Zero Dollar Prepping: 20 Things You Can Do Right Now for Free
Prepping isn't about buying things. It's about knowing things. Here are 20+ free actions — water, navigation, food, shelter, first aid, and mindset — you can take today without spending a cent.
Step-by-Step Instructions
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01
Fill your bathtub the moment a storm or emergency is announced
A standard bathtub holds 40–60 gallons. That's 40 days of drinking water for one person — for free, using water you already pay for. You don't need a WaterBOB bladder to start (though one helps). Even the bare tub works for toilet flushing and washing. Habit: keep the drain clean so you can fill it in 30 seconds when needed. This single action has saved lives in hurricanes, ice storms, and water main breaks. It costs nothing and takes 30 seconds to set up.
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02
Learn to boil water for purification — and practice once
A rolling boil for 1 minute (3 minutes above 6,500 feet elevation) kills every biological pathogen in water: bacteria, viruses, protozoa. All you need is a pot and a heat source. Practice this now, before an emergency, so you know how your stove behaves at altitude and with different pot sizes. Boiling doesn't remove chemical contamination, but it handles 99.9% of biological threats. Free, reliable, and available in any kitchen or camp setup.
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03
Identify your nearest water sources within walking distance
Open Google Maps right now and note the nearest: (1) creek, river, or stream; (2) pond or lake; (3) fire station (they have large water tanks); (4) municipal water treatment facility. Write these down. If city water fails, you need to know where to go before you're thirsty and panicking. Surface water requires purification, but it's available. Knowledge of location costs nothing — ignorance could cost your life.
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04
Download offline maps for your region right now
Cell service fails in disasters. Download offline maps before you need them: Google Maps (save offline area), Maps.me (free, excellent offline), and Gaia GPS (free tier works). Download a 50-mile radius around your home and workplace. Store on your phone AND export a PDF of your local road network to print. A paper map in your glove box has never needed a charge. Takes 5 minutes. Free.
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05
Know your two evacuation routes from home
Pick two routes out of your neighborhood in opposite directions. Drive them both this week — not to memorize them, but to notice: where is the choke point? Where does traffic always back up? Which bridge might flood? Which road goes through a low-lying area? After you drive them, note these on your downloaded offline map. In an actual evacuation you'll need to make a split-second decision under stress. Two practiced routes are the foundation of that decision. Costs: 20 minutes of driving and zero dollars.
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06
Designate family rally points at three distances
Set three rally points with your household right now, during a calm moment: (1) At your home (a specific spot if you can't go inside, like the mailbox); (2) In your neighborhood (a neighbor's house, a park corner, a gas station); (3) Out of your area (a relative's home, a specific hotel chain 30 miles away). Write these on a card in every family member's bag and phone case. If cell service is down and you get separated, everyone knows exactly where to go. This plan costs nothing and takes 10 minutes to create.
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07
Start rotating what you already buy — buy two, eat the oldest
The simplest, cheapest food prep strategy: every time you buy peanut butter, canned beans, rice, oats, or crackers, buy two. Put the new one behind the old one. Eat from the front. Over 90 days you will have built a meaningful emergency food supply without spending a single extra dollar — just shifting timing. Rotate every item. Label cans with a marker when you buy them. The rule is simple: first in, first out. Your existing grocery budget becomes your emergency fund.
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08
Learn to identify 5 wild edibles in your local area
You don't need to become a forager. Learn 5 plants that grow in your region, are unmistakably identifiable, and are not easily confused with toxic look-alikes. Good starter choices in North America: dandelion (entire plant edible), cattail (shoots, pollen, and roots), wild garlic mustard (invasive, prolific, tastes like garlic), plantain (the weed, not the fruit — leaves edible raw or cooked), and chickweed. Get a free field guide PDF from your state's extension service or use iNaturalist (free app) to identify plants in your yard. Practice identifying them now, not when hungry.
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09
Understand food storage without special equipment
You don't need Mylar bags or oxygen absorbers to start. Dry staples store for years in standard conditions: white rice in a sealed 5-gallon bucket (food-grade, free from restaurant bakeries) lasts 25–30 years. Rolled oats in mason jars: 2–5 years. Honey: indefinite. Salt: indefinite. Hard red wheat berries in sealed containers: 25+ years. The key variables are heat, humidity, light, and oxygen — none of which require special equipment to manage. A cool, dark closet and clean sealed containers (saved from food you already bought) are sufficient. Start storing what you already cook.
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10
Know how to insulate a room with blankets and cardboard
Emergency insulation principle: dead air stops heat transfer. Hang blankets over windows (thermal mass + air gap), stuff towels under doors, and tape cardboard over drafty windows or broken glass. In a room you're sheltering in together, four people generate roughly 1,200 BTU per hour — enough to keep a small room survivable even without any external heat source. Practice setting up your "warm room" once. Identify which room in your home has the fewest windows, smallest volume, and most interior walls (interior walls stay warmer). Knowledge of the technique costs nothing.
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11
Identify your home's safe rooms before you need them
A safe room serves two functions: tornado/severe weather protection and security. For weather: the lowest floor, interior room, away from windows (bathroom, closet, stairwell, under stairs). For security: a room with a solid-core door, ideally interior, where you can barricade if needed. Walk your home right now. Pick one room for each scenario. Tell every person in your household which room to go to and why. Post a simple note on the fridge if you have kids. This takes 15 minutes and costs nothing.
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12
Learn basic tarp shelter techniques from free YouTube videos
Search "A-frame tarp shelter" or "lean-to tarp setup" on YouTube. Watch three videos. Then go outside with any plastic sheet, shower curtain, or tarp you own and practice once. You don't need paracord — use shoelaces, zip ties, or strips of fabric. The skill of building a wind- and rain-deflecting shelter from a flat sheet takes 20 minutes to learn and could keep you alive if you're stranded outdoors, your roof is compromised, or you need to shelter in a vehicle or field. The video is free. The knowledge is permanent.
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13
Learn CPR and the Heimlich maneuver from YouTube — right now
Search "CPR hands-only American Heart Association" on YouTube. It's a 2-minute video. Hands-only CPR (no mouth-to-mouth) is what bystanders actually perform effectively and what saves lives in cardiac events. For choking, search "Heimlich maneuver adult" — another 90-second video. Then watch the infant versions. These skills require no certification to practice on a mannequin or pillow. The AHA website offers free online CPR courses. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates double or triple when a bystander performs CPR immediately. You could be that bystander. It costs nothing.
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14
Know how to stop serious bleeding — tourniquet and direct pressure
Uncontrolled bleeding is the leading preventable cause of traumatic death. You need to know two things: (1) Direct pressure: find the wound, pack it firmly with whatever cloth is available (clean preferred, but any cloth beats nothing), and press hard for a minimum of 3 minutes without peeking. Do not remove the cloth — add more on top. (2) Improvised tourniquet: for a limb wound that's spurting or won't stop with pressure, tie a cloth band 2–3 inches above the wound, insert a stick or pen, and twist until bleeding stops. Note the time. A tourniquet saves lives and can be made from any strip of fabric. Watch a 5-minute free video from Stop the Bleed (stopthebleed.org) to see the technique. Free. Takes 10 minutes to learn.
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15
Recognize the signs of shock and know the one free treatment
Shock (hypovolemic/traumatic) occurs when the body's circulatory system can't maintain blood flow to organs. Signs: pale, cold, clammy skin; rapid weak pulse; confusion or anxiety; rapid shallow breathing; dizziness or fainting; extreme thirst. Free treatment: lay the person flat, elevate their legs 12 inches (unless head/neck/spine injury suspected), keep them warm with any available covering, talk to them calmly, and call for advanced help immediately. Do not give fluids by mouth to someone in shock — aspiration risk. Knowing these signs means you act 5 minutes earlier, which often changes the outcome.
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16
Recognize the signs of hypothermia — especially mild hypothermia
Mild hypothermia (core temp 90–95°F) is deceptively dangerous because the victim often doesn't recognize it. Signs: uncontrollable shivering, slurred speech, loss of coordination, confusion, drowsiness, pale or blue skin. Severe hypothermia: shivering stops (bad sign), victim becomes very still, may appear unconscious. Free treatment: get them out of cold and wet conditions first, remove wet clothing, add layers (including hats and socks — extremities lose heat fast), use body-to-body heat if nothing else is available, give warm (not hot) sweet drinks if conscious. Anyone with severe hypothermia needs hospital care — this is a life-threatening emergency, not a "warm them up" situation. Recognition is free. It starts with knowing what you're looking at.
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17
Write a family communication plan today — it takes 20 minutes
Your plan needs four things: (1) An out-of-area contact everyone calls first — someone outside your disaster zone who can relay information across the family; (2) Your three rally points (see above); (3) Each person's school/workplace emergency contact number written on a card; (4) A simple answer to "what do we do if we can't reach each other for 24 hours?" Write this on a 3x5 card. Laminate it if you can ($1 at an office store). Put one in every bag, wallet, and glove box. The plan costs nothing. The card costs nothing. The peace of mind is the dividend.
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18
Keep your phone above 50% charge as a non-negotiable habit
This is the simplest preparedness habit that costs nothing and takes zero effort after the first week. A phone at 50% is a phone that can call 911, navigate to a hospital, display offline maps, and reach your family. A phone at 3% is a paperweight when you need it most. Charge aggressively: charge whenever you have access to power, not when you're desperate. Bonus free action: identify every USB charger in your car, workplace, and home. Know exactly where you can charge in an emergency. Knowledge of your charging options costs nothing.
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19
Build situational awareness — always know two exits
Every time you walk into a building, note: where are the exits? Not the main entrance — the secondary one. This is a zero-cost habit that takes about 5 seconds. In a crowd, fire, or security event, people funnel toward the one entrance they came in and clog it. People who survived the Station nightclub fire, 9/11, and dozens of other events survived partly because they had noted a second exit. Other free awareness habits: sit facing the door in restaurants, note who looks out of place, check that your car doors are unlocked when you get in. Not paranoia — situational awareness. Practiced, it takes no mental energy after 30 days.
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20
Practice calm under pressure — learn box breathing right now
In a real emergency, the skill that multiplies all your other skills is the ability to think clearly under stress. Box breathing (used by Navy SEALs, surgeons, and firefighters) is a free, proven technique: inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4. Repeat 4–6 times. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering heart rate and cortisol within 60 seconds. Practice it now, during normal moments, so it's automatic when adrenaline spikes. You cannot think tactically with a heart rate over 175 BPM. Box breathing pulls you below that threshold. Free, portable, and requires no equipment.
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21
Talk to one neighbor this week about emergency preparedness
Community is the most underrated prep. A neighbor who knows you're preparedness-minded is someone who might share water when you're out, watch your house when you evacuate, or let you know a threat is approaching before you see it. You don't need a formal group — just introduce the topic: "Hey, I've been thinking about what we'd do if the power went out for a week. Have you thought about it?" This single conversation has a compounding return. Neighborhoods that organize informally before disasters recover faster than those that don't. The research on this is unambiguous. Cost: zero. Return: community capital.
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22
Go 24 hours without power once — on purpose
Unplug your router. Turn off the breaker for non-essential circuits. Use only what you'd have in a real outage. Cook without the microwave. Navigate without GPS for one errand. Use a flashlight instead of light switches. This single exercise reveals every gap in your preparedness plan more clearly than any checklist: you'll discover the flashlight has dead batteries, your water filter is missing a piece, you don't know where your physical maps are, and your family has no idea what to do without Netflix. Discovery during a drill costs nothing and causes minor inconvenience. Discovery during a real outage costs health, money, and possibly safety.
Pro Tips
- The most expensive thing in an emergency isn't gear — it's not knowing what to do. Skills weigh nothing and cost nothing.
- When you have $5: buy a Bic lighter (fire, signaling, candle lighting) and a box of 100 tea lights ($4 at IKEA). Instant 100 hours of light.
- When you have $10: add a gallon of water per person to your pantry. That's drinking water for 8 days per person for $10.
- When you have $15: a cheap folding knife from a hardware store (not fashion, just utility). Every prepper uses a knife more than any other tool.
- When you have $20: a 4-pack of CR123A lithium batteries and a AAA headlamp. Lithium batteries hold their charge for 10 years.
- The starter kit that fits in a shoebox: 1 lighter, 1 folding knife, 4 tea lights, 1 gallon of water, 1 printed offline map of your area, 1 handwritten family communication card. Total cost: under $15. Preparedness level: dramatically better than 80% of households.
- Don't try to do all 20 actions at once. Pick the three that fit your current situation. Do those. Come back for three more next week. Consistency beats intensity in preparedness.