Best Skills to Learn Before SHTF?

[MeadowWhisperer]

Lately I’ve been thinking about which hands-on skills are truly essential before things go south. Obviously, first aid and water purification come to mind, but is it more important to master fire-making or gardening if you’re limited on time? For those who’ve gone deep into prepping, which practical abilities have you actually used or wish you’d practiced more? Trying to prioritize my learning and would appreciate real-world advice.

 

[MarigoldBreeze]

Lately I’ve been thinking about which hands-on skills are truly essential before things go south. Obviously, first aid and water purification come to mind, but is it more important to master fire-making or gardening if you’re limited on time? For those who’ve gone deep into prepping, which practical abilities have you actually used or wish you’d practiced more? Trying to prioritize my learning and would appreciate real-world advice.

I definitely agree that first aid and water purification are right at the top—without clean water or the ability to handle injuries, everything else gets a bit moot fast. As for fire-making versus gardening, I’d lean toward fire-making as the next priority if time is short. Fire lets you purify water, cook, stay warm, and even boost morale in a pinch. Gardening is invaluable for longer-term resilience, but it doesn’t pay off immediately—seeds take time, and you’ve got to learn your soil, local pests, and seasonal cycles.

Out of the skills I’ve actually used most, improvisational first aid tops the list (people get hurt just doing chores), plus lots of water filtration tricks. I do sometimes wish I'd spent more time mastering foraging for wild edibles—gardening is great,