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Concern over current events is growing. Whether people can put words to it or not, I feel it, you feel it — we all feel it. The likelihood of real economic instability, ongoing geopolitical conflict, rising civil unrest, and supply chains cracking under pressure is becoming harder to ignore.
The global economy is fragile in ways that don’t show up on financial charts until they’re already happening. That fragility bleeds into everything — scarcity, rationing, rising costs, and the creeping realization that “I’ll get it later” isn’t much of a strategy anymore.
This isn’t a starter list. This is a look at what I’m actively stocking in my own preps.
If you’ve been prepping for a while, you already have supplies tucked away — food stocks, tools, and preparedness kits. But experienced preppers reassess, adjust, and reinforce their preps as conditions change.
Water Redundancy, Not Just Storage
I store a lot of water in large water storage tanks. Fewer focus on what happens when stored water runs out, becomes contaminated, or can’t be accessed easily. Supply chain disruptions and infrastructure strain don’t usually shut water off overnight — they degrade quality, pressure, and reliability first.
I’m increasing water-related supplies with an emphasis on redundancy, not just volume. The goal is to be able to treat, move, and replace water from multiple sources without depending on a single system or method.
Water is one of those areas where having options matters more than having one large solution. If you want to know how much water you should store, see my water calculator.
Items I’m stocking more of:
Food (Depth, Diversity, and Continuity)
Food is the most obvious category—but it’s also the easiest to misjudge. Shortages don’t usually mean no food; they mean less variety, higher prices, rationing, and long stretches where restocking becomes unpredictable. That’s where depth matters more than novelty.
I’m not changing what I store so much as increasing how much of what I already have. Foods we actually eat, that store well, and that don’t require fragile supply chains to replenish are getting deeper buffers.
This category is about continuity. The ability to maintain calories, nutrition, and routine even when access becomes inconsistent.
Items I’m stocking more of:
- Staple calories (rice, beans, pasta, oats)
- Canned proteins (meat, fish, beans)
- Freeze-dried and dehydrated foods we already use
- Cooking fats and oils with long shelf life (like coconut oil)
- Salt, sugar, and baking essentials
- Shelf-stable dairy alternatives and freeze-dried powdered milk
- Comfort foods that help maintain morale
- Food preservation supplies (Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers)
Skills that Extend Independence
Gear buys you time. Skills decide how well you use it.
As conditions deteriorate, the ability to solve problems without outside help becomes just as important as the supplies themselves. Skills don’t run out, don’t require resupply, and don’t depend on functioning systems. They also stretch the value of everything else you’ve already stored.
I’m not talking about mastering obscure survival techniques. I’m focusing on reinforcing practical skills that reduce dependency when services become slow, unreliable, or unavailable.
Skills I’m actively reinforcing:
- Manual cooking methods and fuel-efficient meal planning
- Radio operation, monitoring, and local communications protocols
- Simple repairs—sewing, sealing, fastening, and patching
- Situational awareness and decision-making under stress
This isn’t about becoming self-sufficient overnight. It’s about reducing how often you’re forced to rely on strained systems, and how badly things go when you do.
In unstable conditions, the most valuable prep isn’t always another item—it’s the ability to keep what you already have working.
Fuel, Energy, and Consumables that Enable Independence
Fuel and energy are where economic instability and supply chain disruption show up early and hit hard. Prices spike, availability becomes inconsistent, and rationing—formal or informal—starts creeping in. Power doesn’t have to go out completely for daily life to become more difficult. Intermittent outages, fuel shortages, and rising costs are enough.
I’m stocking more here because energy equals options. Heat, light, cooking, communication, and mobility all depend on it. The goal isn’t just backup power, but the ability to keep essential systems running without scrambling for resupply when everyone else is doing the same.
Consumables matter just as much as hardware. A generator, solar setup, or stove is only useful as long as you can maintain and fuel it.
Items I’m stocking more of:
Communications and Information Control
Social media is fueling disinformation. Rumors and gossip spread quickly. Conflicting reports, delayed updates, and outright misinformation make it harder to tell what’s actually happening. Having independent ways to receive and share information matters as much as having food or power.
I’m increasing communications gear not because I expect total blackout, but because reliability degrades during instability. The ability to monitor local conditions, coordinate with people you trust, and verify information without relying on a single platform reduces risk and bad decision-making.
This is about redundancy, reach, and maintaining situational awareness when official channels are slow, censored, or overwhelmed.
Items I’m stocking more of:
Medical, Health, and Dependency Reduction
Medical and health supplies are one of the first areas where economic instability and supply chain stress show up, though you might not recognize it at first. Prices rise, refills take longer, and availability becomes inconsistent long before anything feels like a “crisis.”
I’m increasing medical supplies not because I expect hospitals to vanish, but because dependency becomes a liability when delays, shortages, and service disruptions start stacking up. These supplies are about buying time.
Items I’m stocking more of:
- Over-the-counter medications (pain relief, cold/flu, GI meds, antihistamines)
- Prescription medications refilled as early as possible
- Items for minor injuries and infections
- Dental repair kits and temporary filling material
There are several different companies that sell these online, but Ozio Medical has some of the best pricing. Coupon code “PREPPER” you will get an additional 10% off.
I’m also stocking additional antibiotics, and I’m not worried about “expiration dates” on these as studies have indicated that they can remain up to 90% effective for many years when stored properly.
Hygiene, Sanitation, and “Unsexy” Necessities
Hygiene and sanitation issues don’t usually make headlines, but they’re some of the fastest ways a bad situation gets worse.
I’m stocking more in this category because preventable health problems multiply quickly when hygiene slips. Clean water, clean hands, and basic waste management reduce illness, conserve medical supplies, and keep small problems from becoming big ones.
Items I’m stocking more of:
- Soap and hand sanitizer
- Disinfectants and cleaning solutions
- Toilet paper
- Heavy-duty garbage bags
- Feminine hygiene products
- Bleach and long-term sanitation chemicals
- Disposable gloves and basic PPE
Barter and Psychological Comfort Items
Comfort items and small luxuries carry outsized value in stressful situations. This category is about morale, social stability, and flexible trade, not indulgence.
I’m increasing these supplies because they serve two purposes. They help maintain a sense of normalcy for my own household, and they give me practical, low-risk barter options if informal trade becomes necessary. These are items people want even when money is tight—and especially when shelves are empty.
Items I’m stocking more of:
- Coffee, tea, and shelf-stable drink mixes
- Sugar, salt, and basic spices
- Comfort foods with long shelf life
Recap
What I’m doing here isn’t panic buying or reacting to a single headline. It’s adjusting to patterns that are becoming harder to ignore—economic strain, geopolitical instability, civil unrest, and supply chains that no longer feel resilient.
It’s an ongoing process of reassessing risk and reinforcing the areas that matter most when systems get less reliable. By stocking deeper in the essentials I already rely on—food, water, energy, medical supplies, and the items that support health, communication, and morale—I’m buying time, reducing dependency, and widening my margin for error as conditions continue to shift.
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