The end can come at any time. Whether it’s gathering weapons for the rise of the vampires or, more realistically, stocking up on canned goods to hold off a nuclear winter, here are just a few ways that “preppers” are readying themselves for disaster scenarios.

Beyond The Vampire Apocalypse: What It Takes To Be A True Prepper

Wells

One of the first things that you learn from survival experts is that access to fresh water is a matter of life and death. You can live for a surprisingly long time without food or shelter, but dehydration will kill you in a matter of days. The good news is that you can have a well, like those that Mikes Drilling make, drilled into your property to ensure that you’re never thirsty. The water might need to be boiled or treated before you toss it back, but it’ll be drinkable.

Bunkers

Bunkers serve the dual purpose of storing everything that you might need for an epidemic while also providing a safe place to stay until everything blows over. You can even build a bunker with its own oxygen equipment in case the outside world becomes poisonous. It doesn’t matter if you fear chemical weapons or just toxic pollutants in the earth’s atmosphere: A sealed bunker will protect you from breathing in something that you shouldn’t.

Food

Imagine a world with no more grocery stores. If you don’t know how to find, gather, clean and cook your own food, you’ll be one of the first people to keel over after the aliens come. Many preppers have become experts in matters of self-sufficiency so that they’ll never face the threat of starvation. They live on farms and raise animals to produce eggs, milk and honey, and they know what plants are safe to consume and how to salt meats to make them last longer. They’re ready to survive even if doomsday arrives and Starbucks falls.

Toilets

If you’re roaming the countryside after a natural disaster, you probably don’t care where you do your business. If you’re trying to survive or start over in a particular area, however, sanitation is extremely important when constructing a makeshift bathroom. You don’t want to catch any diseases from your proximity to fecal matter. Thankfully, there are many safe ways to contain your waste, including the creation of “emergency toilets.” They might not be pretty, but they’ll get the job done.

These are just a few ways that people around the world are preparing for catastrophe. There are many more, including drying food, powering generators and building bomb shelters, but they all have the same goal: being ready for anything.