Emergency Preparedness: How Preppers Stock Up on Food for a Crisis

What exactly is a prepper? They stockpile food, don't they?

A prepper is someone who enjoys the conveniences of the 21st century but does not take them for granted. In German-speaking areas, we are spoiled and accustomed to having constant access to water, food, light, heating, and electricity. A prepper assumes that this luxury could quickly come to an end in an emergency situation and therefore prepares for various scenarios. The word itself originates from the English term "prepping" or from "to prepare", which means to prepare.

Although this emergency preparedness often includes a supply of water and food, it does not necessarily have to result in hoarding food and panic buying. Calculating one's own needs, carefully planning for emergencies, and consciously selecting food and equipment can, on the contrary, lead to a very mindful approach to food, the environment, and nature.

When a crisis occurs, a prepper is happy about their well-sorted supplies and does not rush to the supermarket with the crowds to clear the shelves - they are the exact opposite of a panic buyer. Prepping is about gradually selecting and stocking up on supplies in good times - just as our grandparents used to do.

Therefore, we do not see preppers as a term of abuse or as a topic that should be marginalized to the far-right - but rather as a lifestyle, to be mindful with the conveniences of modern times and to have a suitable 'Plan B' for every convenience. We even marketed our app as a prepper app before 2019. Since then, due to the expanded range of functions, we have switched to the name Pantry App.

An emergency supply? But I have a supermarket just around the corner!

A selection of groceries from the supermarket

In our modern world, a reliable supply of food, drinking water, and medicine is always ensured! Should I prepare like a prepper for an imaginary crisis? If I need something, I just drive to the supermarket.

Such statements are heard over and over again - what realistic scenarios could actually occur that one should prepare for?

Scenarios in which emergency preparedness makes sense

Natural disasters

Despite sophisticated modern warning or early warning systems, people repeatedly find themselves in emergency situations due to natural disasters. In the news, one occasionally sees images of floods and flooded basements, of people getting snowed in in the mountains, or being shaken by an earthquake. Depending on where you live, such scenarios can indeed be realistic.

Quickly going to the supermarket or pharmacy and getting food supplies is then not possible, and one must make do with what they or their neighbors have at home. People living in affected areas would be wise to prepare for emergencies by storing essential everyday items, food, water, and medications at home.

Earthquake

In Germany, the risk of an earthquake is relatively low, yet it should not be neglected, especially in Southern Germany. The map displays in red the areas with increased danger.

Red areas on the map have a relatively high earthquake risk, while the danger is lower in the blue zones. Source: G. Grünthal et al., Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ

Hazards arising from earthquakes include collapsed or at-risk buildings, destroyed roads and transport routes, damaged gas and electricity lines, as well as the mass panic that an earthquake can trigger.

Flood

Elbe flood, photo by LucyKaef on Pixabay

The dangers of flooding include basements that are temporarily inaccessible until the water is pumped out by the fire brigade, but also long-term damage to supplies, furniture, and masonry. The risk is especially high for buildings close to rivers - insurers have very precise data on risk assessment, it's best to inquire directly with them for your place of residence or use the Flood Check.

Snowdrifts

In Southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, mountainous areas occasionally experience heavy snowfall and snowdrifts. These can lead to blocked roads and even cut off entire villages, isolating them from the outside world.

Severe weather

Severe weather and storms can uproot and snap trees, thereby blocking access roads or causing flooding due to heavy rain. You can get severe weather warnings directly from the Deutschen Wetterdienst. Severe weather warnings are reported quite frequently, although fortunately they often turn out to be less severe.

War and cyberattacks

The worst-case scenario is war. Fortunately, we have not experienced a war in German-speaking areas for 75 years, so the danger is relatively low. Nevertheless, the unrest in the Middle East, which is repeatedly reported in the news, could also affect us - at least in the form of cyberattacks, if an attacker specifically targets computer networks and factories, or even power plants directly.

Prolonged power outage

Candles as emergency lighting and a weak source of heat during a power outage for preppers. Credits for this image go to Festoon lights.

Over the past centuries, we as humans have become accustomed to the constant availability of a warm home, hot water from the tap, and light at the push of a button. A power outage lasting several hours can quickly disrupt this balance! At home, one can manage quite well with flashlights or candles for a short time. If it gets cold in the apartment during winter, one can make do with a thick blanket on the sofa.

During an extended widespread power outage, the cooling systems in the supermarket will also fail. The cash register systems and the electric locking system will no longer work either. Therefore, the supermarket will remain closed! Perhaps an ingenious supermarket operator will still sell food for cash. In the worst case, however, the supermarket may be sold out within a few hours due to panic buying and hoarding, or even looted. In such a crisis situation, a prepper would stay at home until the situation normalizes, and make do with the food supplies at home in the meantime.

Preparing for an escape from one's own apartment: The emergency bag

In certain situations concerning one's own home: during floods, earthquakes, or even fires. Then the food supplies in the pantry are useless. For such cases, many preppers prepare an emergency backpack with all sorts of useful contents, which is ready to grab in case of emergency and can be taken along when the house is no longer a safe place. This way, at least the next 1-2 days should not pose a problem. However, it is also important to ensure that the contents remain up-to-date - you can learn more in our blog article:

Guide: Assembling and maintaining an emergency backpackWe explain what an emergency backpack is, what contents you should fill it with, and most importantly, how to keep it up to date.Pantry AppMatthias Schmid

How does the Pantry App help you with emergency preparedness?

With our app, you get a tool for a proven method of emergency preparedness: private provisioning at home with food, beverages, and medications. Planning and tracking your supplies ensures a good overview, prevents you from buying too much, and ensures that no food has to be thrown away - instead, it can be exchanged as the expiration date approaches.

Once you have recorded which food items you have at home, the app takes over the calculation of key figures and provides you with an overview. The whole process works conveniently via a barcode scanner using your smartphone camera or even an external scanner.

Additionally, you can organize food items in storage locations. This way, you can always keep track of expiring or expired food and replace it in time. Especially for large supplies, this is a very useful feature!

Furthermore, the Pantry App supports you with a balanced diet. Having enough carbohydrates in the form of pasta is certainly a first step, but without a certain amount of protein and fat, it would be a rather unhealthy diet.

As the final and most important factor, the Pantry App determines how long your supplies will last! For this, you can enter the body measurements for each household member, from which the individual calorie needs are calculated. Alternatively, you can also enter your own value for the calorie requirement. Now, the energy content of all the food in your stock is matched with the energy needs of your household. This determines the number of days that the supply will last. The same is calculated for the liquid and water requirements.

This statistic is calculated in preparation mode (Prepper Mode) for each storage location and the total supplies

Suppose you want to provide for your family for ten days, as recommended by the government. If your supplies, for example, only last for nine days, as shown in the picture, you can read in the nutritional statistics below exactly which products you should still buy to achieve your goal: A balanced stockpile that is long-lasting and provides a certain level of security for some time! By the way, the example image lacks food items rich in fats and proteins - otherwise, the stockpile is too carbohydrate-heavy. On our blog, you can find an article on how to activate the Preparation Mode with the statistics in the app.

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