Urban Prepping: Survival in the City – Part 1

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One of the challenges of living in an urban environment is that you have different factors to deal with on a daily basis. Urban prepping requires more methodical planning, since you’re dealing with less space and more variables than people living in the suburbs. By paying close attention to the following pieces of advice, those living in larger cities will be able to become urban prepping pros.

Urban Prepping: Do A Lot With A Little

Whether you own or rent, real estate in an urban setting is a lot more expensive. This means you’ve got to be budget-conscious about how you prep. We’d recommend that you first make sure that you allocate a regular portion of your monthly budget to save up enough fiat and backup currency to help give you added flexibility in time time of a crisis.

If you’re in an urban setting, you may want to consider what your plan will be for a variety of different situations:

• Major storm or flooding
• Earthquake
• Civil unrest
• Electromagnetic pulse
• Terrorist attack

Depending upon the situation, you’re going to want to have a separate plan in place with your family to decide whether you’re going to stay in your residence, or if you’ll head to a safer location.

If you’re planning on heading to another location, make sure you have multiple means of transport. You probably won’t be able to rely on public transportation during a disaster, so you’ll need to either have your own vehicle or an alternative.

If you do decide to stay, you want to make sure that you have enough cash on hand to cover expenses. During the 1994 Northridge Earthquake in Southern California, many residents complained about not being able to fill up their gas tanks because all electronic forms of payment were unavailable.

Saving Space

In urban prepping situations, you’re likely to have a lot less space to store your extra food, water, and supplies. This means you’ll need to utilize any extra space you can find, as well as making sure that you can transport everything quickly and easily in the event you decide to leave.

Use any extra spaces that you have available under beds, in closets, and in cabinets. The best case scenario would be to have a bug out bag that can remain out of sight and is easily accessible.

Get Home Bag

When urban prepping, you’ll also want to carry a small bag in the event that something takes place away from home. The “Get Home Bag” is often used by urban preppers who work outside the home. The Get Home Bag contains a handful of items that are useful in the event that you are stranded while you’re trying to get home on foot or car.

We recommend carrying:

• Personal protection: Pepper spray, small folding knife, or firearm with extra magazines and ammunition.
• $100 in cash
• Refillable water bottle
• Protein bars
• Flashlight with extra batteries
• AM/FM radio with headphones
• Map of your local area
• Notepad with pen
• USB drive with vital documents (birth certificate, passport, real estate titles, car title, banking information)

These items will come in handy in the event that you’re stuck while trying to get home. The protein bars will give you energy, and the refillable water bottle will ensure that you can stay hydrated even if you’re stuck without transportation

Always Economize

As you conduct your prepping, you’re going to be able to downsize certain things, especially when your budget increases. Sell anything extra on eBay or Craigslist, then use that money to buy smaller, more compact items.  You’re going to have to always focus on economizing since you likely have a lot less space living in the city.

Keep your budget at the top of your mind. Save cash whenever possible!

Always Plan Ahead

Planning ahead of any disaster will put you ahead of the game. Discuss a plan with your family. What would you do if there were no cell phone communication? Where would you go? Is there a way that you can communicate without cell phones? Using ham radios? Other forms of communication? This is something that you and your family should explore ahead of time, that way if something happens, you know what to do.