This looks at what I see as the most important aspects of prepping for a college student- defense, food storage, water, and transportation. I don’t think shelter is a big issue, as there is student housing everywhere. There will almost certainly be a place you can sleep. These other issues though need to be addressed.
Defense:
Defense is crucial for prepping in student housing. It’s an area that’s full of unprepared people. It’s important to be prepared, and be ready to defend what is yours. Most universities have no weapons policies. I would still keep something small like this spear head which you can put on a broom or tool handle (which I discuss in the Most Dangerous Weapons on Amazon post), and some pepper spray.
Amazon does not sell firearms… sort of. It comes really close with some of these items. There are the most dangerous and lethal weapons I found available on amazon that anyone can purchase… READ MORE
Food Storage in Student Housing:
The term starving student is generally given because students are poor, and they don’t have much food, and can’t afford much, not because of a disaster. If a disaster happens and all these starving students are stuck there with you, everything in the stores will be gone really quick. If you’ve got storage at that point, you won’t be a starving student.
Key Staples:
The following staples are compact, have good nutrients, variety, and go with a lot of things. Most people also like these things, and they’re not very complicated to make. These were the main ones I kept during college.
Rice, Dry Beans, Spaghetti Noodles, Oatmeal
If you are in student housing, or have roommates, odds are fair that they will help yourself to some of your food stuffs. There are a few ways you can deal with this- the first is to store difficult staples to cook. Dry beans for instance take a long time and know how to make. Most college students don’t want to deal with that. They’ll likely leave those alone. Canned foods are easy to just heat up and use. These are more likely to be stolen.
Lock up your food:
A simple option for locking up food or other prepping supplies in a way that doesn’t look too strange is a filing cabinet. Filing cabinets look perfectly normal, if a little out dated, in a college setting. You can also just use the back half of the drawers for prepping supplies and use the front half as a filing cabinet. Even if you don’t use this for food, It’d be nice to have some of your other gear in there.
Have Enough to Share:
A big bucket of rice will last an apartment for quite a while. You can’t store everything in a small dorm room. You’ve got to be picky. It’ll make your roommates like you even more as well. If you’ve got a costco card or a sam’s club membership, it’s actually pretty cool to let your roommates go shopping there with you, and you can get them to buy some things in bulk as well.
Transportation:
Spend $10 on a cheap used bike and put it on the bike rack. Even if you’re not into biking, you can move a lot quicker on a bike than you can on foot. Many students don’t have a car in college, but you should consider a bike if you’re going to need to get out of there in an emergency. I hung on to my bike from college. I keep it functional and ride it every month or so for a bit of exercise, but also so I have a form of transportation if needed. Even if you do have a car, also get a bike.
If you do have a car, get yourself a 5 gallon gas can and keep it filled if you can find space for it. One of your friends is going to run out of gas while you’re in school anyways. It’s worth having. Learn more about gas storage HERE.
Water Storage in Student Housing:
A life straw or water filter is good. Identify where you can go get water from natural sources. Many universities like to have streams and waterways. Identify these. I also liked to keep a couple 4 gallon containers of water in my apartment. Again, space is limited so have enough for the short term, with the ability to get more.
Did you have any other good prepping techniques while you were in college? Leave a comment!
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