Preppers used to be ridiculed — but we’re all stockpiling now

The UK government urging households to prepare for unknown threats with a three-day supply of food and water doesn’t feel like an overreaction. But is there a bigger plan to go with it?

Resilience Requires Calories We Have No Agency When We Are Starving

Strategic and transformative adaptation will not be possible if we are starving. To suggest that stocking up on food while it is still plentiful is “reactive and shallow” is like saying: “The impact is obvious: someone who trains ten people may contribute more than someone who stores ten months of food.” These statements have no foundation in reality and condemn your followers, with your own conceit, to starvation.

There is no national food stockpile, and there hasn’t been since it was wound up in the 1990s. It feels like a metaphor for the delusions of that era: nothing bad can possibly happen again; no two countries with a McDonald’s have gone to war with each other (according to the journalist Thomas L Friedman, also in the 90s). Now, we all have a McDonald’s, and wars regularly disrupt food supplies. The problem with metaphors is you can’t eat them — not even satisfying https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/05/preppers-used-to-be-ridiculed-but-were-all-stockpiling-now

Helping thy neighbor is loving thy neighbor:

Should Christians be stockpiling for a national emergency?

Take the “prepper” community as an example. Once written off as a lunatic fringe, this is now a growing network of social media groups, shops and organisations who are busy working out what to do in case of emergency. Many are sensible and organised people who are simply stockpiling a few key items “just in case”. Steve Hart runs the website UK Preppers Guide and argues that “modern preparedness is not about surviving the end of civilisation, it’s about handling disruption without immediately panicking.” He points out that preparing should make life feel calmer not scarier. Hart’s words fit with the wisdom of some of the Proverbs. The ant who prepares for harvest (Proverbs 6), those who store food and oil and don’t just eat it all (Proverbs 20), and those who prepare for danger are wise, and prudent (Proverbs 22). https://www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/should-christians-be-stockpiling-for-a-national-emergency/22316.article

Preparedness is an Ancient Craft

Evidence of the importance of food storage to early humans is supported by research conducted by Blasco et al., (2019) on the Qesem Cave in Israel which found that during the Middle Pleistocene period, butchery techniques indicated that preservation was used for delayed consumption of bone marrow and bone fat.[25] Similarly, in Jordan, evidence gathered from a 19,000-year-old archaeological site showed evidence of gazelle meat being smoked and dried for preservation.[26] Recent evidence has also emerged indicating that prehistoric West Africa used clay pots to assist in the processing and storing of plants 10,000 years ago.[27]

During the Roman Empire, food storage was so advanced that Aelius Aristides, a second century grammarian, described it as the warehouse of the world since Roman consumers not only had access to food from different regions, but they were available year-round.[28] In ancient Peru, stone structures (qolcas) were constructed on the northern face of a mountain where icy wind produced natural refrigeration; they were used as a system of community food storage to help withstand times of bad harvest.[29] In Ireland, hundreds of butter cakes have been found (one dating back as early as 5,000 years ago) in peat bogs which prevented the growth of bacteria and decomposition.[30] Around the same time, China began using salt as one of the most important food preservatives.[31] Considering the long global history of humans storing food to avert shortages, it may not be that unusual that modern humans today have the instincts to engage in a similar behavior. https://seattleanxiety.com/psychiatrist/2023/1/12/doomsday-prepping-reactionary-behavior-or-inherited-instinct

Sadly, this assumption about prepping is the stereotype: ” While preparing for potential disasters is warranted, it is still best to make sure it does not become an all-encompassing preoccupation. A person should consider speaking with a licensed mental health professional if worrying about potential disasters becomes obsessive, anxiety is interrupting eating or sleeping, preparations have negative impacts on a person’s finances, personal relationships are being impacted, or a person feels too overwhelmed to take the steps necessary to prepare for a future event.” [Ibid above] While this might be backed up by the Reform supporting climate deniers, or all of the above plus conspiracy-theory preppers, they are not the same as the lefty preppers who have a life beyond YouTube and talking about boats and flags.

Were the Doomsday Preppers Right?

Post-apocalyptic and doomsday prepping beliefs were put to the test in 2020- Psychology Today

Overall, my thoughts on post-apocalyptic and doomsday-prepping beliefs shifted from hypothetical curiosity to reality. While taking any belief to the extreme is a bad idea and people do not need to be as cynical and conspiratorial about human nature, it is probably a good idea to be prepared to some extent. Having non-perishable food and supplies, in case you are without power or access to grocery stores for two weeks, seems reasonable.

This is especially true when considering the future of climate change. In this case, we will likely see more frequent and more severe natural disasters. Further, some aspects of climate change might impact food supplies as the climate becomes more erratic. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/it-s-all-metaphor/202104/were-the-doomsday-preppers-right

Solidarity prepping differs from individualistic prepping in that it emphasizes social relations. And this is not just a bunch of anarchists saying that. A general in the Swedish military said exactly the same thing: in a catastrophe, the most important thing is social relations.

Tadzio Müller: Let’s call it solidarity prepping right now. Solidarity prepping differs from individualistic prepping in that it emphasizes social relations. And this is not just a bunch of anarchists saying that. A general in the Swedish military said exactly the same thing: in a catastrophe, the most important thing is social relations. So anything that builds resilient social relations is a step towards having agency in a catastrophe. https://www.resilience.org/stories/2026-09-30/how-do-we-build-social-movements-in-an-age-of-collapse-an-interview-with-tadzio-muller/

Obstacles to our organizing include influencers in the Climate & Green Movement who do not seem to understand the crisis we are in or who have been trying to dominate the narrative by saying that they don’t think stocking up works.

I bet the Celts stockpiled food for fallow times.

“I believe the advice given here is far too conservative and not pro-social enough, BUT it is incredible to see advice on disaster prepping and stockpiling now being published in mainstream newspapers.” Rupert Read commenting on this: https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/sensible-guide-prepping-stockpiling-4760241

I don’t think thisnk he has even noticed that rainwater isn’t mentioned as a resource.

Climate preparedness is specialized knowledge: Adjusted to the circumstances of drought. 1.5C & Collapse.

The evidence presented does not agree with any of their assumptions about anarcho-lefty preppers.