Water, Calories, Bugging In, and Ditching Gear Dependence

Summary

Practical Prepping Podcast – Episode 524
Water, Calories, Bugging In, and Ditching Gear Dependence
Hosts: Mark & Krista Lawley
Date: September 8, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Mark and Krista Lawley deliver actionable, realistic prepping strategies for everyday emergencies—no doomsday paranoia here. They cover four essential topics: how to make safe drinking water (including lesser-known methods), calculating calorie needs post-disaster, the steps for effective “bugging in” (sheltering at home) through various crises, and the philosophy and practice of reducing dependency on gear by building your own core survival skills. The tone is warm, practical, and family-friendly, offering both scientific reasoning and real-life anecdotes to ground their advice.

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Key Topics & Insights

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1. Water Purification—Beyond Boiling

• Standard recommendation: Bringing water to a rolling boil for one minute at sea level (longer at higher altitudes) kills most pathogens.

  • Krista: “Most pathogens can be killed within one minute of a rolling boil, or three minutes if your altitude is above 2,000 meters or 6,500 ft.” (03:14)

• Problem addressed: What if you can't boil due to environmental constraints (wind, low fuel, small fire)?

  • Mark: “But there’s another technique… called water pasteurization.” (03:43)

• Water Pasteurization:

  • Hold water at 160°F (71°C) for 30 minutes, or 185°F (85°C) for 3 minutes to kill pathogens (04:00).
  • This is crucial for scenarios where boiling isn’t possible.

• Important considerations:

  • Altitude: Boiling point lowers at higher elevations, requiring longer treatment times (05:01).
  • Water Clarity: Filter cloudy or debris-filled water using cloth, coffee filter, bandana, or T-shirt before treatment (05:20).
  • Chemical Contaminants: Boiling/pasteurization doesn’t remove chemicals; use filtration or solar distillation for that.
    • Mark: “Boiling does not remove chemical pollutants like heavy metals, pesticides, or other toxins. You need some other type of filtration or treatment for that.” (05:27)

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2. Caloric Needs in Disaster Scenarios

• Activity-based calorie requirements:

  • Sedentary (resting/light chores): 1,800–2,000 cal/day
  • Light activity (basic chores): 2,200–2,500 cal/day
  • Moderate activity (shelter-building, hauling): 2,800–3,500 cal/day
  • Strenuous labor (chainsaws, debris removal): 3,500–6,000 cal/day
  • Extreme activity (rescue/firefighting): up to 7,000 cal/day
    • Mark: “Federal contracts call for feeding the workers 6,000 calories per day.” (08:18)

• Personal anecdote: On disaster sites, workers eat large amounts due to extreme exertion.

  • Krista: “He would explain how much food and calorie they were intaking every day and it was mind boggling.” (10:36)

• Planning your pantry:

  • Prioritize calorie-dense, long-lasting foods: peanut butter, nuts, dried foods, energy bars (13:18).
  • Hydration is key:
    • At least 1–1.5 gallons of water/person/day for typical needs, more with heat or exertion (14:09).
    • Don’t neglect electrolytes: salt, potassium, magnesium.
      • Krista: “Water alone isn’t all that the body needs. The body has to have salt, potassium, magnesium, other minerals.” (14:22)
    • Carrying those small electrolyte packets is recommended (14:42).

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3. Mastering the Art of Bugging In (“Sheltering in Place”)

• Bugging in is often preferable:

  • Stay home unless escaping is truly necessary (wildfires, chemical spills, hurricanes).
  • Gain skills for sheltering in place through checklists and planning (e.g., "Bug-In Survival Checklist" mentioned at 17:12).

• Core principles of sheltering in place:

  • Protection: Close windows/doors, move to windowless interior rooms (lowest floor for tornadoes, higher for floods; 18:33-20:14).
  • Supplies: Stockpile food, water, flashlights, helmets, and consider a long-term stay (23:15-23:36).
  • Sanitation & air quality: Backup plans for plumbing; use fans with filters for air quality (24:03 & 24:59).
  • Temperature: Have plans for both extreme cold (wool blankets, alternate heat) and heat (cooling centers, mall trips) (25:09-25:40).
  • Utilities shut-off: In case of chemical/biological events, seal the shelter with duct tape/plastic and shut down HVAC systems (26:06-26:44).

• Threat-specific adjustments:

  • Active shooter/security threat: Barricade, silence electronics, prepare to defend as last resort (27:32-28:35).
    • Mark: “If the danger tries to come inside, we are going to repel the danger. You come in, you get shot. That’s what it comes down to.” (28:28)
  • Nuclear/radiological: Move to innermost/underground shelter; stay inside 24+ hours; seal windows/doors (30:21-31:48).
  • Pandemic/biological: Avoid people, stock up on meds, practice hygiene, use masks when necessary (32:13-34:49).
    • Mark: “If it’s serious enough, we may or may not even go to the mailbox.” (33:18)
    • Krista: “Beef up your medications there, your over-the-counter medications so you can treat the symptoms.” (33:27)

• Family communication plan:

  • Distribute hard copy family contact lists; designate an out-of-area contact (36:39-37:35).
  • Share shelter location and status, check in regularly (37:35-37:55).
  • Practice shelter-in-place drills with family (37:55-38:34).

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4. Ditching Gear Dependence—Why and How

• Philosophy: “The more you know, the less you have to carry.” (39:12)

  • Instead of relying on a massive, heavy “all I own” bug-out bag, develop practical skills and use multi-purpose tools.

• Essential survival skills:

  • Fire-building: Learn techniques with and without modern tools (bow drill, natural tinders, fatwood) (40:01-41:40).
  • Shelter-building: Use natural resources, choose safe locations, avoid flood zones (41:40-42:37).
  • Water procurement and purification:
    • Identify sources; boil, pasteurize, improvise with rocks/heated containers, use solar disinfection (clear bottles in sun for 8 hours) (42:37-43:40).
    • Filter with sand, charcoal, cloth if necessary.
  • Foraging:
    • Study edible/wild plants (Mark: “I would not eat a mushroom in the wild because I don’t know which ones get you full, which ones get you high, and which ones get you dead.” 44:16)
    • Skills in basic trapping, fishing, hunting, tool making from natural materials (44:12-45:07).

• Cultivating a survival mindset:

  • Staying calm: “Keep calm and carry on” really works in disasters (45:07).
  • Adaptability and resourcefulness: MacGyver what you need with what you have (45:46-46:27).
  • Situational awareness: Assess environment and prioritize needs (46:27-46:38).
  • Multipurpose/Minimalist gear: Favor simplicity—knife, multi-tool, paracord, duct tape, water filter (46:46-47:42).
  • Improvise tools and containers: Use rocks for cutting, bark/leaves for cordage, containers (47:42-48:38).
  • Practice: Regularly drill primitive techniques and physical fitness (48:52-50:29).

• Summary lesson:

  • Krista: “Skills are perishable and we need to regularly practice so that it ensures that we're prepared when the gear is unavailable.” (51:08)
  • Mark: “Focusing on skills, resourcefulness and mindset...that reduces your dependence on gear and it increases your chances of survival in any situation.” (51:20)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the rationale for sheltering in place:

  • Krista: “Bugging in safely is the preferred way to go… sometimes you do have to evacuate… but for the most part…” (16:33)

• On post-disaster calorie needs:

  • Mark: “It took them nine days to get up and running [after Katrina].” (23:59)
  • Krista: “He would gain weight while he was off on disaster [relief assignments] because they’re just pouring the food on.” (11:39)

• On practical prepping (the podcast's heart):

  • Mark: “We’re not against gear — we love some gear — but what if we don’t have it?” (39:00)

• On skill vs. stuff:

  • Mark: “The more you know, the less you have to carry.” (Repeated at 39:12 as a kind of show mantra)
  • Krista: “Skills are perishable and we need to regularly practice…” (51:08)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:53] Boiling water and the limits of fire-based purification
• [03:43] Water pasteurization technique explained
• [05:01] Altitude and its effect on water purification
• [08:18] Calorie requirements by activity level
• [13:18] Planning your pantry for energy-dense foods & electrolytes
• [16:33] The case for bugging in / Shelter in place basics
• [20:14] Specifics for various types of weather emergencies (tornadoes, hurricanes)
• [24:03] Sanitation and air quality
• [27:32] Active shooter / security threat response
• [30:21] Nuclear/radiological sheltering considerations
• [32:13] Sheltering for pandemic/biological threats
• [36:39] Family communication and check-in plans
• [39:12] Ditching gear dependence—philosophy and core message
• [40:01] Essential survival skills rundown (fire, shelter, water, foraging)
• [45:07] Mental attitude and adaptability

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Conclusion

Mark & Krista reinforce that prepping is about practical know-how for realistic emergencies—whether that’s learning how to make water safe without boiling, planning your pantry for true exertion, sheltering in place smartly, or focusing on skills over gadgets. Their approach is both thorough and approachable, with plenty of personal stories, clear how-tos, and reminders that anyone can begin—no bunkers or doomsday mindsets required.

“Stuff happens. Stay prepared.”

Transcript

[Mark]

In today's episode, we're discussing how to make safe drinking water, calculate post disaster calorie needs, master the art of bugging in, and reduce your dependence on survival gear.

[Krista]

Welcome to Practical Prepping. Today is September 8, 2025 and this is episode 524. 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. And we're here to help you get prepared. Hi guys, I'm Krista and Mark.

[Mark]

And if you'd like the expanded notes for today's episode, go to practicalprepping.info 524. This episode is sponsored by our book, the 31 Day Devotional for Preppers. It's a biblical view of our preparedness physically and spiritually. You can go to practicalprepping.info books to find this and our other books available at Amazon. Now we're going to get into our 1791 gunleather.com gear segment. The name the gear segment.

[Krista]

I like it.

[Mark]

Now, if you want a quality holster, American made with American source leather, take a look at the 1791 Gunleather Holsters. You'll find them in local gun shops. Or you can get a 15% discount at 1791gunleather.com if you'll use the code PREP15. Now, we always talk about boiling water for one minute to make it safe to drink.

[Guest or Contributor]

True.

[Mark]

What if we can't get the temp up to boiling?

[Guest or Contributor]

Uh oh, never thought about that.

[Mark]

Well, two times I've been smoking meat and because of the outside temperature and the wind, I could not get the heat up enough in the smoker to cook the meat.

[Guest or Contributor]

Oh, right.

[Mark]

I had to build a windbreak and a top around the smoker to get it hot enough.

[Guest or Contributor]

Oh my.

[Mark]

And what if we're using an open fire and the fire is just too.

[Guest or Contributor]

Small, you know, like on a loan or we. Yeah, I'm going to admit it. We used to watch Naked and Afraid, which you should be afraid to watch that. But yeah, they never could seem to.

[Krista]

Get their fire going, you know, really.

[Guest or Contributor]

Well, and that was a serious challenge.

[Mark]

And they might just have a small, small fire. What if you're using a propane stove to heat your water and it's too small?

[Guest or Contributor]

It's possible.

[Mark]

What if you're trying to purify too much water at one time?

[Krista]

Well, I guess the blessing there is you've got too much water. Yeah, better that than not enough.

[Mark]

But killing pathogens is typically the way that we purify water and typically do that by heating it to a temperature where all of those microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses and parasites are destroyed. The temperature of boiling water is. Is 100 degrees centigrade, or 212 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level.

[Krista]

And I have understood that most pathogens can be killed within one minute of a rolling boil, or three minutes if your altitude is above 2,000 meters or 6,500ft.

[Mark]

Okay, now that is what we've commonly taught, what we've commonly learned, what everyone has said. But there's another technique in there. And, and it comes into play when you cannot get the water hot enough to boil it.

[Krista]

You know, I have never thought about this, and I'm glad that you did think about this, because this could really be helpful to somebody.

[Mark]

It could. And it's called water pasteurization.

[Krista]

I like it.

[Mark]

It really depends on you getting the water to somewhere between, say, 150 and 167 degrees Fahrenheit. Fahrenheit. And that would be 65 to 75 degrees centigrade. Now, water pasteurization kills most of the pathogens at lower temperatures than boiling. But here's the deal. You need to heat water to 160 degrees for 30 minutes. That should kill all of the pathogens. Or you can get it to 185 degrees for three minutes.

[Krista]

So that's a big time difference.

[Mark]

But it's something that we wanted to bring to you today because you may get into a situation where you cannot get the water to actually boil because of the ambient temperature, because of wind, because of too small of a fire or whatever. This makes another option, another tool in the toolbox. But there are some considerations. One is altitude. At higher altitudes, water boils. At a lower temperature boil due to reduced atmospheric pressure.

[Krista]

Ooh, science class.

[Mark]

And this requires longer boiling times to ensure that the pathogens are destroyed.

[Krista]

Yeah, I understand that.

[Mark]

Water clarity is another consideration. If the water is cloudy or it contains debris, you need to filter it first or pre filter it.

[Guest or Contributor]

How would you do that?

[Mark]

You can do that with a cloth or a coffee filter or some other.

[Krista]

A bandana.

[Mark]

Bandana would be great.

[Guest or Contributor]

A T shirt.

[Mark]

Yes. But get the chunky stuff out, get the crunchy water clear, and then boil it or pasteurize it. Another consideration is the chemical contaminants that could be there. Boiling does not remove chemical pollutants like heavy metals, pesticides, or other toxins. You need some other type of filtration or treatment for that type of water and solar distillation works great. You can build a little solar steel and do that.

[Guest or Contributor]

I've been thinking here that summer's coming to an end pretty soon, even though.

[Krista]

I know we still have hot weather and it's getting a little bit cool. It was 58 degrees this morning and it felt so autumnal and fresh. And it made me start to think about using recipes that involve applesauce or apple butter.

[Guest or Contributor]

And muirheadcanning.com came to mind because if you want that fresh tasting, just like grandma used to make canned apple butter, applesauce and maple syrup and some of those autumnal flavors that we love so well, then you're going to want to visit muirheadcanning.com they have the freshest fruits. They have diced tomatoes, maple syrup, peaches, pears, apricots, cherries, applesauce, chunky or smooth. And they even offer additional flavorings for applesauce, such as cinnamon, which would be fantastic. So think about your holiday baking coming up. You know, a lot of folks are gonna start putting some apple breads and things in the freezer to give later on as gifts. And you're gonna wanna use some of the finest quality ingredients that you can get your hands on. And I'm telling you, you need to order from Yourheadcanning.com you can go onto.

[Krista]

Their website, you can order online, or you can even request a paper order form and they will mail it to you. These are the nicest folks and they make some of the freshest, tasting, most delightful foods we have enjoyed.

[Mark]

That's muirheadcanning.com and if you'll use the code Prep10, you'll get 10% discount off of the price.

[Krista]

There you go.

[Mark]

Or if you call them on the phone, just tell them Mark and Krista sent you.

[Krista]

That's right. And you know my little jingle. M U I R H e a d muirheadcanning.com muirheadcanning.com Go visit.

[Mark]

You kind of make me hungry with that. And that leads right into our next segment. And that is the caloric needs in disaster scenarios. How hard you work changes your energy needs. Well, that's kind of a duh.

[Krista]

So many times, though, people don't count on the fact that there's going to be more exertion, more stress and strain after an emergency, and that's going to translate into calorie intake.

[Mark]

One of the interesting things I learned in disaster relief is when you're feeding the general populace, you feed 2,000 calories per day. Okay, that's what the Red Cross, that's what the Salvation army, everybody bases it on. 2,000 calories per day. Well, that's for a sedentary populace. Actually it is. And a lot of people are just sitting around, they can't do anything. And so that 2,000 calories a day meets that need. But the federal contracts call for feeding the workers 6,000 calories per day.

[Krista]

Yeah. And that makes a lot of sense if you watch some of those workers do the jobs they're doing.

[Mark]

Yeah. We've got a breakdown here and mentioned the sedentary, the minimal activity. And these are folks that are resting or performing lighthouse work or staying in safe location, but they're doing little physical exertion. That is where the caloric needs are. Between 1800 and 2000 calories per day. You go to light activity and it might be short walks, basic hygiene, light cleaning, or intermittent moving, carrying light loads, gathering water, preparing meals. And the caloric need goes up to about 2200-2500 calories per day.

[Krista]

I see.

[Mark]

Then you get into moderate activity and that's physical activity, but without heavy exertion.

[Guest or Contributor]

Okay.

[Mark]

This might be walking long distances, it might be assembling shelters, it might be hauling small items, helping to unload a trailer. And the caloric need goes up to between 2,800 and 3,500 calories per day.

[Krista]

That's a big jump.

[Mark]

Then you get into strenuous labor. This is heavy activity. This is folks that are doing things like running chainsaws, lifting and pulling debris, carrying heavy loads over long distances, clearing a lot of rubble, digging, or even doing reconstructive work on disaster scenes. And we relate this to any type of SHTF event.

[Krista]

Exactly.

[Mark]

But this raises it to between 3,500 and 6,000 calories per day.

[Krista]

Right. It makes me think about our son in law who at one time worked for a large energy company in North Carolina. And that company would dispatch them all over the southeast of the areas they served for him and his crew to go and work some of these areas. And they were sleeping on cots in big buildings that were maybe still standing. But he would explain how much food and calorie they were intaking every day and it was mind boggling. But he's doing just what you're saying. He's in that heavy to strenuous activity level.

[Mark]

And, and Brandon's not what we would call a big guy.

[Krista]

He's a, he's a small, wiry, strong fellow.

[Mark]

Oh, he's extremely strong.

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Mark]

But he's not that big.

[Krista]

No.

[Mark]

But he's not like our 16 year old, 6 foot 5 who corrected me. He's no longer 253 pounds. He's 265 pounds.

[Krista]

Well, he's a growing boy.

[Mark]

He's trying to add more muscle. But our son in law would go off on these and he would gain weight while he was off on disaster.

[Krista]

Yeah, because they're just pouring the food on. He said it was good food too.

[Mark]

It really is. I've been there with that. We've had some great food. But then you move into the extreme activity and this is where folks are working nonstop for long hours and it's really physically taxing conditions. And this might be rescue operations. This might be heavy lifting or hauling all day long. Firefighting. When you go into, when they're dropped.

[Guest or Contributor]

Into wildfires a lot of times.

[Mark]

Wildfire firefighting. This is some physically intense and sometimes emergency work. And these guys can go up to needing as much as 7,000 calories per day.

[Krista]

I get it. Because they're burning every, every calorie they are burning with that hard work.

[Mark]

Now there's some factors here to include what influences the caloric needs. One is the duration of the work.

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Mark]

The hours spent on that sustained high intensity level. The other is the body size. Larger individuals are going to burn more calories than smaller individuals. The environment has some to do with it. Cold weather really increases the caloric needs because of the body's need to thermoregulate.

[Krista]

Right.

[Mark]

Hot weather increases fluid and electrolyte needs due to sweating.

[Krista]

Makes sense.

[Mark]

So there's a lot of things to that can go into this. A lot of moving parts really. And where I'm coming from here is we need to plan our prepper pantry to meet those needs.

[Krista]

Right.

[Mark]

We need to prioritize calorie, dense and long lasting foods. We always talk about store what you eat so you can eat what you normally eat. But we do need to have these high calorie foods in there. We need to have the carbohydrates, we need to have the proteins, we need to have the fats. And this is where storing things like jars of peanut butter comes in to mind. A lot of nuts and dried foods. Energy bars. Send out your crews with energy bars on them.

[Guest or Contributor]

Yeah, right.

[Mark]

Just kind of plan your pantry to include these types of things, but also the hydration and the micronutrients. Now the water, we always say that you need at least one gallon of water. Well, in this type of situation it goes up to between a gallon and A gallon and a half per day per person and more for heavy labor or hot environments.

[Krista]

Oh, and don't forget the electrolytes because.

[Guest or Contributor]

Water alone isn't all that the body needs. The body has to have salt, potassium, magnesium, other minerals. These are very critical for proper muscle function, hydration, nervous system, energy sustaining. All of those things are really based on those electrolytes and that mineral content.

[Mark]

And that's where those little packets of electrolytes that you add to water, that really comes into play here that just boosts those electrolytes.

[Krista]

And those are small and easy to carry in a backpack or a car bag or somewhere where you might need that little extra boost.

[Mark]

We have them in our bags because we could get put into that type of situation. Now we were traveling over the weekend and we were sitting in the car quite a bit and I was glad I was carrying my proof minimalist RFID blocking wallet instead of that thick folded wallet that I used to carry in my back pocket. It's a good looking flat front pocket wallet. It has a money band that serves as a money clip.

[Guest or Contributor]

Yep.

[Krista]

Handy.

[Mark]

Ladies, I'm telling you, your man would love to have one of these. Krista. I does, Yes I do. Krista gave me one for Christmas last year and, and I don't even carry that thick folding wallet anymore.

[Krista]

Yeah, that thing has been retired and.

[Mark]

This thing holds up to 25 credit or debit cards and you could put your driver's license in there, anything that's the size of a credit card, insurance.

[Krista]

And things like that.

[Mark]

And it has an RFID blocking built right in to guard against the scanners.

[Krista]

They're out there.

[Mark]

And proof is veteran owned. So you're dealing with great guys. I've talked with them on the telephone. They have the best customer service you can ask for and they've got an unrivaled guarantee.

[Krista]

Tell us about it.

[Mark]

If you don't like it, they'll give you a refund. If you damage it, they'll replace it. If you lose it, they'll replace it.

[Krista]

That's pretty darn good.

[Mark]

That's a pretty good, pretty good guarantee. Now go to carryproof.com that's carry C A R R Y proof.com carry and use the code prepper for a 10% discount. You won't regret it.

[Krista]

Now we hear a whole lot on building bug out bags. Bug out bags, Bobs Bobs and most preppers will agree that bugging in is actually the best thing that you can do if you're able. Now granted, there are times you have to bug out if there's a wildfire coming your way, if there's a flood, if the Hurricane is Cat 3 or above a chemical spill, whatever it might be. Sometimes you do have to evacuate your dwelling place. But for the most part, bugging in safely is the preferred way to go. So we need to understand different types of sheltering in place, also known as bugging in.

[Mark]

Now, if you don't have the free bug in survival Checklist, go to practicalprepping.info courses and get that the bug end survival checklist. And that's free. We also have the getting started and prepping guide available and we're hosting a live virtual workshop on Tuesday, September 16th at 7pm where we'll be covering, getting started in, prepping and building a 72 hour emergency kit.

[Krista]

The cost is only $7 and you will receive a workbook and a checklist.

[Guest or Contributor]

And we'll be doing a question and answer live session.

[Krista]

So bring your questions and get them answered live right then and there and.

[Mark]

You can [e-mail] workshop.

[Guest or Contributor]

Now, sheltering in place, that basically refers to staying in a specific location, typically indoors, to protect yourself during some sort of a crisis or an emergency or.

[Krista]

A disaster when it would be unsafe to leave.

[Guest or Contributor]

And it's a protective action. It's used in various scenarios like natural disasters, chemical spills or active threats. So understanding the different types of sheltering in place can help ensure that you will respond appropriately to the different situations you might encounter.

[Mark]

Let's talk about a couple of generalities about sheltering in place. We're talking about protection from external dangers. You mentioned the storms, the hazardous materials or active threats.

[Krista]

Right.

[Mark]

And this is where you stay indoors with all the windows and doors closed.

[Krista]

Yeah. You remember when we were kids, they used to talk about open all the windows if a tornado was coming. And they've now proven that that makes absolutely no difference to what's happening.

[Mark]

Yeah. We'd run around, Grandma's pushing the windows open. And the idea was that the lowered outside pressure caused the house to explode.

[Krista]

And that wasn't it at all.

[Mark]

It wasn't it. It was that massive amount of wind hitting the house that caused it.

[Krista]

So close the windows and doors.

[Mark]

Yeah. And in some situations we're going to need to shut off the ventilation systems.

[Krista]

Okay.

[Mark]

The outside fans or the air conditioning. And this comes in if it's a chemical or a biological hazard.

[Krista]

Oh, that makes sense. Like just don't just run up your air conditioner, just turn the system off.

[Mark]

Right. In some circumstances. And we'll cover some of that. And in some circumstances, you're going to move to an interior room with no windows, preferably on a higher floor during floods.

[Krista]

Makes sense.

[Mark]

But on a lower floor during tornado warnings.

[Krista]

Yes. Know your disasters.

[Mark]

And for that you need to monitor your emergency alerts via radio, TV or multiple devices. And we always say you need multiple ways to receive warnings because systems fail.

[Krista]

That's true.

[Mark]

You might not get the outdoor sirens, but you might get it on your.

[Krista]

Phone or your weather radio.

[Mark]

Yes. When it comes to weather related sheltering, you want to move to that small windowless interior room on the lowest floor. Right. Preferably a basement or storm shelter. In absence of that, we literally use a closet as our safe room.

[Krista]

Yes, we do. We have an interior. It's located right in the center of the house, just off of a hallway, little hub hallway. We can fit in there. Our cats can fit in there. And we've gone in there a couple times.

[Mark]

We have. And it's funny, when we've had to do this, we walk up and I don't know, the closet's what, four and a half feet wide or something like that.

[Krista]

And it's got that great big cold air return box in it. So half of the floor space is taken up by a cold air return box.

[Mark]

Yeah. And that's where the cats go. They go on top of that. But we'll. We keep coats and such as that in there. And one of us will reach in there and just stick our arms around all of the clothes in it, pick them up and go throw them on the bed. And then we go get in the closet.

[Krista]

That's right.

[Mark]

And so, you know, we can clean it up later.

[Guest or Contributor]

All right.

[Mark]

But you want to protect yourself as best you can. And that may involve covering your neck and your head with blankets or even with a mattress.

[Krista]

I've known of some people that will.

[Guest or Contributor]

Use an interior bathroom that has no windows.

[Krista]

And they'll go in there with a.

[Guest or Contributor]

Crib mattress or a twin bed mattress, and everybody gets in the tub. Kind of a strong shelter. And they cover with that mattress.

[Krista]

And it just. Just in the hopes that it would.

[Guest or Contributor]

Shield them from more serious injury.

[Mark]

Right.

[Krista]

Should the ceiling, you know, come down.

[Mark]

And you want to have this area stocked ahead of time. And one of the things that's great to have in there is bicycle helmets.

[Guest or Contributor]

Right, Helmets.

[Mark]

Most of the injuries that come from tornadoes comes from head injury. So that's a good thing to have stocked well ahead of time. And we talk about hurricanes now. My Plan for hurricane is evacuate.

[Guest or Contributor]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mark]

Now I've got friends that they won't evacuate if it's a three or below.

[Krista]

Right.

[Mark]

They grew up with them. They've lived there forever. They know how to handle this.

[Guest or Contributor]

It's their choice.

[Mark]

If you stay shelter in a sturdy building away from windows and exterior walls, if it's a category four or above, please write your name and the name of your next of kin on your arm with a Sharpie. With a Sharpie so they can identify you afterwards.

[Guest or Contributor]

We're not kidding. That's what they actually ask you to do. Because it could be where after the hurricane has hit, help can't come to you. There will be no 911. The sheriffs, the deputies of firefighters, they can't get to you. So just in case, you know, and.

[Mark]

It does every single time this happens. And major tornadoes as well. Identifying bodies is a tough situation.

[Krista]

Sad thing to have to talk about.

[Mark]

Having your name, your next to Ken and their contact info on your arms in Sharpie seriously does help. But now this is an area that you want to stockpile food ahead of time, water, flashlights, and just realize that you may have a potentially long stay.

[Krista]

There, like several days worth.

[Mark]

It could be after hurricanes, especially, you know, it might be. Well, even FEMA says you're on your own for the first three days, and.

[Krista]

That'S a conservative estimate. It's usually longer than that.

[Mark]

Well, what my experience with Katrina with quite several, including Helene, is that it took them nine days to get up and running.

[Krista]

Wow, that's a long time.

[Mark]

And it was a lot longer than that with Helene.

[Krista]

Well, here's another thing to think about. When you know that you're going to bug in and you're safe to bug in and you have prepped your food and your water and your flashlights and perhaps you have a generator and so on. You've also got to think about your sanitation plan because your plumbing services may be out, your electrical services may be out. So you're going to have to come up with some kind of a sanitation plan and air quality, either for hot air or cold air, you're going to have to have those plans because if you're sheltering in place for several days and you don't even have water to flush your toilet with, you've got to come up with another plan. So think that over, people.

[Mark]

We've done episodes on that, and there's a number of ways to do that. You talk about air quality. If you are having a generator and you're able to run some like box fans. I've got a number of those box fans. And a 20 by 20 air filter will fit on it just perfectly.

[Krista]

Exactly.

[Mark]

And so you put that on the suction side and it will draw in the air and it will filter out some of the particulate matter in the air. So.

[Krista]

Nice. Good call.

[Mark]

Makes a good air quality plan. You also need to plan to shelter from extreme cold or extreme heat. Stay inside and temperature control spaces.

[Krista]

Yeah, definitely.

[Mark]

This is where you see warming stations opened. This is where you see cooling stations open. And if it's just a normal day but your power is out, you have no air conditioning and it's extremely hot, it might be a good day to go to the mall and people watch.

[Krista]

Well, that's true. Yeah.

[Guest or Contributor]

If you can do it.

[Krista]

That's the.

[Mark]

Just go and enjoy their cool air and sit on the bench and watch people.

[Krista]

Yeah. Now something else to consider would be.

[Guest or Contributor]

Chemical or biological hazards. Now, the purpose there is to protect you against exposure to the toxic chemicals, the gas leaks or any biological contaminants. And so some specific actions that you can take is to seal your shelter area.

[Mark]

And this is in situations where you cannot leave.

[Guest or Contributor]

Yeah, like. Yeah, exactly. Getting out in it would be worse than staying in.

[Mark]

Right. Or you're some distance from it, especially with the biological or chemical hazards. But you want to seal that shelter area. And you can use duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal the doors and the windows and even the vents.

[Guest or Contributor]

Yeah. You can tear open some trash bags if you need to and use that.

[Mark]

As plastic sheeting and turn off the air conditioning system. This is where you don't want it. Pulling that stuff from outside to inside.

[Guest or Contributor]

Exactly. Because that can actually mess with your central air system out there as well.

[Mark]

It can, but it's bringing it in to you. You're trying to seal off from this stuff. But if you run the heat or the air and if it's cold weather, it's where having a backup heat system is good. But you don't want to be pulling that in and stay informed about when it's safe to leave. Now, some examples of this would be industrial chemical spills or biological threats like airborne pathogens. And there's one other sheltering in place that we need to talk about and actually two more. But one of those is an active shooter or security threat.

[Krista]

Right. You want to protect against violent threats or even intruders if necessary.

[Mark]

And it goes without saying, if there's an active shooter, active threat in the area, stay inside, don't go outside. Looking to see what's going on?

[Krista]

Yeah, no, no need for that. You want to go ahead and lock your doors. You want to barricade your doors with some heavy furniture. You want to turn off your lights and you want to put your phone on silent. Stay quiet and hidden. If you're in a more direct path of perhaps an active shooter or security threat, you want to avoid standing or even sitting near any windows or doors. And mentally prepare to fight back only as a last resort. We always advocate for getting as far away from the danger as you possibly can, if you can.

[Mark]

Yeah. But this is where if the danger is outside and we are inside, we're cool as long as it stays that way.

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Mark]

But if the danger tries to come inside, we are going to repel the danger. Okay.

[Guest or Contributor]

Yeah.

[Mark]

I mean, basically, you come in, you get shot. That's what it comes down to.

[Krista]

Just to put it in words, I'm.

[Mark]

Going to protect that girl sitting over there at all costs. So you be careful with this. This really comes into play a lot in workplace and school lockdowns.

[Krista]

Or some people have found themselves in the middle of an apartment complex or something. Something's going down. Or maybe they're out of town in a hotel. Could be a college student in their dorm. You could be sitting in a restaurant and something breaks out. Or you could just be in a housing complex like a condominium area. You know, something can happen anywhere. I think we've lived long enough to know that's for sure. So if there's no safe place, 100%, you do need to go through a mental preparedness of what is best for you and your family, where you're going to be the safest and where you're going to keep a clear, cool head at all times.

[Mark]

Yeah. And when you get into close proximity areas like an apartment complex or condominiums or hotel, this is where you want to do that. Staying quiet and where you want to turn your lights off and silence the phones. There's a lot of just common sense that has to go into the this. You just have to make those decisions at that particular time. And there's one more that we need to cover. And I'm seeing more and more of this. And it's nuclear or radiological threats. Now, if you're near an impact zone, if it's the immediate impact zone, this isn't going to help. Okay. We live within five miles of what is certainly a target. If there is missiles that start getting launched back and forth.

[Krista]

Oh, my.

[Mark]

And the initial blast will get us if we're at home, that. I mean, there's no doubt about that. Well, yeah, looking at photographs and stuff of Nagasaki, particularly the. It would get us at that kind of a distance. But if we're visiting family, where we go a lot for the weekend, we would be safe from the initial blast. And this might be some things that we would need to do. And this, again, is if you're outside or away from the initial impact zone, you want to minimize the exposure to the radiation. There's a lot of talk about things that can be done and how much dirt has to be on top of a shelter and fallout shelter and things like that. But here are some things that you can do. One is move to the innermost part of the building or to an underground area in the basement in the shelter, things like that, and stay inside for at least 24 hours as those radiation levels decrease.

[Guest or Contributor]

And again, you want to seal the.

[Krista]

Windows and the doors with duct tape or plastic sheeting to help reduce a.

[Guest or Contributor]

Lot of that fallout contamination that could happen from. And do follow instructions from the emergency authorities regarding any kind of evacuation route or if they instruct you to have extended sheltering.

[Mark]

This comes in, really, when we're talking nuclear accidents or even dirty bombs. If you live in an area in a city and there's a dirty bomb that goes off there, or if it is, like we mentioned, if we were visiting the grandchildren, it's a distant detonation for us. You could have to do some type of sheltering with a pandemic.

[Krista]

We know about that, don't we, America?

[Mark]

About that Two weeks to flatten the curve. Did that two weeks ever end?

[Krista]

Well, they just stopped saying it.

[Mark]

Yeah, they stopped saying.

[Krista]

After about six months, they just stopped saying it.

[Mark]

But you want to reduce the exposure to infectious diseases, and this is any kind of a pandemic, and this includes the flu season. Okay, I don't want the flu. And if I can avoid the flu, I will do it. But now I'm not going to hunker down and not go out of the house because of the flu.

[Krista]

Right? Yeah. There's ways to deal with.

[Mark]

There are some things, the actions that we can take if there is some type of a serious infectious disease going around. One, avoid contact with other people, Practice the social distancing. And I'm not talking about six feet. I'm talking about stay away from people. And we're just saying stay home. And we're just going to stay home. No visitors, right?

[Krista]

We're not going to see anybody. And nobody's coming to see us.

[Mark]

And if it's serious enough, we may or may not even go to the mailbox.

[Krista]

Well, we could practice running. We could run, run to the mailbox and run back.

[Mark]

Yeah, but you do want to, you do want to stockpile essential medications that you would need. You want the food and the water. And we're kind of assuming that if you're prepping, you're going to be storing food and water, but beef up your medications there, your over the counter medications so that you can treat the symptoms.

[Krista]

And if you do have to go out, go ahead and use face mask and maintain that good hygiene and follow some health authority guidelines about quarantine duration. You know, every situation kind of stands on its own. We have no way to predict what the next pandemic's gonna look like or feel like. But we've had some experience with it now. So, you know, just try to use your good common sense and practice good hygiene to try to avoid not just novel viruses, but the good old standard viruses as well.

[Mark]

And here's something that actually concerns and you know, if you told me there's a Covid outbreak and I had to wear a mask out there, no, I'm not doing the mask or the face diaper, as a friend of mine calls it. But there could be a situation where we would need to go to mask. And I'm afraid that the experience with COVID would keep some people from wearing it when it was really necessary.

[Guest or Contributor]

You've just got to bear your own judgment and sometimes you do have to think about the health and welfare of.

[Krista]

Others that may be immunocompromised or weaker or smaller.

[Mark]

Let's talk about some key preparations for any shelter in place.

[Guest or Contributor]

Well, the first and foremost thing you're going to have to have is your emergency kit. And this would consist of nonperishable food and enough water. You know, me, water in my list is going to come first and I'm.

[Krista]

Going to do more than a gallon and a half per person per day.

[Guest or Contributor]

Because that's just for consuming. There's also cooking and hygiene. So think about 2, maybe 3 gallons.

[Krista]

Per person per day per day.

[Guest or Contributor]

You're also going to want a lights out kit that would consist of flashlights and any batteries needed. And also have a first aid kit going to have some cuts and scrapes probably. You got to have to take care of that. You need a radio, either a battery powered radio or a hand crank radio, some way to receive information. And in that first aid kit, make sure that you include all of Your necessary medications, personal hygiene items, sanitation items. You're also going to need some duct tape and plastic sheeting in case you do need to cover the doors and the windows.

[Mark]

And you can use trash bags, contractor grade trash bags for that. If you had to, you could. Don't forget we're hosting that live virtual workshop on September 16th at 7:00. And we'll be covering getting started in prepping and building that 72 hour kit. And you can register for that at practicalprepping.infoworkshop.

[Krista]

You know what else you need?

[Mark]

What?

[Krista]

A communication plan. Except for certain weather situations, you may still be likely to have your phone service and your Internet service and you need to distribute a family contact list. And we're talking about a hard copy written down, not something that's on a device that if you have no way to charge it and can't access it.

[Mark]

Well, we put it together. Ours is put together and it's actually in a Word file. And we emailed it to everybody and said print it out and keep it where you can get to it.

[Krista]

I think you even have it on a thumb drive.

[Mark]

We do have it on a thumb drive.

[Krista]

That's very important.

[Mark]

We've got it on a number of drives, but we update and send that out from time to time. But we're expecting them to print it out themselves.

[Krista]

Yes. And you want to designate a contact person outside the affected area and that way you can contact that one person and then they are tasked with contacting all the other individuals and passing the message along that you're fine, everything's fine, everything's good. And you do want to share your shelter location with your family or friends. They're going to want to know that you're okay and they're going to want to know where you are. Perhaps you didn't bug in, perhaps you did have to leave your home and you're in some community shelter about four miles down the road.

[Mark]

That or we're safe and we're at Aunt Sue's, or we're in a hotel 50 miles away. Exactly. Just let them know where you are and check in on a regular schedule. And usually that's daily for most folks. We'll check in daily. Sometimes, especially when communication is an issue. We'll contact you when we can, but.

[Krista]

Know that we're safe and know your safe place. You want to identify your safe rooms in advance. And as much as possible, the family that's living in the house with you, they need to be in the loop on this as well, have your supplies and know your plan and practice these things outside of an emergency. Because if you practice it, the mind becomes familiar with the process. And then sometimes the mind doesn't even really know the difference between practice and the real thing. So that if the real thing's happening, you can immediately go into autopilot and your brain knows what to do and you can act accordingly and stay safe.

[Mark]

Now, we've been talking about bugging in, but have you seen some folks bug out bags?

[Krista]

Oh, yes.

[Mark]

And some are massive and heavy.

[Krista]

Well, it's like this. They kind of look like inch bags. The I'm never coming home. They're taking everything they love and care for on their back.

[Mark]

Or it's the all I own bag.

[Krista]

It's too much, really, for that.

[Mark]

And they have gear for every occasion. Now. We're not against gear.

[Krista]

No, we're not.

[Mark]

We're not. We've got some gear.

[Krista]

We love some gear.

[Mark]

But what if we don't have it, huh?

[Krista]

Well, didn't you say years ago, the more you know, the less you have to carry?

[Mark]

We've said that, and in the early episodes, we said that every episode. But it's true. The more you know, the less you have to carry. So we need to focus on skills, our mindset and adaptability rather than relying solely on tools or equipment.

[Krista]

Okay, so you're overcoming gear dependence.

[Mark]

Okay, we're overcoming gear dependence in survival situations.

[Krista]

Alrighty.

[Mark]

While having gear can make survival easier, knowing how to survive with minimal supplies is a critical skill.

[Krista]

So you're talking about having to develop some core survival skills.

[Mark]

Absolutely. And it's the most effective way to overcome gear dependence, master those fundamental survival skills.

[Krista]

Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is how to build a fire. And you want to learn some multiple techniques using natural materials like dry grass or bark, other pieces of wood. And practice the friction methods such as a bow drill, a hand drill or a fire plow. And understanding how to identify and use natural fire starters like pine resin or fatwood. And learn how to protect your fire from the wind and the rain.

[Mark]

Yeah, we carry fatwood in our bags.

[Krista]

Yeah, we do.

[Mark]

We've got one of the larger medication bottles that comes from the pharmacy. And super tall. Yeah, it's the tall one. I get Metformin and a lot of you understand you get it too.

[Krista]

Big fat pills.

[Mark]

Yeah, it's a big fat pill. And it's in a tall bottle. And we in this case, actually bought some fatwood sticks and we cut them to fit into that bottle and we just jammed as many as we could down in there, put the cap on it, threw it in the bag. But you can scrape pine resin and that stuff's flammable.

[Krista]

Yes, indeed.

[Mark]

And carry that lighter. Carry matches, carry windproof matches. I mean, using a bow drill, that's a good skill to have.

[Krista]

Yeah, but that's what happens when you don't carry matches.

[Mark]

Right.

[Krista]

We don't like bow drill, but it, it can work.

[Mark]

It's way down the list.

[Krista]

It is. You want to build up your biceps, do a bow drill.

[Mark]

I think it, mine is lighter matches. Ferro rod magnifying glass comes in there somewhere. If it's the same, you know, if.

[Krista]

It'S up to me. With a bow drill, we're just going to eat cold food. Yeah, yeah.

[Mark]

Sometimes. Sometimes. Learn shelter building skills. Learn to construct a shelter from natural materials like a debris shelter. You can use branches, you can make a frame for it. You can put leaves over that. You can even use dirt to create insulating layers.

[Krista]

Absolutely.

[Mark]

You can make lean to shelters. You can support branches with a ridge pole. But understand how to choose a safe location to put that shelter. Avoid the flood prone areas or the areas under falling debris. I remember on one of the Naked and Afraid episodes that we watched, one of the teams built their camp next to a creek. Oh yes, great idea for getting water and all of that.

[Krista]

Oh, sure.

[Mark]

But then the floods came.

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Guest or Contributor]

They were in some sort of a subtropical area and it was rainy season.

[Krista]

And literally like 4ft of water showed up the next morning.

[Guest or Contributor]

Morning.

[Mark]

And they, it washed their camp out and they were sitting on a little ledge up above there and they had to be rescued by the crew. So be careful where you put your shelter and learn the water procurement and purification. We've talked about this number of times. Learn to identify the natural water sources. Master the purification techniques without the gear. We talked about boiling water. You can use improvised containers for that. You can heat up rocks and put the rocks down in the water inside an improvised container that you can't put on the fire. There's a number of ways to do that. You can use sunlight for solar disinfection.

[Krista]

I was most fascinated by this technique. Explain it.

[Mark]

Well, you put the water in a clear plastic bottle and you put it in the sunlight and you leave it there for eight hours.

[Guest or Contributor]

You talking about direct sunlight, not cloudy?

[Mark]

Exactly.

[Guest or Contributor]

Direct sunlight for six hours. And it will solar disinfect the water?

[Mark]

Yep.

[Guest or Contributor]

Interesting.

[Mark]

But you need to also know how to filter water through sand, charcoal and cloth. Yes, but those skills just you don't have to carry all of that other stuff.

[Guest or Contributor]

True.

[Mark]

And I'm not against having it. Not against carrying it. But what if you don't have it? Yeah, you can have the skills. Yeah. You might need to learn to forage. You might need to study edible plants in your local area and especially learn to identify the toxic ones, like the.

[Krista]

Berries and the mushrooms. Some are good, some not so much.

[Mark]

And I would not be personally. Okay. I would not eat a mushroom in the wild because I don't know which ones get you full, which ones get you high, and which ones get you dead.

[Krista]

Oh, yeah. Not a good time for guessing.

[Mark]

It's not a good time for guessing. So I'm going to pass on all of those unless I've got somebody with me really knows what they're doing. You need to understand things like trapping or fishing or hunting techniques.

[Krista]

You talk about really, you know, roughing it now.

[Mark]

Well, if you don't have food and you don't have gear, you're still going to have to eat.

[Krista]

That's true.

[Mark]

You're still going to have to drink. So understand how to do that. Understand how to make basic tools. You can make spears or nets or traps, and you can use natural materials for those.

[Guest or Contributor]

Yeah.

[Krista]

You know, and you also need to cultivate a survival mindset. And it's really more about mental strength and adaptability than about the tools that you may have. Because all survivors, it all starts in the brain, you know, it's all there. And the key aspects of that would be, first of all, staying calm. You know, our British friends say keep calm and carry on. And that was the World War II creed for that entire time. And they really said staying calm, keeping the mind from going into panic mode, really does make the difference for some people between managing disaster and not managing it and adaptability.

[Mark]

We need to learn to MacGyver things now. You got to be a certain age to know who MacGyver was.

[Krista]

I like the way you verbed his name.

[Mark]

You need to be able to MacGyver, MacGyver that. Okay, this guy could take a.

[Krista]

He could take a Hershey bar, a paper clip and a rubber band, and he could create some sort of an explosive device and save the day.

[Mark]

Yeah, if you never watch MacGyver, you just have to go watch it to understand it. But he was all about adaptability. Learn to be resourceful and use what's around you. You can use tree bark as rope or large leaves for water collection. There's ways a lot of things there.

[Krista]

People are pretty crafty they can come up with stuff.

[Mark]

And I think we talked about this a lot last week. And that's situational awareness. You need to assess your environment and prioritize your needs.

[Krista]

Yeah. That's not just an urban thing. That's an any place thing.

[Mark]

That's an any place thing. And when we're getting less dependent on gear, use multipurpose tools.

[Krista]

Smart.

[Mark]

Carry a multi tool. I used mine today, two different occasions. And a knife can be used for cutting, but it can also be used for hunting or carving or even fire starting with a ferro rod. Duct tape can repair anything.

[Guest or Contributor]

You can make a pair of shoes.

[Krista]

That a duct tape. Yeah.

[Mark]

One of the naked and afraid groups did that. Made shoes out of duct tape. You can create bandages or you can make containers. On one of those shows, they literally made water cups.

[Guest or Contributor]

Yeah, sure.

[Mark]

Paracord can serve as a rope or fishing line or trap material. Don't forget, you've got the case around that. And then you, you've got anywhere from the very smallest paracord, you'll have three inner strands and it goes up to, I think, 11 strands inside.

[Guest or Contributor]

And they're pretty tough.

[Mark]

They're tough, but they also make good fishing lines.

[Guest or Contributor]

Sure they do.

[Mark]

They make good sewing thread.

[Guest or Contributor]

You also want to learn how to improvise and how to make tools out of natural materials like, you know, a stone, a rock. You can sharpen a rock and you can use it for cutting or scraping. I mean, the Indians made arrowheads out of rock and you can actually see where they chiseled off the edge and sharpened it to a very, very fine point. You can use cordage to create rope from natural fibers like vines. Some bark has long linear pieces or even some of the plant stems that are really, really tough. And you can actually tie them together if you needed some kind of something to hold up, like your shelter or something.

[Mark]

Right. And if you need something to hold your water, you can make containers. You find a hollowed out gourd or you can do it with bark or even you can mold one out of clay and do that as well. But focus on lightweight and minimalist approach. And if you carry gear, focus on the lightweight essentials.

[Krista]

Right.

[Mark]

And there are certain gear that we do need to be carrying. But focus on that multipurpose use and focus on lightweight. A small survival kit with a knife, a fire starter and a water filter could go a long way.

[Krista]

Absolutely. You know, avoid overloading yourself is basically what we're trying to say with, especially with unnecessary gadgets that you end up not using you've carried all that weight for nothing. And think about this. Practice some primitive survival techniques. Go out and spend some time in the nature practicing some primitive survival techniques. It helps you reduce a lot of that gear dependence that we're talking about. Try camping without modern tools just to see if you can do it and how well you did. Maybe even think about joining some wilderness survival camps, courses, conventions that emphasize using.

[Mark]

Traditional methods for survival and prioritize knowledge over equipment. Carry a mental toolkit. If you learn basic navigation, you can navigate without a compass. Okay, it's using the sun, the stars and landmarks.

[Krista]

Sure.

[Mark]

If you understand animal behavior, it helps you to locate food and water. If you study the weather patterns, it helps you to anticipate changes and stay prepared. And books and cheat sheets on survival skills can be very helpful in these cases. They really can. But you want to build resilience through training. Regularly practice your survival scenarios without the gear, and it helps to build confidence and work on physical fitness to ensure that you can handle the physical demands of survival. I've been in a lot of disaster relief situations and it can be very, very demanding on folks.

[Krista]

Today's cup of coffee comes from our friend Heather. Heather has been a longtime supporter with a membership to Buy me a coffee. Heather, we really do appreciate your continued support. We've been enjoying coffee while we've been recording the show.

[Mark]

Now let's cover a few key principles that we need to keep in mind here. Prioritizing those survival skills.

[Krista]

Right? You want to be adaptable and you want to improvise. If you don't have it, make it. Or just find an alternative. For example, you don't have any matches. Use a magnifying glass or friction to start your fire. You don't have a container. Use leaves or a bark to carry water.

[Mark]

And practice, practice, practice. Skills are perishable and we need to regularly practice so that it ensures that we're prepared when the gear is unavailable.

[Krista]

Good call.

[Mark]

Focusing on skills, resourcefulness and mindset. The big three right there. That reduces your dependence on gear and it increases your chances of survival in any situation.

[Guest or Contributor]

Are you receiving value from our podcast? If you do, and I think you.

[Krista]

Do, please support our show.

[Guest or Contributor]

Help us out so that we can keep it going. Go to practicalprepping.info support. You'll find that and several other ways to help us out, including buying us a cup of coffee. Or you could start your Amazon shopping from our web site. That costs you nothing extra, but it does pay us a small commission on.

[Mark]

Some qualifying purchases and you can leave comments or you can leave comments, questions for the podcast, or suggestions for topics, as a number of folks have done. And you can do that@practical prepping.info contact. You can leave a text message, you can leave an email, you can even leave a voice message there, even if you'd like to be included on the podcast. Yes, and we do appreciate you being here today, and as Krista always says, stuff happens. Stay prepared and we'll see you next time.