At a Glance

A prepper group, sometimes called a survival group, survivalist group, or Mutual Assistance Group (MAG), is a team of people who agree to pool skills, resources, and labor to improve their odds in a major crisis. This guide takes an honest look at the real pros and cons, from shared knowledge and stronger security to the messy realities of trust, screening, and group cohesion. Covers what to actually look for in a group member, how to spot a bad fit before it’s too late, and practical OpSec habits for meeting and vetting potential members safely. Also explores an alternative to building a group from scratch — finding an established community that already has the skills and infrastructure in place.

This article completely rewritten, June, 2026.

A prepper group, sometimes called a survival group or Mutual Assistance Group (MAG), is a small team of people, often families, who agree to support each other and pool skills, resources, and labor in a major crisis. The idea is that a group has a much better shot at survival than any one family or individual alone, since no single household can realistically cover every skill needed: medical care, security, food production, repairs, and so on.

That’s the theory, anyway. In practice, it’s more complicated than it sounds.

Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash What Is A Prepper Group?

The concept of a prepper group goes something like this.

Every group should have a doctor, a dentist, one or two former military personnel, an experienced gardener or farmer, maybe a teacher, and an assortment of others with strong practical skills, such as hunting. To form your own survival community, you should begin seeking out like-minded people who fit these specific slots and begin making plans for establishing an actual survival retreat as a group.

In theory, this sounds ideal, and, again, in theory, it should work. Right?

After talking with a few people who have belonged to groups like these or are active members of one, there are some pretty significant pros and cons you should know about before jumping headfirst and signing up.

An Honest Look At The Pros and Cons

The appeal is obvious. The more hands, more skills, more security, less weight on any one family’s shoulders, the better. But after talking with people who’ve actually belonged to groups like these, or are active members now, there are some real downsides worth knowing about before you start looking for members or create your own group.

Pros

More hands, more coverage. No single family can realistically have a doctor, a security expert, a skilled master gardener or two, and someone who knows basic vehicle repair all under one roof. This is the core appeal of survival groups — spreading that burden across more people.

Strength in numbers. A larger group can defend itself, take shifts, and handle the physical demands of survival, like gardening, hauling water, building, repairs more sustainably than one exhausted family. And, certainly, just one individual or a couple.

Shared knowledge. Everyone brings something different to the table. This is one of the most underrated benefits of prepper communities. You’ll learn things from group members you’d never have picked up on your own.

Built-in community. Long-term survival isn’t just physical. It’s emotional and mental too. Having other people to lean on, problem-solve with, and simply not feel alone with matters more than people expect, especially in a future scenario that many survival-minded folks believe is likely.

Cons

Trust is hard to verify. A few friendly conversations at a meetup don’t tell you who someone really is under pressure, and completing a form like a job application is only as trustworthy as the person themself. You’re trusting your family’s safety to people you may not know as well as you think. My Golden Rule is, “Would I leave my children alone with this person/these people?” That’s a pretty high bar to meet.

Screening is messy. There’s no clean process for vetting who’s truly compatible with survivalist groups, not just on skills, but on values, temperament, and how they handle conflict. You only learn these things over time and with hours spent together.

Extended family complications. What happens when a key member’s adult children, parents, or siblings show up expecting to join? Will the group vote on it? Will some members get a free pass because of their skills while others don’t? What if it’s your parents who are not allowed through the gates?

Cohesion is fragile. Disagreements over decisions, resources, and leadership can fracture a group fast, especially under the kind of stress a real crisis brings.

Lingering risk after someone leaves. A disgruntled ex-member knows your location, your resources, and your people. That doesn’t go away just because they’re no longer part of the group.

Who Makes A Trustworthy Prepper Group Member?

Trust your gut here more than almost anywhere else. If you haven’t developed strong instincts about people yet, start paying closer attention now. It’s a skill, and you can build it.

A few ways to actually build this skill? Pay attention to how someone treats people who can’t do anything for them, like a waiter, a cashier, someone they’ll never see again. Notice the gap between what people say and what they actually do, especially under small, everyday pressures like a delayed flight or a frustrating mistake. Can you depend on them to keep their word? Watch how they handle being told “no.”

And don’t ignore your own physical reactions, a tightening in your chest, a hesitation before answering a question honestly. Those are data points, not just nerves. The more you consciously notice these moments instead of letting them slide by, the sharper your instincts get over time.

Dogs are surprisingly useful for this. They pick up on subtle cues humans miss, even ones you’re not consciously aware of giving off. Watch how a dog reacts to someone, especially a dog you know well, and you may notice things your own instincts caught but didn’t fully register.

In a survival group, you’re looking for someone willing to put the group’s needs ahead of their own, without becoming a martyr about it. How many supplies or gadgets someone owns or a fully stocked, year’s worth of food shouldn’t factor into your decision. A steady, hardworking person with very little is worth far more to a group than someone who argues every point and can’t compromise.

A shared set of values matters more than shared skills. Skills can be taught. A fundamentally different worldview on what preparedness even means, who you help, who you don’t, how decisions get made, is much harder to bridge.

One practical, verifiable screening tool: a concealed carry permit. It’s not a perfect filter, but it tells you something you can’t easily learn any other way. Someone who’s gone through that process has passed an FBI background check, been fingerprinted, and demonstrated at least baseline knowledge of safe firearm handling. That’s real, documented information about a person, not just a gut feeling. From this point, time spent together, watching their reactions under stress, and trusting your instincts will help you decide if this person is compatible with you and your group.

A Snake in Your Midst?

The two traits that matter most in a prospective member are loyalty and trustworthiness. People who have both are low security risk, before, during, and after they join your group. That matters a great deal, because group members will eventually know sensitive information about everyone else. The time to discover someone can’t be trusted is before that information has been shared, not after.

Recognizing someone’s true character isn’t easy. Most people present an optimal version of themselves in normal social settings. That’s not dishonesty, it’s just how humans operate. To see past it, you need situations that draw out how someone actually behaves, not just how they describe themselves.

Shared projects, stressful tasks, long days working alongside each other — these reveal far more than conversation ever will. The one caveat: if someone senses they’re being tested or evaluated, they’ll perform differently. This needs to happen naturally, over time.

Most preparedness-minded people you meet, even ones who seem promising at first, will turn out to be a poor fit for your specific group. That’s normal. After all, few of us marry the first person we ever date due to one reason or another.

Starting with a shared set of core values gives you something to measure against — a way to see, over time, whether someone’s actions actually line up with the values they claim to hold. Pay careful attention to conversations, off-hand comments, and how someone behaves and talks when they’re relaxed and not trying to impress.

The worst time to discover a serious problem, like a hidden criminal history, a vindictive streak, a tendency toward violence, is after someone has already left the group. A bitter ex-member who knows your group’s sensitive information can create real, lasting problems, especially if they’re someone who doesn’t process conflict in a healthy way.

If your group ever establishes a shared retreat or bug-out location, remember that property will likely sit unused most of the time. A disgruntled former member who knows where it is can make that location far less safe to rely on, even years after they’ve left. As my husband says, “It’s not so much who you tell. It’s who they tell”

Use OpSec

Whether you’re just starting to look for group members or already have a few, practice OpSec, Operational Security, every time you meet with someone new. That means not bragging about what you or the group has, where anything is located, or sharing personal details before you actually know someone well. Even after someone’s been accepted into the group, keep that habit. Reveal information gradually, not all at once.

Online communities, local meetup groups, and even social media pages built around preparedness or homesteading can be a low-pressure way to find like-minded people. You’re there to meet and greet, find new friends in a casual atmosphere — not revealing anything personal. One successful prepper group I know of has family picnics once or twice a month, occasionally with new people. Everyone is having fun, the food is good, conversation is friendly — that’s a good way to start.

Once you’ve spotted someone who seems like a good fit, start small. Get coffee together. Set up a playdate for the kids. Keep things casual and friendly at first. If a real crisis ever happened before you’d formally organized a group, these casual acquaintances might end up being your actual support network by default, which is exactly why it’s worth nurturing those relationships now, regardless of whether you ever form an official group.

Here’s an option to the prepper group

In a way, the idea of establishing survival communities along these lines is reminiscent of the efforts in the mid-19th century to create utopian societies, such as the Icarians. Eventually, the groups disbanded, sometimes after just a couple of years. Usually, this was due to disagreements about how money was handled, who was in charge, how decisions were made, etc. Wherever there are people, there will be conflict.

In theory, I really like the idea of the make-your-own survival community. On paper, it looks great. The reality, though, could be very, very different. Even establishing rules, procedures, and a chain of command early on won’t guarantee a survival paradise with everyone emerging on the other side of the S hitting the F, as a cohesive group with everyone safe and healthy

Dr. Bruce Clayton, a well-known survival expert and author of eight books, has a different take on the DIY survival community. He claims these communities already exist. They already have a doctor, a dentist, farmers, food preservation experts, security experts, and teachers. This community is called a village. Dr. Clayton recommends doing some research and finding one of these villages, or small towns, in your preferred area, and then just moving there.

Yes, you’ll be the outsider, but the essential pieces required for a self-reliant community are already in place. It will be up to you to establish yourself as an integral part of the community, but it will also save a lot of time. If your family members show up after a major crisis, you have every right to bring them into your home without consulting The Leader or The Committee. In the meantime, you can begin growing your gardens, planting your fruit trees, and start prepping to your heart’s content.

One group I know of that tried to form in Northern Arizona, eventually disbanded over money. Some members were well off, while others struggled financially, and when a group expense came up, there were disagreements over how much each person or family should contribute.

In another case, friends of mine were talking with someone who had an established group in Tennessee. They were both medical doctors, and there was a concerted effort towards recruiting them into the group. A few days later, my friend said, “It was a weird conversation. Most of the time, he spent talking about people would be punished if they disobeyed group rules.” Needless to say, it was a hard no.

The jury is still out as to whether or not a prepper group is truly necessary for survival. Between reaching agreements on money, property, communal decisions, personalities, division of labor — there are just too many pitfalls for me to recommend this for most people.

You might be better off deepening the relationships among your own family and closest friends and finding ways to learn practical skills as a group, such as beekeeping, target shooting, hunting, camping, and gardening. You already have a pretty good idea as to who you can trust, who you definitely do not want to include, and then move forward, confident in the shared history you have together.

Want More Useful Info From Survival Mom? #drip-ef-3831622-compact { font: .875rem/1.5rem sans-serif; width: 100%; } #drip-ef-3831622-compact h3 { font-size: 1rem; margin: 0 0 .25rem; color: #5b4841; } #drip-ef-3831622-compact p { font-size: .875rem; margin: 0 0 .75rem; color: #5b4841; } #drip-ef-3831622-compact .drip-inline-fields { display: flex; gap: .5rem; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: flex-end; } #drip-ef-3831622-compact .drip-inline-fields > div { flex: 1; min-width: 140px; } #drip-ef-3831622-compact label { font-size: .75rem; display: block; margin-bottom: .2rem; color: #5b4841; } #drip-ef-3831622-compact input[type="email"], #drip-ef-3831622-compact input[type="text"] { margin: 0; padding: .375rem .5625rem; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; border: 1px solid #5b4841; border-radius: 4px; font-size: .875rem; } #drip-ef-3831622-compact input[type="submit"] { padding: .375rem 1rem; background-color: #5b4841; color: #f7d6cf; border: none; border-radius: 4px; cursor: pointer; font-size: .875rem; white-space: nowrap; width: 100%; margin-top: .5rem; } #drip-ef-3831622-compact input[type="submit"]:hover { background-color: #f68263; color: #fff; }

Pin

Share

Tweet