How to Tell If Your Stockpile Has Been Compromised

Creating a stockpile of food, medical supplies, ammo, weapons, livestock supplies, gardening supplies, and other vital types of survival gear and materials is time consuming, often costly, and definitely a necessary part of daily life for the American prepper.

Your life and the lives of your loved ones depend on everything you have stored and carefully labeled inside of plastic totes.

But, what happens if your stockpile has been compromised? Whether due to theft or unauthorized access, it is crucial to your survival to stay vigilant and monitor your supplies for any signs of compromise. The first step in protecting your supplies is to create a prepper stockpile inventory.

You will not know what you’re are missing and be sure your preps were compromised if you don’t first actually know what you have.

Making a stockpile inventory is time consuming, but once you have gone through and counted all of your gear, tools, supplies, and food, you merely need to keep it updated if something is rotated out for use.

Identifying Signs of Compromise in Your Stockpile

By staying alert and conducting regular inventory checks, you can spot potential issues early on and take the action you deem necessary to protect your survival stockpile. There are a few obvious signs that may indicate a compromise in your stockpile.

When you open your totes, crates, drawers, etc. of supplies (which you should do on a weekly basis) and notice the fullness of the storage tub just is not adding up, it is time to immediately do a thorough review of your entire prepper stockpile inventory.

This means conducting an inventory not just of that tote, but of your entire supply.

Before you rush off to grab your inventory clipboard – ideally even before you open the tote, look for physical signs that the tote may have been opened, moved, or otherwise compromised.

Is there a smudge in the dust on the lid? Is the lid not fully snapped on? These are just a couple of examples that your supplies may have been tampered with or stolen from since you last visited.

But don’t hide your stockpile in your basement. It might sound like a good idea, but here’s why you should actually never do that.

Unexpected Depletion: Beyond Normal Use

One of the quickest to determine telltale signs of a compromised stockpile is unexpected depletion of supplies.

Although the levels of your prepper stockpile will ebb and flow over time as you rotate out some food and medicine for use before their expiration date, signs of any significant or sudden depletion will likely indicate unauthorized use of your survival stockpile.

While it is incredibly important to notice those fluctuations in inventory now before the SHTF, it is crucial to find them as quickly as humanly possible while attempting to live through a disaster.

If someone in your group or even someone from your family panicking and taking extra food or other supplies without permission?

This can happen even in tight knit and small groups.

Do your neighbors know that you’re a prepper?

Did Tom from next door sneak in and take a few pouches of food while the survival stockpile was not guarded?

Related: If Your Neighbor Does This, Avoid Him at All Costs

Answering these questions and doing so in rapid fashion can help you protect the rest of your valuable preparedness supplies from going missing.

Physical Barriers Against Unauthorized Access

Keep a close eye on your stockpile and monitor the rate at which supplies are being used. Keep a camera on your stockpile at all times to help prevent theft from happening and to help you catch who is doing the thieving. A small security camera system is relatively inexpensive and can run on a small solar powered charger.

Consider the investment in the surveillance tech part of your “life assurance” plan just like the preps in the totes, themselves. Don’t be shy about putting up a sign that alerts everyone they are on camera when they enter the survival gear storage area.

Use multiple cameras as small as you can find them, so ripping them off the wall or hiding from the lens upon entry, is not an option.

Physical evidence of unauthorized access to your prepper stockpile as noted above, can be prevented as much as humanly possible if you invest a little bit of money on quality locks and storage room doors – and locks on them, as well.

Install these DIY off-grid automatic backyard traps and alarms against looters and intruders. They will not only stop any trespassers but also give you peace of mind, knowing that your stockpile is safe even when you’re nowhere near it.

Look at the locks on your totes and doors before opening them.

If you notice any excessive wear and tear on the locks, such as dents or scratches, someone has likely tampered with them.

They may have attempted to gain entry to your prepper stockpile.

Even if they were not able to pick the lock, replace it with a new one (better one if possible) and be even more diligent in looking for signs of physical tampering on the lock going forward.

Check the lock daily for a good while, and pay attention to who may be wandering too near where you store your preps when they have no business lingering in that area.

Recognizing Suspicious Behavior in Individuals

Recognizing suspicious behavior in folks (no matter who they are)  who have access to your stockpile is also vital for catching or identifying potential prepper stockpile compromises. Keep an eye out for the following signs:

• Unusual or secretive behavior, such as individuals spending excessive time in the stockpile area or avoiding surveillance cameras
• Attempts to access restricted areas or items without your permission
• Unjustified or unexplained interest in the contents of your stockpile
• Inconsistent or conflicting explanations regarding their activities or intentions
• Sudden or unexplained absences from the family or group, even if for a short time period
• Increased secrecy or guardedness regarding their activities or interactions
• Changes in spending habits or financial difficulties that may indicate a potential motive for compromise – this is especially important if you stockpile gold, silver, or precious gems.

Even if you cannot find a culprit, go with what you gut tells you and move your prepper stockpile if possible. Add more security measures to protect the totes and/or room, buy more security cameras and place them with different angles and at more intervals between public or common areas and where your survival gear and supplies are stored.

Maintaining Discretion

Maintaining discretion about your survival food and other prepping supplies is of course essential to keeping them safe.

Operational security (Op-Sec) is key to avoid drawing unnecessary and unwanted attention to your self-reliance plan. Never, ever discuss the specifics of your prepper stockpile with anyone outside of your family or trusted survival group circle.

The more discreet you are about your supplies, the less likely it is that others will be aware of them. By keeping your preparations private, you reduce the risk of theft or compromise.

Remember, what you post on social media platforms, as sharing too much information can make you a target. Even if you are not posting pics of  yourself posing amid cartons of canned food or rolling in thousands of rounds of shiny brass ammo, what you post on social media still reveals a lot about who you are.

Operational security is an ongoing process and requires constant vigilance – and this is a fact that you may need to verbally drill into your loved ones and children so they too do not have loose lips when talking about your prepper stockpile or self-reliance views.

Living prepared means that you must always make the time to check over your survival stockpile, even when you are tired, just got back from vacation, or are spending a lot of time away from the house or garage working on your survival homestead.

These are opportune times for nosey folks who know you are a prepper, to come snooping around to see what you may have that they want to call their own.

Do not let down your guard and believe that putting your preps in a tote and jotting their contents down in a folder is the end of your stockpile tasks. If you do not care enough about what you have to safeguard it and protect it, odds are those big plastic totes might just be empty at the time you need them most.

You may also like:

The First Water Source That Will Disappear in a Crisis

How to Build an Invisible Root Cellar in Your Backyard for Cheap (Video)

The Upcoming US Blackout: What To Do Before It’s Too Late

17 Items I Keep in My Fallout Shelter at All Times

Best States for Self-Defense. Do You Live in One of Them?