The prepper life

Kim Henderson became interested in the prepper movement as she watched a couple in her area gain success on YouTube with a channel teaching others how to get ready for impending disaster. She told me they post almost daily about everything from canning to financial system collapse. Intrigued, Kim wanted to learn more. For her story, “Beans, bullets, and Band-Aids,” in this issue, she traveled to Virginia to visit a man whose family does good business selling supplies to preppers. She discovered calamity is lucrative, and not just on YouTube. I asked her what else she learned during her trip.

What was the most surprising thing you saw on the shelves of Bob Snow’s warehouse? It’s hard to top a shower toga, but what really struck me was the variety of canned foods he offered, from chicken teriyaki with rice to chocolate marshmallows, all with a 25-year shelf life. Mr. Snow said emergencies are stressful enough without adding appetite fatigue. Oatmeal is nutritious, but if you have to eat it every day you’ll despise it.

In your story, you note that preppers cross all demographics. Describe the most surprising person you met. Agapito Barriga just built a barn­dominium on 29 acres in Oklahoma, where he and his wife are raising six sons. Agapito grew up in South America, and now he’s an economist for the U.S. government. He told me he’s pursuing preparedness and homesteading so his kids won’t be “left adrift to the proclivities of where the dollar’s going, where interest rates are.”

Besides the couple with the YouTube channel, do you know any other preppers personally? I have a friend who installed a shipping container shelter on her land years ago. I didn’t recognize it as prepping until I did this story, but now I see that she and her husband have been leaning into that lifestyle for a long time.

What was the most surprising thing you learned while reporting this story? The amount of money spent on prepping—billions of dollars each year. The experts caution new preppers to temper their zeal. Focus on water, food, and a way to cook. Not $70,000 in solar panels. At least, not at first.

Quite a bit of that money goes to food supplies. Does any of this stuff ever go bad? I’m not sure, but more than one prepper told me they rotate their canned goods and freeze-dried items. Every now and then, they eat something and replace it.

Did you do any personal prepping after all the research you did for this story? We live in the country with a barn full of gear and chickens, but I’d not thought about rain barrels until a prepper mentioned hers to me. We’ve added a couple to our gutter system. Maybe we’ll be better prepared for the next hurricane that hits the Gulf Coast.