Can You Be a Minimalist and a Prepper?

Welcome back to my 31 days of Decluttering and Simplifying at Proverbs 31 Living!

So as I have been working on my journey that is leading somewhat towards minimalism I have pondered much over my other leaning which is towards being a prepper. And I wonder how well those two things actually mesh. I think many would say that they don't at all. I somewhat disagree. Now it does depend on how you define these two things. I haven't actually looked either one up in the dictionary but I have found that generally they can mean a wide range of ideas but I think these are fairly basic definitions:

• A Minimalist: Someone who tries to avoid living with a lot of excess stuff that doesn't have a good purpose or add a lot of value to their life. They see the beauty in simplicity and having less. They really try to live a contented life. Their focus is not on material possessions.
• A Prepper: Someone who works to be prepared for the future. Especially to be prepared should a disaster of some kind occur. They seek to be "self" sufficient as much as possible and be prepared to go without electricity or grocery stores and things of that kind if necessary.

 So, I am seeking both of those ideals. I don't think they need to be mutually exclusive. I believe that people for hundreds and hundreds of years have basically been minimalists and preppers. The pioneers carried all of their possessions in a covered wagon (Who today- even among minimalists could actually do that???) and yet they were prepared to go without shopping, possibly for years.

   Granted, our lives are different today and though I love to study that old history I am still super thankful for the time that we live but I think we can still live carefully like both a minimalist and a prepper.

  I probably will always have a lot more food storage than your typical minimalist (but I will be super careful to make sure it is truly being used - we aren't just storing things indefinitely for some big disaster).

  I will also try to have a lot of knowledge in my head and skills learned that can be used so that I will be prepared and henceforth I may have a little less stuff in some areas than your typical prepper.

  That works for me. I am curious to hear what you think on this topic. Are you a minimalist or a prepper or neither one or are you trying to be both, like me?