EVERY year Americans spend billions preparing for catastrophe by purchasing flame-filled moats and gun safes among other things.
Amid global tensions, climate worries, and the post-pandemic era, the idea of Doomsday prepping is no longer wholeheartedly reserved for conspiracy theorists and the paranoid.
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The Global Survival Tools Market is set to rise to a whopping $2.46 billion by 2030, growing at a rate of over seven percent from 2023 to 2030, according to a March report by Zion Market Research.
Meanwhile, a recent Finder survey found that about one-third of the US adult population identifies as preppers, up from just 6% of the population 15 years ago, according to Forbes.
The survey states that US preppers spend $11 billion every year to get ready for the end of the world.
Preppers state numerous events that they are preparing for including another global pandemic, coordinated terror attacks, natural disasters, cyber-attacks, civil unreal, geo-political conflicts, supply-chain issues, and the deconstruction of the power grid.
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As the number of people who identify as preppers increases, so does the market that caters to them, hence the prediction that it will rise by billions over the next six years.
Yeti, a company that famously sells coolers has connected with the Uncharted Supply Company to create a $730 survival kit.
It contains numerous life-saving items including a Mylar tent, emergency blankets, a water filtration system, and a shovel.
Meanwhile, millionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman, along with pro athletes and other elites have also joined in with prepping.
The Facebook co-founder started work on his $270 million, 57,000-square-foot doomsday bunker underneath his property in Hawaii, in December 2021.
It is said to have “its own energy and food supplies,” and “what appears to be a blast-resistant door,” Wired reported.
In addition, plans state that a six-foot wall will surround the compound and two mansions will be connected by an underground tunnel.
The people who worked on the bunker have had to sign an NDA barring them from speaking about Zuckerberg’s underground doomsday space.
“Now that Zuckerberg has let the cat out of the bag, that’s got other people who share his status or are near his status starting to think, ‘Oh God, if he’s doing that, maybe he knows something I don’t,'” Robert Vicino told The Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s no secret that one-percenters and top-ranking government officials have been in on this bunker idea for a long-ass time.”
Meanwhile, tech boss Altman told The New Yorker in 2016, “I prep for survival…I have guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.”
GOING FOR GOLD
As alluded to by Altma, part of the preparations for millionaires including Zuckerberg involve hoarding gold.
Multiple factors, from cell service outages to the election, have caused an “absolute surge” in gold sales, expert Jonathan Rose previously told The U.S. Sun.
Rose, the CEO of Genesis Gold Group in Beverly Hills, California, said he deals with people buying the precious metal for doomsday-prepping purposes every day.
Rose explained that the surge in gold purchases is due to concern over the devaluation of the dollar and an overall economic collapse.
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“I think these people are realizing that, hey we don’t have a crystal ball per se, but we have a good road map and they are looking at the problems the economy is having right now,” Rose said.
Rose noted that gold would likely be used for bartering in a doomsday situation if money became worthless.
“It is going to be food, gas, water – self-preserving life items that people need, and for wealth it’s going to be gold,” Rose said.
“People say silver will buy you the bread and gold will buy you the bakery, that’s kind of how people look at gold as a spendable currency.”
The U.S. Sun previously reported how Costco has already sold $100 million worth of gold bars due to the fears of preppers about the economy and the value of paper currency.
The wholesale retailer sold 1-ounce gold bars for around $1,900 and sold out in just hours – it made a $100 million profit in its first fiscal quarter.
GUN-FILLED SAFE ROOMS
In addition to gold, doomsday preppers are also ensuring they have an arsenal of weapons to protect themselves.
A mansion built with end-of-the-world preparations already made is now on sale for a whopping $4.5 million.
The home in Fort Myers, Florida, features a gun-filled safe room that has ball bearings cast in solid poured concrete and an advanced security system with 32 cameras.
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Among many photos of the stunning mansion with its own cinema, indoor pool, and 12-car garage, there is one of the gun-filled room.
The walls with wooden paneling feature rows of firearms with at least 15 on display.
There are also heavy-duty cases that are visible as well as sturdy cabinets.
The property is currently on the market with the Aaron Wolf Group at John R Wood Christie’s International.
FLAME-FILLED MOATS
Al Corbi, the president and founder of Virginia-based SAFE (Strategically Armored & Fortified Environments) has spoken out about his current project featuring a flame-encircled bunker.
His largest project to date set to be completed in 2025 features a bunker surrounded by a manmade flammable lake, set on an island.
“The shelter can withstand a blast one mile from ground zero,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
“But that was almost incidental.”
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Once the billionaire client told Corbi he wanted to make sure “no one can get to my family,” the builder proposed digging a 30-foot-deep lake around the compound and then filling it with flammable liquid.
If anyone lights up the lake, it will turn into a “ring of fire” that will burn them to a crisp, he said.
“The only access to the island is a swing bridge,” Corbi added.
To combat assailants who may try to access the bunker by air, Corbi plans to install a “water cannon” that’s powerful enough to down parachuters and helicopters.
SURVIVAL MEAL KITS
Weapons and blast-proof shelters will not be enough for preppers who also look at hoarding food in the form of survival meal kits.
As well as getting on the gold train, earlier this year, Costco launched emergency food kits which went viral online.
A TikToker shared a clip of her local Costco which had a Mountain House “Just in Case Emergency Meal” box featuring 15 meals.
Survivalist Krystal Christensen (@charminglyfrugal), shared the find in a video.
The Mountain House kit, which retails for $79.99, has 28 servings of breakfast lunch, and dinner including beef stroganoff, scrambled eggs, chicken and dumplings, lasagna, and granola.
The Tiktoker also showed a new item at Costco, the Mountain House freeze-dried ice cream sandwiches, which are sold in boxes of six for $9.97.
She also filmed the Ready Wise brand emergency food kit that has a 25-year-self life and provides 132 servings of pasta for $63.99.
“It is quite expensive but I’m gonna pick one up because if sh** hits the fan, I’d rather be more comfortable on a day that’s a bummer,” she said of the ice cream prepper kit.
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