KRYSTAL is a doomsday prepper. The mom-of-three first started learning how to 'grow and can' food with her grandparents and she has since built on these skills. Krystal said: “I prep for anything whether the grid was to collapse and the power turns off, if there’s another pandemic, civil war, civil unrest or World War Three.” Krystal has built up a stock of medical supplies, materials for protection, electrical goods and enough food to last the family of five for over a year. She has spent over $20,000 prepping in the last 10 years. Why does she prep? Krystal said: “Unrest in the US has motivated me to be a doomsday prepper.” The content creator teaches her children how to prepare as well as giving tutorials on various aspects of prepping to her followers online. She receives negativity about the cost and necessity of the extent of her prepping. Krystal said her three children - Lilah, Kaylie and Colton ‘love’ and ‘thrive’ knowing what to do in the event of an emergency. Krystal said prepping isn’t all ‘doom and gloom.’ She added: “I prepare for the worst thing to happen but I’m always hoping for the best.”
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00:00Unrest in the U.S. has motivated me to be a doomsday prepper.
00:04We have a year and a half worth of food for our family of five.
00:08Come with me, spend $1,000 prepping.
00:11In the last 10 years, I've probably spent $20,000 prepping.
00:15I thought you were bats**t crazy.
00:18In here is where we keep our guns.
00:21Do you think the prospect of having to prep could be scary for your children?
00:25All the yellows are ready. Those are the yellow sunbursts.
00:29My name is Crystal, and I'm a doomsday prepper.
00:32My husband's name is Derek, and we've been together for 15 years.
00:37We have a 12-year-old daughter, Lila, an 11-year-old daughter, Kaylee, and a 7-year-old son, Colton.
00:43And drop them in that hole and that one.
00:47When I first started learning how to grow food, it was with my grandpa.
00:51It is a way of feeling self-reliant to be able to grow what you want to eat.
00:57Prepping has been something that's been part of my life since I was a really small child.
01:02My grandma taught me how to can when I was 3 years old, and I've continued doing it for the last 33 years.
01:09All right, let me take you to my prepping room.
01:11Over here is long-term food storage.
01:14Over here is long-term food storage.
01:16Long-term food storage is food supply that actually has a 25-year shelf life.
01:23I'm a doomsday prepper, and I prep for everything, whether the grid was to collapse and the power turns off,
01:29if there's another pandemic, civil war, civil unrest, or World War III.
01:34We always prepare for the worst-case scenario, and we always hope for the best case.
01:38This is our first aid bin. We have antibiotics, inhalers, water filtration.
01:44We store most of our electronics in EMP bags or Faraday cages.
01:48They are just to protect if there was ever an EMP, which is an electromagnetic pulse, that could affect or scramble stuff.
01:54So right here is one of our newest preps that we've added into prepping is learning how to freeze dry.
02:00So we're able to now create and make our own MREs, which are meals ready to eat.
02:05Right now, my new food goal is three-year food supply, and then our next goal is to go completely off the grid.
02:11We have anything from top ramen, seasonings, coffee, pasta, oatmeal, to all the food that I preserve myself.
02:19We have roughly about a year to a year-and-a-half worth of food for our family of five.
02:24We have carrots and pickles from our own garden, corn that I canned in 2021.
02:30So I've spent about $20,000 on prepping over the last 10 years.
02:35However, I have saved thousands of dollars growing and preserving my own food.
02:39Everything on here is always in rotation.
02:42So when we run out of something upstairs out of our regular pantry, we actually pull from this pantry.
02:50In here is where we keep our guns and our ammunition, and we have children in our home,
02:57so we keep everything locked up so that they do not have access to it.
03:01Civil unrest is one of the many reasons we prep.
03:03Here in the USA, we've seen riots and protests increase over time,
03:08and it's just not something we want to put our family in or around and keep them protected.
03:13Our bug-out bags, in case of an emergency where we have to actually leave the house in a hurry,
03:19we just grab a bag and go.
03:21We also store up on plate carriers and body armor.
03:26I need to be prepared to make sure that my kids are taken care of at all costs.
03:33Push it open, just like that.
03:35Colton, you can hold the funnel.
03:38Can you tell me what you guys are doing?
03:40We are putting rice in a, what's it called again?
03:45A Mylar bag.
03:46A Mylar bag, which makes it, instead of just a one-year-kid treat thing, to 20 to 25 years.
03:58What does prepping mean to you?
04:00I don't know.
04:01Well, my mom just started doing it, and I wasn't really a part of it until lately.
04:07I think the Star Springs was born because we thought it felt good with the rice.
04:10Now you have no access to the zipper, so no oxygen can get inside this bag.
04:16Do you think the prospect of having to prep could be scary for your children?
04:20Absolutely not.
04:21Our schools run active shooter drills for emergency situations,
04:25so why not bring that to your home life?
04:27It doesn't need to be an active shooter.
04:29It can be a natural disaster, an earthquake.
04:32Our kids love and thrive on knowing what to do in an emergency,
04:36and it brings them a sense of calm versus a sense of panic.
04:39What was Derek's view of your prepping a few years ago?
04:43My husband always thought it was a little extreme.
04:47What did you know about prepping before you met Kristen?
04:50So what I knew about prepping prior to meeting my wife was a whole lot of nothing.
04:55I can't take him anywhere with me.
04:57My opinion changed towards prepping and being prepared.
05:01It was right around the pandemic.
05:03Seeing the chaos, we had enough, you know, supplies to last us a long time,
05:09and it was a really good thing to see as our generations changed
05:13that this is a skill that we need to pass down to our kids,
05:16to our communities, and, you know, our friends and colleagues and et cetera.
05:22Hey!
05:23What are you doing?
05:24Hey.
05:25My friends and family always used to tease me about being a prepper.
05:28Remember when we were at comp two years ago,
05:31and you were like, do you have all your s*** together?
05:33And I was like, nope, not even close.
05:36I thought you were bat s*** crazy.
05:40So what made you want to come to me for prepping if you thought I was bat s*** crazy at first?
05:44The pandemic, right?
05:45We all, like, went and, like, stocked our freezers so they couldn't—
05:49I didn't.
05:50You couldn't even see straight.
05:51I know you didn't.
05:52After, you know, this whole—
05:54And we're in an election season right now.
05:56Election s*** that's going on, like, it scares me.
05:58We're talking about civil war and civil unrest, and—
06:01Yep.
06:02Whether you see it now or you see it later, you need to start preparing now.
06:06The trolls you get, how do you handle that?
06:08Like, how do you—
06:09I don't read the comment section.
06:10I don't.
06:11Like, I just, I try not to engage, and I have to remind myself that everybody has an opinion on everything.
06:20This worked for eight hours!
06:22A lot of judgment I get on prepping is the financial aspect of it.
06:25However, we preserve food, and we buy it in bulk, and we make it last a long time.
06:30And we're able to actually cut down most of our grocery bill by buying one for now, two for later, and building up a stockpile.
06:37That one's mean.
06:38Some of the other negative feedback I've gotten is threats towards my family,
06:42people saying that I live in fear or that my family constantly lives in fear.
06:47We actually don't fear a lot of things.
06:50We just prep for everything.
06:52I'll take the hate, and I'll take the negativity,
06:55if that means that somewhere out there that there's a person who, in a natural disaster, knows what to do.
07:02I'm not expecting the worst thing to happen.
07:05You don't go buy car insurance and life insurance expecting to die tomorrow or to get into a car crash.
07:12Prepping is a self-insurance plan.
07:15I prepare for the worst thing to happen, but I'm always hoping for the best.
07:20What I would like people to understand about doomsday prepping is that it is not all doom and gloom.
07:26Being a doomsday prepper doesn't mean I think that the world is ending imminently.
07:30I like to be prepared for whatever may come.
07:32What I hope for the future for my family is to live very peacefully and happily no matter what,
07:37and that they always feel that they're in a safe environment.
07:44Thanks for calling me batshit crazy on the show.
07:47I love you.
07:50I love you.