The Frugal Survivalist, Disaster Preparedness Under $500
For those of you that do not know him, James Dakin, authors, Bison Survival Blog, is rather outspoken Prepper Survivalist that has STRONG opinions about preppers in urban and suburban areas. In fact, he calls us “Yuppie Preppers.” I find his blog full of entertainment, interesting paranoia, frugal prepper and survivalist information, and touches of self sufficiency. Which brings me to my point. James wrote a self published book called “The Frugal Survivalist, Disaster Preparations Under $500.00.”
Just based on the title of this book, you might say, “Huh? Preparations for under $500.00… Can’t happen.” Well, they can. You may not live like Rockefeller, but as James states in his book ” In any coming troubles you will be the minority as 99% of your fellow men will have failed to make any preparations at all.” In very plain english, with his conversational writing style, James explains why one should prepare. I suppose if you are reading any book on preparedness you already have given yourself a clue why, but I think it is a prerequisite for most survival and preparedness books to discuss.
When he get’s into the meat and potatoes of the book, he discusses the basic needs of a person and what they would need to get by. When you think about it, a person simply requires “food, water, shelter, and protection.” Jim makes it a point to be this simple, and not over complicate the areas of survival that are vital to life going forward. He details each after giving a pretty thorough definition of each. Regarding food, he focuses on Wheat, and what you need to do to store and prepare it in various ways. You will not find recipes on how to prepare it once it is prepped, but you can do the research elsewhere to find that information.
Essentially, Jim does the same with water, shelter, and protection. He also makes a point of touching on Lighting, Bugging In, Bugging Out, Finances, and finally provides with a “short list” of preps based on everything discussed in the book with associated costs that bring you to the $500 title of this book. I think that due to some inflation since this book was written, the cost may be closer to $600.00 today, however, if you are getting started prepping, and want a no nonsense simple text on getting the ball rolling and have a few dollars to jump in with, this book isn’t bad.
A little additional commentary… The format was a little weird to me. The book came in 8 1/2 x 11 format. It was about 70 pages, which made it more like a notebook than a book to me. If it were a typical 8 1/2′ x 5 1/2″ it would be easier to handle. That said, this should not deter you if you are a beginner prepper from picking up and reading this book.
