Be prepared catchcry of worried middle America

Tess Pennington, 33, is a mother of three children, and lives in the sprawling outskirts of Houston, Texas. But she is not taking the happy safety of her suburban existence lightly.

Like a growing army of fellow Americans, Pennington is learning how to grow her own food, has stored emergency rations in her home and is taking courses on treating sickness with medicinal herbs.

"I feel safe and more secure. I have taken personal responsibility for the safety of myself and my family," Pennington said. "We have decided to be prepared. There are all kinds of disasters that can happen, natural and man-made."

Pennington is a "prepper", a growing social movement that has been dubbed Survivalism Lite. Preppers believe it is better to be safe than sorry and that preparing for disaster - be it a hurricane or the end of civilisation - makes sense.

Unlike the 1990s survivalists, preppers come from all backgrounds and live all over America. They are just as likely to be found in a suburb or downtown loft as a remote ranch.

Prepping network provide advice on how to prepare food reserves, how to grow crops, how to hunt and how to defend yourself. There are prepping books, online shops, radio shows, countless blogs, and prepping courses and conferences.

John Milandred runs a website called Pioneer Living, which is one of the main forums for discussing prepping. It provides advice for those who just want to store extra food in case of a power cut, to those who want to embrace the "off the grid" lifestyle of America's western pioneers.

"We get inquiries from people from all walks of life. We had a principal from a school asking us to talk to their children. We have doctors and firemen and lawyers," he said.

Milandred lives in Oklahoma and, should society collapse around him, he is well placed to flourish. His house has a hand-dug well that gives him fresh water. He grows his own food. He has built an oven that needs neither gas nor electricity. He can hunt for meat.

"If something happened, it really would not affect us," he said.

There are several reasons for the rise of prepping. In the post-9/11 world, mass terror attacks have become a fear for many Americans. At a time when United States diplomacy is focused on preventing Iran getting nuclear weapons and terror experts continue to warn of "dirty bombs" on American soil, it is no surprise that many Americans feel threatened.

Added to that paranoia has come the recession. Suddenly, millions of Americans have been losing their jobs and their homes, reinforcing a feeling that society is not as stable as it once seemed.

Hollywood has caught on. A succession of films, such as 2012, The Road, The Book of Eli and Legion, have tapped into an American zeitgeist that is worried about the end of civilisation.

"Prepping masks a wide range of stances and ideologies. But the more people are prepared, the more they are likely to have an apocalyptic way of thinking," said Professor Barry Brummett, of the University of Texas-Austin.

Even government officials have accepted the financial crisis posed a threat to social order. In testimony before Congress, Treasury secretary Tim Geithner said top-level talks had been held on whether the US could enforce law and order after a collapse of the financial system.

Idaho truck driver Tom Martin agrees. He runs the American Preppers Network, which helps provide a wide range of resources.

"Millions of people now have the mindset that they want to be prepared for something, but don't know what to call it," he said.

In the 1990s, survivalism was the province of anti-government militiamen or loners in the woods. But preppers are more concerned with relearning skills so that they can fend for themselves.

Pennington has set up a website called Ready Nutrition, which teaches basic food skills to prepare for a time when pre-packaged goods at a supermarket might not be available:

"Prepping is not taboo, like survivalism. There is no negative connotation to it. We are not rednecks. "It is just going back to being able to look after yourself."

Survivalism lite:

WATER: Preppers need to store large supplies of bottled water in case of disaster. A true prepper will dig a well.

FOOD: Most preppers build up a stock of food that will last, such as cans of soup or dried beans. Military rations are popular. Advanced preppers also grow their own food.

SKILLS: Preppers learn how to forage for edible and medicinal plants in the wild, and to hunt, prepare and cook wild game. They can also learn many other survival techniques, such as first aid, navigation in the wilderness and building a shelter.

BARTERING, SAVING: Many preppers encourage self-sufficiency by engaging in a bartering economy and cutting out non-essentials. Gold is often seen as a better way of saving wealth for a post-catastrophe world than cash.

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