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Practical Prepping Podcast
Building Resilience Without Spending a Fortune: Eighteen No-Cost and Low‑Cost Prepping Activities
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- [00:01]
A
Imagine your power goes out tonight. No lights, no phone charger, no warning. Could you navigate your home in the dark, cook a meal without electricity, or contact your family if the grid stayed down for days? In this episode, we're going into simple, no cost and low cost prepping steps that build real resilience. Things that you can do right now with what you already have. From making a family code word to crafting DIY fire starters, you'll learn how to get prepared without spending big. Just planning smart.
- [00:48]
B
Welcome to Practical Prepping. Today is November 17, 2025 and this is episode 533. This is the prepping podcast with no bunkers, no zombies and no alien invasions. Just practical Prepping where we teach everyday people how to prepare for life's emergencies, disasters and crises. And we're here to help you get prepared. I'm Krista.
- [01:15]
A
And I'm Mark and if you'd like the expanded notes for this episode, go to practicalprepping.info 53 this episode is sponsored by our book the 31 Day Devotional for a Biblical View of Preparedness Physically and spiritually. It also addresses how the Bible teaches us to be prepping. It would make a perfect Christmas gift for family members that are resistant to prepping. You can find the 31 day devotional for preppers and our other books on Amazon or or on our website@practicalprepping.info books.
- [01:55]
B
And we would really love to hear from you. You can leave your comments or questions@practicalprepping.info contact.
- [02:03]
A
Now let's get into our episode about building resilience without spending a fortune. 18 no cost and Low Cost Prepping activities.
- [02:15]
B
First of all, you want to plan and organize. It's probably the most intelligent step you can take is know how to get started. So you want to create or possibly refine your emergency plan for your household, including your pets and your family. Now this would include meeting points, communication methods and key contacts.
- [02:34]
A
And one thing I wanted to add into here as we're talking about planning, create and memorize a family code word. Something that only your household knows about. And this is useful for situations where someone might not be able to speak freely or someone else may need to pick up your child or you might need to move immediately. For example, Krista and her family had a particular word and I actually know what that word is, so that if there was a message going to her daughter that she could use that word.
- [03:12]
B
And that it kind of authenticated that it came from us.
- [03:15]
A
Exactly. Or if someone says your mommy and daddy sent me to pick you up. What's the code word if they give the wrong code word? Run.
- [03:27]
B
Right.
- [03:28]
A
And I had that situation. My first wife broke her leg very seriously, had to have some surgery that afternoon. And I got one of our son in laws to pick up our youngest daughter and we had that worked out. Of course she knew him by sight. I mean she, that's her brother in law. And another thing is a word that means if I say this word, get up and leave, period, no matter what we're doing. And I used to use the word rutabaga for that. That's a word you don't normally use in conversation. And it's where if I'm at a restaurant with my family and I see something, I could say that word and it means don't ask any questions, get up and leave. We can come back and pay the bill if we need to or whatever, but if we see a problem and it's time to vacate the premises, then we can use that word. So I wanted to put that in there. That's part of planning and organizing. It's something that you can do to better help your family.
- [04:35]
B
Something else that's very near and dear to my heart is to build your water resilience. Anyone that has listened to this podcast for any length of time knows that water is my number one prepping item. And that applies to anybody and everybody all the time. You want to clean and set aside some empty containers to store tap water. You want to label them and do rotate them every six to 12 months. You know, water can remain safe, but it can develop a bit of a.
- [05:02]
A
Stale taste that and it can leach chemicals from the container that it's in. And speaking of water, this week we're offering the second free resource on storing water. This is a two page guide and it's clean and treat before filling because clean storage equals safe water.
- [05:24]
B
Very good.
- [05:25]
A
And you'll find the link in the episode notes@practicalprepping.info 533 and we'll offer the third in the series next week. And the total of five pages in the guide will help you in your water prepping plan.
- [05:41]
B
Next up, you want to learn to navigate through your house in the dark? That's a great question. In the darkness, can you crawl to an exit from anywhere in your house? How well do you know your dwelling? So that's one of those things you can practice and get the family to practice as well and get familiar with crawling around maybe hands and knees in complete darkness. And be able to navigate where all the openings and exits and entrances are in your house. And that would include windows as well. To know where the furniture is, know which side of the door handle is on. You know, you think you know, but that's because you're always seeing it. You've got to be able to practice that in the dark.
- [06:19]
A
And firemen do this a lot. I've crawled through, back in my few years with the fire department, I've crawled through houses that were so smoky you could not see where you were going. We'd be crawling along and run right into a chair.
- [06:33]
B
I mean, see, you don't know their house. No, but this would be a time for someone to know their house in case they did have to navigate openings and felt like it would be easier for them to be already at ground level so they couldn't really fall, you know.
- [06:47]
A
Well, that, that and in a fire, you want to be as close to the floor as you can be.
- [06:53]
B
Well, we weren't. I'm not necessarily talking about a fire.
- [06:55]
A
Yes.
- [06:56]
B
I'm not just know your house.
- [06:58]
A
Yes. But I'm specifically talking about in a fire. But you want to know that it may be smoke filled your eyes, may be burning, you may be choking, but you need to keep moving to get out of that house. Another thing that you can do is inventory what you already have and resupply as needed. Go through your pantry, go through your first aid kit, go through your tools, note what's missing. And this helps you to shop smarter later. You need to resupply the things that you have taken out that you've used. I had to dig out a band aid yesterday. I mean, nothing unnormal about that for me, but I had to dig out a band aid and get Krista to put that on me. While I was there, I looked to see, okay, we've got, you know, X number of band aids still in there. We're good there. I can leak a few more times before I have to replace. In that particular first aid kit, he.
- [07:59]
B
Did what we call a lolly.
- [08:00]
A
Yes.
- [08:01]
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That's just our little family joke of, you know, he'll either bang ahead or an arm or a shin on something and, you know, there'll be a little bleeding wound there. So he came and said, well, I did a lolly.
- [08:13]
A
I said, well, and it's really fun to hear the littles, our little grandsons say ditto. Wowee.
- [08:22]
B
Right, Next up on the list is make a lights out kit that consists of candles and lighters, batteries, flashlights, a Small radio and store it where you can find it in the dark because that might be how you're looking for it.
- [08:36]
A
It might be. Now, Krista and I keep a couple of flashlights on the little table between our two chairs. And I most often have one own me personally, and I'm pulling it out of my pocket right now. And Krist as verifying that I actually had one.
- [08:53]
B
There is a flashlight in his hand.
- [08:55]
A
So I keep one on me most of the time. But if we're sitting in there, you know, pajama pants or something like that, lights go out, then there's one in easy reach that will get us to our lights out kit. So that's something that you just bring those things together and you probably already have many of those things in.
- [09:17]
B
You also want to practice some of your cooking without electric power. So try using a camp stove, a barbecue grill, or even make a DIY rocket stove from cans or bricks. Now, with each of these, we're talking about outdoor cooking. I want to make that very clear for those of you that are listening. Don't try to attempt to do what would create carbon monoxide in your house. So use those types of items outdoors and use them in practice and create some meals without using any electricity. See how well that goes for you.
- [09:48]
A
And possibly try using that grill in a new way. It was many episodes back and Krista was talking about cooking on the grill, and I had no idea that by using indirect heat you can do a lot more things like baking.
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B
Well, of course. Like biscuits, bread.
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A
Right.
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Roll roast, like pot roast.
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A
Try that with your grill. Most of us in both the southern and northern hemisphere right now, we're in kind of our best weather season is not too hot, not too cold, so we can get in and out. It's either spring or it's fall, depending on where you are. So it's a good opportunity and some of you will be out there grilling for some of the different holidays coming up. Or just because. We used to grill just because. And it's a good opportunity to try some indirect heat cooking with your grill. You also want to learn some first aid basics. There's some free online courses and community center trainings and they can teach you essentials like cpr, wound care, and splinting. Those are things that we need in our toolbox of skills is first aid basics. You can also learn a new skill. How about fire building, purifying water, learning basic knots or navigation using a compass and a map. And we need to learn online and practice outdoors.
- [11:23]
B
Absolutely. The More you practice something when it's not an emergency, the better your mind can go there. When you do have an emergency, you're less likely to freeze and become paralyzed with fear. You'll be able to know how to.
- [11:36]
A
Make that first step and that navigation using a map. This was before GPS and, well, I'm sure the military had it, but before we could all get it, I taught my daughter, my youngest daughter, even before she was learning to drive, how to read a map. And even today, if they go on a trip, her husband will be driving by gps and she's got that map in her lap. She prefers to have that map. And it's a good skill to have, and it's one that I don't think we teach our kids today like we should.
- [12:12]
B
Well, I think that would be a very good one to put on the list. Now, today's cup of coffee comes from our friend Ruby. Ruby, we really enjoy our coffee and we really appreciate your membership that way and supporting our show. And if you would like to buy us a cup of coffee or 2 or 10 or 12 or 50, you can go to practicalprepping.info support and you can click on buy me a coffee. You know, we have to pay our bills and we like to eat in addition to drinking coffee. And we appreciate your support, seriously, your support of the show financially really helps us keep going and we are so appreciative and we want to be good stewards of your support. You know, here we are over five years in podcasting and that's largely due to the support of our very faithful listeners. And we appreciate, appreciate that it is.
- [12:59]
A
And we're in the process of doing some upgrades to the studio and it really does make a difference. All right, let's get back to our list. Create copies of important documents digitally and physically. Store identifications, insurance, deeds, medical info. Put that in plastic bags and. Or put it on USB drives. I scan a lot of our stuff to go onto a drive. Even though we have file cabinets, it's pretty well laid out and we can pretty much put our hands on a piece of paper. I can also put my hands on it digitally if I have to.
- [13:39]
B
You can improve your physical fitness. This is also on the list to build up your endurance and your strength. And this can be simply done by walking, by push up, sit ups, carrying weight. You know, fitness power is survival power. And I'm preaching to myself when I'm saying this, I need to improve in that area. And so I'm going to make that part of my list to be able to have a no cost way to be able to just get more physically fit.
- [14:08]
A
Yeah, it's about getting out and getting moving. Our friend Mike is very into fitness. This is Michael, Wayne Foster and John Turk and they host the F3 podcast. It's faith, freedom and fitness. And these guys are all over fitness. And Mike's all over me a lot of times about how much I'm not working out. He's helped me with some things to learn, some movements that help me not to build up what we call mirror muscle, but to build up the core muscle that will help me live longer. In the end, that's something that we can do, just get off the couch and go for a walk.
- [14:51]
B
You can also conduct a home safety check. This would include inspecting your smoke alarms, your CO alarms, securing the furniture and noting any hazards like a gas leak or loose wiring, because those things need to get fixed right away. You can't wait on something like that. I actually had a gas leak in my house in North Carolina. Interesting story. It was about 3 o' clock in the morning and our house cat would come and go inside of a very small, shallow, little open window. And him coming and going out of that window was not unusual. But he came in at 3 o' clock 1 morning and jumped on the bed and started meowing, which he never did that, Never ever did that. So it got our attention. We didn't know what his problem was and he kept jumping back out the window and then jumping back in. And finally we just kind of realized he's alerting us to something outside. We walked outside of our house, we walked all the way around the house and then we smelled that pungent, you know, natural gas type smell. It was very unmistakable. We call the natural gas company right then and there and they sent a guy out quick, fast and in a hurry and they found a gas leak at the corner, the far corner, where we wouldn't have even detected it. But had we had a spark or static electricity or something that following morning, or dropped a match or something, it would have been catastrophic. So our cat saved us because we had a gas leak, didn't even know it. But I share that. To simply say we didn't even realize that was happening. It's not like we tampered with anything to get a leak. It can just happen. So make certain if you have natural gas energy that you're aware of any type of fittings and you can't really handle that yourself, you got to get the gas company to come and do that. For you.
- [16:40]
A
And you're talking about securing furniture that really comes into play in earthquake prone areas. A lot of folks will bolt the bookshelves back to the wall. A lot of people will put locks on their cabinet doors to keep their dishes from coming out.
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B
Oh, I see. Which is cool.
- [16:59]
A
We can make some, some secured areas. Another thing that we want to do is rotate and maintain what we have.
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Yes, absolutely. Use your preps, your items that you purchase for preps, particularly commodities like food and water and consumables. Go ahead and use them on a rotational basis.
- [17:20]
A
But check your batteries. And I have been checking hours quite regularly. One, I've been needing to get more batteries out to put into different devices. But from time to time I go through there just to make sure we don't have a leaking battery in our battery buddy, which if you don't have a battery buddy, I'll put one on the website and you can look at. They're not expensive. They hold a whole bunch of batteries. And Krista and I were talking about when we go to see the grandkids at Christmas and the whole family gets together, we're going to pick that up and put it in the car though. We're going to. We normally Krista does if we give something that requires batteries, we give a set of batteries that will fit it. But we don't want some little fella to get a toy and nobody has a battery to fit it. Papa, go to the car and get the battery buddy and we'll put that on the featured page for you as well@practicalprepping.info featured. Very, very handy. I was given one as a gift and I've loved it ever since.
- [18:27]
B
Next on the list, you want to download or print your critical resources. Now this would be free survival guides that you can get from a number of places. Maps, first aid charts and PDFs that can be saved offline or printed for blackout situations. Just to have that in handy form like off device for example.
- [18:47]
A
And the new free resource on water for the guide, it has a tear off section down on the bottom that you can tear that off and post it someplace. And it gives you the formulas for mixing bleach and the various things like that. So we're trying to cover water and get it where you're safe with your water and where you have an adequate supply if something happens. So again, go get that resource. Now you want to create an evacuation go list. If you only had 10 minutes to leave, what would you grab? Write it down and keep that list Visible. And I will tell you to write down where you put it. I was telling Krista about someone who posted that they were in a flood area and they had six minutes to leave. And this guy's running around in the house and saying, I know I bought this. Now where did I put it? Now I bought this. Now where did I put that? I know I've got one of these. Where is it? And he said the wife and the kids were already in the car and the kids in the car seats before he was able to get out there. So those types of things keep a list not only of what you have, but where you have it.
- [20:09]
B
Yeah.
- [20:09]
A
And maybe mark or highlight the ones that you would have to take with you. And I'm thinking here things that you'd normally wouldn't put in a go bag, but things that you would be using every day as well as needing to take them with you. And another thing is to learn manual alternatives.
- [20:31]
B
What does that mean?
- [20:32]
A
Well, practice opening cans without an electric can opener.
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B
Oh, I see.
- [20:38]
A
Some folks practice washing clothes by hand.
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B
They even have some sort of rudimentary type of washing bucket, so to speak. It's like with a plunger. And you can actually launder clothes that way.
- [20:51]
A
Right. And you can practice lighting a fire safely.
- [20:54]
B
Sure.
- [20:55]
A
A lot of people don't. A lot of people go many years without lighting a fire. Go out there and practice. It doesn't have to be a big fire. And don't cheat. And use a fire log, you know, where you just light the end of the thing. Go out there and learn to start a fire. Learn. If you don't normally use a manual can opener, practice with that once in a while. Krista has one can opener that I have yet to figure out. I cannot open a can with that can opener.
- [21:28]
B
It's tricky. It's tricky, and it works every time.
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A
Except when I try.
- [21:36]
B
All right, next on the list is to run a no power drill. Now, we're not talking about a tool here. We're talking about a drill, like a practice run. Spend a whole evening with no electricity. No electric lights, no electric stove, no television, no phone charging. You want to test your gear, and you want to see what's missing in your plan and. And see how well you cope with that type of a challenge ahead of you. Now, of course, you know you can turn your electricity on at any time, but you really, you really want a good run on this. Be very faithful to keep that electricity off. That's gonna test your cooking skills and your lighting skills and your Entertainment skills.
- [22:16]
A
I hear a lot of people suggest that you do it over a weekend.
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B
Yeah, give it several days.
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A
48 hours will give you a pretty good idea of, of where you're lacking in that.
- [22:27]
B
I think we're going to have to get us some Chinese checkers and a deck of cards. Yes.
- [22:31]
A
Which we actually have some board games and stuff back in the closet and those would have to come out at that time. Now here's one that I enjoy and that's collecting tinder and making DIY fire starters.
- [22:46]
B
Oh, these are fun.
- [22:47]
A
Now you can use old wax, you can use cotton, cardboard, paper scraps, dryer lint. All of those can be repurposed into useful light and heat sources and fire starters. You can even take a bunch of old candles and remelt those and make new candles. I used to do that years ago. You can make the jar candles. All you need is a wick to put down in there with it. If you've not done this, you. Your first effort, you may find could use some improvement. The first time I used cotton balls and petroleum jelly, I figured out in trying to light a fire with it, I did not use enough petroleum jelly. You have to really put just saturate those things with it. And the first time I tried the dryer lint thing, I took the dryer lint and stuffed it inside a toilet tissue roll and it didn't light all that well. Well, I went back and added some candle wax with that and it worked real well. That candle wax mixed in there with it really does help in starting that fire.
- [24:00]
B
Another item on the list that you can apply would be to learn what your shelf stable meal planning is going to look like. You can experiment with making meals only from your canned, your dried, and your stored food storage, just to see what works best for your family. I have done this a time or two on a weekend where we've had what I call we're gonna have a prep dinner, a prepper dinner. And I make it strictly out of what I have in my prepper pantry and just to see what the variety is and how well and successful I was at creating a palatable meal that would be acceptable, you know, in a time like that. And it really does cause you to think about your whole plan on that. And don't forget your spices. You know, your salt, your pepper, your garlic powder. Those types of things can make a huge difference in the way everything tastes.
- [24:49]
A
If you receive value from the podcast, would you help us by giving back a little? Seriously, you can go to practicalprepping.info support and there you'll find several ways that you can help us, including buying us a cup of coffee and all of those things can support the show. You can also begin your shopping from Amazon from our website. Just click on the Amazon banner. It will take you to Amazon. Sign in and just shop like you normally would. It cost you nothing extra, but it does pay us a small commission on qualifying purchases. We do appreciate you being here today. We thank you for taking your time out of your day to be with us and we hope it's a valuable time for you. And as Krista always says, stuff happens. Stay prepared and we'll see you next time.