Homesteading Versus Prepping – Are They the Same?

rural compost bin

Is prepping the same as homesteading? This is a debate that often flares up between the two, usually in online forums.

It is an interesting question. Certainly, both share similarities. But there are also some pretty fundamental differences.

A prepper is more focused on catastrophe – a survival situation that alters their way of life profoundly and forces them to rely on their survival skills and stockpiles to make it through.

A homesteader tends to be, at least in intent, in it for the long haul, embracing a “back to nature” approach as a way of life.

Both, however, have decided to be how they are based on an assumption that something is wrong or could go wrong with “normal society.”

Both rely on survival skills to survive and thrive.

To see a discussion on the differences and similarities between the two, please check out the next page.

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27 Comments

  1. Josh Judd said:

    Seems like homesteading is a way of life and prepping is getting ready for that way of life if you’re thrown into it.

  2. John Brinkman said:

    They are absolutely not the same thing. Being a homesteader myself. Homesteading is a way of living while providing basic necessities of life. As a homesteader I provide electric, water, food, shelter all for myself but I go to the store to buy toilet paper to wipe my$#%&!@*with, I go to the store to buy nails instead of making them myself. Homesteading is living off the grid providing the majority of what you need by yourself but using the grid for other things, I call them luxury goods such as toilet paper, I could wipe my$#%&!@*with a leaf, and I dont have anything stockpiled except for food and only because I cant grow in the middle of winter. Preppers on the other hand is a completly different nature, they are “prepared to live off grid” But in reality unless everything hits the fan they still use city or county water, they still use electric provided by a power station on grid, they still buy their food from walmart. But at the same time they have an underground bunker with a lifetime supply of toilet paper and food in case if something bad happens, in truth most of these guys wont last a year off grid because they aren’t prepared to live off grid, just survive long enough for everything to quit blowing up. truth is if it doesnt quit blowing up the homesteader will still plant his crop next spring, still reuse that same nail he bought a decade ago, maybe start wiping his$#%&!@*with toilet paper but a prepper will be running out of food trying and hoping the garden will provide not having any clue wtf to do when supplies run out.

  3. Dave Hummel said:

    Not even close.
    Prepping is getting prepairedfor a SHTF scenario but not necessarily living it.
    Homesteading is living it. A prepper could easily beco.e a homesteader but probably their scenario will never happen and they’ll continue to live as a modern everyday person.

  4. Conny Tippett said:

    After going back and forth with this issue my husband and I realized the best way to be is homesteaders. We figure we needed to get back to basics. If you prep and stuff happens your not gonna make it if you haven’t started living it. Now don’t get me wrong. We prep and gave stuff on hand but hello I live where we get hurricanes. So we learned what works what doesn’t. So I guess we’re preppers but we’re homesteaders to. I like your answer so much. I couldn’t have said it better. :))

  5. John Brinkman said:

    To me the only prepping you should do is having books and tools. With those things you can do anything from hunting, using a hunting book and a rifle (tool), to building a house.

  6. Vanessa Centeno said:

    Prepping is stockpiling supplies in case we have a SHTF $#%&!@*hits the fan) scenario. Homesteading is living in such a way you dont need to stockpile.

  7. Chuck Christy said:

    I think Prepping is stockpiling goods and skills that will get you through a serious time when conventional methods of living will be unavailable, while Homesteading is a way of living now so you won’t have to change when a situation comes along.

  8. Sharon L. Perry said:

    They are not the same but maybe all that one can afford. Homesteading also teaches survival skills if the circumstances are such that your homestead was taken over or destroyed

  9. Marc Black said:

    Homesteading offers you the freedom of time to creat what and how you choose to live, bugging out means serviving no matter how you can with less.

  10. Stephanie Bogan said:

    Nope, one is living in the moment , a life-styled around contentment.
    The other is based on Fear of the future.

  11. Rob Young said:

    Homesteading was the common practice of the day nearly 40 yrs ago. You grew in a garden and raised in the coop. What you didn’t have, you traded with your neighbour. During the seasons, you preserved what you could and it was all in an effort to supplement the food bill of the larger families than we see today. Prepping has, respectfully, a slight paranoia that was last seen during the financial depression of the early eighties. People will always be fearful of losses that are adjacent to finances… jobs, investments… they tend to collect and protect more so than the homesteaders.
    IMO, from what I have observed.

  12. Steve Martin said:

    In my opinion homesteading is the ultimate in preparing, growing your own food , living a self sufficient lifestyle, if all goes to hell you will be in good shape!

  13. Doug Las said:

    No debate. Homesteading is living as much as possible off-grid. Providing your own water, power, food, etc. Prepping is preparation and stockpiling for the worst that EVENTUALLY has to come.

  14. Justin Gilbert said:

    Definitely not the same. I want to homestead because I find enjoyment in caring for myself and teaching my boys the value in that way of life. But I do agree that there is overlap in skills required for both. Although one lives and uses those skills daily for enjoyment and the other uses those skills for a potential outcome.

  15. Chad Hannan said:

    here is an easy answer to that question, you can prep in a 1 bd apartment, but you can’t homestead in one

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