How to Start Prepping: The Complete Beginner's Guide (10 Steps)

You've already started prepping — you just don't know it yet.

If you have a savings account, a smoke detector, a first aid kit in the bathroom, or a spare set of car keys, you are already applying the core logic of preparedness: solving problems before they happen. Prepping is simply taking that same common-sense mindset and applying it more deliberately.

This guide will show you how to start prepping the right way — in the right order, without panic, and without wasting money. Whether you have $50 or $5,000 to spend, you'll find a path here that fits your situation.

The short answer: Start with a personal risk assessment, then build water, food, sanitation, and an emergency plan in that order. Every step you take puts you in a better position than you were before.

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Prepping is the practice of preparing in advance for emergencies, disruptions, and personal hardships. It covers everything from a 3-day power outage to a job loss to a major natural disaster.

Most people imagine extreme bunker-builders when they hear "prepper." The reality is different. The average prepper is a practical, family-oriented person who doesn't want to be caught off guard. FEMA, the Red Cross, and every major emergency management agency in the world recommends exactly what preppers do: store food and water, have an emergency plan, and be ready to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours.

What should you be prepping for?

The good news: the fundamentals of preparedness are the same for almost all of these scenarios. Master the basics, and you're covered for most of what life throws at you.

Two ground rules that will save you time and money:

1. Don't go into debt to prep. A good prepper works to eliminate debt, not create it. Build your supplies steadily over time. Small, consistent steps beat expensive panic-buying every time.

2. Build in order. Most beginners start with food because hunger is easy to imagine. But in real emergencies, dehydration and lack of planning will hurt you faster than an empty stomach. Follow the steps in this guide in sequence — each one builds on the last.

Before buying anything, you need to know what you're preparing for. This is called a risk assessment, and it's the step most beginners skip — and then regret.

Risk assessment is about probability and impact. What threats are most likely to affect your specific household, in your specific location? Not every prepper faces the same risks. Someone in Florida needs to prioritize hurricanes. Someone in California needs earthquake preparedness. Someone in the Midwest needs to think about tornadoes, ice storms, and flooding.

To do your personal risk assessment, ask yourself:

General risk priority for most households (in order):

Start preparing for the top of this list first. Don't spend money on EMP shields before you have a fire extinguisher and a 2-week food supply.

Action item: Write down your top 5 personal risks. This list will guide every decision in the rest of this guide.

Financial preparedness is the foundation that most prepper guides ignore — and it's a critical one.

An emergency fund covers the most common "SHTF" scenario most families will ever face: unexpected job loss, a major car repair, a medical bill, or a broken appliance. Without financial resilience, no amount of freeze-dried food matters.

Financial preparedness steps, in order:

A tip on cash: Keep a mix of small bills ($1s, $5s, $10s, $20s) stored at home. During a disaster, stores may not have change, and card systems may be down.

Water is your #1 priority. You can survive weeks without food. You won't last more than 3 days without water.

The standard FEMA guideline is 1 gallon per person per day. We recommend 2 gallons per person per day to cover drinking and basic hygiene/cooking.

Starting goal: 1 week of water per person (14 gallons per person) Intermediate goal: 2 weeks of water per person (28 gallons per person) Advanced goal: 55-gallon barrel + water filter for ongoing supply

Option 1 — Bottled water (fastest, cheapest to start): A case of bottled water from Costco costs around $3–5 and holds roughly 5 gallons. For a family of four for one week, you need about 8–10 cases. Start here.

Option 2 — Repurpose PETE plastic bottles (free): Clean and refill PETE bottles (juice, soda, Gatorade bottles marked with the recycling number "1"). Fill with clean tap water and store in a cool, dark place.

Option 3 — 5-gallon stackable containers: Stackable food-grade 5-gallon containers are efficient and portable. A 4-pack gives you 20 gallons — enough for one adult for 10 days.

👉 5-Gallon Water Containers on Amazon

👉 Water Bottle Storage Rack on Amazon

👉 Pure Life Purified Water on Amazon

Option 4 — 55-gallon water barrel: For maximum storage with minimum floor space. One barrel covers a family of four for nearly two weeks.

👉 55-Gallon Water Barrel on Amazon

Stored water only lasts so long. A water filter lets you purify water from streams, rivers, rain collection, or any other source — turning a finite supply into a renewable one.

Recommended filters by use case:

Key rule: Store water off concrete floors and away from heat and light. Concrete transfers moisture. Every 10°F drop in storage temperature doubles water stability.

Once you have water covered, food is next. The goal here isn't to build a 30-year supply in one weekend — it's to build steadily, starting with what your family already eats.

Stock up on foods you normally eat that don't require refrigeration. The goal is to have 2 weeks of meals your family will actually eat — not MREs they'll hate.

Budget-friendly starter list for a family of 4 (~$35–50):

This isn't a gourmet menu, but it will keep a family fed for 2 weeks for under $50.

What to add as your budget allows:

Once you have 2 weeks covered, expand to 3 months. This is the point where most preppers feel genuine peace of mind. Continue buying extra of what you already eat and rotating it (use oldest first, replace when you shop).

For true long-term preparedness, store basic dry goods in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. Foods like white rice, wheat berries, pinto beans, rolled oats, and pasta can last 30+ years when properly packaged.

👉 See our complete long-term food storage guide for full instructions.

Key long-term storage items:

The COVID-19 pandemic proved what preppers already knew: basic sanitation supplies can vanish from shelves within 24 hours. Stock these now, before you need them.

Essential sanitation supplies:

Planning for no running water: If water goes out, how do you flush the toilet? Wash your hands? Clean dishes? Have a plan. A bucket of water (about 1.5 gallons) can flush a toilet. Moist towelettes can substitute for washing when water is scarce.

👉 Emergency First Aid Kit on Amazon

👉 BleedStop on Amazon

Gear without a plan is just expensive clutter. A family emergency plan takes less than an hour to create and could save your life.

Your emergency plan must cover:

Print and store your plan somewhere accessible. A plan that only exists in your phone is useless when the phone is dead.

👉 Fireproof Document Box on Amazon

Hold a family meeting. Walk through the plan with everyone in your household. Kids who know the plan are less likely to panic. Practice matters.

Once you have supplies and a plan, you need kits — organized, grab-ready collections of gear for specific situations.

Your home kit is the foundation of all preparedness. It contains everything you need to shelter in place for 2 weeks without power, water, or outside help.

Core home kit items:

👉 Emergency Weather Radio on Amazon

A bug out bag (BOB) is a ready-to-go backpack containing 72 hours of survival supplies. It's for when you need to leave home fast — wildfire, flood, civil unrest, chemical spill.

Every adult should have one. Every child should have an age-appropriate version.

Bug out bag essentials:

👉 See our full bug out bag checklist for a complete printable list.

On average, people are away from home 38% of their waking hours. A get home bag lives in your car and contains everything you need to get home on foot if roads are blocked or your car breaks down.

It's smaller and lighter than a bug out bag — focused on navigation, communication, and a safe return home.

You've stored food — now how do you cook it when the electricity and gas are off?

Option 1 — Outdoor propane stove: The most practical and affordable option for most families. A two-burner propane camp stove with a few extra fuel canisters handles most cooking needs during an outage.

👉 Camp Propane Stove on Amazon

👉 Fuel Canisters on Amazon

Option 2 — Wood burning stove: The gold standard for long-term power outage cooking. Can cook food, heat water, and warm your home simultaneously. Requires installation but operates indefinitely on wood.

Option 3 — Rocket stove: Burns small sticks and twigs efficiently. Produces intense heat with minimal fuel. Great for boiling water and one-pot cooking.

👉 Rocket Stove on Amazon

👉 Fuel Canisters on Amazon

Option 4 — Solar oven: Uses concentrated sunlight to cook food. No fuel required. Works in sunny climates on clear days.

Practice cooking off-grid before an emergency. Cook one meal per month on your emergency stove. Learn what works before you're hungry and stressed.

Safe indoor cooking rule: Never use propane, charcoal, or wood-burning stoves indoors. Carbon monoxide is odorless and kills quickly. Outdoor cooking only, or invest in a purpose-built indoor safe cooking option.

Make sure you have some sort of emergency power supply. This can be a normal generator or a solar powered one. Jackery has several options and is always offering deals on Amazon.

👉 Jackery Generator with Solar Panel on Amazon

👉 Jackery Explorer Portable Power Station on Amazon

A power outage in winter is not just uncomfortable — it can be life-threatening. Hypothermia can set in within hours in a poorly insulated home with no heat.

Heat conservation first:

Emergency heating options:

Wood burning stove: The most reliable long-term solution. Independent of electricity and gas. Can heat an entire room on a few logs. Requires professional installation.

👉 Small Wood Burning Stove on Amazon

Propane heater (indoor-safe): Products like the Mr. Heater Big Buddy are rated for indoor use with adequate ventilation. A critical backup for families without a wood stove.

👉 Mr. Heater Indoor Propane Heater on Amazon

Electric convector heater with timer: When electricity is limited but still available, a convector heater is far more efficient than oil-filled radiators or fan heaters.

👉 Electric Convector Heater on Amazon

Critical rule: Always have at least two independent heat sources. If your primary fails, you need a backup.

You've now built the foundation. The final step — and the one that separates serious preppers from people with a closet full of unused gear — is to test, review, and continuously improve.

The power outage test: Turn off your power for 24–48 hours and try to live normally. You'll immediately discover every gap in your preparation. What couldn't you cook? What did you wish you had? What didn't work as planned? This is the most valuable exercise a new prepper can do.

Annual review checklist:

Set a monthly prep goal: Don't try to do everything at once. Pick one area each month and make progress. Month 1: water. Month 2: food. Month 3: first aid kit. Steady progress builds a complete system without overwhelm.

You don't need to spend thousands to be meaningfully prepared. Here's how to get started for under $100:

This covers the bare minimum for one adult for 2 weeks. It's not glamorous, but it's real preparedness. Build from here.

If you want basic preparedness in a single afternoon:

That's legitimate preparedness in 2–3 hours. Build on it over time.

Use this to assess your current preparedness level:

Level 1 — Basics (72 Hours)

Level 2 — Foundation (2 Weeks)

Level 3 — Solid (3 Months)

Level 4 — Resilient (1 Year+)

How much does it cost to start prepping? You can build a basic 72-hour preparedness kit for under $100. A meaningful 2-week supply for a family of four can be assembled for $150–300 over a few months. Long-term preparedness is a gradual build over years, not a single purchase.

Where do I store emergency supplies in a small home? Under beds, in the tops of closets, behind furniture, in a hall closet, or in stackable containers under a dining table. You don't need a dedicated room. A family of four can store a 3-month food supply under two twin beds. Get creative.

What's the first thing a beginner prepper should buy? Water storage. Bottled water cases or a 5-gallon container. Water is your #1 survival priority and the most neglected prep.

Do I need a bug out location? Not necessarily. Sheltering in place is actually more likely in most emergencies than bugging out. Focus on your home kit first. A bug out location becomes relevant if you've already built a solid at-home supply.

How do I get my family on board with prepping? Don't frame it as doomsday preparation. Frame it as emergency readiness — the same thing FEMA and the Red Cross recommend. Start with relatable scenarios: "What if there was a 2-week power outage?" Most people are receptive once they think about realistic scenarios rather than apocalyptic ones.

What's the biggest mistake new preppers make? Buying gear before they have a plan, and stocking food before they have water. Always water first, plan second, food third. And never go into debt to prep.

How long does it take to be "prepared enough"? That depends on your goals. Two weeks of water and food, a basic emergency plan, and a first aid kit puts you ahead of 90% of the population. Most serious preppers consider 3 months of food and water a solid baseline. Building toward a year or more is a multi-year project — and that's perfectly fine.

Now that you understand how to start prepping, here are the key articles to read next:

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