The reason I got into prepping, beyond having a barely working flashlight, and a couple of candles, is gradually I came to realize the need for self reliance as I watched not only our incompetent leaders but the worlds. The Hope that enough educated people would have studied enough history to have learned from the mistakes of the past quickly disappeared and was replaced with the very real possibility that the politicians of the world, Ours included, where going to screw this up. So after taking stock of my position I realized I was far from ready. I decided to start small and concentrically work up. Obviously there are few of us who can run out and buy everything that is needed right away. So I started at the beginning.