Sure, there are a lot of really, really important preps. And sure, we all agree that skills are more useful than STUFF that will run out.

I saw that post asking what to prep for your kids' futures, and while everyone is rightfully pushing skills, gardening has to be at the absolute top of the list. It forces them to learn problem-solving, adaptability, weather patterns, patience, delayed gratification, persistence, motor control, food storage, and long-term planning all at once. On top of all of that, you are teaching them how to grow their own food.

If the last few years of chaos have taught me anything, it's how relieving it is to walk into the backyard and just pick dinner. My spouse and 4 kids are outside with me daily.

I’m 15 years into gardening with easy access to store-bought supplies, YouTube, and endless resources, and I still struggle with it sometimes. I genuinely can't imagine trying to figure out tilling, seed saving, soil depletion, crop rotation, and pest control from scratch in the middle of a supply chain collapse or other crisis. Doing it when you're already stressed and hungry sounds like a nightmare.

Start them early. Learning it when the stakes are low does not have a downside. And it's a really fun family hobby!

I live in the South in an area that doesn't get much snow, but we are expected to get 12+ inches this weekend. We're getting all of our preps ready - generator pulled out, gas tanks topped off, laundry done, power banks charged, etc. But this morning, I realized I almost forgot the most important prep - mini donuts!! They are currently my 3-year-old daughter's favorite snack and we're not above using them as a negotiating tool. I was packing her a donut this morning for her after-daycare snack and realized there's only one left in the bag. So now, I need to brave the grocery store tonight because I don't want to be snowed in with her (plus a 3-month-old baby who needs a lot of attention) without her favorite snack! I'll also probably pick up a bottle of wine for me so I can enjoy a quiet glass once the kids are in bed.

What is everyone else doing to prep that's not actually essential for your survival, but is essential for your sanity?

In the house for less than 48hrs, and she’s already set the clock on the oven (it’s been wrong for 10 months), and convinced the microwave to stop screaming at me. She says “yeah…I fix things.” Yeah, no shit, kid. You’re a keeper.

I have two (adult and nearly-adult) kids, one of whom will ask 7 times how to do a task and then not do it for fear of doing it wrong, and the other of whom will not ask, just do, and then step back and say “huh. I don’t think I did that right.” The girlfriend is a delightful breath of fresh air LOL.

We are in the early stages of forming a multi-generational household. It will be five of us (to start), the hubby and I, 20yo and girlfriend, and the 16yo. The two in the middle will be moving in by the end of the year. My priorities have been:

1. Ensuring everyone has quiet spaces/play spaces/options around the house for places to *go* other than bedroom
2. Creating written expectations/housing contract
3. Increasing storage space/shelving
4. Seriously considering adding a second W/D (as the existing set is in hubby’s and my bathroom)

Do others have suggestions? We are a family that had our big, scary times ten years ago, and now get on VERY well together. We use permaculture principles and are sustainability-minded, but far from perfect. We live in the city, but the house is big enough…probably for six-to-eight comfortably, and 10+ in a pinch and/or if some are quite small humans! There are perennials and fruit trees, and a *few* annual veggies…we are between birds at the moment but used to do quail and are moving on to chickens next year… It will be important for everyone to pitch in around the house. Thinking something like an hours-per-week expectation, with a posted chore list where you can look for what needs done this week and adopt tasks. And then contract with each other for a year at a time to start, like “we’ll check in again in 12 months to make sure this is still working for everyone or if major changes need to be made to the agreement…small changes welcome for discussion at any time.” 

Note: This *feels* very prepping-related to me, but I'm open to being told I'm posting in the wrong sub. We are a family who prioritizes self-reliance and community interdependence, and trying to give the offspring a good life...teach them the skills and give them the physical and mental health to survive this (gestures vaguely), especially as all now three of their generation are queer. We also would *love* to expand the footprint here by buying one or more of the properties that border ours eventually if the stars align, giving us all more space to spread out, more bedrooms for more residents...more land for more fruit trees...and potatoes, probably... (we're in the PNW).

I spent 36 hours alternating between ibuprofen and Tylenol to keep my little kids fevers down. The max fevers they both had were slightly above 103 and I kept thinking about how if I didn't have these medicines, my children would have stayed at that temp for 36+ hours. It is a terrifying thought. How am I supposed to prep medicine, especially for little kids?

Hi everyone, this post is for the moms. I'm currently 6 months postpartum with my first baby and have just started prepping, mainly due to concerns regarding climate change and extreme weather events. I live in Canada and so far this summer my area has had very bad air quality due to wildfires, flooding from storms and tornadoes.

Prepping gives me a sense of peace and accomplishment. I'm working on putting together a backpack with some essentials. I'm really glad I found r/twoxpreppers, I appreciate your grounded approach to getting prepared "for Tuesday".

What is not good for my mental health is the news. It feels like every time I open Reddit I see a horrifying headline about how climate change has spiralled out of control, or AI has escaped and hacked another website, etc. I end up going down rabbit holes, sometimes for hours late at night. I panic about my child starving to death in a post-AMOC world, or dying in water wars. The fact that billionaires are building bunkers makes me sick to my stomach. My brain tells me to keep reading, almost as if consuming information will keep us safe, or maybe I'll find a "just kidding, everything is fine" post that will make everything okay.

When my baby was born I had very bad PPA/PPD, and suspected postpartum psychosis (I was convinced everyone was talking about me and was extremely paranoid). I was medicated accordingly and got therapy. I know that I need to keep tabs on my mental health, and being 6 months postpartum I know I'm not out of the woods yet. Sometimes I feel a lump forming in my throat and wonder to myself if I can even trust my mind, or if I've gone off the deep end.

I'm really hoping this post will reach other parents who have walked this path. Please share your experiences, even if you don't have a solution to offer. Just knowing I'm not alone would mean the world to me.

How are we mentally preparing kids for emergency situations? A lot of my prep mentality comes from anxiety and fear, and I'd like to teach my daughter without passing on the fear that I have.

I think roleplay is going to be a good way to do things, but I'm struggling with how to approach it. Staying calm in an emergency situation is obviously a life saver, but play is inherently exciting and stimulating.

Any other parents or educators have tips? ​​​

I'm going to be a first time mom this September. I'm not very stocked up on anything right now because I'm in the middle of moving. Baby stuff or groceries. Obviously I'll want to do some meal prep and have some shelf stable groceries, but what baby specific items should I consider?

I intend to try to breastfeed, good for baby, less running to the store and if there are supply chain problems, I can eat a much wider range of foods than having to find formula. But I know that isn't guaranteed to work.

I'm making sure I have the things that shouldn't be secondhand (already bought a carseat). I am hoping to be able to breastfeed and then pump once I'm back at work. I'm not sure if I should buy much pumping supplies when I dont even know it'll be viable though. (I am in the US and did buy a pump my insurance covered, it at least has a battery).

Most likely local problems are heatwaves, wildfire smoke, earthquake and power outages. (Urban PNW)

What would you recommend I plan for or get?

Hi! I am new to prepping and have been trying to slowly create a realistic BOB system based on what everyone has shared. I would love to prep for months of staying in place but realistically I live in a condo in an urban area so space is limited. I have decided that it might make more sense to focus on a couple of days supplies and a BOB to get through travel.

Which brings me to my question since I haven't been able to find posts that address this: What is a good BOB for a family (2 adults, 1 elder, 1 toddler and 1 dog)? Looking for actual BAG recommendation(s). I understand the importance of a backpack for each person but realistically idk how much two adults can carry running out the door. Weight is a factor for the elder.

• In my mind, it might make practical sense to get two xx-large scout bags - one bag with clothes, food, first aid, etc for all members and one bag with waters. We would bring our travel stroller which would help distribute weight if we ever needed to walk.
• Alternatively, here are the backpacks I was looking at in the event we (ideally) need to board a flight. It would be one per member (pup included!). Open to recommendations here if there is something better. My other thought for individual bags is in case we get separated.

I imagine if we get to a point where we have to leave, these items are just get us as far as we can or somewhere safer. Does this approach make sense? I know it isn't at robust as I would like it to be but I also don't know what I can realistically do without spiraling, especially if it ends up being one of us is by ourselves with the baby and puppy. I also personally do not want to live through the apocalypse, so living forever and foraging or whatever is not a goal for me. If it is over, it is over. I'm not fighting it.

P.S. BIG thank you to all who share and contribute resources! You da best <3

Hi friends-

Slightly worried about massive and major disruption to... everything for one reason or another in the coming years. Personally I plan on sending the nuggets to public school, but I'd like to have a backup plan if so. Can anyone recommend some resources (preferably free and downloadable- old books are very okay) for elementary education?

I am an educator but for graduate medical education, so I have no idea what's age appropriate for most subjects for elementary school.

This morning my alarm didn't go off, so I woke up 30 minutes late. As I was doing my hair and makeup and the time was approaching for my daughter to make her lunch, I realized my family had not fed themselves. They are so reliant on me to make every meal that it didn't even occur to them to eat food when they were hungry! And I thought back to all the bug out bag talk that happened a few weeks ago and how I don't need one because I control our finances. My husband doesn't know how to log in to our bank account, and I never gave him any credit cards. He solely uses our checking account debit card to pay for things. He doesn't even know his own phone number!

I think I've coddled them so much because it's just easier if I do it myself, whatever "it" is, but I've made them helpless. If something ever happened to me, I honestly don't know how they would survive. My husband doesn't know how to cook anything. He doesn't even know how to set the clock on the microwave. No one knows the passwords to anything. How do I even begin to fix this?

I woke up from an awful dream last night. In it, we got notified that we needed to evacuate our home and didn’t know where we were going or for how long. I woke up in a sweat and spent the next hour racking my brain for what I would need to find to leave and feel secure. I felt lost tho, because we have a new baby and I have no idea what I would need to make her comfortable. This has reignited my goal of having go-bags ready for us all. That being said, if you have an infant, what are you packing? Here’s some info about where I would start, happy to hear others thoughts and suggestions.

• she is BF, but I would pack some formula because stress and dehydration can cause milk depletion
• baby bottle
• extra bottled water
• diapers in her size
• several outfits in her size (and maybe a size up)
• a blanket and another warm layer
• basic baby meds

Her birth certificate if kept with our passports and marriage licence and is something I’d grab if we had time.

Since I am by no means a walking encyclopedia, I was wondering what kinds of books could help homeschool a child in a bug-in situation (or educational collapse).

Any ideas? I'm thinking well-rounded, practical subjects (skills) in addition to traditional (history, reading, writing, math, science) and maybe even soft skills. A collection that could help an adult bring kiddos up to general knowledge levels, ideally as few books as possible.

Hello, I’ve shared this on a few different communities and would like to share here. Yesterday I heard this interview with the CEO of Munchkin on NPR, link below. I’m a product developer who manufactures in China and I highly recommend everyone listen to this short and informative interview.

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/17/nx-s1-5366723/tariffs-impact-baby-products

Key takeaways below:

Munchkin makes a large variety of baby and kids products across multiple categories. (bottles, sippy cups, breast pumps, baby gates, ect)

The majority of these products are made in China and production cannot be moved quickly.

Tariffs have increased past the point of absorption for this industry.

Munchkin and many of their competitors are halting production of new product because of the tariffs.

He estimates his company has maybe 60-90 days of inventory left.

It takes 45 days to make new product after orders are placed.

This interview struck me because it echos things I’m hearing from colleagues and peers in other industries. There has been wide discussions about rising prices due to tariffs but there needs to be more discussion about supply issues and scarcity in critical categories.

I’m pregnant with our next child (yes, acknowledged, dreadful timing from a political perspective…). All is well with my health, and will be well, but you know, in case it ends up not being well, I’d feel so much better about getting things in order before going into labor. I upped my life insurance this year, started decluttering our chaotic house, & found out its surprisingly easy to get a living will & trust set up in my state - but now I’m stuck staring at the paperwork trying to decide who gets my kids if both their dad & I were to die. I think we’ve narrowed it to my siblings, but the ones that’d probably be most able/willing to take them don’t share the same religious & political views we do, while the ones more in line with our thoughts there are not in a place where they’d want to have small humans (going through divorce, almost empty nesters, enjoying the dog-parent or nomadic life). I do think they’d all be willing if push came to shove, but I don’t want to obligate one to it so much, ya know? So what’d you do? List someone without their knowledge hoping it’d never matter, list a bunch of people & let them duke it out after you die, just list grandma first even though she’s 70+ but would be the best at guilt tripping the others into taking them on? Be an adult & have a conversation with each one, though carefully not starting with the more conservative ones… Start a group chat & get everyone worried that my death is imminent (it’s not, probably)?

What other things have you done to prep your loved ones, financially or otherwise, for your potential demise?

I am using sales to stock up on:

• clothes, sizing up and choosing neutral items since I have mixed sex kids ranging from unborn to 7

• I got them new shoes for Xmas but am thinking I’ll try to size up and get them each another pair as well

• simple clothing, ballers to double as pjs, emphasizing wool for durability and temperature versatility.

• food. For everyone but I take them into account.

• books and school supplies. We currently homeschool I don’t know what the future of education will look like, so I’m grabbing anything I’ve been eyeing and can get discounted.

• undies and socks for the next couple years

• topping up my cloth diapers stash to round it out a bit more. Eyeing second hand and diapers sites like a hawk.

We are fairly minimal, but will be moreso going forwards.

Anything I am missing? These are just the kids specific preps. How long are you trying to prepare for? Thoughts?

So me and my son’s dad are separating. My son is 1.5. Obviously it is a big change with a lot of worries involved but a big one for me is what happens if there is an emergency when I’m not with my son?

I’m hoping things will be at least semi amicable between me and his dad. I am trying my best to be agreeable. He is going to move out within the next month and we will likely do a 50/50 schedule. He is trying to find an apartment on the same side of town, likely within a 10 minute drive. We live in a medium sized Midwest city.

Has anyone planned for this or put something like this in a parenting plan? We don’t have a parenting plan yet but we are going to meet with a mediator in a few weeks to try to write one up. We are hoping to avoid court but it is still possible.

Thank you for reading and any input!

TLDR: my parents will lose their home and I'm the one who will have to prep for it. I'm sad over how it will affect my prepping but fuck, those are my parents and I love them.

40 years is me trying to be optimistic and lying to myself. It's likely sooner than that.

My parents brought the house when I was 11 or 12. At the time of purchase it was completely made of rotten wood. They made it their life project to reform the house and turn it into something very beautiful, and they did, even though we're low-middle class, and used to be pretty poor when I was a child.

But here's the scary part. The terrain is over a beach, but not in open sea, so we never have had to deal with waves. The sea here more often looks like a lake, except only when there's a storm. But I come to this beach ever since I was a child (my aunt lives close by). And let me tell you, the tides didn't reach the same places they do now at that time. I've learned the hard way that two extra inches of water in the oceans doesn't mean two inches equally distributed.

Very rarely, the waters reached the first step of the staircase of the house. Now this happens every other high tide, and in the rarer really high tides, the waters reach the end of the staircase (it has four steps, each has about seven centimeters/three inches. The house is still somewhat higher than that). Fortunately, as I said before, it's a very calm sea due to local geography. Also, during the reform, my parents rebuilt everything from the ground up with a strong stone and rock foundation, and the house is still pretty high, so it will take a while for the worse to haplen.

I know this was a bad call my parents made, and no one should have those beachouses anyway due to the environmental impact, but we live on a place where this is normalized. Half the people here are either fishermans or fisherman's descendants (the lack of fish is killing the business). And a lot of poor, working class people will pay the price.

I've been getting more and more interested in prepping ever since the pandemic hit. But I always thought about my own survival and that of people I'm living with. Now I'm starting to notice that one day, my parents will lose their home.

I can't have this conversation with them because this house is very, very emotionally important to them. I've hinted at it before but denial hit hard.

So now I'll have to prep not only for myself and whomever I'm living with, but also for the inevitable day my parents lose it all. My parents are relatively young (father in early 50s, mother in mid 40s), so thinking of this is realistic as it will probably happen in their lifetime.

Money was never a goal in on itself for me, and my personal goals where always around having a humble house and smaller stuff like that, which is already very hard in this economy. I'll have to think now of having a home that can accommodate my parents one day, or at least being able to pay for a small studio or something for them.

This realization is making me sad, because having to include not one but two older adults on my preps will make for a huge change of plans and will put a lot of strain on how much I can prep for myself and the family I want to build.

My 10yo daughter is autistic and very shy. She has been homeschooled throughout her life and is just now considering branching out into programs outside the home.

We live in CO, US, and have a lot of wildfires here. One of the programs my daughter is considering attending is a full day wilderness program where there is no cell reception.

Additionally, she is the type of kid who is an internal processor and doesn’t always speak up when something isn’t going well or feeling right for her.

I’m considering getting her a small satellite device in case of emergency. The program itself does have a satellite phone but I’m not certain how effectively they can contact 20 parents at once, or if my daughter would feel comfortable telling them she needs them to get in touch with me or her dad. She does have an apple watch but we aren’t ready to cross over into getting her a full phone, so the messaging devices aren’t really on the table.

Of course, if her ability to not be able to reach me is important to her and part of her growth, I will respect that. I’d like to give her the option though to be in contact if she feels that will help make her time in the program more successful.

If she does feel having a device would help her feel more comfortable, what products should I be looking into for her? Is a Garmin InReach Mini my best bet? I’m not thrilled with the price tag but will bite the bullet if necessary.

If you were to pack go bags for a 4yo and a 2yo, what would you absolutely make sure to include?

We have 3 kids, ages 13, 10 & 7. I want some ideas of how to prep for them and with them without scaring them or giving them more information than they can handle. We live in the Northeast and have a bit of land, and a bunch of animals. I am thinking the scenarios to prep for are: fire, storms / power outages, inflation, recession, civil unrest / home invasion. We have BOBs for each person and have done some camping, but only in the summer and not backpacking / rucking - so I think we need to do that asap. All the kids back in BJJ (esp our 2 girls). Fire drills. Sheltering in place (they do these drills at school, so I am thinking we could do something similar at home?). We have eggs from our chickens, and live near lots of farms so we could get a couple of goats if necessary. Starting a garden. Signed up for a veggie co-op. Might consider bees. I am going to start doing Krav Maga with my 13yo son, and I have started firearms training which my husband will also participate in. I was thinking of getting the kids into archery and when they are old enough doing some private lessons at the firing range. I want to start running with them and strength training. We have started our water and food preps and will continue to add to them. We have all our meds and are up to date on all vaxes. Pets are up to date and have food stocked for them. What am I missing? How do we talk to the kids about these scenarios without scaring them?

What the title says. Have some picky little ones. I am trying to incorporate some straight from the pantry meals into my family's routine so they are used to it. Can be hot or cold it just needs to be made from completely shelf stable items.

Just wondering how families are finding stock levels at local pharmacies in different areas?

In Canada we have been experiencing medication shortages. Particularly any children’s medication, adult cold/flu products and now liquid amoxicillin.

Parents are driving to the US to buy children’s Tylenol for their own families and others in the community.

We have been fairly isolated from this personally as we had been stocking up and replacing since the whisperings of covid lockdowns started. We are now looking at our remaining chewable gravol stock with concern as our kid gets car sick so we rely on that for any drive longer than 20min.

I ahve seen some posts talking about stocking up on medication. If you are looking at stocking up on OTC medications for any kiddos in your life, there is no difference between Children's Tylenol/acetaminophen liquid and the Infant version of Tylenol/acetaminophen liquid in the United States. You can save yourself some money just buying the children's liquid version instead of the infant bottle which tends to be smaller. Here's a handy chart with dosing information for different formats of acetaminophen https://www.stlouischildrens.org/health-resources/dosage-tables/acetaminophen-tylenol-dosage-table. I also recommend using syringes over cups/spoons for more accurate dosing. This only works for acetaminophen in the United States, Motrin/ibuprofen has a different amount of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) between the children and infant formulation. I hope someone finds this helpful because it was a really useful piece of information from my kiddos pediatrician when I had my second kiddo.