This post was originally published here on May 12th, 2025
I see the misconception that it takes a lot of money to prep all the time. Which has always confused me. I got into prepping when I was completely broke. I started by slowly getting a 72 hour kit put together, buying a little extra pantry food each grocery trip, and taking classes when I could.
Below I've compiled a bunch of ways you can prep for free. Most of it is information oriented but a few are apps you can download and actions you can take to make an emergency situation a lot easier. This is US focused but many of these resources are accessible by and relevant to those outside of the US.
Heads up it's a long post. Pick whatever you're most interested in to start with. Get through what you can. No pressure.
I think Skywarn training is a great place for people to start. I've noticed most NWS stations have a version of Skywarn that can be taken online. The course teaches you about the major weather threats in your region, how to identify them, how to relay the information to your station if you can safely do so, and how to interpret information that your office puts out such as watches and warnings. It's really helpful. I just retook it recently and it was a great refresher course.
Unfortunately as budgets get cut, there's a possibility that this resource might go away so consider saving a copy for your reference and to give to others if you know how to do that (beyond the scope of what I can cover here).
Bonus: Establish your household's safe spots and evacuation plans and make sure everyone you live with knows them. If you live in a trailer, you should have a safe spot outside the trailer if you're able to get there and one in the trailer if you aren't able to leave in time (with the first being preferred). If you live in an apartment, find out what public storm shelters are available to you. If EF2+ tornadoes are possible, take cover in the most substantial shelter you can safely get to. If you're in a dorm or structured living environment, make sure you know their plans.
While having some equipment on hand can help, even responding to a person who's just gotten shot or suffered a deep wound with what you have on you is far far better than nothing at all. This course will take you through the basics of responding to bleeding and shock emergencies so you can improve a person's (including your own) chances of surviving. Super important course.
KIWIX is probably best known as the program that lets you store and access a fully offline copy of wikipedia for free. There are so many reasons you might want to do this; wikipedia has a bunch of well sourced medical and botanical and weather reference information that could be useful to you in an emergency or just when the internet has gone down.
But the nifty thing I like about it is that there are also other databases you can use with it as well like an iFixit one for repairing your devices.
Bonus: Collect resources for your phone and ereader as well. Here's a collection you can download for free but if you are inclined to sail the high seas, the world is your oyster in that regard. In addition to survival or informational resources, consider making sure you have some morale materials too. Having a comfort read or a comfort show in an emergency situation can be exceedingly helpful for staying calm. For high quality public domain ebooks check out Standard Ebooks.
Briar is a peer-to-peer encrypted messenger that can be used completely offline. It is especially good for activists and those living under hostile surveillance but it's also a fantastic backup messaging app for emergencies - with a little set up required.
Why would you want something like this? There are a lot of use cases. Before we upgraded to Meshtastics, this was my nesting partner and my backup texting app for when the internet went down - which is does frequently where we live. If you have contacts set up before internet and/or cell signal goes down, this can be a way to communicate with those contacts.
Please keep in mind range matters. If they aren't very close by it will take substantially longer to get messages to and from people. But if they're reasonably close by, this can be a great Alternate or Contingency communication method in your PACE plan (short intro, longer intro).
Bonus: Learn more about what you can do to make your phone more private and secure. While most options are geared toward the Android ecosystem, there are things Apple users can do as well.
I would recommend Osmand for this. While Google Maps can store some offline maps, Osmand give you greater control. You can also use topographical and other maps with it as well.
Bonus: You can also get topo maps to download onto your laptop or phone without necessarily using them with another program. I suggest this if you decide to go with Google Maps for your offline maps as a backup. They can be a good thing to have digital and hard copies of.
Reference sheet in video description here
Not much to say about this one. I have these printed in my various kits just as a back up. I have pulled them out and used them (mostly the sections on knots and first aid) a few times over the years but hopefully I'll never need to rely on them.
Again, this one is pretty straight forward.
Go through your phone and anywhere else you keep contacts and list out their phone numbers at a minimum. Can be hand written or types up in a spreadsheet. Consider adding their email addresses and mailing addresses as well. I'd keep a copy in my wallet, behind my phone, in my car - really any place I can safely keep a piece of paper to reference.
In case this is found on you in an emergency where you're unresponsive, I'd consider also notating your basic medical information (allergies, medications, conditions, primary and secondary in-case-of-emergency contacts, primary doctor, etc) as well.
Note: if you're worried about getting detained and this info being used to hurt people you care about, I'd be careful about this one. Don't include addresses. Consider using symbols instead of names. Agree on security phrases with your contacts so anyone contacting them on your behalf can prove they're doing so with your permission.
Bonus: Get together with friends and family to come up with a PACE communication plan (short intro, longer intro). Include a copy of it with everyone's contact information in multiple place (hard copy and digital). Also, try to have digital and hard copies of recent photos of your family, friends, and pets in the event that you need to establish a search for them.
If you have renter's, home, or car insurance, make sure you update your insurance videos/photos at least once or twice a year.
I'm having some trouble finding a decent tutorial of it, but basically you want to have some proof of what you own and what condition it is in in the event you need to file a claim on in of it. The easiest way to do this in a home is to turn on your phone camera and slowly walk around the home trying to make sure you capture as much of it as possible and then walk in through the front door and video each room, making sure you have video proof of some of the larger purchases like TVs, laptops, phones, kitchen equipment, washer/dryer, etc. The same basic principle applies to your car.
Not all insurance claims will require it but it's very nice to have in the event you need it and doesn't take much time to make and save in a few spots.
Not something I've finished doing yet but it is absolutely worth doing. Fires can burn up original copies. Having some way to prove you are who you are is really important, especially for receiving service after a disaster. Encrypting it is so key though so I wouldn't put this together without that component personally.
or ask on your freecycle/mutual aid group; or pick it up cheap
There's really too many of these to list but here are some places to start:
Some of these websites are less useful than they used to be given interference from the current administration but they are, at present, better than nothing.
Bonus: consider following your NWS station's IEM bot on Twitter, Bluesky, or Mastodon (use Ctrl+F then type your three letter station code). An NWS bot is also available for Discord servers (works best in regional or private discord servers).
*Quick note: Since solid info on protecting yourself from and treating COVID can be hard to find I'm including some here. Get to know the five pillars of prevention here. Instructions for cheap(ish) DIY air purifier here. If you need masks, check out r/Masks4All for recommendations/where to buy them and maskbloc.org if you need free ones. Info on to what you can do to protect yourself even if others in your house aren't COVIDing is here. Info on what to do if you catch COVID here.
I think I'm going to cut myself off there for now. There are so many more ways you can prep for free or cheap too so maybe I'll do a part two some time. I hope this gives you a jumping off point. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do what I can to help!