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I will admit to having stayed up late at night watching the National Geographic Channel, learning the many ways the world as we know it may soon end — from a global economic collapse to unfathomable horrors from outer space.

Dear Readers, this is nothing new. There have always been gloom-and-doomers. When I was a kid, the doom du jour was communism. That led families to construct underground bomb shelters stocked with food and water. Then there was the Cuban missile crisis (oh, great, now I’m really dating myself), which I was certain we would not survive.

There have been untold numbers of “doomful� predictions having to do with bird flu, swine flu, HIV/AIDS, tsunamis, meteors, recessions, climate change, economic plunder and all manner of fearful things that surely would wipe out life as we know it. Add Nostradamus and the ancient Mayans. I’ve heard it all.

Years ago, National Geographic rolled out a TV show, “Doomsday Preppers,� featuring ordinary, everyday people who are reacting and responding to potential disasters.

One guy in California is prepping for an earthquake that might flatten Los Angeles. He’s learned to live off shrubs and weeds, and carries a flint to build fires.

A woman in Texas is expecting an unusually nasty oil crisis. The Houston party girl built an impressive survival cache in her tiny apartment, and she practices nighttime backpacking routes to get out of a city she expects will be completely blacked out.

Another Texan profiled foresees a polar shift, where the entire Earth will be doing a backflip on its axis. He’s constructed a home near San Antonio, using eight steel shipping containers, and loaded it up with enough food and ammo to last for 20 years.

So, do I line up with these extremists? Not at all. I find it entertaining but certainly not realistic or reasonable. The other extreme is to not be prepared at all, however, which also is unacceptable. To me, building a reasonable emergency supply of food for my family is responsible. It’s insurance.

In my adult lifetime, my husband and I have paid more than $100,000 for insurance (automobile, homeowner, health, etc.). We’ve filed precious few claims; nowhere close to the premiums paid. Do I regret it? No! I am grateful we have not faced devastating tragedy.

To me, food and survival supplies in reasonable amounts are just as much insurance as our policies that cover household disasters. These things give me peace of mind and assurance that I will be able to protect my property, my family and my life in the event of emergencies or disasters.

One challenge with building a stockpile of food the way I’m doing it is that it takes a long time. Another option is to invest in a ready-made stockpile from a reputable company like My Patriot Supply. Their freeze-dried meals are really tasty, convenient to store, easy to prepare and they have a long shelf life.

Done reasonably, emergency preparedness, in whatever form it takes, is not whacky. And I intend to do everything in my power to encourage you to follow my lead.

Stick around for more on this in future columns coming up soon.

Mary Hunt is the founder of , a frugal living blog, and the author of the book Debt-Proof Living.