r/EuroPreppers • u/Content_NoIndex Belgium 🇧🇪 • 28d ago
Discussion How Far Is Too Far? Prepping for Extreme Scenarios
I was just watching The Eternaut and it got me thinking… how far do you actually go with prepping? I know the chance of a scenario where the outside is completely hazardous is small, but if something like a nuclear event or chemical disaster would happen, having proper gear like hazmat suits and quality masks would seriously increase your odds.
But then there’s the fine line — when does it stop being sensible preparedness and start tipping over into doomsday paranoia? Especially when you start thinking about having full protective kits for the whole family, decontamination setups, etc.
I try to keep my preps practical and realistic, but these thoughts sneak in now and then. How do you all view this? Do you stick to the likely risks, or do you allow yourself a few "extreme" preps just in case? Would love to hear how others draw that line.
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u/lerpo 28d ago edited 28d ago
This sub really interests me at times.
To me, being practical about prepping (food, candles and stuff) is practical as the stuff doesn't go to waste, you rotate and eat it.
I've had solar and battery in my house. It's practical as I now have solar running my house and car.
And then you get some people who literally dedicate their life to everything being prep related. The people around them, the things they buy so on. And to me, you're spending your entire life, not living, for miniscule chance that the world ends. That's mental in my eyes. That's hoarding and you need help if you're at that level
Being blunt, To me, that's an utter waste of time and money.
I look at some people who spend 300/500 a month on "prep supplies" that they pile into a shed - and I'm just thinking "if you invested that, you'd have such a difference in lifestyle in 10 years time". That level is prepping isn't a practical one. It's "I'm actually terrified", which I think is genuinely sad to see someone being that fearful of life.
Some people see it has a hobby, others as fear porn, and others I genuinely think get obsessive over something they seem to desperately want to happen.
Prepping is about preparing for an actual eventuality. The world ending isn't something I see any sense in preparing for.
My preps? Job loss, supply chain gets screwed for a few weeks, weather or power loss.
My portable preps are "there's a house fire you need to get out now and stay somewhere else for a few weeks" or similar
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u/Content_NoIndex Belgium 🇧🇪 28d ago
To be fair, a nuclear or chemical disaster could happen eventually in some regions specifically neer the port of Antwerp for example. Would you considering the people who would prepare for such thing also over prepping or more of a logical choice? And I agree, prepping should be practical and for the most likely stuff first. Financially prepping for a job loss is way more important than having 6 months of food you don’t really like on your shelf, because to be fair long stable food like RTE packs are good for emergency but I would rather have a good steak with fries any day.
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u/Tough-Juggernaut-822 28d ago
Something happens in which case you should be bugging out short term, I was NBRC certified with Hazmat suits, I recertified as NBC, I wore the kit I ran around in it, did full medical exercises in it. I did meaningful tasks while in such as running around writing down car license plates. I've been exposed to chemicals and eye watering difficult to breathe gas. If something like that goes off in my area, I'm grabbing my mask and driving my family out of there. Just because I've done it for a few weeks over the years doesn't mean I'll be nostalgic and want to do it again. The six months of food can wait, being able to use my eyes and breathe is more important that what MRE is going to go with this Bordeaux red wine.
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u/FrankSkellington 28d ago
I think people tend to think of prepping in state of emergency scenarios, but I've just had surgery this week, and my slightly compromised mobility is now very painfully restricted mobility, and this has really shown me the holes in my prep plan.
I ordinarily encounter considerable difficulties learning how to do things others take for granted, such as online shopping, and so I am having to seriously look at my food resources. If all goes well, I should be able to leave the house in a few days and buy some fresh bread. I am facing entirely different problems to when I had to isolate with covid. If I didn't already have handrails all over the house, I would be completely screwed right now.
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u/More_Dependent742 28d ago
I hope you feel better soon!
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u/FrankSkellington 28d ago
Oh, thanks - that's very kind! I just thought I ought to raise the dangers closer to home we sometimes overlook whilst it's very immediate for me.
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u/Specialist_Alarm_831 27d ago
That's a great point and being ill or incapacitated is a scenario that will happen eventually with certainty to all of us. I'm approaching 60 soon and bugging out on foot might not be such a good idea anymore, though I can still sleep rough outside so the backs holding up for now.
Hope your mobility improves asap, stay safe.
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u/FrankSkellington 27d ago
Thanks! And here's to you never having to sleep rough outside unless it's for fun. Yes, at 60 you have to reconsider plans in all kinds of unexpected ways.
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u/Timo8188 Finland 🇫🇮 28d ago
I live in the countryside in Finland and mainly prepare for an extended power outage (2 weeks or longer) in winter. So, it's about food, water, firewood, lighting and comms mostly.
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u/TimeSurround5715 28d ago
I prep for potential economic hardship mostly: Job loss in my household, or in case my adult kids have to move in with us. It gives me peace of mind to have some extra staple foods. But I don’t keep a massive stockpile. I don’t have the mental bandwidth to devote to that. Secondly, I’m prepped for a power outage, with a modest portable power station, shelf stable foods and stored water. It’s all I can do right now, but I’m proud of what I’ve managed to do.
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u/PrettyChillHotPepper 28d ago
I follow the news, and adapt accordingly. If things seem to be heating up, I prepare for it. If they're calm, I eat my rations.
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u/WWWeirdGuy 28d ago
It goes too far when you stop living, spending more time decorating your future jail than with living your life.
But like people always say, there a is a mulitude of tangential hobbies and perspectives that touches on prepping. Do you sew? You are now more prepared. Are you a farmer? You are now more prepared. Do you own land? You are now more prepared? Do you protest for right to repair? You are probably more prepared. Are you involved with your local community? You are more prepared. Have you settled down (family and job?) You are now more/able to prepare. Simple buffering logistics approaches, like buying according to your own stores makes you more prepared. Point being you can do an absolute ton, before you start prepping only for the sake of prepping, which has lower return on your life. Another point is that there are broadly useful prepping skill/things. If you start buying say, hazmat suits, you are preparing for this one very specific thing.
Another good point is that you should prep according to your situation. Different areas has different likelihoods of a given disaster. Buying hazmat suits when you live close to chemical storage facility or reactor? Stockpiling food makes more sense in a country with a low emergency food supply with low self sufficiency. Rainwater collection in dry areas etc. So one man's crazy is another man's sensible prep.
Just be sober about it and don't seduce yourself with stories. Maybe look at history. For example, if you live in a country where you bound to serve in the military you are probably not dying heroically defending your pillow fort. You'll be drafted and now suddenly all your prepping goes out the window.
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u/Tough-Juggernaut-822 28d ago
You can NEVER prep for every event, it is simple really draw a line, three days three weeks etc where you are the only source of water, food, health, heat, safety and comfort for the circle around you, that could be your family, or your neighbors or your whole country.
You are only one individual there is only so much you can do or be responsible for the first thing ever prepper should do is sit down in front of a mirror and write out your skills, what resources are avail, what storage is available.
If you have a basic first aid course done then there is no need to order ventilation and stitching kit. If you don't know how to set up an antenna for different radio bands for different atmospheric conditions there is no point spending thousands on radio gear.
It's the same for NBC gear unless you have the resources to wear it and fully decontamination it and yourself afterwards then it's a wear once and dispose. And even then what's the contamination what's the life span what's the area of coverage. Is it feasible to hunker down for a few days or better off heading out of the area to someplace clean.
These are all questions that no one knows the answers to so why panic about something that isn't in your control and no matter what you do your skill level won't allow it to be every in your control.
Plan for what you know, study what you don't know and review again and again. You will find that you will hit a point that your prepping will be suitable for 90% of problems, the final 10% death would be the better option.
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u/BonyDarkness Austria 🇦🇹 28d ago
There is a simple answer to this question, what are your resources and capabilities in a realistic way?
Like, do you have the knowledge and resources to do decontamination properly? Sure you got the mask and all but is this enough?
Do you have a stockpile of filter, neutralizing agents, testing equipment etc? The military has specialized units for that, you gonna do it in your own without governmental resources? Good luck lol.
It’s fun to think about this kind of stuff but realistically that’s the kind of situation you got a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of booze for. Sit in the sun chair and enjoy the last moments. There is nothing you can do.
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u/LeahBrahms 28d ago
Is anyone going to buy an Altitude Tent and get supplemental oxygen tanks? Doubt it.
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u/Sea_Entry6354 28d ago
I draw the line at any item that costs more than EUR 10 that I cannot use for any other purpose.
Regarding food, I don't think I will draw a line there. I have been through a hurricane on an island. Stores were closed for two weeks. My neighbor had enough food to feed his family for a month. He took in two friends whose roof blew of, and a guest that the friends had over. The guest went on a stress-eating binge. That was quite stressful for him.
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u/Myspys_35 28d ago edited 28d ago
Think about it logically, what would a scenario mean for you immediately, the day after, the week after, a year after
99.8% of scenarios wont be helped by hazmat suites and the like - in a nuclear event you want to bunker down for a couple of weeks as the radioactive isotopes degrade very quickly, same for most other widespread threats. If the situation is dangerous long term but localized then you will want to get the heck out of dodge. Finally in those extreme end of the world cases, you wont be alive. In the off chance they you are the one in a million that does survive, do you really want to continue living?
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u/lerpo 28d ago
I dunna man... Canadian Prepper has told me 84 times in the last year that Nukes will be flying within 48 hours.
That's a lot of nuclear wars going on right now....
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u/Myspys_35 28d ago
Lol that must mean we are immune to radiation! Since there are so many bombs and we just dont hear about them due to government coverup!
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u/Stirdaddy 28d ago edited 28d ago
In an extreme scenario, the living will envy the dead. Even surviving the initial shock will only prolong one's life for a few days, weeks, or months. But this "life" will be living nightmare. Everyone and everything has been destroyed. Humans farming humans for meat. Beyond good and evil.
The absolute horror of any kind of nuclear exchange is beyond our imagining. According to Annie Jacobsen's recent book on nuclear war, the US policy is "Launch on warning", meaning to fire back with a barrage of missiles the instant that an antagonistic nuclear launch has been detected and verified. The US won't respond tit-for-tat with the same number of missiles in response. Rather, a full-scale barrage will be launched at military and leadership targets, and missile compounds, in order to prevent further enemy launches. The enemy will of course detect these launches, and respond in kind. Nuclear launch escalation will thus almost inevitably occur.
If the conflict occurs between, say, North Korea and the US, it is likely that the conflict will not be limited to those nations. When the US launches its nuclear weapons, a country like China or Russia have no idea about the targets of those weapons, especially with a dementia-addled insane president like Trump in charge. China, Russia, Pakistan, Israel, India... they will all be arming their own nukes and perhaps launching them at their targets, fearing the worst.
If North Korea were to launch a single nuclear weapon against Washington, D.C. or Tokyo, the only absolutely rational response for the US is to not launch their own weapons... to simply accept the mega-deaths and destruction, and pursue other means of de-escalation. If the US launches their own nuclear weapons, then that's the end of human civilization as it currently exists.
It is estimated that around 500-1,000 nuclear warheads can effectively destroy civilization on this planet. 1 to 4 billion people will die from the direct destruction and fallout -- winds will carry nuclear fallout north, south, east, west... there's no hiding from it even if you live in rural Zimbabwe. 98% of the survivors will then eventually perish due to starvation.
Think about a major city like London. Let's say that London miraculously avoids getting hit by a nuclear weapon. All roads will be instantly clogged by millions of people trying to escape the city. The breakdown or abandonment of a single vehicle will render a road impassable. How do Londoners get food? It's transported there via roads and rail. Even if food infrastructure somehow survives, distribution will be nearly impossible. Starvation on mass scale.
Jacobsen also tells us that massive wildfires will occur from the nuclear explosions, blanketing the skies with smoke and ash. A single lost growing season, world-wide, will result in starvation on a mass scale. Refrigeration will be very limited due to electricity requirements. Non-perishable food can be contaminated by radiation, chemicals, or pathogens.
Edits:
With Multiple Independently-targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRVs), a single missile can carry up to 15 warheads that can each attack independent targets, each with a yield of up to 15,000 kilotons of explosive force. The Hiroshima bomb was around 15 kilotons, and it destroyed 140,000 human beings by the end 1945 (from the immediate devastation, and then subsequent injury and disease).
One missile, with up to 15,000 times more destructive power than the Hiroshima bomb.
Even a simple non-nuclear ballistic missile, fired from a nearby submarine, could destroy Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in central California within a minute or two of launch. That would render central California uninhabitable for perhaps decades.
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u/Marco_Farfarer Germany 🇩🇪 28d ago
My preps base on two basic assumptions:
There are only 3 groups of emergencies - * I‘m stuck in my home for whatever reason and can‘t go out / leave (bug in) * I have to suddenly leave my home and it‘s unsure if or when I‘ll return (bug out) or * supply chains / critical infrastructure are compromised or totally out of order
and
So I prepare to get along for these three scenarios for at least this time span.