Emergency & Survival Courses

Practical skills for regular people

Austere First Aid

Normal first aid courses assume that help is just a phone call away — but what do you do when that’s not true?

  • How to use IFAK gear
  • Wide range of scenarios
  • Avoid trips to ER
  • Improvised DIY methods
  • Help yourself and others
  • 70+ lessons, 7+ hours of video

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Prepping Basics Bootcamp

Learn how to handle whatever disruptions life throws at you in just six weeks. You’ll end up with exactly the supplies and skills you need to prepare for and survive the majority of emergencies

  • Optional live sessions with other students
  • Structured pace to keep you on track
  • Get your home ready for the majority of emergencies
  • Build a go-bag in case you need to evacuate
  • Make and use a first aid kit
  • Tips for a wide range of emergency scenarios
  • Physical and financial health tips
  • Mental toughness and awareness

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Water Essentials

This course covers everything you need to know about one of your most critical resources — from prepping ahead of time to what to do in an emergency.

  • Find water almost anywhere
  • Collecting rain & humidity
  • How to filter & purify
  • Dehydration
  • How & where to store water
  • Learn all the main products
  • Make your own gear
  • Conservation

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Knife Sharpening & Maintenance

Learn to sharpen a variety of knives and edged tools. Designed for normal people who want to keep their blades in good shape.

  • Basic parts & uses
  • Types of edge grinds
  • Using proper sharpeners
  • Improvised DIY methods
  • Maintenance & storage
  • 57 lessons, 5 hours of video

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In Development

Emergency Shelters

In Development

Firecraft

In Development

Hunting & Field Dressing

Testimonials & Press

Don’t just take our word for it

“A cool headed site… emerging as the voice of a movement.”

New York Times
April 24th, 2020

“The Prepared runs more in the scouting-for-adults vein rather than towards stockpiling for the zombie apocalypse.”

Techcrunch
May 9th, 2019

“To prep like a pro, you need to learn from The Prepared.”

Bloomberg
April 16th, 2020

“The Prepared offer[s] useful, non-alarmist advice on disaster preparedness.”

The Guardian
April 30th, 2020

FAQ

Who’s this for?
Total head-in-the-sand beginners, weekend warriors, all the way through experienced preppers advancing their skills. For example, the knife sharpening course isn’t going to make you a professional bladesmith, but it’ll get you close!
But I’m not a “prepper”
Are you a responsible adult? Gone are the days when most preppers fit into stereotypes. All that matters is you’re aware enough to know life can be hard and smart enough to do something about it. You’ll join a diverse community of kind, like-minded people.
Are there politics, conspiracies, preaching, etc?
None. There are plenty of other places for that. This community prefers to keep that stuff separate.
Can I talk to the teachers?
Yep, either them or someone like them. There are discussion areas on each topic, or you can email privately.
Can I get my money back?
Sure! If you’re not happy, just let us know within a month and you’ll get a full refund.
How long do I have access? What about updates?
Lifetime access, including free, automatic upgrades for anything we add or change in the future to that course.
What emergencies do you cover?
Modern, sane prepping means focusing first on things that are more likely than a doomsday zombie fantasy… fun as those might be 😉
Prepping is about anything that could majorly disrupt your life, which might be as simple as a car accident or sudden job loss. Natural disasters are another biggie, as are things like pandemics, economic crashes, civil unrest, and worse. Here’s more.
These courses are meant to apply to normal life as much as possible, but they also explain what to do in the really bad scenarios.
What are the courses like?
No boring slideshows with someone talking into a cheap webcam! Many scenes are shot on location so you can see things ‘for real’. Some classes are more like an in-person course, where it feels like your teacher is talking to a small room of students to explain concepts before getting into demonstrations.
Courses are broken into lessons (eg. “Dehydration”) and their topics (eg. “Symptoms” or “Treatment”). You move through at your own pace and in whatever order you want. Most topics have a main video with additional pictures and text beneath.
How much / what will I learn?
Prepping can be overwhelming in general — and you shouldn’t have to dive into the deep end of a topic just to learn the basics. We focus on Pareto Preparedness, based on the 80-20 “Pareto rule,” so you get the right info you need and none of what you don’t. That way you can get back to enjoying real life … just a lot smarter!
Once you finish a course, you’ll know enough to get you through the vast majority of emergency scenarios you’ll face and you will be better prepared than 99% of people around you.
But Youtube is free?
How often have you wasted hours browsing through videos to not really learn anything or get a clear answer you’d trust with your life? The old adage “you get what you pay for” is definitely true in prepping.
You’d be shocked at how much dangerously-wrong “advice” is taught online. Skip the rambling amateurs, extremist hermits, and ineffective lessons that don’t actually make you safer.
Even if you can find good free needles in that massive haystack, it will take days of hunting just to come close to these high-quality, professionally-taught courses — and you won’t get the ‘whole package’ of a structured, memorable flow built specifically for modern preppers.
Online vs. in-person lessons
We won’t offer an online courses unless we think it’s just as good as an equivalent in-person weekend course. Some are even better than a week-long 24/7 course.
In-person learning is great, especially for getting dynamic feedback as you practice your skills. And for hanging out with other people. Here’s a list of local training centers. Many of our video instructors also offer in-person lessons. But physical classes are often multiple times more expensive than these online courses, require you to travel, and you can’t go at your own pace.
You might want to take an online course so you can warm up at your own pace before your limited and expensive in-person time. Maybe you want to try the cheaper online version first before deciding if you want to go to a more advanced physical course. Or maybe you’ve taken an in-person course and want the digital version as a refresher you can go back to over the years.

Risk Free

Lifetime Access & Upgrades

Whether you’re totally new or just want a refresher, we’re confident you’ll be a successful student.