As I mentioned in the introduction, freeze dried food is expensive — very expensive. How many preppers are out there cutting corners thinking, "Instead of buying a freeze dryer, I'll just dehydrate this food myself, add a couple oxygen absorbers, and throw it in a mylar bag" not realizing that they are potentially creating a botulism rich environment? When I first wrote this article, that was just a thought, but then I later had a friend tell me they planned on doing just that! And you won’t be able to smell or taste botulism either. Are you going to risk buying food in an unmarked mylar bag from someone you don't know?
Who is going to accept your gold and silver bars and coins? How are you going to make change? Are you going to accept some random person's gold and silver? How will you know whether it is real? Did you spend $1,000 on an electronic testing device?
Many people are under the illusion that their preps are unknown. Gunbroker gives the ATF access to all of their user searches. All the email order confirmations of your gear and purchases are accessible by the NSA through major email providers. In fact, Yahoo gave them direct access (cached version).
The USG has records of every purchase you make online, with a credit card. Any purchase receipt sent to your email has been hoovered up at the backbone network level by interception facilities like room 641A. The NSA has a Total Inventory System (TIS) that tracks every item owned by every single American.
Back in the 1990's, the USG could re-constitute passwords just from listening to your keystrokes and having some record of what was typed. It turned out that the unique sounds could be identified if they had even a small sample of what was written. That means that any sample obtained would be sufficient to decode your passwords later unless you combined them with a physical hardware key. Phones can listen to you any time now. But that isn't even necessary now, because Intel ME allows remote access to your machine on demand as well. AMD has their own version too. And BadBIOS can transmit viruses to air-gapped computers via sound alone (cached article).
Anything you plug into your electrical outlets in your home has a unique signature, which can be identified by your smart meter and the power company. The power company can tell what kind of electric blender you use and has detailed databases that track everyone's use. That means the government, the electric company, and any other corporation that buys that data, can get a detailed picture of every device in your home. This research paper already talks about "inducing" customer behavior based on household electronic signature data. Want freedom? Better get a battery! And WIFI can be used to identify where you are located physically as well as create a map of your home (cached paper).
How much ammo is enough? Many people say you need 10,000 rounds per gun. Let's say you've got an AR15, a 9mm pistol, and an AK-47. At 57 cents a round for 10,000 PMC 55g 5.56 rounds, you'd pay $5,700. At 30 cents a round, for 10,000 9mm FMJ 115g PMC rounds, you'd pay $3,000. At 55 cents a round for 7.26x39 you'd pay $5,500 for 10,000 rounds. You're looking at $14,200 excluding tax. That is only for the cheapest FMJ ammo. Prices for self defense ammo are going to be far higher. Now that doesn't include ammo for training either. That is insanely expensive and unobtainable for the average person.
Strangely, the same prepping "influencers" that say you need 10,000 rounds per gun also say that you only need three or four magazines in an unexpected firefight and if you need more rounds then you're in over your head and likely going to die anyway. So, which one is it then?
How much time do you spend training at the range? Most instructors say once a quarter is the absolute minimum to retain muscle memory. Do you take refresher safety courses or at least watch safety videos?
Are you even physically fit? Do you have body armor for yourself or your loved ones? You're looking at another $2k, at least. Are you aware that anyone who purchases body armor in the U.S. is put on an FBI watch list?
And let's talk about your AR15. Do you have an extra lower parts kit? What about an extra BCG or bolt? What about gas rings? What happens when there's no supply chain for any of that? Are you able to create your own springs, pins, and detents? Can you mill out your own receivers? Do you have the necessary tools to fix it? Do you have a vice, roll punch set, starter punch set, regular punch set, castle nut punch, castle nut key, torque wrench, calipers, and a brass hammer? Where is the line between consumer and "prepper" in your life?
