13 Tips for Planning Ahead and Prepping on a Budget

With everything that is in the news these days, more and more people are beginning to recognize the importance of planning ahead and being prepared for emergencies. You don’t have to be a full time prepper to be reasonably prepared for an emergency! You also don’t have to spend tons of money. Prepping on a budget is totally possible (we know because we did it!).

In this article, you’ll find 13 tips for prepping on a budget. This is what my family does to be more prepared for emergencies and a little less dependent on the grid. We’ve never had a lot of wiggle room in our budget, but little by little we’ve fit in different items for prepping on a budget, a super tight budget! We’ve also figured out many low cost and free ways to prep for emergencies.

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13 Tips For Planning Ahead

1. Grow a garden. No matter where you live, you can grow something!

2. Water Storage. You can’t live without it!

3. Best Emergency Food. Not what you think!

4. Toiletries. We saw this one play out with the great tp shortage of 2020.

5. Livestock. With rising meat prices, a few far animals are a great asset. We can’t have sheep on our own property but raise them on a rented pasture.

6. A Heat Source. If you live in a northern climate, a heat source that does not rely on electricity is a must!

7. Lighting. This one is easy to accomplish when prepping on a budget!

8. Medical Supplies. Stock up on your medications as well as first aid supplies you know how to use. I add more supplies to my stash gradually as I learn more about treating injuries and ailments at home.

9. Knowledge. When it comes to planning ahead, probably more important than any of the supplies mentioned, is the knowledge to use them.

10. Wildharvesting. Knowing what edible and medicinal plants grow in your area is a fun and free method of prepping on a budget!

11. Debt and Emergency Funds. Simply put, planning ahead includes the vital steps of getting out of debt and starting an emergency fund.

12. Security One of the most important elements in emergency preparedness is security. Planning ahead is useless if you cannot protect your family and resources.

13. A Bug-Out Bag (or get home bag if you have a long commute!)

 

 

 

#1: Grow a Garden

 

Growing some of your own food is a great way to be more prepared for emergencies! And when it comes to prepping on a budget it’s a no-brainer! By growing your own, you can have fresh food at your fingertips any time!

My favorite part about gardening, and the reason I put it first, is that it can actually save money, instead of costing you!

 

 

What should you grow?

Take a look at your grocery list and think about what items you normally eat that you could grow yourself. If your family doesn’t eat a lot of vegetables, consider growing other crops such as fruit, potatoes or nuts.

We like to prioritize winter storage crops such as potatoes, carrots, onions and winter squash. Potatoes and winter squash will last many months kept dry under a bed or in a spare room or basement.

 

 

If you don’t have a lot of time for gardening, consider low maintenance perennials, such as fruit and nut trees, grapes, berries, asparagus and perennial herbs.

Planning ahead is vital when it comes to a survival garden. Gardening is a learning curve, and you don’t want to be dependent on one if you have never gardened before. You can find tips to get started gardening here.

Already a gardener? Step it up a notch by saving your own seeds! You can learn all about seed saving right here on this site, starting with How to Save Seeds.

And finally, if you don’t have any outdoor space for growing a garden, check out our post on Indoor Gardening!

 

#2: Water Storage

 

We learned a lot about the importance of water storage when the pump on our well broke last summer…three times. We ended up hauling five gallon buckets from a relative’s house in the back of an SUV and watering a huge garden by hand.

Water takes a lot of space, but it’s a good idea to have at least a few days worth of water for drinking, washing dishes and clothing, flushing toilets, garden and animals if you have them. If possible, shoot for a couple weeks worth of water on hand, and figure out a plan to get more if you need it.

Planning ahead is vital when it comes to clean water. Locate the nearest water source not dependent on electricity, and find a way to purify it. You can make a DIY water filter for a fraction of the cost using water filter replacement elements with two buckets or pots.

 

Indoor Water Storage

 

We always keep a couple cases of water bottles on hand, buying them when they go on sale. This way we have clean water immediately available for drinking when the power goes out. We also use recycled gallon jugs and five gallon buckets stashed around the house for additional water storage.

For our garden and animals, we keep an extra livestock trough full of water, and have started adding 55 gallon drums. You can get recycled 55 gallon food grade drums from Azure Standard (a natural foods co-op that delivers across the US). Or look for them locally!

And since our water problems last summer, we did some research and came up with a cheap way to get water out of our well that doesn’t take electricity. I’ll probably be sharing the instructions for this project in a future blog post.

If you have a little money to spend, a water filter is a great way to have clean water in case of an emergency. A water filter is good to use any time, not just in an emergency! It has the benefit of purifying your water of any toxic metals and chemicals that may be present. Larger prepping items like this are a great way to use your tax return!

When we lived in town, we used a Berkey water filter to remove the chemicals from our water. You can find one here:

 

 

#3 Best Emergency Food

 

I have to admit, I’ve never been a big fan of expensive prepper foods. Instead, we focus on buying in bulk the items that we normally use. In my book, foods your family uses and likes make the very best emergency food! This way, we always have extra on hand. Our supplies get rotated so they never go to waste, and by buying in bulk, we are actually saving money instead of spending more!

You can do this either by buying a little extra each month ($5, $10, $50, whatever you have) until you get ahead. Or start off by spending a few hundred to buy bulk bags of all the dry food items you use regularly (this a is great idea for your tax return!). Once you get ahead, you can incorporate one or two bulk items into your budget each month, replacing what you use. This one does take some planning ahead, but food is essential in an emergency!

 

 

My favorite place to buy bulk food items is Azure Standard, a natural foods co-op that delivers to most of the US. There are no membership fees and delivery is free! They have both conventional and organic products, with a wide range of allergen-friendly foods. I do a lot of price comparisons, but usually Azure has the best prices compared to my local stores.

Some staples we buy in bulk from Azure include coconut oil, olive oil, popcorn, gluten free flour, nuts, dried beans, spices and natural sweeteners. You can find out more about Azure Standard here!

There are lots of expensive ready to go emergency foods out there, but since this article is about prepping on a budget I’m not going to talk about which are the best emergency food kits. Come to think of it, I may do another article on that topic though!

 

#4 Toiletries

 

Don’t forget to stock up on toiletries (if it’s important to you to have toilet paper and soap in an emergency!).

You can use the same idea of buying in bulk (Costco is great for this!) to save money on the things you normally buy. Buy another bulk package before you are completely out to make sure that you always have some of these products on hand!

We all saw the great toilet paper shortage of 2020. You can find more hygiene ideas here.

 

#5 Livestock

 

If you live on acreage, livestock can be a great asset in case of emergency! Backyard chickens are one of the easiest animals to start with, and don’t take much space. A dual-purpose chicken breed can provide you with eggs and meat!

Other ideas include meat rabbits, ducks or turkeys for eggs and meat, bees for honey and candle wax, sheep for wool and meat, or a milking animal. Just don’t forget about planning ahead to keep extra feed and water on hand for your animals (including pets!).

Although we’ve had to get creative with keeping animals on our current property, they save us money on our normal grocery budget. During much of the year we can harvest our own eggs, meat and milk. That definitely counts as prepping on a budget!

 

 

#6 A Heat Source

 

If you live in a northern climate, planning ahead for a heat source that does not rely on electricity is a must!

Think about how cold your climate gets in the winter, and how you could keep warm in an emergency.

In our area, we sometimes see winter temperatures of minus 20 or colder! A one day power outage would have us, and the pipes in our home frozen! We keep plenty of blankets, and also installed a wood stove in our home.

A wood stove is not only good for heat, but we use ours for cooking! Since we use it all the time and hardly use any electric heat any more, it doesn’t cost us any extra money and was an important step for emergency preparedness! To help keep our prepping on a budget, we purchased a used stove and took a friend up on their offer to help install it. The whole project cost $1,000. We get scrap wood every year from a fence post company for $20 a load. The stove has already paid for itself just in the electricity it saves us all winter.

This is another large item that you could use your tax return for, keeping in mind that it will save you money in the long run.

If you don’t have a wood stove, you can find a list of supplies here to keep you warm when the power goes out.

 

#7 Light

 

 

Light is something most of us could probably do without if the electricity was down for a few days, but it is a nice convenience!

Flashlights with extra batteries, a few candles, or a solar powered lantern are all low cost sources of emergency light.

I sometimes make my own candles, since I like to burn them in the wintertime. If you are planning ahead, you can get an affordable candle making kit here that will make quite a few candles! This brand offers kits for palm wax candles or soy wax candles. The dollar store is great for prepping on a budget too!

 

 

#8 Medical Supplies

 

Medical supplies are an important part of emergency preparedness and planning ahead, and I’ve found that they fit into a prepping budget quite easily. Why? Because we use them all the time and save many trips to the doctor!

I think my favorite thing in this category is probably Be Your Own Doctor, a book that has saved us thousands of dollars in emergency room trips!

Basic first aid knowledge is so important and can save a loved one’s life!

 

 

I grow and wildharvest medicinal herbs, so already have quite a few on hand.

Other things in this category I would not be without include activated charcoal for poisoning and snake bites, garlic for viruses and infections, herbal salve for healing wounds, wild lettuce tincture for pain relief, and people’s paste powder (a mix of powdered herbs with antiseptic and blood clotting properties) for stopping bleeding.

I am constantly learning more medical techniques such as splinting and suturing. Once I learn how to use a tool, I add it to my medical bag. No point stocking up on medical supplies you have no idea how to use! Gradually I’ve added more to this category, prepping on a budget over time rather than running out and buying it all at once.

If you are dependent on prescription medications, it’s so important to not wait to refill until you run out. Most doctors are happy to supply a little extra to give you a cushion in case of emergency.

And finally, a basic first aid kit is a must-have for every household!

 

 

If you have some medical knowledge, definitely keep in your home the medical instruments and supplies you are familiar with using.

 

#9 Knowledge

 

Probably more important than any of the supplies mentioned, is the knowledge to use them. Knowing how to find food and water, to start a fire, to stop bleeding, to be resourceful and get your family to safety in case of an emergency is vital to planning ahead.

There is so much knowledge to be had for free these days, with the internet and libraries in almost every city. Take a little time each day to read a how to article or a chapter of a good book. Who doesn’t want to be smarter? Time spend learning is time well spent bettering yourself.

You can get started here with our recommended book list. I read about 20 books a year and add my favorites to this list. Topics include gardening, homesteading, prepping, farming and more.

 

#10 Wildharvesting

 

Knowing what edible and medicinal plants grow in your area is a fun and free way of prepping on a budget!

We enjoy going out in the mountains spending time together as a family and picking berries for the freezer!

Talk with locals to find out what grows wild in your area! We have several types of wild berries, including wild strawberries, mountain blueberry and elderberry. Wild roses produce loads of delicious, vitamin C packed rose hips every fall. Asparagus grows wild near our house, and there are even some apple trees on public land.

 

 

Fishing is another practical skill to have, as is hunting!

 

#11 Debt and Emergency Funds

 

Getting out of debt is an important, and practical part of emergency preparedness. So is having an emergency fund in cash in your home. If you lost your job today, how long could you pay your bills for?

You can find help for getting out of debt and beginning to save money at daveramsey.com.

 

#12 Security

 

One of the most important elements in emergency preparedness is security. All the preparations in the world won’t do you any good if you don’t have a way to protect your supplies and your family.

Emergency situations tend to bring out the best, and the worst in people. People who are desperate might do anything to feed their own family.

In an emergency, we are prepared to do everything we can to help others, but if someone is a threat to our family, we also have the tools necessary to defend ourselves.

Reinforcing your doors and making your home less of a target is a simple first step for emergency preparedness on a budget. When we decided we could afford a dog, we chose a large protection breed rather than something fun. While we would love to have a dog the kids could play with all the time, we ended up planning ahead for a day when we might really need a guard dog. The good news for right now is that I sleep a lot better at night when hubby is away!

 

#13 Bug-Out Bag

 

And finally, the bug-out bag! If you should ever have to leave your home in a hurry, or need to get home on foot, a bug-out bag is an important part of being planning ahead!

The three most important things to have in a bug-out bag are water, shelter and food. A knife is pretty high up there too!

For water, we have high quality water bottles with a straw that filters the water. We use Berkey, but I’ve also heard great reviews for Lifestraw.

When we were prepping on a budget, we started with one basic bug out bag for the family (the kids are too little to carry their own packs yet). Last year we added a second one so both of us can carry supplies.

 

 

For shelter, we just purchased small tarps.

Granola or energy bars, trail mix and jerky are great food options for a bug out bag. My favorite are Kind Bars!

 

 

Additional items to keep in a bug out bag include a knife, zip ties, medical supplies and activated charcoal, a book on identifying edible wild plants, hats, gloves and extra clothing.

Just make sure you can comfortably carry your bug-out bag!

 

Prepping on a Budget

 

I hope this article gave you some great ideas for planning ahead and prepping on a budget!

My final tip is to not feel like you have to do everything at once. If you are on a budget, allocate $5 a month toward emergency supplies, or $10 or $50, whatever you can afford. Consider if you could cut out a luxury, such as going out, your daily latte, or a subscription you don’t use that much, and spend the money instead on emergency preparedness. You won’t regret it!