I watched the show “Doomsday Preppers” on the National Geographic Channel. It aired Monday night at 9 pm. It showed four American families and their preparedness lifestyles. Each family focused on a specific aspect of preparedness: One family was focused on preparing for a coronal mass ejection that would bring down the power grid and cause a nuclear meltdown. It was interesting to see how he converted an old swimming pool into an aquaponics garden and tilapia farm. Survival Mom was also featured; the family was preparing for economic collapse or hyperinflation. I have read Survival Mom’s blog for some time and respect her views. I was impressed with the amount of stored food and supplies. Another family, also concerned about an economic collapse, had a retreat out in the wilderness, complete with a farm, several storage caches and alternative energy. The last family who was preparing for a nuclear attack, had an underground bunker, with enough food and supplies to last six months to a year. At the end of each segment, an expert rated their preparedness status and made a recommendation.
I enjoyed watching the show and finding out about how others are preparing. I thought the report was fair and was not critical of the participants, other than to offer additional suggestions on improving upon their preps. I would have liked to see who the expert source was. Some of the participants opted to follow the suggestions, some did not. I figure preppers are an independent minded group in general and would make up their minds on what plans they are comfortable with.
Watching the show, you may be tempted to compare yourself with what others have accomplished, and feel inadequate in your own efforts. You must realize each family’s situation is different and everyone goes on their own pace. Instead, count your blessings and do a little bit more every week. We will all get to our preparedness goals one step at a time.
We watch so little tv that I wasn’t sure if we even get the National Geographic channel. Unfortunately we don’t. It would be nice if NG put the show on their website so it could be watched from that.
I watched it and enjoyed it. One thing I noticed, lots of bloggers in the community have mentioned that it made them feel inadequate. I admit to feeling exactly that way when it was over. I thought to myself “20+ years of working and saving and scraping, and I can’t hold a candle to the farm guys or the underground bunker man.” But it’s as you say, you just have to do the best you can do and not worry about what other people are doing.
Hi ATH, I agree, seeing how much some of the folks in the Prepper show have accomplished and stored up would make any of us feel inadequate. I think everyone can go at their own pace and still see how much improved they are.
I just finished watching it from YouTube. It is pretty interesting, but the concept of the presentation is questionable, as is the editing. See The Survival Mom blog for her explanation regarding a unlikely comment from her during her segment.
It didn’t seem like National Geographic quality. Seemed like they wanted to make fun of the participants, make it like a reality/game show.
I would really enjoy seeing more real-life preppers/survivalists without the odd slant to the presentation.
Didn’t catch it live, but had a fellow community member send it, and my wife and I just finished watching it.
For the moment, it’s on youtube, at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tGFfFIlIeo
Although in some regards it was kinda dis-heartening to be reminded how far you have to go, I actually found it inspiring to see what different folks are preparing for. Some creative folks out there!
I’ve seen plenty of aquaponics setups before, but none that combine the chicken raising aspect in the way the Phoenix family did. Super ugly, but ingenius and efficient use of space.
The bicycle grain mill was great too. The country living grain mill can be made to work with your bike. It can be attached when you want to crank out some grain and detached when it’s time to pedal a few miles.
A “how to” article: https://countrylivinggrainmills.com/index.php?action=articles&which=Bike.txt
The guys in the South Carolina farm reminded me of the meetup group in Rawles’ Patriots. 🙂
Just be careful about telling everyone – or anyone – about your own prepping. If/when shtf, anyone who knows you have stockpiled food (and who failed to prepare themselves) will be knocking on your door. Count on it. Remember the old saying – Piss Poor Preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
Hello,
I’m currently casting for a pilot television show about preppers/survivalists. I think you may be a great resource for finding well prepared people, who would be open to appearing on camera. I’m wondering if you would be willing to post this info on your blog or website, or just pass this info along to anyone you think would be interested.
The gist:
It’s a 30 minute show, and we will feature two stories. We are mostly interested in seeing what the person has prepared or prepped, and right now we’re specifically looking for someone with a stocked bunker or extensive prep. The idea is to meet the person and see what they’ve prepared, then bring in a survivalist expert to evaluate how long you could actually live for if a catastrophe were to happen.
The purpose of the show is not to exploit beliefs, we actually want to cast people who the viewers will be able to relate to. We also want to feature someone who has prepped extensively, either in the home, or in a bunker. We really want something visually stunning.
This has been extremely hard to cast because of the secretive nature of the people who are preparing–which is completely understandable. I am contacting you because I think it’s important to get the word out about survivalists/preppers–that they aren’t all crazy people, that most of them are smart, well-informed people who we could take a lesson from. And I am hoping you will be able to pass this info along if you know someone who may be interested in participating.
We can provide full anonymity, and compensation is $1000 for the person who is chosen.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you for your time!
Michelle Reindal | producer | screaming flea productions | mreindal@sfpseattle.com
Yeah those people definitely knew what they were doing. Programs like this are exactly the reason National Geographic has become one of my favorite channels. Is there anywhere else where you can find fun, educational shows like Doomsday Preppers? And Nat Geo always has new stuff going on too, which makes it that much more of a drag for DirecTV customers since they’ll almost certainly be losing NatGeo (along with all the other Fox channels involved in the dispute) on Nov 1st. Makes me happy that I now have DISH Network (I made the switch when I went ot work for them and wish I had done so years ago). DISH has a long term contract with Fox so I don’t have to worry about losing NatGeo.