When money is tight prepping can be tough

Weapons are expensive … so is ammo and Food and fuel prices are on the rise, new toll roads and other taxes are crippling the economy.

These are all challenges to prepping.

here are some of my ideas to prepping on a budget in South africa.

Start by securing your food supply,

Buy additional packs of rice or Pap with your extra cash, soya mince ( as tinned stuff is expensive ), peanut butter in bulk (makro)

Buy seeds, one or two packs a month, and start planting, I would suggest sweet potatoes (not from seed but from actual potatoes), beet root, corn, gem squash and beans as these grow well here and quite quickly, in small spaces and in containers if you don’t have a garden.

Water supply is very important, get a rain water barrel, and collect the run off from your roof. ( check out “cash build” they deliver for free and have good prices on water tanks )  You can water your vegetables during dry times and use the water for drinking if the municipal water goes down.

next you need a weapon to protect yourself …

a panga ( machete) or a night stick – even just a knopkierrie is a good self-defense start.

starting off with a slingshot – would be a good start they are cheap and not very effective but better than nothing – sling shots can be adapted to shoot arrows and for this purpose should be used like that.

next option in my opinion would be a crossbow or bow – no license required , lethal out to a good range.

next option would be to do the training and get a pistol – in this case i suggest revolvers as they are very cheap and second-hand ones got for about R1000 + 750 for training + 250 for license application and + 300 for ammo – get a .357 if you can … they can also shoot .38 special rounds which are much milder … this means the revolvers will last longer. as its made for a higher preasure round …

next a good lever-action rifle, Rossi (puma 92 in .38 special and 357 Mag it can fire either or. ) …make good cheap ones, about R4000 and R2800 for the safe, ammo and training the same as above.- a lever action is the fastest reloading cycle that you can get  with out a semi auto action.. and doesn’t effect your point of aim as much as a bolt action .. when used correctly ( the trick is not to use your right hand to aim … use your shoulder and your left hand to aim and your right to work the action and fire ..)

Reloading 38 special rounds is cheaper then most others, the round was originally designed for black powder and so the case is actually mostly empty, but you can load black powder which is nice for long term survival, also lead bullets are okay in a .38 as the speed of the round doesn’t cause excessive leading of the barrel, using .357 is a nice option for extra punch . but again rather use the .38 its milder and does the job just as well …

get a reloading press even if its a cheap one … and a bullet mold for a light 38 special bullet — lighter bullets put less stress on the gun action and are easier to handle and can use less powder — again lets think long term.

Transport is next on the list

Horses are excellent, but expensive .

the poor mans horse is a bicycle.

Bicycles make great transport and are relatively cheap, they wont last for ever but they provide good cheap transport and can carry quite good loads, ask the chinese, they say there are 9 million bicycles in Beijing , must be a good reason for that.

 

Hope these ideas here are useful …