When I set out to explore the world of prepping, I was unsure of what to expect – part of me imagined something theatrical, such as zombie apocalypse kits or nuclear bunkers.
But as I ventured into the mid Wales countryside, it became clear I had fallen victim to the stereotypes.
Leigh Price, 51, from Builth Wells, said he was not prepping for hordes of the undead roaming the landscape, as many might assume, but for much more real threats.
“Everyone thinks a prepper is some sort of tin-hat wearing nut job, don’t get me wrong, there’s a few of them about. But you get a lot of the prep stereotypes from America, in the UK it’s totally different.”
Prepping is a global movement of people getting ready for the eventuality that society will – in part or fully – collapse.
It often involves having a supply of food and learning skills required to fend for yourself.
Leigh, a dad of three, served in the Army but now runs a dedicated preppers shop and is a survival course provider.
Surrounded by trees in rural Powys, it is a tranquil environment for a shop that had all the gear you could imagine to survive the end of civilisation – including cross bows and walls of knives.
Leigh said: “Some people are preparing for the end of the world, a nuclear attack or whatever it is and I always say ‘look when it comes to nuclear attack, it’s not impossible, but it’s highly unlikely’.
“You’re better off preparing against the things that you are more likely to come across.”
Leigh said: “The world is getting a bit more dangerous. Civil unrest is at boiling point there’s a few things going on the world and nation against nation.”
His list of potential threats include cyber attacks which “could take down the national grid”, disrupting all aspects of modern life.
“If it takes down the electric grids, we’re back to the stone age. At least for a couple days.
“You can imagine then when people are panicking, people tend to do desperate things.
“The worst case that will happen is people start looting people’s houses, there’ll be fights, fires… so how would you prepare against that?”
I had assumed I could simply grab my first aid kit and tent and run to the hills in such a scenario, only for Leigh to tell me this was the biggest mistake people make.
“They think they could survive like John Rambo in the wild, but after a couple of days of wind and rain and cold, they’re gonna think twice about it,” he said.
The key is to defend your location or to move to a safer one, like a friend’s house, he said.
Leigh said many people believe preppers have bunkers full of guns and ammo, but really it is “everyday run-of-the-mill people from all walks of life, from all political spectrums” who have enough basics to survive weeks without needing supermarkets or the government.
To assess where I stood in terms of being prepared, Price gave me a test. After asking several questions about my supply of food, water and first aid kits, he told me I scored 7/10.
It turns out being used to doing a big shop from growing up in rural Cornwall and having camping equipment makes you fairly prepared.
But to get that score up, I would need to buy a better first aid kit, a water filter and more food – much more food.
As for Leigh, he said he had always been prepared for emergencies, but considers that just being sensible.
He partially began the shop after the Covid pandemic so he could prepare if anything similar happened again after having to close his previous business.
“I thought ‘well, I’m going to do something elsewhere, even if that happened again’, [so] I could still run a business and feed my family.”
Running the shop means he can buy his own prepping gear at wholesale prices. He said it couldn’t “even hazard a guess” at how much he has spent prepping, but thinks it might be “a couple thousands of pounds”.
He added that he is not obsessed by prepping and only spends about an hour a week checking his gear is up to scratch.
Leigh’s stores come in useful in all kinds of emergencies, he said, and living in a rural area he gets his water from a borehole, meaning any potential blackout does not just turn off the lights, it means no drinking water unless you can purify it.
Which of course, he can because he has a water filter pump to access this groundwater reserve through the borehole.
you’ve got stuff at home squared away, no matter what comes your way, you can deal with it.”
This means a different approach depending on where you are.
For example, on a trip to London he said: “I’d always have a first aid kit, no matter where I’m going. I’d probably have some sort of scarf, if there’s perhaps a fire you can cover your mouth with it. A torch, notebook and pen, a good raincoat.”
Leigh said one of the things he recommended was finding a community: “We’ve thrived as a human species by living together, no-one is going to survive on their own from running off to the wilderness.
“In a dire situation, we are better off working together.”
Three years ago there was only one preppers meet-up in Wales, but now they happen regularly all over the country, said Leigh.
Donna Lloyd, 60, also believes in creating a community.
She runs a Facebook page on prepping and began gathering supplies after her electricity went down during lockdown.
She and her wife, who live in Powys, were unable to make a cup of tea so a friend came to their house with a camping stove to boil water.
“It was like that lightbulb moment, I felt sort of vulnerable and a bit stupid,” she said.
“I thought ‘well, I can buy a camping stove. I can do that’.”
Donna, who used to work in the military but now works in education, stores water, tinned food, freeze-dried food, tea, coffee, powdered milk and a first aid kit.
Like Leigh, Donna is not preparing for anything in particular, she is just aware that something could happen.
thinks there is a stereotype of what a prepper looks like, but in reality there is a spectrum.
From those who have their own fallout shelters to those who just carry torches in their bags, she said: “I fall somewhere in the middle.”
The world of prepping can be a very secretive place, she said, ranging from “discreetly storing supplies to full ‘lone wolf’ isolation, much of the time to avoid stigma and labelling” with other focus on community building.
But Donna said this mindset did not stop her from living life normally, and she still goes on holiday.
“Help you as a person to have confidence, help you as a person feel more in control, more able to deal with situations and be more aware of your environment.”
“There are ways to be prepared, so should you be away from what you normally carry around, you can still utilise or improvise what you do have.
“Something I carry with me all the time is a little credit card survival tool with different attachments like a screwdriver and bottle opener.”
She said another way to feel more confident would be to learn how to build a fire.
“It’s not necessarily about making a fire, it’s the skill of being able to identify the things that help you build a fire.
She said she doesn’t do this for fun – prepping helps her feel more confident and safe.
his is a sentiment echoed by Leigh: “Having those initial supplies you’re going to feel a little bit better than someone else who’s got nothing at all.
“A good saying in preparedness is it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”
Rowenna Hoskin BBC Wales
THE ARTFUL DILETTANTE 