I'll grant you that the media representations are bad. I've never met a real live prepper, only ever seen them on TV, and I guess the ones they interview on TV

I'll grant you that the media representations are bad. I've never met a real live prepper, only ever seen them on TV, and I guess the ones they interview on TV are the ones who make the best TV. You're right the basics are boring, but it's the basics you'll spend 24/7 trying to obtain long after your weapons and ammo have gone rusty. And if you think you'll be making your own ammo, I'd say no-one at all will have the luxury of that kind of engineering time when they're trying to get the ground to grow enough food to eat.