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The Common Sense Practical Prepper

Keith Vincent

Welcome to The Common Sense Practical Prepper. No doom, no zombies — just straightforward, practical advice for real people who want to be prepared without breaking the bank.

From food storage and home security to situational awareness and bug out strategies, I break down what actually works for everyday folks.

Have a question or topic suggestion? Drop it in the comments.

Email practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com.

Support the podcast with Augason Farms, your go-to for reliable food storage. Use code PODCASTPREP for 10% off your order!

Please check out Augason Farms. Affiliate link below. Use PODCASTPREP at checkout for an additional 10% off your order.

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44 episodes
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Saturday · 9 min
I’d Rather Teach Questions Than Sell Gear
Send us Fan Mail Gear reviews are everywhere, and I get why people love them. But after years of doing the Common Sense Practical Prepper, I’m more interested in the part nobody can buy: how you think when things go sideways. Before I head out on a business trip to Chicago (and sneak in a Cubs game at Wrigley), I wanted to answer a question I keep getting in my inbox: why don’t I do more gear reviews? Here’s the honest take. We’re drowning in information: videos, lists, “must-have” products, and loud predictions. That’s not the same thing as intelligence. Intelligence is knowing what’s relevant to your life, your location, your family, and your realistic risk profile. I walk through how I try to turn preparedness from shopping into problem-solving, using water preparedness as a concrete example. Instead of starting with “Which filter is best?” we start with “Where does my water come from, how long can I go without it, and what happens when the power goes out and the backup fails?” We also dig into the common trap of universal advice. Your preparedness plan should not be a copied checklist, because your circumstances are not the same as mine or your neighbor’s. Sometimes the answer is gear, sometimes it’s a new skill, sometimes it’s a better routine, and sometimes it’s simply understanding the problem well enough to make a calm decision under stress. The most important piece of preparedness equipment you own isn’t on a shelf. It’s you. If this mindset helps, subscribe, share the show, and leave a review so more people can find it. https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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Thursday · 31 min
The Lone Man On The Ridge - Episode 16: The Beaver On The Highway
Send us Fan Mail The fuel gauge is hovering over empty, the interstate is littered with wrecks, and every overpass feels like a question you might not like the answer to. Jack keeps the truck crawling north out of Roanoke with Rachel, Lily, and Mr. Rogers, doing the kind of brutal gas math that decides whether you sleep in a seat or walk into the dark. When the numbers refuse to add up, one oversized landmark appears on the horizon: Buc-ees, the biggest gas station on the highway, and maybe the biggest risk they have taken in days. Subscribe, share this chapter with a friend, and leave a review with your answer: what would you trade for ten gallons of gas? Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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September 13 · 19 min
Off Grid, For Real
Send us Fan Mail “Off-grid” sounds like a finish line, but it’s usually a moving target and sometimes a misleading one. I’ve been fascinated by off-grid living for years, yet the deeper I look, the clearer it gets: nobody is truly independent. Even with solar panels, a well, septic, chickens, and a garden, you still rely on fuel, replacement parts, medical care, tools, and the outside world showing up sooner or later. So I’m reframing the goal into something more useful for real-world preparedness and emergency planning: self-reliance as resilience through reduced dependency. We dig into the hidden web of modern infrastructure most of us lean on every day, then zoom in on why “systems thinking” matters. A solar setup is not just electricity, it can be the backbone for water pumping, refrigeration, communication, and basic sanitation. I share a story about a couple living off-grid in northern New Mexico whose panels got buried in snow, knocking out power, which knocked out their well pump, which forced them to melt snow just to flush the toilet. That’s not a gotcha, it’s a lesson: failures cascade, and your plan has to include what happens when the plan breaks. From there, we get practical about hybrid off-grid living, backup power, generators, batteries, critical loads, water storage, food pantries, and the unglamorous side of self-reliance: maintenance, testing, troubleshooting, and keeping spare parts on hand. We end with a simple challenge you can do today: list your biggest dependencies, pick one, and reduce it step by step. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can build calmer, smarter preparedness. https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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September 11 · 24 min
Where Were You On 9/11 And What It Still Teaches Us
Send us Fan Mail A single interrupted song on the radio can become a timestamp for your whole life. We start with that kind of memory, then widen out to what September 11th looked like in real time: confusion, fast-changing reports, and the heavy realization that the ordinary was gone. Twenty-five years later, the dates and numbers are still important, but we keep coming back to the truth underneath them, nearly 3,000 individual lives and the people who spent years carrying the aftermath. From there, we connect 9/11 to modern emergency preparedness in a grounded way. We talk about the information fog that hits at the start of any crisis, why accurate updates can be hard to get even with smartphones and social media, and why “hope is not a plan” when your decisions have to work under uncertainty. We also break down simple, realistic steps like building a family communication plan with redundancy, thinking through how you would actually get home if transportation shuts down, and keeping a practical get home bag for the kinds of disruptions that happen in real life. We also spend time on the part that gets overlooked when preparedness becomes all gear and no character: people. First responders running toward danger, neighbors helping neighbors, and ordinary strangers making hard choices in real time. The takeaway is not fear. It is capability, awareness, and a commitment to remember accurately while we prepare wisely. If this resonates, subscribe, share it with someone you care about, and leave a review with the one preparedness step you want to take next. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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September 9 · 23 min
PSA Screening And The Quiet Risks Men Ignore
Send us Fan Mail Most of us can explain our food storage plan faster than we can explain our last checkup, and that is a problem. I’m taking a different approach tonight because preparedness is not only about gear and worst-case scenarios. It is also about making sure we are still here and still capable when the moment comes to protect our families and lead through stress. A random Reddit post I stumbled across years ago pushed me to finally ask my doctor about a PSA test. That one step led to repeat blood work, imaging, and ongoing monitoring, plus a deeper understanding of prostate health and prostate cancer screening. I’m clear about what this is and what it is not: an elevated PSA does not automatically mean cancer, and this is not medical advice. PSA stands for prostate specific antigen, and numbers can rise for several reasons, so the right move is not doom-scrolling or self-diagnosing online. The right move is getting the information and talking it through with a clinician who knows your history. We also get honest about why men avoid screening and preventive care in the first place: fear, embarrassment, denial, and the quiet belief that feeling fine means everything is fine. We walk through the idea of screening as a personal decision, including the potential benefits and harms like false alarms and unnecessary anxiety, and why guidelines are meant to start a conversation, not issue a one-size-fits-all command. I also speak directly to the women listening, because a simple question at home can be the nudge that saves someone’s life. If you take one thing from this, make it practical: ask your doctor, “Should I get a PSA test?” If this message hits home, subscribe, share it with someone you care about, and leave a review so more people hear it. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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September 8 · 25 min
The Lone Man On The Ridge - Episode 15: The Morning After
Send us Fan Mail The scariest part of the apocalypse isn’t always the monsters or the weather, it’s the people who learn they can take what they want and call it order. Morning comes after Alex’s night visit, and Jack is already doing the math: boots on, weapon ready, dog alert, and a porch guard who never slept. The town looks calm, but the air feels owned. Listen to Episode 15 of Lone Man on the Ridge for a tense, character-driven turn where survival, justice, and family collide. If the story hits you, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves grounded apocalyptic fiction, and leave a review with the moment that shook you most. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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September 5 · 15 min
Mailbag Lessons For Real-World Preppers
Send us Fan Mail We read listener emails that turn everyday prepping into practical decisions, from choosing who to ask for help to building food security that lasts for months. We also dig into farm-direct meat logistics, quiet equipment failures, and why relationships often matter more than perfect gear. • flipping the gray man concept by judging which home seems safest to approach • using situational awareness to read signals without over-trusting them • paying more upfront for farm-direct meat to gain taste, traceability, and supply chain resilience • understanding custom processing steps like hanging time, cut lists, and vacuum sealing • doing the math on hanging weight, per-pound processing, and split-animal budgeting • preventing silent freezer loss with routine checks and a backup power plan • building long-term trust with farmers to improve access and timing • addressing the Augason Farms discount code limit and what we’re doing to fix it Subscribe, like, drop a review https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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September 3 · 17 min
Supply Chain In The Background - Milk
Send us Fan Mail That “simple” gallon of milk in your fridge has a supply chain biography that stretches from fertilizer plants and global natural gas markets all the way to a refrigerated dairy case that cannot blink. We walk through the milk supply chain step by step and call out the exact moments where one mistake, one outage, or one delayed truck can turn thousands of gallons into waste. We start upstream with what most people never connect to milk: fertilizer. Nitrogen, urea, and energy costs ripple into feed prices, herd size decisions, and ultimately the price you pay at the store. Then we move through feed logistics, on-farm milking, rapid chilling in bulk tanks, and the strict testing performed by licensed milk haulers and processing plants. From there, it is all cold chain logistics: pasteurization, packaging, refrigerated warehousing, distribution centers, and the final few feet into the dairy case, often within about 48 hours. We also zoom out and compare resilience models. Much of continental Europe leans on UHT shelf-stable milk that can sit for months without refrigeration, while Australia fights the same refrigerated-milk battle the US does but across extreme distances and heat. The preparedness takeaway is practical: keep a realistic margin for error with options like UHT milk, powdered milk, and evaporated milk, and understand why the US system is efficient but thin on slack. If this breakdown helps you think more clearly about food security and preparedness, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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September 2 · 16 min
Farm-Direct Meat Buying Basics
Send us Fan Mail PBN LINK https://prepper-broadcasting-network.beam.ly/ Meat prices are up, the supply chain feels shaky, and “just buy it at the store” is starting to sound like bad planning. So we sit down and seriously think through a question a lot of people ask but few actually calculate: does buying a quarter cow, half cow, or half hog directly from a farmer save money, and does it make sense for preparedness? We walk through what you really get when you buy a share of an animal (it’s not just steaks) and why farm-direct meat boxes can be the best low-risk trial run. Then we get into the part that confuses almost everyone: the difference between live weight, hanging weight, and the packaged weight that ends up in your freezer. If you’ve ever tried to compare a farm’s “$/lb hanging weight” to a grocery store price tag and felt lost, we lay out the clean way to do it. The only number that matters is your true cost per pound after processing fees, based on how many pounds of wrapped meat you bring home. From a prepper angle, we talk through the real upside: fewer store trips, a shorter supply chain, a relationship with a local producer, and a freezer that’s stocked with food your family already eats. But we also hit the catch: a chest freezer creates a new dependency on electricity, and your plan has to account for outages, not wish them away. If this helps you think clearer about bulk meat buying, share it with a friend, subscribe, and leave a review so more people can find the show. https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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August 31 · 25 min
Disaster Morale When The Adrenaline Fades
Send us Fan Mail Week one of a disaster can feel almost surreal, but strangely focused. You check on family, you execute the plan, you help neighbors, and adrenaline does what adrenaline does. Then the days stack up. Sleep gets weird, uncertainty becomes constant, the same small problems keep returning, and somewhere around week two, three, or four a lot of capable people slam into a mental wall they did not see coming. I walk through the psychological patterns researchers see after major disasters, from impact and the heroic push to the honeymoon period, then the hard shift into disillusionment and adaptation. We talk about why this happens without blaming yourself: stress hormones are not meant to run at full power forever, predictability disappears, decision fatigue grows, and grief shows up even when nobody has died because you are grieving normal life. If you are prepping for a long-term grid down event or any sustained SHTF scenario, this is the missing piece that can quietly break families and groups even when the pantry is full. Then we get practical with the five anchors that stabilize morale when help isn’t coming: a simple routine that reduces decisions, a clear purpose and roles that make people feel useful, daily physical movement, real human connection, and stacking small wins that prove progress is still possible. I also cover what prolonged stress looks like in adults and in kids, what not to say, what to say instead, and how to “preload” these habits now so you are not inventing mental resilience while exhausted. If this helps, subscribe, share the episode with someone who preps, and leave a review so more people can find it. https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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August 28 · 32 min
The Lone Man On The Ridge - Episode 14: Roanoke
Send us Fan Mail Roanoke shows up as a green highway sign, but it hits like a warning label. We’re riding with Jack, Rachel, Lily, and Mr. Rogers in a truck full of tension after the checkpoint, where one sentence keeps echoing in the cab and nobody can take it back. With fuel low and the city ahead carved into territories, we need a plan, and the only person who has one won’t even look our way. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend who loves gritty audio drama, and leave a review so more listeners can find the road with us. What was the moment that changed how you see Jack and Rachel? Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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August 27 · 19 min
Dental Emergencies When Help Is Gone
Send us Fan Mail A cracked tooth on day four of a grid down disaster sounds small until the pain spikes, the swelling starts, and you realize the dentist is unreachable. We take dental emergencies seriously because they are not just miserable, they can become dangerous fast. Most people assume the ER can fix a tooth, but in many cases you get antibiotics and a referral, which is not much help when the supply chain is broken and appointments do not exist. We lay out the five most common dental emergencies you are likely to face in a survival situation: a knocked out tooth, a cracked or fractured tooth, a lost filling or crown, an abscess or infection, and a severe toothache with no obvious cause. We talk timelines, including why a knocked out tooth is time critical and what to do immediately, plus the practical reason milk can protect the root cells better than water. We also cover the warning signs that turn a tooth problem into a true medical emergency, like fever, swelling spreading into the neck, or trouble swallowing or breathing. Then we get practical with step by step home protocols that buy you time: warm salt water rinses, gentle flossing, cold compress cycles, smart over the counter pain control, and topical options like clove oil and benzocaine gel. Finally, we share a simple $25 DIY emergency dental kit shopping list, how to store it, and what tools to avoid if you do not have hands on training. If you found this useful, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people close this gap in their emergency preparedness. https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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August 25 · 18 min
Generational Preparedness
Send us Fan Mail The gear in your closet will not matter much if the people in your house freeze when something goes wrong. I’m Keith, and I’m making the case that the most important form of preparedness is raising capable, clear-headed kids who can notice problems early, think through options, and act without panic. Call it generational preparedness: the long-game prep that outlasts any flashlight, water filter, or food bucket. I break this down by age so it stays practical. For ages 5 to 8, we turn situational awareness into everyday games: spot the exits, remember where the car is parked, name the street you’re on, point toward home, and practice names, address, and phone number without turning it into a scary talk. For ages 9 to 12, kids get real responsibility: helping shop with price-per-ounce thinking, rotating pantry items by expiration date, and learning basic home emergency skills like water shutoffs, breakers, fire extinguishers, and what belongs in a first aid kit. Then we move into the teen years with adult-level readiness: building a get-home bag together, talking through breakdown scenarios, practicing practical life skills from cooking to changing a flat tire, and learning how to slow down and verify information online. I also call out the trap that wrecks resilience fast: doing everything for your kids and shielding them from every consequence. If you want family preparedness, resilient kids, and a smarter approach to emergency readiness, hit play, subscribe, share this with a parent who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What is one skill you’re going to start teaching this week? https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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August 24 · 15 min
Goldbacks For Preppers
Send us Fan Mail Not financial advice. A piece of real gold you can fold like a bill sounds like a prepper cheat code, right up until you ask the hard questions: Is it actually gold, can you really spend it, and what are you paying for besides the metal? I walk through goldbacks from a practical preparedness angle, starting with what they are at the most basic level: thin polymer notes with layered 24 karat gold embedded inside, created to make gold “spendable” in small denominations. Then I share my own gold ATM adventure near Richmond, Virginia, which turned into a huge letdown when the app led me to sketchy locations that did not match the promise. That story tees up a bigger point about due diligence: if you are buying precious metals for financial resilience, you cannot rely on hype, outdated listings, or random sellers. Where there is gold, there are scams, and we talk through simple ways to reduce your risk. From there, we get into the real pros and cons. Goldbacks can add a layer behind cash with potential barter utility, privacy, and a format that still works when electronic payments fail. But they also come with limited merchant acceptance, meaningful premiums over spot price, inconsistent buyback liquidity, price fluctuations tied to the gold market, and the very real friction of having to explain what you are handing someone in a high-stress moment. I also cover where to buy goldbacks through reputable online bullion dealers or local coin shops, and how to think about them as a niche tool rather than a replacement for cash, silver, or traditional gold bullion. If you care about prepping, inflation hedges, and tangible assets you can hold in your hand, this is a grounded look at whether goldbacks make sense after your basics are covered. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review if you want more practical, common sense preparedness. https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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August 22 · 12 min
Social Media Praise Is Rewriting Right And Wrong
Send us Fan Mail Chaos at a state fair. A packed restaurant suddenly turning into a brawl. Crowds forming around violence like it’s entertainment. If you’ve felt that uneasy gut-check in public lately, I’m putting words to what a lot of people are noticing and quietly dismissing: societal decay has started to look more like societal rot, and it changes how we should think about everyday safety. I break down recent examples of mob behavior and why they spread so fast, using plain-English crowd psychology that actually helps you make decisions in real time. We talk deindividuation, emotional contagion, and diffusion of responsibility, and how those forces can turn a normal night at a fair, mall, or restaurant into a “no rules for 20 minutes” situation. I also dig into the darker side of performative culture, where social media validation can warp judgment and even blur the line between victim and perpetrator. Then I bring it back to practical prepping. Preparedness isn’t just water, flashlights, and blackout plans. It’s situational awareness, a simple family emergency plan for public spaces, knowing exits, recognizing threat indicators early, and building real community face to face with people you trust. I also share why teaching kids critical thinking and resilience might be one of the most important preparedness moves we have right now. If this hits home, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people who care about practical preparedness and personal safety can find it. What’s the biggest public-space red flag you’ve noticed lately? https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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August 20 · 19 min
Prepper Boot Camp Blueprint
Send us Fan Mail Imagine showing up to a campus for five days and learning preparedness the way you actually learn anything for real: by doing it. We’re not talking about another weekend lecture or a single-skill class. We’re sketching a full-spectrum “prepper boot camp” where the lights can go out on purpose, the taps can get shut off on purpose, and your team has to solve practical problems with the tools and skills you brought to the table. We walk through the whole concept from the ground up: the kind of property it would take, how it would be split between a comfort zone and a training zone, and the stations that make the place come alive. Think a mock neighborhood for home hardening and low-profile movement, a water area for purification labs and rain catchment, a field kitchen for off-grid cooking, and a comms shack where you build radio networks instead of just reading about them. We also include a medical station for trauma simulations, a vehicle bay for basic emergency repairs, and a working garden plus food forest that feeds into the training week. Then we map out the curriculum: a shared three-day foundation that covers mindset, situational awareness, water, fire, shelter principles, food storage, rotation, cooking without the grid, and preservation methods like dehydrating, canning, and freeze drying. After that, you pick a track and go deep in communications, medical and trauma, advanced food systems, or security and defensive planning, before bringing it all together in a team-based final scenario and after-action review. If you’ve ever wished you could turn YouTube knowledge into real confidence, this is the blueprint. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a review with what you’d add to the curriculum. https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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August 19 · 25 min
Gray Man Basics
Send us Fan Mail Looking “ready” can be the exact thing that puts you on someone’s list. Tonight I’m digging into one of the most useful preparedness skills that costs nothing and works anywhere: the Gray Man concept, or staying invisible in plain sight. This is not about dressing like a spy or stripping your personality. It’s about understanding how attention works and choosing, on purpose, not to attract it. We walk through why blending in is a real survival skill during everyday life and during real disruptions like blackouts, civil unrest, or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I break down the biggest “tells” that draw eyes: clothing that’s wrong for the context, obvious tactical scanning, urgency that doesn’t match the crowd, and body language that reads like law enforcement, threat, or victim. We also talk about the subtle stuff almost nobody covers, like what your hands are doing, how you move through a room, and how “matching the pattern of life” can be better camouflage than any outfit. Then we get practical with operational security and privacy: how bumper stickers, ham radio antennas, and parking habits can become data points, and how casual conversations and social media posts can accidentally build a profile of your resources. During a crisis, we cover gray man basics for your home too: light discipline, noise control, smell management, and how to help neighbors without advertising abundance. If you want practical prepping advice that makes you safer without buying more gear, hit subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show. https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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August 17 · 15 min
Prepper Camp 2026 Recap
Send us Fan Mail You can spend years talking into a microphone and still wonder if any of it lands. Then you walk through Prepper Camp and strangers stop you after class to say they listened, they learned, and it mattered. That’s what this Prepper Camp 2026 weekend recap is really about: the moment preparedness stops being content and becomes connection. I share what it was like presenting for the first time and teaching Run, Hide, Fight: how the crowds differed across Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, what people asked during Q and A, and why scenario-based thinking is the heart of practical active shooter survival training. I also talk about the little things that helped keep the room engaged, from quick giveaways like mini first aid kits and a fire blanket to the simple boost of making learning feel human. We also dig into the big change this year: Prepper Camp’s move to the Tryon International Equestrian Center and Resort. The venue is massive and built for large events, with lodging and food options that can keep you on property all weekend, but the heat and parking shuttle system added real friction. The most exciting possibility is a move to October next year, which could transform the entire experience. What surprised me most came from conversations with vendors and organizers about service, community, and purpose beyond profit. If you care about prepping, self-reliance, emergency preparedness, and building real community resilience, you’ll hear why this event keeps people coming back. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend, and leave a review so more practical preppers can find the show. https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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August 14 · 16 min
The Lone Man On The Ridge - Episode 13: The Checkpoint
Send us Fan Mail A staggered line of concrete barriers. Two trucks blocking the highway. Men in coordinated gear holding rifles low, not to reassure you, but to show they don’t need to aim to be in control. We’re riding with Jack as he eases his truck into a checkpoint on I-81 with a woman, a child, and Mr. Rogers pressed tight in the cab, all of them listening for the moment that turns “procedure” into violence. The tension isn’t loud, it’s measured, and that’s what makes it worse. If you love survival fiction, post-apocalyptic audio drama, and stories about power, boundaries, and the price of passage, this chapter hits hard. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend, and leave a review with your take: would you have handled that checkpoint differently? Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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August 11 · 8 min
Smart Home Convenience That Breaks Self-Reliance
Send us Fan Mail Your front door, your heat, and your “security” cameras might not really be yours anymore and that’s not a conspiracy, it’s a dependency chain. We take a hard, practical look at how smart home devices can turn everyday convenience into a preparedness vulnerability, especially when core functions rely on cloud servers, Wi‑Fi, firmware updates, and monthly subscriptions. If you care about self-reliance, operational security, and resilient home systems, this one will make you rethink what you’ve invited into your house. We walk through the hidden transaction behind smart locks, smart thermostats, and cloud-connected cameras: trading autonomy for convenience. The hardware sits on your wall, but the functionality often lives on someone else’s infrastructure with someone else’s priorities. We talk about what happens when servers go down, bad updates roll out, or access gets restricted and why “it usually works” is not the same thing as being prepared. Then we zoom out to the OPSEC side: the data trail smart devices create, what it reveals about your schedule and patterns, and how “always-on” tech can become a self-funded surveillance system. Finally, we give you a simple decision filter for smart home tech: does it increase your independence or decrease it, and can you operate it if every external system fails? If you want a smarter, tougher home security and preparedness plan, start here. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves gadgets, and leave a review with the smart device you’re rethinking. https://augasonfarms.com?sca_ref=9315862.VpHzogdDNu Augason Farms Support the podcast. Click on my affiliate link and use coupon code PODCASTPREP for 10% discount! Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Support the show Have a question, suggestion or comment? Please email me at practicalpreppodcast@gmail.com. I will not sell your email address and I will personally respond to you.
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