Apocalypse Preparedness Skills

There is a ton of speculation in this day and age about the apocalypse. The idea of the “apocalypse” is the same for most people: a lack of the kind of civilization that we enjoy now. No phones, internet, electricity, running water, etc. Some versions of the apocalypse involve zombies, others have aliens asserting their will over humanity. Mostly, they have characters with dirty faces struggling to survive when they have lost everything that they know.

How would you survive an apocalypse?

Let’s say that the world’s governments have collapsed and there’s no electricity to power the dairy coolers at the grocery store. Maybe there was an earthquake or a massive fire that razed most of the buildings in the city where you live. There’s no water to hydrate during your daily run, much less to take your daily shower. Even if there weren’t any zombies or aliens or humans mutated into insane aggression, how would you get what you need? And I’m not asking how you would tweet about it (with no internet and no charge on your iPhone). How would you live? How would you eat? How would you keep warm? How would you protect yourself (and your family) from possible zombies, aliens, or humans mutated into insane aggression?

I was thinking about it this weekend as I carried headless chickens from the granary to my grandparents’ basement. What skills would one absolutely need to survive? What skills have we lost that we’ll have a hard time trying to teach ourselves? How are we supposed to shoot zombies if there’s no one making ammunition to resupply the non-zombies?

My husband is nearly an Eagle Scout, so I’m confident that he’d be able to teach me and my daughters about how to light a fire. So we’ve got that heat/cooking thing covered. He’s also done a lot of hunting with his family, so as long as we could find or make a weapon, and there was still game about, we’d be pretty well covered in that department, too. And this weekend, I learned how to butcher chickens, so I’d know how to take apart a bird in order to fulfill the eating needs of my family.

In the event of an apocalypse, you’re not going to need extra cash or your smart phone. You’re going to need food, water, and shelter, and the skills to meet those needs.

Are you ready for it?