At Grab the Apple we often talk about the importance of having a certain attitude towards life in general. Preparedness is not just about having X amount of gear and supplies and taking Y classes and courses. Those are important, even may be crucial at some point, but to really squeeze all the juice out of preparedness  you have to incorporate it to your daily life.

You see, its not what you buy or even what you do, its much deeper than that: Its how your head is wired and process everything in the first place.

Just a few examples of what I mean.

This Christmas I received his scarf from some relatives in Spain I’m meeting for the first time.

Apart from the gift itself, reestablish family ties in other countries is a pretty good idea I encourage everyone to put into practice.  You might be surprised by how welcoming and affective they can be. Family is important, and they can help each other during hard times and having family in other countries is and extra advantage.

The first thing I noticed about this winter scarf was the color. See how its almost cammo? I’m sure that’s not what the designers at Zara had in mind, but it makes no difference. I don’t care if its made by Versace, the different shades of brown work almost as cammo and that’s good enough for me. I can wear it to keep warm and as a bonus this is something you can spread out and wrap around your head and neck like a piece of camouflage.

Second,  the material.  Its wool and that means it will keep you warm even if wet, so that’s another advantage.

While someone else sees just an ugly winter scarf someone with a different mindset sees these things.

I got these as a Christmas gift for my oldest son.

While the political correct crowd gets their panties all twisted by the idea, I think toy guns are a great gift for kids.

Now, why buy just any toy gun? What I did was buy some heavy metal ones, with working mechanisms and designs similar to real guns so that, even if just scaled down toys, the muscle memory and feel is somewhat the same of the real thing. The pump action actually pumps and the revolver has a double action mechanism with a trigger pull that isn’t that bad.

The day when my son handles real firearms for the first time, the feeling of a DA revolver and pump action shotgun wont be entirely strange to him.

This is a product I found recently in a supermarket and it caught my attention.  Its  condensated milk in a metal toothpaste type tube. Maybe you have something similar in your local supermarket.

Condensated Sugared milk, has lots of calories which is good for an emergency food. The tube provides 700 calories give or take, as well as protein and fat.

Pretty cool for something that has over a year worth of shelf life and can be eaten out of the tube, not to mention mixing it with water to well, make milk of course.

It’s a serious contestant to my other favorite survival supermarket food, tuna in a metal pouch.

Such a tube with peanut butter would be neat as well.

Hope you guys started the year well. Take care.

Fernando Aguirre

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Almost a year ago, Fernando and I started planning a video course that would walk people step-by-step through the emergency preparation process based on his first-hand experience of having lived through the 2001 economic collapse of Argentina.

Well, we are now ready to make the course available to the public. Since there is no other course like this out there, we thought the best way for people to understand the type of one-of-a-kind information that we’ll be providing would be to show it to them. So, we have decided to make Week 1 of FerFAL’s Preparedness University free for the world to enjoy and learn from.

If you like Week 1 and would like to continue with the course, click on Fernando’s picture on the right-hand side to learn how to get access.

First, here is a promo video that I put together and posted on several video sites:

Here is Week 1 of FerFAL’s Preparedness University. Be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!

When talking about survival and preparedness mindset is often brought up.

A person that runs one of the best survival and preparedness forums once said “Survivalism is a lifestyle.”

I liked that too, because to me it makes a lot of sense.

I could talk for hours about how important mindset is. How, in a society with institutions that are failing, have the right, positive and problem-solver attitude is essential. How reaching good levels of awareness is even more important that tactical training, you always having an option, and avoiding trouble is always the best course of action. Heck, even if its not an option in a particular case, awareness may as well translate in you having the upper hand and that may make all the difference regarding the outcome.

Preparedness in the sense we refer to it here at GTA is indeed a lifestyle.

Not the survivalist stereotype, the dark, doom and gloom guy living alone or having his family isolated from the community, but rather an outgoing person that makes sure to have as many options as possible.

Preparing for worst case scenarios because he knows those are part of life and come in all shades of gray. The more prepared you are, the less impact they have on your life.

Even though he knows that keeping your mouth shut about certain things is important, he’s a person involved in the community, trying to make a difference an help others.

There no reason to tell exactly what you have stored, or even go too far into personal beliefs, but you can still help people around you, your neighbors, share information and organize if there’s the will to do so in the community.

Rather than running away form the world, society, or the system, whatever you want to call it, its better to understand how our society and the system that runs it works. Make it work for you as much as possible and protect yourself and your family from its negative aspects.

That reminds me of some people that proudly state “Oh no, we don’t watch TV in our house”

Well guys, slap me silly and call me Martha, but thanks to TV I know that today its virtually impossible to enter the capital district of Buenos Aires, because of the various protests, road blocks, subway and train strikes all in the same day.

The prepared person is informed, not turned to denial.

Preparedness is mindset because it affects the way your brain works as well.

You don’t park your car just anywhere. You park it close to you, and as close to the exit as possible, looking forward ready to leave in a hurry.

Is this paranoid? For some people it may be. For me its common sense. Why would I park anywhere else if there’s no advantage to it? And why would I not do so if it costs me nothing at all?

If there’s enough empty tables, why sit anywhere else in a restaurant if I can sit close to the emergency exit and facing the entrance in case there’s trouble?

When you buy something, choose a tool, or whatever it is you do, always choosing the most versatile option, the more durable one, the best bang for the buck as well. Its all part of a mindset, a compass that guides your actions.

Its also a Lifestyle because it does affect the way you live, in my opinion in a very positive way, disaster, emergency or no problem at all.

I enjoy shooting. I enjoy learning to take care of myself and provide for my family. I enjoy being able to repair my own stuff, and learn when its not within my capabilities.

Its also a lifestyle because it involves your loved ones as well.

A security protocol for your family is only as strong as its weakest link. If you are IDPA shooting world champion but you can’t get your daughter to lock the door even to save her life, that’s as well prepared as you are.

If your wife frowns upon every class you take or every purchase you make, then you also have a problem you should talk about together and decide what you want to do.

It’s a family effort, and a family lifestyle.

Again, this is all very different from the stereotypic weirdo family that lives across the street and everyone there wears cammo.

You and your family, you fit, you adapt, make smart choices, enjoy life and prepare while doing so.

That’s the preparedness lifestyle.

Fernando Aguirre