Prepper Scale

Hmmm....I think it's a good idea. IF we could evaluate ourselves privately. Overall I think that it would help to make goals and achieve them.
#1 Admit that you are a Prepper: joined sites like Canadian Preppers
#2 Have an extra bottle of ketchup in the cupboard
.......
#? Have a fortified bunker on 1,000 acres 500 kms from the nearest city

Like that do you mean??

Yes very much along those lines. First agree on important categories like food, water, shelter etc. Then develop a scale for each for the categories. Everyone's goals may be different but it would be a great self evaluation tool.

Probably the best measure is the span of time you can live without going to the store. That is probably your best measure of your balance of preps.
Makes no sense to have 3 years worth of toilet paper if you only have 2 weeks of food.

If you have 3 months of food and can't last more than a week without electricity there's a hole that needs fixing one way or the other before you worry about anything else.

Absolutely correct Professer. the scale will need to be comprehensive if it is to be useful. There is a lot of interdependency. Knowing how to use a solar cooker for example is of little use if you do not know how to build one. Also knowing how to do something is nowhere nearly as useful as having the knowledge plus having the practice of actually building one.

Many people who start to investigate prepping get discouraged but the shear overwhelming amount of information and opinions. However, if you are a prepper who would be more than happy with a 72 hour emergency kit, then getting there can be more easy than you think. Once there you will have peace of mind that you did it. Later you may decide that you want to go one step further, maybe not. Taking the first step is the biggest step.

So how about developing a some kind of scale that could give you an indication of your progress to YOUR goals? I have given this some thought and read many posts. Most preppers would agree that the following are somewhat essential components of prepping:
1. shelter
2. water
3. food
4. mindset
5. security
6. communications
7. being part of a group
8. personal skill sets
9. general supplies

I am not suggesting that these are the only categories nor that all should be included. We have to start somewhere so let's hear what essential components you think should be included.

1 - food
2 - water
3 - fire
4 - shelter
5 - medical
6 - security
7 - travel
8 - psycological

Of course, each category not only has sub-headings but also overlaps with others. For example - food, storage, preparations, hunting/gathering, cultivating and tools. I think a prepper scale is going to be a rather large task. There're probably dozens of sub categories to deal with. The results could be interesting though.

I have tried to do a list of stuff that a person(me) needs to do. I asked on here about skills that are important, how to decide what to do first, etc. Several people in the group use spreadsheets to track what they have and how they are doing.
What I was looking for was also a this is "how you do it" for prepping. I have found each person has their own importance to an item.

I watched the tail end of Doomsday prepper once, how does their scale work?

Thanks for your help tazweiss. I think we are close in our categories as what you call psychological I was calling mindset. Medical I was covering under personal skill sets and medical supplies under general supplies. Likewise fire and cooking would be under general supplies. You hit the nail on the head with travel I had not thought of that important aspect.

Once we have the components we rate each one on a scale of say one to five . So the steps for water and/or food may be as follows:
1. Not interested at all
2. 72 hour supply
3. one month supply
4. one year supply
5. a permanently sustainable supply.

These are just suggestions and I would like everyone's thoughts to help develop a simple scale for each of the categories that are decided on as being essential.

The beauty of such a system is that it fits everyone's aspirations and helps them see how are along they are towards their personal objectives. A list of nine categories each on a five point scale would give a maximum score of 45. A person who is not interested in prepping would answer #1 to each component ending up with a score of 9 (out of their goal of 9). Hey they are already there! An emergency kit prepper would have a goal of 18. If they scored 14 they could at least see what they were missing from their kits. An extreme survivalist wishing to have an underground bunker would probably aspire to a score of 45. I'm so not there ...... nor would I personally want to be.

Let's have everyone's opinions. Help develop the scale and see where it leads. Once completed we could post it on a spreadsheet. Keep in mind the intent here is help you discover how far along you are with YOUR personal goals.

Oldschool I am not sure how Doomsday Preppers do their rating at the end of the show. I doubt that they are using a scale. From what I have seen they look at each "prep" individually and rate both the good points and the weak or missing points in that particular plan that is being shown in that episode.

Oh what a neat idea! No bunker here either 🙂

Just quickly going over the 8 categories I named, plus communtications. An initial assessment would put me at about 38. 🙁 I didn't look at skillsets because where you're at on the scale in each category would also depend greatly on your skill level to reach that point. I doubt if I'll ever reach 45 but it's something to work toward. 🙄

When it come down to planning for the worst, always think of the quote,
"No battle plan ever survived first contact with the enemy" or
"Every battle plan is excellent, till the first shot is fired" and the best but not least'

The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
(The best laid schemes of Mice and Men
oft go awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!)
Robert Burns, To a Mouse (Poem, November, 1785)
Scottish national poet (1759 - 1796

Or my own,
"People will plan for what they think will or could happen,
but, put amazed by what does usually happen".

"The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men" just about sums it up. However it does not deter us from pursuing our goals.

well on taz scale of 40 - I got 32/40 on Icree scale of 45 I got 36/45, lots of room for improvement as always..

well on taz scale of 40 - I got 32/40 on Icree scale of 45 I got 36/45, lots of room for improvement as always..

I wasn't going on a scale of 40, I was going on a scale of 45. I wish it was a scale of 40, I'd be sittin' fat an' happy right now. 😎