Festively Prepping
"Prepping" and "holidays" are two terms most people wouldn't put together in one sentence but if the holidays can teach us anything it's that with enough glittery wrapping and Bing Crosby bashing your eardrums into peppermint bark singing White Christmas ANYTHING can be made into a new, fun holiday tradition!
Now, some may say that you should leave whatever holiday you celebrate alone and not let your prepping cast a creepy shadow over the celebrations BUT prepping isn't something that you drop for a month or two. Plenty of emergencies come up during the holiday season and the last thing you want is to have the insult of having nothing to fall back on after the injury.
Do you do advent? Small items that can be added to a bug-in or bug-out bag are perfect. Can opener, sturdy flashlight, hand crank small electronics charger or solar phone charger, etc. Make it fun and mix it up if you have kids. Let them build their bags as you count down.
All that candy can be helpful to your prepping as well. When you are using canned and dry goods to stay alive a Snickers or candy cane as a sweet morale booster can go a long way in keeping spirits up.
You want a cheap way to gather kindling? Go to the local tree lots. Grab those cut branches and tree stump ends. A small box or two of those will help with all that amazingly flammable sap, and I don't mean your cheesy uncle this time!
Want to make the gathering of those branches and stumps fun? Homemade wreaths and ornaments! Sand down those stump pieces and either paint or burn cute images into them. This is great if you need something for your kids to keep busy with and you don't want to look weird taking branches and stumps home.
I'm the first to say that you don't need to spend lots or anything at all on preps but that route takes some major time and skills. The holidays are great for major sales on things that can make your prepping easier to include canned and dry foods.
The holidays aren't only great for buying and storing preps but remembering WHY you prep. Getting pictures and making precious memories are going to help if you have to break open that ten pound can of potatoes later on.
The people who say that you can't enjoy the holidays AND prep are people that aren't allowing themselves to be more open minded to possibilities.
From Left of Center Prepping we hope whatever you celebrate you have happy and memorable times!
Share how you prep during the holidays in the comments below!