You might wonder how you’d be able to practise preparedness in an urban setting. And when I say urban, I mean big city. You’d likely live in an apartment or condo, not a suburban situation where you have your own home and a yard, however small. Well, it is possible. In some ways, you just have to think outside the box a little.
Obviously, in a highly urban setting, you’re probably not going to have much access to land to grow your own food. Now, this isn’t always the case. there are an increasing number of community lots that are being turned into food producing spaces. Usually for a fee, or sometimes just labor, you can have a share of what’s produced. This gives you access to healthier, better quality food than you’re likely to find in a grocery store, and gives you a chance to preserve some to store away. The easiest methods for this would be canning or freezing.
You can container garden. Get yourself a pot and plant a tomato plant or some other veggie that you enjoy. It may take a little more work this way, watering and making sure your plant gets enough sun, but you can certainly get a respectable harvest. And having plants around can help improve your mood too.
If you don’t want to garden, you can buy your produce, just look for the best quality you can afford and preserve it the same way, canning or freezing. In an apartment, you’re likely to have limited freezer space, so learning how to can would be a huge asset. I’m not going to get into canning with this post. But often times, you can find people willing to teach, either through friends or by looking on the internet. There are also some great pictures of what people have done in the way of can and jar storage on the internet. Some nice shelving with your jars nestled on it can actually look awesome with not a lot of work.
When shopping, you can try to add a couple of extra items each time and put them away. This works very well to spread out the cost of medical items that might be more expensive, and to help you build up a supply of things you use a lot. If you eat a lot of pasta, for example, adding an extra jar of sauce each time you run to the store can quickly bolster your supplies.
In an urban situation, storage space can be the biggest hurdle. You may not have a spare closet or part of a room that you can use. (If you do, great!) A great way to put away supplies that saves space it to use totes. You can stack them in an out-of-the-way area, or even better, get under the bed totes and just slip them under your bed(s). This has the advantage of keeping them out of sight for anyone that stops over. Friends might not understand your preparedness mentality and may need to be eased into the idea, and other that stop by, people you may not know as well, won’t be tempted to get sticky fingers.
So why prepare when you live in an urban area, when a store could be just a walk down the street? You may remember a video clip that went around during the Boston Marathon Bombing. Neighborhoods were shut down while the search for the suspect was going on and a police officer went to the store to get a family a couple of things that they apparently didn’t have on hand. Some people thought this was great, that the officer would do this for them. Unfortunately though, this also meant that the officer was unavailable to aid in the search during this time. Whether you see it as him doing a great thing or having valuable man hours wasted, if this family had been able to put a few things away over time, they’d have had supplies on hand and that officer likely wouldn’t have had to go to the store for them. They’d be self sufficient, making themselves an asset rather than a possible liability.
Urban preparedness is absolutely possible. There are people doing it, and doing it very well everyday. It just takes a little thought and the desire to make sure you’re more ready for what the future may bring. How much or how little you do it is totally in your hands. But if you put your mind to it, you can absolutely be the next success story that, when something does happen in your home or your community, you can provide for yourself and maybe even others until that situation passes.
Are you an urban person that’s prepping? Let me know! Feel free to share your tips and tricks. We all have to start somewhere and beginners hearing from more experienced people can be a huge help.
There’s a giveaway going on! Just comment on this post, or one of the previous ones mentioning the giveaway to be entered to win a free pouch of Mountain Hose freeze dried food! The last day to enter is May 26th, with the winner being announced on May 27th. This is the Bug Out Girl saying good night.
Bug Out Girl 