Top 10 Prepping & Survival Memes

Trivializing a zombie scenario with treadmills is one of the oldest memes in the book, taking a shot at preparedness practicality.

Zombies are a near-impossible scenario, but can be an effective planning tool. So much so that we used it as a worst-case scenario in the military to develop actual zombie survival plans.

While it’s a tongue-in-cheek exercise, nobody can rule out a zombie situation 100%. Maybe a few treadmills at the entrances wouldn’t hurt.

Unless the zombies are runners, then you’ll need a way to at least turn the treadmills to a higher setting.

Some prepping tips are better than others, and the burning crayon is one on the border of practicality. Sure, it works. Yes, it could give you some light in a pinch. But tea candles are super cheap, last much longer, and are less of a fire hazard.

Crayons are well worth putting in kids’ emergency kits for their main purpose- drawing, coloring, and writing.

One tip that irks me every time I see it make the rounds is dryer lint as a fire starter. If you have synthetic fibers in your clothes, you will be burning plastic. I don’t think I need to tell you that’s not the best idea when you can instead just use wood shavings.

Pet preparedness is actually quite important, and dog bug out bags are even a thing.

That said, I can’t condone stuffing a firearm in your dog’s harness, even if SHTF in the worst way possible. They couldn’t possibly pull the trigger on their own without modifying the weapon.

This one hits a little too close to home for me, because the bottom picture from the meme is of my hometown- Raleigh, NC. I grew up a block from where this picture was taken, and it’s true – we panic down here in the South when it snows.

Dubbed the ‘Snowpocalypse’, many people had to leave their cars to trek home. Having get home bags and emergency car kits ready to go helped the few prepared people out, but the rest obviously had a tough time.

Some preppers can pack slightly too much in their bug out bag to the point it becomes completely impractical.

Besides not using a comically sized backpack, consider the weight limitations of carrying a pack long distances. Our bug out bag list and guide covers this pretty well and will keep you from becoming a meme yourself.

In all fairness, some preppers use carts, roller bags, bicycle trailers, wheelbarrows, and other methods to carry more gear while on foot.

Not directly related to prepping, but this slightly fried meme shares some parallels with how society heeds warnings.

The icing on the cake is how the warnings sometimes don’t make grammatical sense: “Do not climb, play on, and around pipe” is obviously not a real sign.

Once one person does it, most people jump on the bandwagon even if it’s dangerous. We’re social creatures and easily swayed to go with the flow, even if it’s unwise to do so.

Whether this is aimed at armchair preppers, mall ninjas, or phone zombies… Gunny has a pretty good message about overestimating your capabilities.

Ronald Lee Ermey did a fantastic job playing the Gunnery Sergeant in Full Metal Jacket, improvising most of the lines using his own Marine experience. He passed away in 2018, so it’s a little unsettling to see him live on as a meme, but maybe that’s the world we live in now.

You may have also seen a version of this meme referencing Facebook or Instagram instead of TikTok. I get the disdain towards social media- it probably changed our society for the worse, but you do have some control over your own feeds.

I like to limit my time on it and follow creators that post content with actual substance:

• The 10 Best Preppers on Instagram

Chef Jose Andres has a point, but the HOAs will never have it! I guess that means HOAs are all that is keeping us from ending world hunger.

Gardening is a common interest with preppers, as we enjoy having sustainable food sources. Raised garden beds make gardening even easier.

If SHTF, suburban preppers will be happy to break open those survival seed kit vaults to expand their gardens across their yards.

Noah has been catching flak for being prepared since 2900 BC. All of us preppers can understand how he may have felt being prepared when many of his peers were not.

Antagonizing preppers is asking for a dose of karmic retribution- there are plenty of rational reasons to be reasonably prepared for large-scale disasters.

Uploaded to Imgur back in 2020 by user ‘pharmokan’, this photo made the rounds during the ‘Toilet Paper Crisis’ early on in the COVID-19 pandemic.

When there was a run on toilet paper in stores in response to the outbreak, shortages had people paying high prices for single rolls.