Stop Prepping for Disasters. Start Prepping for Disruption

[00:00:02] All right, welcome back to the Survival and Basic Badass Podcast, Kevin and Chuck. Well, I've been doing a lot of soul searching, Kevin, deep thinking. All right.

[00:00:25] And, you know, kind of wondering, like, do I keep going with the podcast? We're like 500 episodes in. And we've covered the spectrum of prepping, right? And I just don't want it to get stale. I don't want any, you know, people to get bored. That would be horrible. That would be an ugly, ugly world that we live in. And nobody wants that.

[00:00:49] So I just was, like, rethinking it. I'm like, what do we do? How do we reshape this and make it into... And I wanted to... I started to dig down deep into, like, what is the core of prepping? What is the purpose of it all? Why are we... Where should we be focused? And I feel like my philosophy has changed, like, over the years of what's important

[00:01:14] and what the best way to approach, you know, all this stuff is. And so I wanted to really come up with a core philosophy if we're going to keep doing this. And I think I've dialed it in. And I think we've, you know, really nailed it. So last week I did an episode, because Kevin abandoned me, of building a life that's hard to disrupt.

[00:01:42] And I really kind of... That is, like, the essential core of what I think the new direction and where we're going to go with the podcast. And the idea is really... I think that people think, you know, we all prepare for a specific disaster. Like some guys are, oh, EMPs. You know, I'm the hardcore EMP guy, right?

[00:02:10] I'm a big EMP guy. Inflation, right? I mean, that's real. Nobody can deny that. You know, it's happening all around us. Now, how extreme it gets or how not, you know, that's a different story. I am starting to notice there are a lot of houses that I've been looking at that were like, they're all dropping like 30,000. You know, oh, this listing just reduced 30 grand.

[00:02:40] And the thing is, it was like 110 to start. Right, right. So it's a big drop. It's percentage-wise, it's dramatic. So the world is changing, right? Everybody gets scared of different stuff like that. But the same thing, right? We piss off China all the time. Trump is pissing off Iran all the time.

[00:03:02] And it turns out, like, this might be a radical idea, but there are some people with kind of off-the-wall thinking over in Iran. It's possible that they don't think. Yeah, they have different philosophy than you and I do. They do. So it's different. Kevin, different but equal, right? We all have value. Different but same. Different but the same, right? We all just want to have happy, peace, love, and joy. I'm not sure that's exactly their brand.

[00:03:32] But, you know, they have, you know, something about that kind of stuff. Anyway, so with that, I think that I wanted to, like, dial in to what really matters, right? And we prepare for, you know, there's just so many things. War, pandemic, cyber attack, civil unrest, EMPs, economic collapse, anything, right? It all comes down to- Just losing your job, you know? Losing your job.

[00:04:02] A hurricane, you know? A tornado tears through, right? So one of the things, obviously, when we drill down to the basics is skills and knowledge really matter, right? Because that's something that can't be taken away from you. That's something that- So skills and knowledge, super important.

[00:04:24] But I think at the core, what I came up with is having systems in place where we have a solid, redundant, you know, preparedness. Where if the grid goes down, it's not even going to matter. And that's where that whole hard to disrupt thing comes from. And it doesn't matter what the collapse or disaster is, right?

[00:04:52] If war comes or the supply chain gets disrupted or civil unrest, if I have the systems in place and I don't need something from the outside world, it's not going to hurt me. And that's kind of the beauty of it.

[00:05:07] And I think that's the core of the philosophy that kind of the direction I want to go is as we prepare, the way that we prepare is going to be more, let's make it so that when the water stops coming from the municipality, I have another way to get water.

[00:05:28] When I can't pay my electric bill, the electric man shuts down, the EMP stops the electricity. When whatever happens, I have a way to provide for my family in the same reasonable way, right? Like it might not be as awesome. Obviously, having a power line come to my house is really cool, right? I love electricity, right? You guys probably love electricity.

[00:05:57] Having my internet fire up and my computer and my everything is pretty awesome. And I think that's something- Refrigerators and stoves are great. Refrigerators, I love refrigerators. I love going and getting an ice cold glass of milk and I can go crack the bag of Oreos that I have there. I don't really have a bag of Oreos because I'd eat them all and then- They're going immediately. Yeah, that's not a thing.

[00:06:22] But if I did buy Oreos, I would enjoy them with that ice cold milk and that's the beauty of everything. Having fresh chips and salsa from the store. These things, we all like that, right? Guacamole. Kevin's the big avocado guy, right? And you know you can't save those things. You know what I mean? As soon as you cut them open, you got to eat the whole thing or you got to- Yeah. Exactly. So we all love those things. Don't get me wrong.

[00:06:52] I'm not trying to be the, oh, let me just eat dirt and live in the woods and I'll pick up bugs and whatever. That's not the guy I want to be, but I want to be the guy who has the redundant systems in place. And I want to be the guy who, when the water stops coming, I can go get the water from the gutters and the rain barrels that I have out back.

[00:07:20] Or I can go over and hook up the battery to my solar or my 12 volt well pump that I run off the solar panels that I have sitting on top of the well house. I want to be that guy. I want to be the guy who's prepared, but not paranoid, right? That's the- One of the things that there's this guy who's a Sikh that I follow on YouTube. His name is Jaspreet Singh. He's awesome.

[00:07:47] And I follow him for financial advice, things like that. But one of the things he always says is history doesn't necessarily repeat itself, but it rhymes, right? So we can kind of guess, hey, this is how the world is going to play out because that's how it played out before. But there's always kind of a little twist in it. That's what I find. Right. It's always a little different. It's a little different.

[00:08:14] And you're like, oh, but I didn't see that angle coming. You know? And if we build these redundancies into our life, then I think we're kind of set up for it, prepared a little bit better. Right? And obviously, it's not just water. It's- You know, we look at gardens. We look at me having rabbits and chickens and eggs. And Kevin has ducks and chickens and whatever. And it, you know, the different things.

[00:08:43] Because one day, Kevin might say, you know, I need some meat that's a little more oily and a little tastier. I like a good fatty bird. You know what I mean? That's it. A lot of people don't like them. I got to admit, a lot of people don't like eating duck. But it's delicious. It is delicious.

[00:08:59] I got to say, and that's the thing, when ducks done right, one of the places that Kevin used to work at and Chris, they had a duck farm with the water treatment places. I know you were maybe less involved than I'm suggesting. Just to be honest, ducks are fucking disgusting. They're disgusting animals. But I got to say, one day, I got a bunch of duck from this duck farm.

[00:09:29] And it was the most amazing thing. I'm like, oh, somebody who knows what they're doing with this? It can really- If you know how to cook it. If it's done right, duck can be spectacular. Sorry, I know I got sidetracked. We get talking about good food. We get good food, and I kind of fall off the rails there a little bit. All right. But that's the thing, right? So you start implementing these things where you have the redundancy on your property.

[00:09:57] Or the reason I get so excited about rabbits is because, man, they reproduce like crazy. And you just meet, meet, meet, and it's good. And honestly, chickens and eggs, man. Just getting an egg every day from each chick. That's awesome. Yeah, it's a big deal. And if you have a family of five and you have 10 ducks, that's a good chunk of your food supply right there. And they're big eggs. A duck is putting out a serious egg. Yeah. A little richer, a little different.

[00:10:27] You got to kind of get used to it. What's your take on duck eggs, Kevin? You enjoy them? Yeah. Well, I prefer chicken eggs, I'll be honest with you. I prefer chicken eggs. But, I mean, duck eggs are great for volume. Especially for baking. Yeah. Well, for, you know, when you, yep. Duck brownies with duck eggs, much better than regular brownies. Okay. See, I thought you went a different way up there in New York, you hippies. I know what you put in the brownies up there. I know what's going on.

[00:10:57] But, anyway. The, but that's the idea, right? Is to build a life that, that is that way. And that's kind of the way I wanted to reshape the podcast. And just kind of really focus on, I mean, we'll still talk about conspiracy and, and fear stuff. Cause that's just fun. Kevin, it's a good time, right? You love a good hardcore government plot against the people. Or.

[00:11:26] Well, I mean, we're in the middle of like five right now. So, I mean. I know. The digging into the, cause honestly. It's good to know what's going on, right? The more we know what's going on in the world, we're able to prepare better. And that matters. Right. So, you know, and honestly looking out for kids or whatever with this whole Epstein disaster that still is not getting resolved. Appears to never going to be getting resolved.

[00:11:55] Cause God forbid if all the powers that be are the ones involved. Then, oh, I have blackmail on you. It's never coming out. You know, whatever it is. Right. And people are desperate to protect that kind of thing. So, I get that. And I understand that's part of what makes prepping fun. And, you know, you need a little like motivation. It can't just be, you know, going out and playing in the dirt.

[00:12:22] Although playing in the dirt can be awesome, Kevin. Except for fire ants. Nobody likes fire ants. That's your one upside. Like you have horrible taxes and everything. But then down in the South, we have fire ants. Yeah. No fire ants up here, man. You know, you, but again, I got a lot more poison ivy when I was up in the North than I do now. Is that true? But not yet. Well, I mean, it's here, but I get it a lot less often. So, something must be right here.

[00:12:52] But I do know. I find it everywhere. Anytime I'm moving anything with my hands or doing any sort of work outdoors, poison ivy is everywhere out here. Yeah. Yeah. I see it and I just go like, oh, I'll take care of that. And I, I, I don't think I've had it once since I moved to North Carolina. It's been about six years. But do I get some fire ant bites? And I'm like, damn, that itches. And cause it'll, it, you know, it hurts at first.

[00:13:20] And they're always those evil bastards. You know, it's like, I think they numb you when they bite you. So you don't feel it at first. And then like five seconds later, you're like, oh, and then you go to swat, but that guy's already gone. He's already on his way. And then he bites you somewhere else. And you're like, oh, now it's, and you're just swatting all over your body, hoping for the best. So, you know, everywhere has its own plagues and, and things that we get to deal with.

[00:13:50] But, so that's the thing, right? Is I want to kind of develop a like real hardcore resiliency. Like I said, a life that's hard to disrupt. And I want to dig into the systems that we can put into place as preppers to really be prepared for whatever disaster shows up. Or even more so, whatever version of that disaster shows up.

[00:14:18] So even if it's a little bit different, we're like, no worries. We got this. And I think a lot of that, a lot of real preparedness comes from like involving our community, our friends, our neighbors, our, you know, getting involved as a, in a bigger way where we're all kind of prepared.

[00:14:40] Cause a lot of these systems, you know, everybody knows, oh, when you've got it good and you're smoking meat and, and running the barbecue and you have the lights on, you know, everybody's going to be like that guy is the guy I'm going to rob. Cause I want what he has. So obviously security is a real thing. There's always going to be ugly people out there. And Kevin, I'm talking about ugly on the inside. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah.

[00:15:08] I know you thought you were specifically talking about me. Right. Right. Right. It's ugly on the inside that can be, you know, the big disruption and like that. So that's, that's something that we need to prepare for. Um, another thing I think to, uh, really set the stage of the future of the survival and basic badass podcast. I think there's a book that might be coming out.

[00:15:36] Now it's a little bit out, a couple of months and some details, but basically about building a life that's hard to disrupt. I think there might be a course in the near future that kind of lays out these steps, which let me get you excited. A little teaser here may involve how these systems are implemented on my own property. All right.

[00:16:03] So that might involve a little bit of a property tour, a little bit, but you're going to have to, that's going to be behind the paywall. You know what I'm saying? Cause you got it. I can't just let everybody put it out there for the whole public. Right. It's got to be the public. That's got, you know, a little skin in the game. You know what I'm saying? Cause otherwise like then the old four wheeler gets taken out of the barn and then I don't have anything and all my joy goes away.

[00:16:32] That's not what I want. I don't want to live in a world with sadness, Kevin. Joy. Only things that spark joy. We were talking about this and I always like to have some good like prepper takeaways when we do an episode. And when we were building up to this, Kevin and I were talking and you said you had some good immediate like food storage ideas or some things you wanted to drop. A lot of people, a lot of people, you know, they, when they do the prepping.

[00:17:02] Yeah. But, you know, we stick to the staples, you know, the dried beans, the rice, the pasta, all great stuff. Easy to get volume. Yep. Right. But if the power is out, you're going to have a hard time cooking. You got to get the camp stove out. You got to get a fire going. So I wanted to just go through a quick list of things that you can stockpile that don't need any cooking. Just ready to eat, you know, and that's, that's, that's important. Right.

[00:17:32] So let's go with protein. Canned meats, canned beans, jerky, peanut butter, nuts and seeds. Canned beans, um, then you got to get your vitamins, right? Canned vegetables. You can eat them right out of the can. Dried fruits, granola, protein bars, crackers, dry cereal. And my favorite, those little fruit cups that come with a little fruit juice in it. Yeah.

[00:17:59] The applesauce, all those little like individually packaged things. Yeah. You can just eat it. You don't, you don't need to get the oven started. You don't need to get the camp stove going. Um, I think it's important to have that, that sort of food for immediate use, you know, power, power goes out. You're planning on eating dinner and now you got to fire up the grill. You got to, you know, get everything going. Or you were a prepper. I thought you were prepared. Yeah.

[00:18:26] So when you got that can of SpaghettiOs or the spaghetti and meatballs from Chef Boyardee, uh, no. Yep. And you're like a little comfort food. Yeah. I had a power failure a couple of days ago and, um, the missus was, she would, had just got done getting everything ready and was about to turn the stove on and the, uh, and the power went out.

[00:18:50] So I went outside and I, I, you know, put a new can of propane on the grill, got it started. Yep. And just getting, getting ready to go. And the lights came back on and I was like, bastard. But, um, you know, it's, it's, I'll tell you, I, I do have like a kind of a problem. You know, I've got like 15 cans of propane in the, in the garage. Like if there's ever like a garage fire, I might, you know, I might just have to flee the scene. You know what I mean?

[00:19:21] But, um, give up, move to a new house. Yeah. I just collect old propane cans and then you just trade them in, just trade them in for a full one. It's only, you know, only, I think it's up to like 19, 20 bucks now to refill them. No, it's not cheap. Yeah. That's it. If I'm where I am, I think I can go to like Walmart or to, uh, like Lowe's or something, I guess Sam's club or Lowe's and they're like in that 1999 neighborhood.

[00:19:48] But if I go to like the dollar general or whatever up the street, it's like 26.99. Yeah. Yeah. You got to be careful where you got to shop around a little bit for those things. And that's yeah. And you got to plan for it with your trip. You know, that's the, I remember when it hit, hit 10 bucks. It was like up into the double digits. You know what I mean? That was like a big shock. And now that price is long gone. Kevin, you're old. That's back when gas was $2 a gallon, you know?

[00:20:18] Oh man. Now there is a little, uh, conspiracy or actually you had more than the food. Did you have another thing? Uh, another list? Well, I wanted to talk about water. That's another big one. Right. Um, so power goes out. Right. The sink stops working. You don't have any water in storage. Where are you going to get your water? So let's run through some of the sources that you can get and some that you should not get.

[00:20:47] This is on the fly. All right. This is on the fly. Right. So, uh, if you're experiencing flooding, that is not water you want to drink. There's all sorts of nasty shit in there. Um, there's all sorts of chemicals, all sorts of debris. That's, you don't want to just like open your, your door and scoop some up out of the yard and, and start drinking. That's, it's really hard to filter and it's really hard to purify. So don't go with that.

[00:21:14] Uh, best places to get your water when you're an emergency, hot water tank, right? You can drain the hot water tank. That's all clean water, ready to go. The back of the toilet tank, right? From don't scoop it out of the bowl. It's not as clean as it doesn't matter if you cleaned it today. It's not clean water. No, don't, don't scoop it out of there. Right. Um, you can drain water pipes.

[00:21:39] Uh, that's a bit more of a project because now you've got, you've got an issue when the water does come back. It's kind of a commitment. Right. Right. Right. All of the melted ice cubes that are in your freezer, you know, with the power out. Canned goods, right. You can drain the water off of those things and drink those. Uh, rainwater collection. You were talking about, about that setting up a rain barrel. Um, fast moving streams and, and rivers.

[00:22:08] Now this is a tricky situation here because when water goes out, it doesn't take long before people start pissing and shitting in the stream. You know what I mean? And when the pump stations at the sewer plant stop working. It just runs right over. Right. And it turns out whenever there's a good stream, somebody wants to attach a sewer plant to it. Yeah. Oh yeah. That's the go-to. Know what's upstream of your, where you're getting your water.

[00:22:36] You know, I have, I have, I think three streams that are, that I are within walking distance where I'm at. And two of them, I definitely would not take water out of it. You know what I mean? That's it. You want to filter. You want to, you know, boil. We want to, GRD is a thing. Mm-hmm. Now, now apparently just going to the grocery store, things are, are questionable. You know, there's lettuce, there's eggs, there's everything anymore. Yeah, yeah. You don't know.

[00:23:06] They used to say, they used to say that you can trust food because who's going to buy food from somebody that already poisoned them? But the thing is, you've already been poisoned. It's too late. You're not buying any more food anyway. You've got, you know, diarrhea lettuce and, and eggs that are, that are going to make you sick. And it seems like everything now. You can't trust any, any food anymore. You can't eat your vegetables. You can't eat your meat. You can't eat your, you know, your eggs.

[00:23:35] You gotta, you gotta have a good handle on your own food supply. And I think that's just common sense living at this point. You know what I mean? It used to be, you know, you trade your work for grocery money and now it's like, you can't even trust the grocery store. No, no. That's it. It's like, oh, let's let the farmers do what they do and I'll do what I do. You know, I'll go fix engines or, you know, wire up houses, whatever it is you do.

[00:24:05] And then the guy who makes the food, he can do that. But now it's kind of like, you can't count on the mechanic to do it right. You know, I'm driving down the road. I'm seeing brake pads falling out of people's car. I'm like, what is going on? You know, um, you know, or you, you know, things don't start like they do. You're like, oh, I paid that guy to change my oil. But when I pull the dipstick, it's all black still. So I don't know what happened. And you know what, man? They never changed that oil filter, bro.

[00:24:35] Don't trust them. They're supposed to take the oil filter off and put a new one on and they'll drain your oil, put new oil in there, but they ain't changing that filter. Nine times that you put the right here on it. Yeah. Yeah. Get the permanent marker, write some, some little sign on it so you can check it before you leave. Call those motherfuckers out. Don't let them get away with that shit. Don't let them do it. And that's the thing, you know, when you get sick at the grocery store, it was funny.

[00:25:01] Uh, we'd gone to one of the grocery stores and, uh, we got home and, and the meat clearly was bad. Right. And we usually like, so when we bring home meat, my wife will buy like a bigger, like bulk thing where it's like three pounds and she'll separate it in it to one and a half pounds or something and put it in the, the freezer. And when she opened it, it just smelled horrible and it was, and still looked red and looked all right. Right.

[00:25:28] And it's like, Oh, this really got warm and, and cold or something went wrong. Right. Whatever the reason was something went horribly wrong. And she calls the grocery store and is like, Hey, just want to let you know, just bought your meat and this, whatever. And they're like, Oh, well, whatever. And they just like, didn't even. And she's like, well, I just, you know, some people don't smell and whatever. And right. Right. I'm going to do something about that.

[00:25:56] You're going to make somebody say like, no, we're good. Don't worry about it. And she was like, we're not going to that grocery store again. That party's over, you know? And it's hard because obviously we can't do everything ourselves. Right. And I mean, that's, and that's a big deal. I mean, we live in a community and we have specialized jobs and you're good at what you do and you expect other people to be good at what they do. And you just can't count on that.

[00:26:23] Now, part of building these protections in your life does involve starting to like involve other people. Right. Right. To network and communicate, get out there a little bit and talk to people. I'm not saying expose all your preparedness, but the beauty is when you build a life that's hard to disrupt, right?

[00:26:49] It's, it's not easy for somebody to come take it away from you. You know, you don't have all the stored beans up to the, you know, top of the barn. You have systems in place that are just going to last like that water isn't going to, you know, they can come steal your, your rain, your water catchment, but you're just going to catch more, right? It's going to keep working. It's hard and it's like somebody stealing a river, right?

[00:27:18] They just kind of can't do it. Now, obviously you could divert a river and find some, you know, some way to do things, but you know what I mean, right? It's hard. Or a dark data center. I mean, that, that kind of takes care of that, that too. So. Yeah. That's the other way they could go. Kevin, you're getting worried about the world out there. Data centers, flock cameras. I tell you, man. You have concerns? Yeah. They're taking over, dude. There's not, they're squeezing out all the little guys.

[00:27:47] There's no room for the middle, middle, middle person anymore. You know what I mean? It's rich and poor. That's it. Um, keep your eyes out though for the flock cameras. Um, we're on the, we're on the move now. Uh, October 31st. Get your Halloween masks out. Oh. And I will tell you battery powered grinders are great.

[00:28:12] Uh, battery powered, um, uh, reciprocating saws are great, but they're both very loud. Mm-hmm. So what you want is battery powered band saws. Mm-hmm. Fast and quiet. Kevin, that's so you can build things on your property better. You know, you're going to work around the neighborhood, you know, working around your house and around the neighborhood. Yeah. Cause you want to stockade. So when the government comes, you're ready. Right. Okay.

[00:28:42] But also, you know, October 31st. Halloween. It's, it's all tricks this year. Kevin, respecting people's property is a good thing, but really private property. Yes. Private property. Public property. When he pays for something with your taxes, isn't it really yours? I mean, is that how it works? I mean, can't, can't you decide what to do with your property? I mean, Kevin, I always.

[00:29:11] Basis of capitalism. You know what I mean? I always recommend kindness and love as the philosophy. Whenever. That's right. And if somebody is not treating you kindly and not treating with you with love, but instead putting you in a police state in a surveillance system, you need to help them find the love that's, that's in their heart. You know, that black heart. Help. Yeah. It's like the Grinch. You know, the whole story is right there. It's all every Christmas.

[00:29:41] They lay it out. You know, and Halloween this year is the year. Is the year. All right. So I'm just saying, Kevin. It's not weird to wear a mask around, around out in public on Halloween. No weird at all. Especially if it's a like B for vendetta kind of thing. Like. Yeah. And I, I would say like generic masks are the best ones. Like Guy Fawkes. Five or ten guys. Guy Fawkes there. The scream mask from the scream movie.

[00:30:10] They're all over the place. Those are the ones you want to stick to. You know, that Captain Kirk one that's turned inside out and looks like Michael Myers. I don't know this one. Michael Myers. Yeah. The original Michael Myers was a Captain Kirk mask. Yeah. That was. Yeah. Just turned it inside out and, and spray painted it. Stuck some hair on it. Kevin, that's disturbing. Why do you know so much about that? That's what I'm really wondering. That's where it comes down.

[00:30:41] Yeah. Well, I mean, I can't, you know, who hasn't thought about like just going on a mass murder rampage? You know what I mean? You got to kind of think these out. You can't just start. You can't just grab a chainsaw and start killing people. You got to start with the preparation. You got to look the part. You have to have a mask made out of human skin. If you're going to use chainsaw, you got to have the Michael Myers one. If you're going to have a butcher knife, you know, it's. You just have to plan ahead. You can't just.

[00:31:10] So you're saying Halloween is about fantasy and things that aren't real. Right. That's right. Okay. There you go. It's not real. All this is made up. I don't support. I don't support committing acts of vandalism. And sometimes vandalism is a misdemeanor. Sometimes it's a felony. So if you get arrested for vandalism, get a lawyer because they'll make sure it's a misdemeanor. It's not how you do it.

[00:31:40] That's the trick. You know, I always worry about you. New Yorkers up there. I feel like you might be on the edge of out of control. It's getting crazy. And you know what is really great about the these flat cameras? They're bringing people together. You know what I mean? If you're like some sort of crazy blue haired hippie and your kids are like super mega, this is something you guys can get together on this.

[00:32:06] Because everyone agrees that everyone agrees is wrong. Right. That's right. So this is really it's bringing the communities back together. Kevin, you live in a crazy world. Halloween, deflock night, deflock it. What I can tell you is.

[00:32:26] Let's focus on building a life where we prepare for whatever comes instead of just getting too caught up in one thing. And I think that diversify your funds, diversify. So with that, I'd say stay safe and we will talk to you guys next week.