The problem is common among preppers and survivalists: over-emphasis on one or a few categories of prepping. At the same time, other types of necessities are omitted or given a 
short shrift. I’m guilty of this prepping error too. If you read this blog regularly, well, you may have noticed a plethora of posts on firearms and gardening, and far less emphasis on other areas of preparedness.
To be a well-rounded prepper, you’ll need sufficient preps in every area of concern: food, water, medicine, security, heat, lights, electricity, communication, and maybe some kits for dealing with particular disasters. My suggestions:
* active home security — aka firearms and ammo
* passive home security — making your home harder to break into
* stored food and water
* a garden and gardening supplies (seeds, equipment)
* water purification equipment
* first aid supplies and books
* antibiotics and over-the-counter meds
* improving personal fitness
* economic preps: an alternate source of income, bartering goods, some extra cash and perhaps some gold or silver
* sources of power and heat in case of prolonged power outage
* communication (if phone/cell is not working) e.g. walkie talkie (or similar)
* a bug-out plan, supplies, and appropriate vehicle
* some camping supplies for bugging out to a remote location
* nuclear fall-out preparedness kit (in case of nuclear power plant disaster, dirty bomb, or actual nuke)
* earthquake preparedness kit (depending on where you live)
I feel like I’m forgetting something. [Zombie preparedness!!]
The above list is not meant to be all-inclusive, but to point out that we all need to examine our preps for any “holes” — any specific category of preparedness that we lack. You don’t want to have plenty of food, and no water, or plenty of guns, and no medical supplies. We have to also consider how our preps will fare in a specific disaster scenario: an economic disaster is far different from a natural disaster. Though the basic necessities of life remain the same.
Another way to look at this issue is based on expenses. How much money have you spent on each area of concern. Perhaps you should raid your budget for stored food to buy a water purification device, or take some of the money earmarked for firearms and use it for passive home security.
Another consideration is the likelihood of the disasters that you are preparing for. You don’t want to spend too much time preparing for the type of disaster that occurs rarely, while ignoring more common scenarios. For example, earthquakes are more common than nuclear fallout, and power outages are much more common than either. I’m not a “doomsday prepper”. I have some preps for the less likely scenarios, but most of my preps are applicable to a wide range of fairly common disasters.
If you are not sure which area of prepping needs more attention, I would suggest buying some books on prepping, with an eye toward broadening your preps into new categories of supplies and knowledge.
- Thoreau
