How to pack a go bag, a shelter-in-place bag, an emergency car kit, and an everyday carry.
For most folks, the word "prepper" evokes an image of someone who's got way too much time on their hands at best, and who spends way too much time following conspiracies on the Internet at worst. But while you might not want to fill a backyard bunker with canned food (or, frankly, need to), the truth is that you're almost certainly overdue for a little prepping. In the age of climate-change-fueled wildfires and pandemic lockdowns, you at least need a shelter in place (SIP) kit—and maybe a go-bag, too. Trust me, I know that can sound intimidating! But far from making you dwell on scary possibilities, being prepared for the worst can actually free up your mind to enjoy life. By the time you finish reading this, you'll know everything you need to know to start prepping—and stop worrying. Why everyone should be a little bit of a prepper I understand that you might be a little reluctant to embrace the whole prepper identity right out of the gate. You might be thinking, "those preppers are crazy; I'm not like that!" But these days, preppers come in an assortment of flavors, from gun-toting, cabin- living, former military members, to crunchy homesteaders in Vermont, to suburban parents ready to transform their minivans into go-vehicles at the drop of an apocalyptic hat. Prepping is not just for doomsdayers anymore—it's for everyone! I've discovered that it's for me, and I bet—if you give it a chance—you'll find that it's for you, too. The very idea of a "prepper" being some societal outlier would have been laughable to our ancestors. I've learned, in my two decades studying how human communities react to stress and even disasters, that prepping used to be built into our cultural practices. What changed? Our modern Western, market-integrated lifestyle puts forth the illusion that we don't need to be prepared. We all drank that collectively comforting Kool-Aid that said there was no need to have supplies on hand in case of an emergency—you can just go to the store. Nor…