I don’t talk about “prepping” per se. I talk about specific skills or preparations.
Example 1: We were expecting a huge storm from Florence (it didn’t happen) and I chatted with the neighbors about previous storms. I let them know I found some really cool LED lanterns for $5 at this quirky local liquidation store. Had the storm hit, my next door neighbor told me he had the smoker ready to go and to bring over any meat from my freezer. Another neighbor was planning a fire in his firepit. No one is a prepper (to my knowledge) but we found a bit of common ground and a way to pull together had it happened.
Example 2: When I lived in California, I joined a Facebook group full of homesteaders. I met some of my closest friends through that group. Like Grammy said above, these things are closely related. Through the group, I got to take in-person classes on subjects like processing rabbits and meat chickens, setting up a fodder system to feed my livestock, making soap, and many more useful topics. I taught a class on pressure canning and on prepping. We created a strong network of the kind of people who would go over to help out with someone else’s homestead when another member broke her leg and couldn’t feed. We offered fields and barn space to those evacuating from wildfires.
There are all sorts of ways to meet likeminded people without coming out of the bunker.