Prepper Groups: Form Your Own, or Join One?

I get this question all the time, and these questions have seemed to increase in the last couple of weeks, so I decided to tackle the subject of forming or joining prepper groups. I have been a little hesitant about this because there isn’t really a perfect solution, and quite a bit that goes into prepper groups other than what skills people have.

If you have never given this a second thought, you might want to read this article that Lisa wrote about what to look for with prepper groups. This article (and podcast) goes into detail about what makes a good group, and how to form your own or join a prepper group.

Prepper Groups: Form Your Own, or Join One?

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While this article will go through what we talked about in the show, make sure and listen to it though, in order to get the full picture. Most of our listeners use their mobile phones while working or driving, but you can download it or listen from here if you like.

Joining a Group

The Waiting List: Ideally we would all love to join the best prepping group out there, but they are the best because they don’t just accept anyone. Good groups will be hard to join and are most likely going to be invite only.

Commitment Level: A couple other things to give quite a bit of consideration to is how serious is the group? How committed are you? And is the group the right fit for you. If all you want is a group of people to learn from and talk about prepping, don’t join a group that requires a big commitment.

Your Resume: Think of this like a job interview, what do you have to offer?  I’m not necessarily talking about supplies here; I’m talking about what skill set(s) you have that would be a contribution to a group.

Forming a group

This might be the most feasible option for anyone wanting to have a prepping group, and because of this we talked quite a bit about forming prepper groups in the podcast. There just aren’t that many good prepper groups to join, and some might just be a waste of time.

However: Even if the group doesn’t fit your needs, it might be a good place to meet another prepper that feels the same way, and you can create your own group with them.

The Snowball Affect: The advantage to forming your own prepping group is that all you need is one other person. After that, the two of you could work together and add more people that fit into what your ideas for the group are.

Expect to fail: When I say expect to fail I don’t mean expect the group to fail, I mean don’t expect everything to work out perfectly. This article from On Point Preparedness talks about why it’s tough to keep a group together.

Don’t be too hasty to make your decisions, It’s going to take time to get a feel for someone. Someone who seems like a great addition today could turn into a liability in the future. Learn how to read people and take all the time it takes to get to know them.

Other Groups and Interests: I’m going to go through some options to find preppers in your area online a little later in this article, but if you are leery of searching online (a lot of people are) you do have a few other options.

Find people with similar interests that might not be preppers by joining groups or classes. Prepping encompasses so many different areas that you are bound to find someone interested in bushcraft, First aid, gun clubs, ham radio etc. Put yourself in the right place at the right time, and you never know what will happen.

Right Next Door: Another option is getting to know your neighbors, although it is very unlikely they are preppers, you might be surprised. This is also important because in a SHTF situation you are going to be stuck with them being next door whether you like it or not, and if they know you, they are less likely to take advantage of you.

Online Prepping

Finding people to join your prepping group online might be the easiest way, but it is also the riskiest. As with anything online we want to be careful about what information we share, and as preppers we are extra careful about it.

Personally, I am more worried about people than the government. I know I’m on a few lists anyway, but a person with bad intentions, and my personal information can be more dangerous. To avoid this don’t give out too much information too soon. Make a fake profile and don’t add your address or phone number.

This article from the Survival Blog give a few options for finding groups (or people) online. One more time, OPERATIONAL SECURITY IS KEY! You never know who is on the other end of the conversation.

There are two aspects of prepper groups we need to think about, the groups we can join now, and the groups we will have in an emergency situation. Here are a few bullet points we talked about in the show…

Forming/Joining Groups now

• Joining groups now gives you a head start.
• Ability to learn skills that might be useful later.
• Ability to practice and adjust your plans.

Forming Groups After

• Like it or not, your friends and family are part of (or associated with) your group.
• Some scenarios might dictate the need for you to accept and/or reject people and prepare for the consequences.
• Start planning now how you would accept/reject people in different scenarios.
• Each scenario will be different, it’s not always a Mad Max situation.

It’s going to be hard, and it might take some time, but if you really want to you can get a prepping group together. It all depends on how committed you are to having a prepping group. Just like anything else, if you want it bad enough, you will figure out a way to make it happen.

If you have any question or comments leave them below and we will be happy to answer.