fire tools is important all right we're going to talk about these 12 areas these 12 mistakes again guys it's one of those things that even a very seasoned prepper can fall into and let's face it guys we're we're preparing for an unknown we're preparing for something that maybe it's never been seen definitely In Our Lifetime uh but has been seen around the world of mistakes and civilizations have completely collapsed so we're not immune to it um you know it's just like we'll talk about this in a minute just like this Eclipse that was happening and everybody got all you know stirred up about it um and guys having yourself prepared in a good way you don't have to go nuts but just doing some things to get yourself ahead is just smart but also it can be very overwhelming there's so many different possibilities and so you can't do it all but whatever you do on a daily or weekly basis puts you that far ahead of where you were before it's not a race it's something that we do on a regular basis uh and honestly right now and I've said this with the price of gold up to $2,360 today it's kind of back down to 2 thou $2,350 uh is unprecedented and it's historical we've never been anywhere near that amount so while things kind of kind of hum along there are some indicators indicators concrete indicators uh that we're not heading in a good direction so with that being said we're not here to Doom and Gloom everybody and get everybody depressed we're here that you will be better prepared in a bad situation you can you can wrap that up how you want to okay the first thing number one mistake for Preppers especially new Preppers is talking too much just talking about it you know you see your friends you're talking about the way things are going you're talking about the price of gold you're talking about the immigrants pouring across the border and how crime is spiked and you know there's there's so many different the the mess going on in Russia and you're just talking about it and you're saying we've been putting back food we've been doing this the best thing to do uh and even if you've already done it is to back off and to keep your thoughts to yourself not necessarily talking about the things that are happening in the world but you storing up food you putting things together because here's the thing World War II one of the big sayings was loose lips sink ships you are going to become a Target it may be something in passing where they don't even think about it at the time maybe they think you're a little bit off but they're not really thinking about it later on down the road they will remember uh you know it's like that when you when you're looking for something and you see it and then a month later you need that you're going wait a minute where did I see that oh yeah I saw that at Home Depot it's the same thing they're going to relate you to having supplies to help them whether they've done anything or not and you become a Target in your neighborhood you definitely become a Target you know people know that you're a prepper if you're talking you've got chickens and you you know you've got solar and you've got all this stuff going on around your house and and people start to notice those things uh and so it's best to be subdued it's best to just kind of keep it on the down low save it for those that you're going to be working with and that's the big thing for us we have a prepper group we do our talking of course I do my talking here to you uh honest if it wasn't for YouTube and it wasn't for my mission to help you get prepared I wouldn't talk about it nobody would know it so the big thing is is to keep your mouth quiet listen when you are in the middle of prepping and you're building up supplies and you're you're doing things that's your focus I mean that's what you it's just like it wants to come out naturally but you got to fight the urge and you got to keep it to yourself again talking about current events and helping people to kind of say you know man maybe I ought to do something is one thing but being obsessed with it and talking about preps and talking to your blue in the face uh is going to cause you problems later on uh one of the things also that's a byproduct is that if let's say you and your spouse your spouse not really on board the more you try to convince them that they need to be prepping typically drives them away the best thing to do is just to quietly prepare where you can they may notice some things they may see some stuff but you're not trying to talk them into it and that's one of the big problems that we've seen over the years is people saying hey my spouse won't get on board it's because you're talking about it too much you're just overdoing it to where they don't they can't even handle all that uh and so what really was a cure for that is that we had uh when we formed our prepper group some of the ladies because a lot of times it is ladies but sometimes it is the husband as well that they kind of got together and started talking about it and then it made sense to those wives to where they started picking up on it and so let others help you do something to bring your spouse into the fold uh if it's a husband you want somebody that you know that is a prepper that can talk to him on one in one and somebody that maybe he respects so give that just keep your lips sealed like the old Go Go song my lips are sealed and put your stuff together the thing is you don't want all your family all your friends and everybody else showing up at your place because they know you have a little more food than they do your preps are designed to protect you and your family and so you need to keep that in mind and that is the number number one thing because a lot of times we we're new we get kind of rolling and we start talking about it um okay number two and this is a big one guys we live in an information age that's unparalleled uh with the internet with social media with all the different news outlets from the extreme right to the extreme left and one thing you really need to be careful of either side is that they can do things and say things that are very sensationalized um I'll never forget when I first started my YouTube channel it's been 16 years ago and a girl got in touch with me and she said I just saw a video it said if you don't have your preps together now that it's too late that was 16 years ago prepping is again not a race it's something that you do and you incorporate and you build up your supplies if you see things really going south in a physical way where you're like you know we really need to kind of think this through then step it up and be diligent if you're diligent and you're picking up extra items guys if you go to the grocery store and and there's you just say hey you know what I've got a few extra dollars I'm going to pie some beans and rice then do that and that'll just put you a little bit ahead and just try to do that on a regular basis and before long it'll build up so take but take everything with a grain of salt because the problem is is a lot of times people are saying like the eclipse perfect example there were a ton of people talking about oh this is the end of the world oh there's all these cities lined up named Nineveh and which wasn't even true and then they began to get excited and and started talking about all the the conspiracies that were going on all around us so Robbie's here so I'm going to move over and let him join us Robbie great to see you well you know if you can't get here on time you just get here when you can and we're here we're here and we're ready but you know Robbie's our entertainment Factor so we need Robbie here I'm glad to be here today Robbie from Wheaten arms um also the Robbie Wheaten YouTube channel and uh check it out we have a link Down Below in the description he was a gunsmith 20 years US Marine Corps just an allaround good guy Boy Scout for big kids Boy Scout for big kids and um are you doing a live tonight live tonight at 6m Eastern live tonight at 6 PM check it out uh it will be again the link will be down below in the description so what we're talking about now is all the information we're on number two all the information that's coming in and how we can get Sidetrack um and you can't believe everything don't believe everything you're hearing again the apocalypse I mean the the eclipse well the apocalypse the apocalypse uh you know it was one of those things where a lot of people really got just strung out on I mean they were just all upset I saw many videos saying what what about this have you seen this this is something to think about y 2K yeah y 2K you know anything that you get just overwhelmed with um and and you got to be careful that you don't get sucked in I had a nephew that U he called my my brother-in-law because my brother-in-law is a pastor and so he called him saying this eclipse and he was at 3 in the morning all upset freaking out you know uh and we were talking about it yesterday at lunch before it happened and there was some talk about it at lunch you know there's about the kids were sitting around and my wife and U I just started laughing I said guys you know you can't get wrapped up in every little thing that happens look at the things that are happening or sometimes there's something just like we talked about one time they had when we had our our gas pipeline that was hacked and we had all these um you know they were going to shut down the Eastern Seaboard pretty much and I went to get gas and nobody was even doing anything so it until a couple of days later uh and then everything went nuts but the thing is is when you do hear something credible then act on it but don't get freaked out on it it's like wives tales conspiracies it kind of gets the rumor mill going I tell you one of the biggest things that I've seen lately has been uh Flat Earth and the eclipse with the Flat Earth and everything and this one guy actually brought up a really good point that that really made me think about it and uh he was talking about airplanes you know airplanes fly off of a um uh altimeter and an altimeter is is basically a level right if you hold a level up in the air it's always flat if you hold it put it on something that's flat it's flat right well airplane flies off of an altimeter which is always flat so if the Earth is round how does the plane stay straight gravity I'm not a flat ear I'm not prob may be no I'm I'm not but it's it's one of those things that really makes you think you know and I like thought-provoking questions and that was that was a really good one that I was like so I'm gonna take this one with a grain of salt just kidding you know one of the things too I mean seriously all things aside is if you're not careful then you start to discredit everything yeah and that is one problem uh if you if you're discrediting everything uh you know because we do we get so much information it's kind of like the boy that cried wolf and when you start getting a lot of that information then you just start dismissing things so it's important and I think that's what happened with that gas shortage the U A lot of people said oh yeah whatever whatever and then all of a sudden the gas stations were out of gas um and so taking and finding credible information making sure that you're you know you're watching things I know right now with um with everything that's going on with the economy uh prices are skyrocketing food prices I mean we're and and we can see it in real time we're going to have lunch and it's a hundred bucks which it used to be 50 I mean price food prices have gone up 50% or 40% at least and then you go to the grocery so you know those are things that you really need to go you know what this is a credible threat whether the solar eclipse turns into the second coming of Christ you know would be a plus honestly you know but um but the thing is is don't get wrapped up in the these wives tales and I say that affectionately to women because you know it's just one of those things but men are just as bad and we all know it gossip yeah what do you think we're doing right now but it's information overload and you've got to be able to pick and choose you got to take the right and wise decisions and not let everything drive you crazy and do your own research yes you know that if something you know like the the whole airplane deal you know do your own research on it don't don't just take someone's opinion on something as fact do your own research and prove it out one way or the other right right so again take everything with a grain of salt filter out the things that are not important and you'll just be in a better position okay number three is buying cheap buying junk uh when when I was and because here's the thing guys when you're getting into prepping you're like I've got to have stuff and I don't really have a whole lot of money so I'm just going to buy what I can hey that that knife is 12 bucks so I'm I get two of them yeah we got two pieces of junk uh you know it's funny there are some items out there that are inexpensive and while they the price seems cheap they're actually pretty decent it was funny I did a review on a charade knife that was a they had just come out with a bunch of powder coats and all this stuff with G10 scales but were very cheap very reasonable yeah and a guy that owned a Knife Company had sent me a couple of them to test and they went through the test beautifully yeah I mean I was poking it through Barrel top metal barrels you know doing all kind of of torture test on those knives and they worked fine so there are some good things out there but let me just say that when when we had a u one time our prepper group we had a bugout night and we all met and we were going to meet in a certain parking lot and everybody was going to have like their bugout setup ups and we're going to kind of go through them in fact Scott hunt from engineer 775 skinny medic Dietrich was there I me we had a number of people there too that that were actually you know really solid in prepping and uh it was funny we would open up some of the bags and they still had the plastic cheap wrapping around like a compass cheap cheap compass and a knife and a multitool that was like six bucks it's better to buy a few quality items than to buy a lot of junk a lot of poor quality a lot of things that'll break easily uh you take a good solid knife it's going to last you a lifetime you several lifetimes yeah yeah yeah now one one difference is like the Moa knives great knives they run about 10 bucks a piece yeah and they've been used that's a big prepper item that a lot of people like and I have a bunch of them uh they're just great utility knives they're not like fighting knives or anything but they're good solid knives that you can use for different purposes so again like Robbie said do your research y you know one big thing especially with knives and I'm really glad that you were talking about those is it doesn't matter what the quality of the knife is it doesn't matter how much you paid for it if you're using it for something that it was not intended for you can break it you know I snapped a really really good knife a couple of months ago racing with with my son and he he bent a part on his cart and a knife was all that I had in my pocket to be able to straighten the part out and I jammed it in there and straightened the part out and snap the blade on it and it was a it was a really good really high quality high-end knife and uh I destroyed it right using it for something that it was never intended to be used for so you know getting the right tool for the job and using the right tool for the job is just as important as buying quality tools well you know one thing I've noticed too is and even with expensive stuff knives that are that are nice expensive knives is that if you're not careful you don't you baby them you don't want to use them you know you're careful with them the safe Queen gun yes yeah a safe Queen you want to use what you have I mean I've got a Microtech uh it's one of the out the sides and uh it's I think it's the LT uh great knife solid expensive this thing is beat to heck because I use it but the thing is is a good knife is worth its Val worth its weight and gold so use it and then I know how it works U but you know like if you take a Swiss army knife which is a great knife yep y got thin blades if you take it and do what Robbie did it's going to snap y because it's not made for that prying and doing things so finding something that's good you don't have to you don't have to go out and buy the most expensive thing out there because again that doesn't necessarily mean that they're even going to last that's right but buying something that is good quality but you don't want to overspend because you need those funds to be able to purchase other items on your list and a lot of times guys will get all myopic and that's actually one of the things we're going to look at in a minute but they get so myopic on this one knife and that knife can cost six $700 which is absolutely insane to pay that kind of money for unless you're a knife guy and and you just love that you collect them that's fine but for a normal just average individual to go out and spend as much money or three or $400 on a knife and then tuck it away and never use it is ridiculous so you can use that toward building up your food preps your water whatever whatever you have next so well and you know I'm a big fan of if I'm researching a product that I'm looking at buying I look at online reviews from multiple different sources on that product and I don't just look at the one Stars I don't just look at the five stars I look at the three and four star reviews because those are generally the honest review that somebody has bought that item they've used that item and they're giving you their honest opinion about it they're just not going in there and clicking on a five star or going in there and they got a lemon and they're clicking on a one star they're they're giving you a good honest review of that product so I use online reviews a lot when I'm looking at buying new products to to kind of weed out something that I may or may not end up purchasing right and just because the price is lower doesn't mean that it's not a really good item we've done that quite a bit where I bought medium priced items or even lower pric but yet they have they tend to hold up very well well flashlights are a big one with that huh yeah well flashlights you know you got to be careful because a lot of times you go into Home Depot or Lowe's and they got some lights there and you get one you know and it's just it may hold up it may not and sometimes you find stuff I found them at Walmart before that were actually decent little flashlights um not really anything H Lumin or but sometimes the battery runs out really fast that's one of the problems or it takes deell batteries and it weighs a ton so buy not buying junk but it's really funny because in the book um and this is a great book especially if you're a newbie but even if you're a season prepper is the Modern Survival Guide for the coming economic collapse which was about uh the economic um burst in Argentina where they a massive economic meltdown and one of the things that fou who wrote that book uh he wrote about all the different real life events that happened and that's really where this is important uh because Argentina was not is not a third world country it was a first world country and uh because of of their practices they went but the problem was is the peso went to zero and crime went through the roof and but one of the things he did was he had a ramb he said all I had was a Rambo survival knife the one with the you know the top and the items inside the you know the fishing kit and the compass and all that and he said that knife served me all through that ordeal he goes I didn't I didn't realize it he probably didn't use it to pry something you know to break it but he said I used it and so sometimes there are some things you've got what you have and so use it but one of the things about that is a knife is a very important tool it's one of the most important tools you'll have and so make sure that you buy a decent quality knife not cheap okay this is kind of parallels with this but it's a little different is Novelties new gadgets things that are cool um you know I had this one thing and I'm not d uh dissing it but it was a survival shovel and it came in all these different sections very wellmade actually had a shovel and you take this part off has a knife and has a compass on the end and it had places to put things and and it was actually kind of cool it was expensive it was really expensive but you know I got it for review and took it out and tested it and it was fine but then I've got this huge pack thing and I got to put it all together and it's just when I could have had just a small little pack shovel and a knife and done pretty much everything that did so be careful even if it's high quality even if it's something really cool this is so freaking cool and there's a time for that you know if you have some of your other preps soide but be careful not to get lured by the shiny things the things that are out there that are shiny if you don't have just a good solid basic EDC you know your knife your flashlight your multi-tools just just some things that have been tried and true the new fangled Novelties this is something cool that's just come out you know it may have a lot of electronics with it it may have a lot of things that just you know I kind of look at items like that like with u new medicines that come out you know and until it's been on the market for seven to 10 years and is really proven that's a good point I tend to stay away from it right yeah if it's really that valuable and really that useful and Innovative it will remain for a while that's right don't go to Pinterest because you'll see about 30,000 different cool and intriguing type items and you'll be like oh man that's cool oh that's really neat and before long You' just got a drawer full of junk because you're not even using it that is money that's wasted on things that are honestly very usable let's face it a standard knife there's not really a substitute you can have all kind of a knife with a flashlight attached and I've got some kits and things with that kind of stuff and it's just that knife is almost impossible to use and even if you do it's going to break looks like the 172 items SSS army knife you know it's it's super cool but it's it's huge and almost unusable because you you can't get to anything on it that you actually need but if you need a court screw dead G it's there um and you know that's fine you know the funny thing is we were at Smoky Mountain Knife Works this past weekend me too yeah I know and um we uh you know you look through and there's tons of gadgets and stuff you know all kind of things uh but you know if you're not careful you get sidetracked on stuff and you need to kind of focus because the knife is really there's no substitute for it especially you know it's like the U jack of all trades master of none Now that statement really was not a blasting jack of all trades it was like a jack of B TR is very versatile Y and so there is some versatility that you need in the knife shape and the materials and things like that but again I like I love what Robbie said if it hasn't been around or it doesn't stay around for a long time it's just a novelty and that just means it's going to pass away because people loved it but they just didn't really they found themselves not using it okay we're going to go to this next one then we're going to go some questions uh so we'll just jump in uh losing track of your survival priorities uh this is one thing that happens with a lot of Preppers is they get real heavy on guns ammo uh their bugout bag their you know whatever is just sexy I'm gonna conquer the world they come to me and I'm taking them out you know and you lose you lose priorities on medical and I'm not talking about having your trauma I got my trauma kit I'm talking about everyday medical I don't know how many times you're going to use a trauma kit daily but you could be using a medical bag full of gear that you're going to need like antibiotic ointment or em modium or different things making sure that you have your medical lined out secondly if you're going to carry a trauma kit make sure that you have trained with it which is getting into our next one but um water water's something you can only live three days without water you need a gallon of water minimum per day per person so having your water sources figured out and you may say well you know I've got my water bottles stacked to the ceiling well okay that's good that's good uh but how are you going to continue on with your next step you know the thing is there is a an initial let's say three months or let's say three weeks you've got you know hey this is what I'm doing I've got three weeks that'll give you some time but when it comes to a long term once you get that done then move to the next phase which means how am I going to get my water that's not at the store what if the stores are out of water how am I going to get my medical supplies you know what have I got stocked up one good thing about medical suppli lies typically is hopefully you're not using them on a daily basis you know I think water is one of those that a lot of us really tend to take for granted because it is so readily available you know you you walk through your house you turn on a faucet you get water it's it's there you're like why should I worry about water but water is one of those things that is very easily contaminated and could very easily be taken out of the equation for you almost immediately you know if you travel out of the United States almost anywhere one of the first things you're told is don't drink the water tap water whatever you don't drink it you don't brush your teeth with it you don't use it for anything that you're ingesting into your body because it's contaminated and will make you sick and we take that for granted here because we do have clean water in the United States and but water is one of those things that because we do take it for Grant so much we really need to make it a focus and a priority for our preps I I think water should be your number one prep over everything else because if if you don't have reliable water and a reliable water source like I said you've got three days right and that's it you're done you can live without a gun you can live without a knife you can live without all the cool prepping stuff that we have and everybody loves the cool prepping stuff that we all have you can live without food for a month but water just a few days in your you're a goner right and and really it's not a a bad solution to as far as treating water if you have a water source you know you can boil the water doesn't remove the sediment or the smell but you can boil it or you can have a bleach and you can put the bleach in the water again it doesn't take away the smell or the it probably adds a little B it will definitely mask it yeah yeah definitely mask it so you know having a few things it doesn't have to be a Distillery or some kind of you know whatever you know that you can filter and keep your water clean but that's not the fun part and so you got to be careful not to be too focused on the fun part that's right and too heavy on ammunition and just like with covid you know people went nuts over guns and ammunition well I mean well there was some civil unrest that had gone on a little bit but that today today that didn't make a hill of beans I could have had the same gun that I've had forever just a good you could had a good shotgun and you'd have been in good shape that's right let's say you go pop a squat with 50 round box and 9 mm you know I'm just saying or having toilet paper put back which we found out that's a priority okay let's go to some questions and we're gonna continue on uh Jan asks South Dakota watching how come all prep people seem to be from other states that's because a lot of the people in South Dakota are natural Preppers because they typically live out I'm just I'm making a generalization there but uh you know it's according to what area you're living in I mean for us we're we're surrounded by a lot of people there's less resources you move out west and people live a little bit closer to the land um you know in the midwest especially in the Northwest but um little little bit closer to the land so they're just naturally prepping my grandparents who live not too far from here had a nice spread and you know I didn't realize it at the time but they were natural Preppers they grew their Gardens they had cattle uh they um you know kept their Tim full F folded because they were during the Great Depression and so they were very frugal with their supplies and they weren't wasteful uh but yet they had quite a bit of money they weren't out just blowing it they were they were doing um you know the right things but we have gotten so far away from that in today's society to where everything is disposable so the problem is is we're losing our our connection with nature and really what man has been doing since the beginning is you know just surviving yep I could agree more Alan B asked what do you think about gmrs radio Great Radios but they're limited typically line of sight um and two I mean if it's encrypted I think this is the really I think the where it really shines GM gmrs radios or or even just like walkie-talkies or um the different type standard radios uh are that you have especially in a security situation it's better than a phone better to have a setup so you can talk to each other uh you want to be careful that you're not on a open line to everybody else that might have one uh we were on a ship a cruise ship while back and you couldn't even get on the radio because everybody brought their little radios and everybody was talking on them so you know but um I think they're great they have a purpose but I don't think that they're optimal especially for longer ranges uh typically again their line of sight it may say 14 miles but it's not going to reach that you know one of the big things uh my oldest son he works a lot of wildfires and stuff and uh just got home from one this past weekend they were using gmrs on the uh the wildfire that he was on the problem they were running into was it was a lot of mountainous terrain a lot of hilly terrain and it was blocking the radio signals so they were having to they were having to post repeaters or post individuals on Mountain Toops uh so they can bounce the signal out and use individuals as repeaters to pass a signal along pass a message along that's interesting y but I do think there's a good place for it I would highly recommend you having some but I think that as far as longer range Communications it's going to have a lot of limitations just like CB will uh really you need to go to ham one thing that we're getting ready to do is to get satellite radios uh satellite phones thank you good God why do I have to do that uh satellite phones and um you know we could have satellite radio in our car driv you could I've done this every I've done this twice now uh but satellite phones uh you know the app the uh the radio signal is it's a it's a monthly fee it's not cheap they're not cheap but you got to decide is this a viable option for communication is it worth it so instead of going out and buying the $600 knife I'm going to get my you know my my radio well you know I really think you know as as far along as we are with our preps there there's certain things that we can look at that are that may not be an option for other people because we have been in for so long and and our preps are very solid in majority of areas where communication is one of those areas where we can expand our preps now and I think for us something like that is a great option because we we are solid in a lot of our other preps right and the satellites that pick up the satellite uh phones are 450 miles above the atmosphere uh I think that um a lot of the other type Community GPS is only 250 Mi above the atmosphere so uh there's a lot of especially like for an EMP or something like that you know it it's kind of been one of those things we've kind of settled on uh so but again it is more expensive now we've gotten into a lot of that R rmer asked question if I have already bought some junk would it be bad form to pass it on to someone just starting their prepping journey I think that'd be an excellent idea um Travis how you doing man uh I think that one of the things that um that a lot of I've heard a lot of guys talk about it they said you know I just buy junk knives and I just buy them and that way I can hand them out I can do whatever and and when I say junk knives you can go to a store and they they have the little cheap knives sometimes they'll do pretty decently for certain task and it's better to have that than nothing I think that's a great idea one thing that I did a few couple years ago was I did small little bags of survival items to give out so if you have people coming up a group or whatever you can say hey look I got this extra knife and a fire starter and some things and you give it to them and it gets them started and that could mean the difference between life and death uh you know just because you're not building a outdoor shelter and you need a certain kind of knife they just may need to cut things and just not have that means it's a great starter item then it's also a great barter items you know you've already bought it you've already spent the money on it you've upgraded your gear you can always either buy sell and trade that stuff for better items you can put it back as barter items or like you were saying you can bag it up and and give it to some of your friends as a a prepper starter kit right U you know one of the things that we do every one of our cars we have a get home bag in it my family and you know we set it up they have the bag uh and sometimes you know you got to put there's a lot of expense in that to put five bags together for us so and then I do my mother-in-law and then my son's girlfriend you know and before long you know you got a lot of backpacks so sometimes you can't necessarily run out and buy something that's really expensive to put in there but you can put something that'll get them by okay we're GNA come back to some more questions in a second we're going to get on to um relying on gear uh rather than knoow one thing that I've learned over the years is the shape of a knife blade is very important U you know the thing is is there are some knives that are thin and and very capable of doing certain things let's take a Swiss army knife those are wellknown very has a great reputation they're not for all things uh and sometimes you know a knife with a really heavy spine that I can really do some batoning and chopping the blade shape the the actual angle you know the the hollow ground or you know what whatever that it's uh there are certain things that cut better and and work better so getting your gear out and finding out its limitations everything has a limitation every you know serrated Knives have been a a Mainstay for decades now because they're they're really sharp they cut really well sawing but not necessarily for cutting operations a lot of people buy knives that have a partially serrated edge on it and then it's got you know a regular knife blade at the front they're those knives are more difficult to sharpen and you you've got the little serrated part at the very bottom but you know I'm I'm not a fan of serrated knives for for a EDC daily use knife I like a straight edge on my knife but I also like a more of a belly on my knife like a drop point Skinner yeah because it it's I use a knife for cutting you know not not necessarily as much for stabbing and poking I use a knife for cutting a lot and uh I want a blade shape for it's a tool the purpose that I use it for all the time especially for my EDC and a a knife that has a a deep belly in it that cuts really well from the back all the way out to the point is uh is really important to me so you a blade shape I think is really more important or at least as important as the the quality and the type of knife that you're buying but it's it's overwhelming I mean there's so many different shapes there's so many different I mean you even have like you know your um Cleaver types and all this stuff so this is the key is to take it out and to start cutting things build you a fire feather it see how that works maybe doing some a little bit of batoning which means you're taking the knife and you're taking a stick and you're doing this to split the wood you can do even with a small like this I can do it it's just small pieces but then also it's like fire kits you know you have your fire kit put together it is awesome it is full you've got everything you need so you just go okay great I got it go out and start a fire we did that with our prepper group where we had a fire clinic and it's amazing how little people really knew I went to a survival school with um fieldcraft survival and we went and there was a 20 something people there and it was amazing to me that people that had the mindset of survival went to the class couldn't start a fire yeah they didn't know their tools uh so you know learning how to do that you know I did a video where uh I went out into the rain it had been raining for three days and I said we're gonna build a fire in the rain I did it I I had to do some research first because I wanted to make sure that I had some ideas but you can build a fire in the rain with it pouring rain uh you know you have to take certain precautions you have to cover it up so you can get it you know whatever but until you do it you may never be able to do it yeah but there are just little secrets that when you get out to do it that you go oh oh that's cool that's cool look how this does look how that does uh so getting your equipment out and training with it get a multi-tool don't just stick it in there take it out and use it take some bolts off do some things that you can do some repairs and then put it in your pack don't put it in your pack when it's never even been used you may pull it out and go well let me see what I can do here um and then you know what training of course firearms training is a big deal don't go buy your gun and your ammunition stick it back go okay I got it and not have the training you need uh you know with medical man medical is like black magic and yet if you go to some trauma classes or Red Cross you find out that really there's some principles there that's right kind of you know it's like using a a knife you know if if you've never used a knife for anything other other than cutting meat and stuff in the kitchen you you're not a knife person but you're wanting to to become a knife person you want to learn how to use a knife you don't buy a knife and go out and you know start cutting Limbs and carving and all this stuff you start with a soft medium you know when I was in Scouts we used to start the the younger boys off with a bar of soap and they would get their pocket knife and they would start carving a bar of soap because then they learn how to angle the blade to get the shavings they learn how to steepen the angle to get thicker shavings they learn how to do radiuses and corners and carving but it teaches them how to use a knife safely on a medium that cuts relatively easy so they're not cutting themselves while they're while they're learning but just a just a tip for you you know if you're if you're not a knife person you're wanting to learn how to use a knife and how to use one properly get you a bar of soap and start carving on a bar of soap and you'll learn really quickly how to change angle of the blade to get what you want out of it that's really good that was worth you coming today that's what I'm here for okay so no how is more important than the gear again profal took a Rambo survival knife and used it throughout you know the ordeal he went through so but having good gear makes it and good knowhow really makes a pinnacle where you're really being able to be as effective as you can okay number eight is buying up prepackaged food not dissing prepackaged food there's some good stuff out there yep but don't go buy a big tote a tote or a container of prepackaged food until you have tried it until you have tested it to see if it's okay if it tastes good the ease of making it into a meal but more importantly a lot of times the nutrition it'll say this produces 1,500 calories but are the calories how much protein is in it how much of it is carbs and how much of it is salt just salt and so you need to find the right ones the problem with most prepackaged food if it's really good is it's expensive that's right mountainhouse makes good good products Backpackers Pantry there's a number of different ones I mean we bought some of the uh Patriot Supply and uh it seemed to be pretty good and so you know we can buy it in totes a tot I didn't want to diss them because that's but you know I went also to Sam's and got a container of this survival food you know and went and tried it out it was like good gosh the salt content that thing that took my head off but again it's really important to remember that it's not just calories calories are important but you've also got to think about your where they're coming from right and and the other elements to make it a balanced nutrition uh and and the other thing too is guys is don't just depend on that so one thing that we do we we buy prepackaged food we we went and then we went to the Mormon canery and bought a ton of food when they were opened up to the public which they do on occasion uh you can really get some good quality natural food uh that you're going to have to prepare but it's uh it's all natural it's good good stuff but we buy and I've said this a number of times we bought we buy a lot of canned food things that already eating or things that we've had in the past one thing that we did was we went out and bought a bunch of Denny Moore beef stew and we put it back and then what we did was we pulled it out and we had it for dinner one night and we're like this isn't bad that's right I mean it's not it's not Papa por roast or anything but it was pretty de pretty dang good and so making sure that you're incorporating those kind of things in your diet because what happens is just like Southern prepper found out Southern prepper great CH Southern pepper one buddy of mine Dave he lives not too far from me and he did a test one time where he took all the food that he had a year supply of and he tried to live on it he said this is all I'm going to eat and after about three or four days he couldn't eat he just couldn't eat it and he said I've got a lot of work to do and he goes I'm losing energy he said but I just have no appetite for this food so be careful not just to buy up a bunch of prepackaged you know survival food put it back and sit back and go okay we're done well you know it's like when you when you travel a lot of times when you travel you eat things that you don't normally eat at home and it ends up causing a lot of uh gastric issues so you know TMI I'm I'm just just being realistic you know it causes gastric issues and your your preps are exactly the same way if it's not something that you eat on a regular basis it can cause some pretty severe gastric issues U whether it's canned foods whether it is freest stried Foods your prepackaged Foods MREs which you've experienced absolutely anyone that's been in the military is experience gastric issues from MREs okay it's called plugging you're like why do they give you the the little chicklet you know uh gum that comes with it that's a you know a laxative because the the MREs will impact you if you're not careful so you you have to drink plenty of water any of this any of your prepackaged food you're going to have to drink a lot of water with that because it's a lot of is freeze-dried foods you have to drink water with it or you're gonna you're going to end up with some severe stomach issues um so make sure you're eating this stuff and make sure that your body likes it before you buy a bunch of it right right and you're right um okay now number nine just being unorganized just being just buying it up and putting it back and that's why my checklist my checklist gotta have a plan you gotta have a plan yeah um you know no plan no rotation of food uh one thing we did uh when my wife really first set up our prep room and you know she was buying stuff and putting it in we were more concerned about where to put it and how to organize it as far as shelving and what would help we even had a shelf to collapse because the cans weighed so much uh and so then we went through after a while and started looking at dates and it was like whoa this is getting close to time so you know we started organizing our food for rotation yep first in first out right the first thing you buy is the first thing you eat and then you have some things over here and over here that are on another schedule so you need just to watch because you don't want to be wasteful but you want things actually that'll last one of the great things about canned food is that it really has no expiration it has the Best Buy date because people just do it but canned food typically will last for a hundred years because of the processes and the Heat and the sanitary conditions the lining and the cans right I mean it's that's to me that's one thing we've kind of gone heavy on we have all the other but we've gone kind of heavy on toward canned food uh and to it's a little bit more stable and you can just open it needed if you wanted to but um making sure that the nutrition set up is good again making sure that you have the proteins and and the different things that you need uh then it goes to uh being unorganized is not knowing where your gear is you get your gear you get it piled in a corner this is the camping gear this is the tactical gear this is you know my tools and before long you're very unorganized you need something and you can't find it uh so in a grid down situation you don't want to be searching for something that is vital and you may not know where it is well you know after you've been prepping for several years you you realize that man I've got a lot of stuff and having it organized you have to you just have to you know we put everything in these big black totes we got them from Lowe's black tote yellow lid I don't know what they're called storage tot those too they they just work so well you know but we we put a laminated label on the front of every one of those totes that has a list of everything that's in that tote if it's if it's outdoor supplies it'll have or or camping or whatever it's got a big tag on it that says camping and then on the front of it there's a laminated label that lists everything that's in that tote just because we do have a lot of preps and that's an easy way that we've found that we can label and identify and make things uh easy to find and get to right sometimes you do you do the same thing with a lot of your stuff yeah even uh have the big rolling toolboxes and we have things labeled out on prepping supplies that we need and um a lot of that has to do with what I do because we do a lot of different reviews but it kind of keeps things in one area there's nothing worse for me years ago than having a putting together a bugout bag to show and then when it's done sometimes I would take it out sometimes I wouldn't sometimes I just take out a couple of pieces and it had these three or four bags that were bugout bags that were incomplete and then when I needed something I find it and so I just started organizing my stuff to where I could keep up with it it's very important to keep organized also maintenance and repair on things uh one of the things we did I did a few years ago was taking your bag your go bag and going through it looking for any tears looking for anything that could be wrong with it a buckle getting weak uh then taking your flashlights checking your batteries all of a sudden you see you've got ablea batteries they've corroded the internals and the flashlights absolutely worthless or even a night piece of night vision which that happened to me one time but going through and making sure that you're maintaining what you have and repairing it and keeping it up to dat here's the thing you don't want to grab your bag in an emergency and get out and find vital items like your big lighter uh and that's all you got and then it just won't light because the the wheels corroded or there's no fuel in it uh because it's all evaporated and little things like that can get out of hand making sure your knives are staying sharpened learn how to sharpen a knife but that's another story um okay so organize get organized rotate repair um you're too focused on bugging out this is number 10 you're just too focused it's like I got my bugout bag I know my place I'm going I'm set and you know you have your stuff together uh that used to be kind of the big deal is you needed a bugout bag and anything else was was whatever bugging out is a glor ified Refugee do not put all of your preps unless you live in a city if you live in a major metropolitan area that right now is close to shtf because of the crime rate you're living there and something really goes down big you need to get out I will give you that get the heck out uh unless you have a really solid Community around you that can join together and be solid but that's not typical for most cities uh but get to and I'm not talking about out to the mountains and to live off the land because that's a pipe dream unless you're a Navy SEAL and even then uh you know you're GNA have or you know US Army Ranger whatever you're still you're not going to want to live out there uh so have your have yourself plan but don't base all of your preps on your bugout bag and bugging out base it on bugging in stay in because that's where your supplies are are that's where your resources are that's where your neighbors that you know some you like some you don't but that's where they are and also your friends and family and relatives also know where you live uh so you want to make sure that you really plan for the bugging in have a bugout bag have a bugout plan make sure that you have that because you you may have to evacuate it you may not have a choice and it should be that way before you bug out you're just pretty much like I don't have that's right bugout and evacuation are kind of universal term yeah if you if you're going to have to do one you're going to have to do the other and but you know when it when it comes to bugging out a great example of people that bugged out are the first Europeans that came to the United States they bugged out of Europe to come to the United States for a better life right true they packed up a ship with some people and some supplies they came to the United States and the vast majority of them starved to death because they didn't have the resources to be able to survive in an environment that they were unfamiliar with right or the dmer party even worse that's right that's right but yes that's that's a great point so bunker in should be your primary bugging out is important but it's secondary yeah okay tactical going tactical going tactical getting all your your camo and your plate carriers and you know your battle rifles and 47 magazines and just being head to toe head to toe nothing wrong with any of that you need to be able to defend your property but if you're too busy getting all the latest and greatest and you got this you got that you're you're all set up in a normal grid down situ and I'm just you know there is no normal grid down uh but typically with the way things have gone around the world being decked out uh to fight off a zombie apocalypse 247 is just just not reality uh there can be if you're on a security team and you're watching a group it can be important to have those things and and I think you should have them some of those things but I think don't get too just focused on being tactical walking around with camouflage on and your plate carriers and standing out like a sore thumb exactly you know it's very easy to go heavy on the Tactical side and neglect a lot of your other preps and I think a lot of people that initially get into prepping they get into the Tactical the Tactical side of it very early and very heavy and neglect a lot of the other major really important preps right like water yeah you know or like um you know it was funny though I we I knew a well a buddy of mine that was in law enforcement he told me one time this girl had a restraining order against her husband because he had threatened to kill her and so one night she was at home and all of a sudden the door the guy kicked the door in and he's standing there with a plate carrier he had guns he had magazines he had his rifle he he had knives and he was just gonna kill her and he kicked the door in and he stood there and she took a 22 pistol and went right between the eyes dropped him dead like that having all that gear and everything else can be useful but don't use it when it's not necessary uh we've got it we're we're all about it we think you know that it's a smart way to go to have that in case something goes wrong we're not and the training to go along with it laring you know what if you've never been in the military so what you are a US citizen and we have the right as a militia U you know and of course you know the go they tried to twist all that up but really each of us have to defend our own freedoms so no disrespect to that I think it's important to do and I think you need to train and you need to go out you need to understand your gear but don't just go oh man I got to have that thermal imaging scope and you don't have any food easy it's focusing getting close to my Fields now well I like thermal too I like theral I love thermal okay last but not least is Lone Wolf so a lot of guys you know you kind of go it's my stuff I've been buying this up I'm protecting me and my family this is my area if you come around me I'm gonna gun you down or I'm GNA turn you away at gunpoint understand believe me uh you know for years I've had people that say well something happens I know where I'm going you know you hear that a lot but here's the fact by yourself you cannot be Total Security 247 just that just that alone much less all the work that goes into in a grid down situation just surviving you know the old saying it takes a village is really really true in a grid down situation probably the only thing that Hillary Clinton ever said that was true right but he's right I mean that was the one thing that forou during the the Modern Survival godber economic collap during the economic collapse said that the reason we survived is we joined together a lot of people had cabins way up in the mountains and when things started going south they took off up to their cabins and the gangs and cartels followed up there and killed them and took their stuff so big thing is Lone Wolf is not survivable to be honest uh you need to make sure you have a team a group even if it's one or two even in the Bible it says that one person alone is very vulnerable two can come together and strive against one or three makes a strong cord so taking that and and building on it uh we have a prepper group and that's one thing that you have to be careful when you're doing but there are typically if you go to your Facebook page we have an Upstate Preppers group here in in the upstate of South Carolina and they meet and you get to know people and you know you can uh establish relationships you can build networks you can do things so uh a lot of times going to your local gun shops you're hanging around talking a lot of those guys because they are self-defense minded they're prepper minded you know and so find it going to church church is probably one of the best I think so too because you find some people there that you can really build some relationships with you have a lot in common and you can work together so lone wolf and you know it's funny I had a guy tell me one time he says well I'm Lone Wolf and that's just crazy and I can do this that this and that I said you are one of 0.999% of the people on the planet because most people have to have others for socially uh for different things you're doing but security wise definitely and a lot of things is to build that team so 12 items and there are more there are more but these are the 12 that we felt were the most important really appreciate Robbie Wheaten for being here and again check out Wheaten arms he's the official supplier of all the dagger upgrades for palad State Armory uh but he makes Incredible Glock aftermarket parts including the flat face trigger which is my all-time favorite uh and also Barrels if you're looking for a threaded barrel you have a suppressor you want to put on there or different things and also Wheaten arms y yep our Wheaten arms with our Custom Shop make sure you check out our custom shop if you need any kind of gun smithing or custom work done to any of your firearms that you already have a lot of you have all the guns you need you just want to upgrade it RMR Cuts barrel threading we take care of all of that for you and then make sure you check out our YouTube live tonight from 6: PM to 7 PM Eastern Standard Time It's Robbie Wheaten YouTube channel look forward to seeing you there and the links Down Below in the description we also appreciate Sarah Ma for asking the questions uh we didn't get a break we only got one break today which we try to have a couple but we had this was a very important list also remember exotac you need a fire kit and they have the tools and you get 20% off using su20 H the link Down Below in the description thanks for being here we really appreciate you guys guys the main thing right now is even if you're new is just to whatever you do today is going to put you ahead of where you were yesterday so just take just strive to add a little bit of preps and if you're doing it smart before long you know you're going to be in good shape so be strong be of good courage God Bless America long live the republic

Channel: SensiblePrepper

Views: 42,636

Keywords: Sootch00, Sootch, Survival, SHTF, Emergency, Prepper

Id: 8ypVdrIbwC4

Length: 62min 45sec (3765 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2024