It could be said camping is the ultimate in preparedness. Of course not the doomsday prepper type of preparedness. No, camping is all about self-sufficient living.
Camping is about getting away from the many conveniences of modern-day society. This is how camping teaches us self sufficient living. Since you don’t have a store to run to or a pizza delivery guy to call. You must learn to be self-sufficient, bringing everything you need for your campout or make do without.
Self Sufficient Living, Always Have a Backup Plan
Camping teaches you that 2 is 1 and 1 is none. Out in the wilderness when you lose your lighter, you may not be able to start a fire to keep warm or cook your food. Unless you have a backup plan, or the camping skills to make do without it.
The plan may be to bring extra lighters or matches. It may be to carry a flint and steel kit. After one night spent cold and hungry, you will never forget a backup plan to start a fire again. This same self-sufficient living mindset goes with anything camping. You will suffer when if you aren’t prepared.
The nice thing about using camping to teach self-sufficient living is that normally you are only uncomfortable for a few days at worst. Plus the worst thing that normally happens is you have to cut your camping trip short because you weren’t prepared.
Forgotten Camping Lessons in Everyday Life
It is interesting how many people will take everything and the kitchen sink camping. Plus enough food to feed an army for a month. Those same people will only keep a couple of days worth of food at home. Plus they never have anything they need at home for emergencies. In fact, many people don’t own a fire extinguisher or check the batteries in their smoke detectors.
These people use easy access to supplies and luxuries to forget about how import it is to live a self-sufficient lifestyle. They never think about what happens if something happened to those luxuries or conveniences.
Camping Style Self Suffentciency At Home?
When camping you have to plan all your meals and bring the food with you. At home, you still need to go shopping and have food in your house. Just like camping, you should plan to have enough groceries for a week of meals, snacks, and a few extras.
Camping teaches you to always bring extra clothes “just in case”. Don’t let your laundry pile up until you are out of clean clothes. Make sure you always have clean clothes. If you have the money, buy two weeks’ worth of underwear and socks then do laundry once a week. Being prepared will relieves stress. Not staying up late to get laundry done makes life a lot better.
Most people bring extra batteries for their flashlights when camping. However when the power goes out at home how many people can even find a working flashlight? It’s these simple things like having extra batteries that turn potentially big problems into no big deal. Many people keep flashlights in every room or get battery backup night lights so they can see if the power goes out. That’s living a self-sufficient lifestyle.
These are just a few examples of things you can do to live a more prepared lifestyle. Which in turn leads to a much more self-sufficient living.
Emergency Bag
Many people pack a bag with clothing and personal items encase they must evacuate their house at a moment’s notice. Normally this is called a Bug Out Bag. I call it being ready to go camping at a moment’s notice.
You can leave these bags in your car. Having extra clothes and personal items in your car is good for all sorts of things. Like having a spare coat and clothes in case you get stranded in cold weather, or better yet just run out of your house without one because you the weatherman was wrong. It is definitely a good thing to add to the things you need to keep in your car.
Camping Equipment that helps with home emergencies
Having a camp stove for camping is a major convenience. That same camp stove will be useful when your electricity goes out, or your home stove stops working. It’s really nice to know you can still cook a meal at home even if you don’t have electricity.
Having flashlights and lanterns for camping is a must. Those same sources of light are great for when the lights go out. You just need to make sure you have access to your camping lights when you are at home. Plus this means you’re camping gear is not a backup for emergencies allowing for a more self-sufficient living
Something to remember that without electricity, your fridge is just a big camping cooler. Understanding that concept lets you keep calm about your food going bad when you lose electricity.
A power inverter or generator for camping is a luxury. Having one at home as a back up for large storms is being prepared. It defiantly gives you options to power up your TV or other luxuries when your home power goes out. If things get bad enough you can’t stay at home. Knowing you can grab a tent and head to a campground will be comforting.
Conclusion
When you go camping you prepare for the worst. This way you know you will still be ok if things go bad. Using this same mindset at home leads you to more self-sufficient living when at home. Knowing how to take care of yourself away from modern conveniences truly teaches you how you can be better prepared at home also. This is how camping teaches you self sufficient living.