with meth sales.


Credit card debt...


Welfare fraud...

unless collection agencies are to be considered part of the tribulation, which seems entirely possible

and a bunch of guns with no cannibals or zombies to kill.

besides, plenty of targets all over, especially if you can convince a jury that yer was standin yer grownd. the postman, the neighbor, the neighbor's parakeet, all dangerous zombies coming to infect your family but instead yer stuud sum grownd!

My hourly job doesn't pay much. Barely the essentials really. You aren't alone.
And folks wonder why drugs are rampant in this country. If I could afford them, I'd be doing them as well I'm sure. Things get worse everyday it seems. How long is that sustainable? The 80s were nothing like this when Raygun started this mess. The coffers were full....not so much at all. Everyones spent their pensions and windfalls that i know of. It can get to you, that's for sure.

Currently, VOADs* recommend having a two week supply of stuff on hand. But it wasn't so very long ago they recommended a three day supply. If money is a consideration, build your supplies by $5 per trip to the store or per month. Even three days' worth of food and water can ease the burden on first responders in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

Find your state here: https://www.nvoad.org/ They have tips for all income ranges and family sizes, and some of them even sponsor events where you can pick up supplies for free or at a discount.

*Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.

paycheck to paycheck, I refuse to buy into the prepper bullshit. Even though I do sincerely believe this country is going down the toilet in many ways, it's going to be along the lines of Spain after the Armada failed, or England after WWII -- rationing there did not finally end until 1954. But it's not going to be the apocalypse.

That's just my 2 cents.

not going to be subjected to any kind of religious apocalypse. One shouldn’t even give that stuff a second thought.

While these kinds of discussions are rare here on DU, and I'm a bit surprised at this one, I'm glad to know at least one other person here feels as I do.

Virtually EVERY emergency and civil defense site, private, state, federal, in our nation that gives advice to civilians recommends anything from a few days' to months' supplies of water and food, and other necessities, in each residence. Shouldn't you wonder why?

And aside from them, is there no lesson from Puerto Rico? Or reports in the news of Russia and others running what are believed to be test attacks on the power grids and other infrastructure we depend on for our lives?

Put away several gallons of water at least and a 20-pound bag of rice. That'll hold 1 person for a week. You needn't tell anyone.

It's common sense to be prepared for a disaster be it natural or man made. I'm sure you are referring to the extreme cases that the capitalized "Preppers" has come to represent but that's not what I took this post to be about.

A 3 day supply of food and water (and don't forget the furry members of the family!) is just good practice.

it seems to be exactly about "Prepper" crap.

Having a 3 day supply of food and water, which I more or less have because I don't need to go out and purchase each and every meal two or three times a day, is of course sensible. And when I did have furry family, I of course made sure I had plenty of food for them.

All of my life -- and I turn 70 in August -- I've been reading or hearing hysterical cries of We're DOOMED! or There's going to be a race war! or any other of the nonsensical stuff that has simply gotten more and more common over the years. Just don't buy it.

About the DOOM hysteria.

You'd be surprised what you might find. Some cities/areas even have barter sections on the site. You can also barter your knowledge for stuff on craigslist.

...fill them up with clean tap water and store them in your basement or someplace cool and dark. Why put the plastic into the landfill when it could save your life, or at least become something to trade for food?

If the Apocalypse never comes, it hasn't cost you anything and you can still use the water anyway.

Sometime in 2005, I finally got around to dumping it (watered plants). I doubt it tasted good,

A drop of bleach in the smaller ones, 2 or 3 in the larger, then let sit a couple hours, would make it drinkable. I replaced the bottle of bleach we keep in the basement just a couple of months ago.

Btw, several hours of sunlight makes very clear bottles filled with mostly clear (not cloudy) water drinkable by killing anything that was alive in it. So people could just peel labels off clear bottles and have a system for treating clear water, such as from downspouts or a nearby stream.

I used to work with a guy who claimed that in an apocalypse situation, bleach would become the defacto barter currency for the very reasons you list. A little bleach will treat a tremendous amount of water. He said if the last rush to the supermarket resulted in no food or water, take as much bleach as you can, claiming it would now become worth it's weight in (now worthless) gold.

It always made sense to me, but we haven't made any effort to stockpile it.

especially if you're just scraping by. Listen, if the big one drops, the survivors are going to wish they'd been killed. In the case of civil unrest, knowing your neighbors is probably the best thing you can do, and a good thing in itself. I wouldn't spend one dime or waste one moment trying to prepare for something that you can't possibly really prepare for.

OTOH if you live where there are predictable natural disasters, like hurricanes, that's another story. You've probably had PSAs telling you what to set aside. I'd do that and then live my life.

What do prepped need if Armageddon happens? One gun and just one bullet for each loved one, because the alternative will be worse, regardless of the number of guns, bullets, and amount of food and water that they have stockpiled.

After all, a bullet for each head really has not been a viable solution for people in Puerto Rico.

Remember those first two weeks with desperate people -- most of whom had houses that were still standing and dry -- wading around looking for food, medicine, drinkable water? Putting "help" signs on their roofs?

What those pictures did not show were the Puerto Ricans who were in their homes with adequate food, water, and medication. THOSE people were not only taking care of themselves and grandma, but they were not using up scarce supplies desperately needed by others who had lost everything.

THAT's what we're talking about.

Most preppers will never get to their preps. If their preps are at home they better be ready for intruders.

I do stock up for storms but it is just my usual stuff and I rotate my stock. Living in Michigan we can get some pretty hairy winter weather and it's nice to know you can just snuggle in. I try to get any meds in 3 month supplies. Any pain killers I just start a little savings in my pantry.

High Sierra, CA... not very earthquake active BUT, there's a chance...esp since the coast is a trip-wire.

Not to mention Extreme winters, so we always struggle for extra candles, etc. I recently moved into a place with a gas FP and I'm SO pissed cuz I can't cook on it in a power outage like my old woodstove!


And just to say to those upthread...I'm not a Biblical Tribulaton kinda gal. Just worried things could go southward more easily than before and where the heck am I when it gets squirrely?

It's just that your OP mentioned the Apocalypse or something, and I think that's what people reacted to. But I do think the best thing to do in any case is to get to know people who live near you. If something terrible of whatever nature happens, I think friends will be more important than any other supplies.

I hear you about worrying about power outages. We bought a generator a couple of years ago after a week-long outage, and it's nice to have, but the fact is that it requires fuel, too, and if you can't get enough gasoline to run it, it doesn't help one bit!

How can a person grow anything when snipers are lurking to shoot them, or roving heavily armed bands are going from town to town taking anything that they want?

Have you noticed the local gun store with all the firepower inside and enough ammo for a good sized war? Guess what, the owner won't be able to keep that stuff out of the wrong hands if hell breaks loose, as a matter of fact, the owner will likely be the first victim.

the first things to disappear from shelves around here. In rural Georgia, "garden" still means vegetable patch. And if groceries were expected to be tight for some while, you can bet a bunch of people'd be out turning soil and tucking in seed sooner rather than later.

As it is, I only grow some herbs and a few nice salad greens that are expensive in the stores, not even a patch on a respectable patch around here. But what's easier and cheaper than to stop and grab a very few packets of veggies suited to your area from a rack as you're walking by? Toss them in a drawer and forget about them.

Personally, I'd do a lot to not have to stand in line for hours two or three times a week for whatever might be handed out that day.

***For those new to the idea, many veggie varieties are now seedless, so only one crop could be gotten from them. Something to keep in mind when glancing at the rack.

***Most types take a good two months and more to produce mature veggies, but who says you have to wait that long to start harvesting? And greens can be producing in less than a month.

this thought is one of the primary reasons we will have "coming tribulations" I maintain that the only way we can save ourselves is to acknowledge that "we are all in this together"

understand that we must work together, help each other to make life better

I understand your concern though

The world is like a casino, a prepper may have a short run, but in the end, the house wins bigtime. The best course of action is to keep the world satisfied enough so that the rule of law is obeyed. People that see that they have stuff to lose don't subscribe to chaos.

to supply the neighborhood for some while. Not an accident, they're both cheap, long-lasting, and (being older for the anti-inflammatory) we always need them. I loaded up on salt when I realized how many people don't buy it these days; it's critical for life, extremely inexpensive, and what'd happen if the canned goods were gone and we were trying to learn to like stewed rice and kudzu without it?

We have other stuff we could share also. When Irma took down a bunch of trees around the neighborhood, people with chainsaws were out the next morning helping clear roads and driveways. It'd be like that, you know, rather than waiting for zombie motorcycle gangs to come eat us all.

We're gone each winter, and communications might be down in an emergency, so our neighbors know about our pantry in the basement and who has a key to the house. Another pair of neighbors who're only here in summer also have a decent stock we all know about.

Not to confuse being at least sorta prepared to being a civilization-hostile wingnut.

SOOOO fucking true!

I should forget about food & stuff and just go to the closest Reservation Smoke Shop and stock up on tobacco & rum! ...maybe some fireworks too just for kicks...

In the case of long-term social breakdown, alcohol will be the primary method of bargaining around. Medicine, cleaning solvent, and method to forget all one's troubles.


In the frontier, the first three things most people sought were in order: Food, Shelter, Alcohol.
You could always knap a knife or axe.

Haele

on this property back in Prohibition days, but we tromped everywhere and sadly found nothing remaining. Someone probably took off with the barrels and cooper tubing decades ago,the sherif or just ahead of the sheriff likely.

Just looked up distilling alcohol from kudzu, and instead found that it's supposed to reduce symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. Okay, I can see how that could be useful, but not what I was looking for.

Turns out you can apparently make ethanol from it, though, like corn, which could conceivably be useful.

Your reply is logical, don't get me wrong. But it works only if there is a working society around you. The issue that I have with serious preppers is that they have a singular mindset that they can hold off the world, where 90% of the population that are living are ok with barbaric happenings as long as THEY survive. Look, if hell breaks loose, killers will show up to the preppers' hideout and give them one simple choice, give up anything of value or die. Instead of prepping, the preppers of means should be willingly paying more taxes to sustain a working society.

soak for a couple hours, forgot for 24 hours, and at that point it chewed easily into a powdery mush. That's all I wanted to know, could we eat it without cooking, so didn't look further. (I had to experiment that far because when looking it up, all I learned was that a lot of people abuse their teeth addictively crunching dry rice.)

As for beans, they sprout when given a little water. I haven't tried chewing them before that, but I'm guessing they'd be softened up.

You know, I think we should assume we'd be hungry at home. I mean, why would most of us run away in an "era of chaos" if we had what we needed to just shelter in place? Or even if we didn't.
Where'd we go? Why? What if the driver was disease? The entire SE grid down?

That why, of course, would be to find water, or our children, walk 30 miles to make sure grandma was still being cared for in her rest home, try to find food, fuel, medicine. Or to escape fire raging over a large area. But, except for the fire, the best place to be would still be our own home or another home we'd designated for family to shelter in place.

And we have to assume most big roads would be closed by the authorities so we couldn't join a desperate hoard climbing the fences at a reservoir even if we wanted to.

Shelter in place. That's exactly what a lot of Puerto Ricans who had food and water in their houses did while others were wading around looking for help.

fight to the death with my neighbors over food, water, etc. Just take me out early.

I have thought the same, depending on the venue of disaster...especially nukes.

The shitty thing is that living remotely, the elements or the crazies could get you. Less population over an area so big is somewhat of an advantage. But w/o water/food...we're scavengers just like the coyote, and any dogs in the mix...or the bear...or mountain lion...
Or the snow, etc..

I don't need the aggravation of trying to survive in a Mad Max kind of society. I'd rather not survive at all.

But it would take a lot for it to happen. Or a really unhinged president.

Lentils, rice, millet, beans etc

Lentils have 19% protein.

Preserved lemons.

Minced garlic.

Ginger (powdered).

Some packets will last a few years such as potatoes, soup mixes.

We have an earthquake kit that we restock every few moths. Take out stuff that has reached near "use by" and replace.

I stocked my last Rubbermaid bin with a lot of dried goods, even stuff I found at the Dollar store, etc.

Funny story... After we moved into this new place (it's way more remote, as far as Tahoe goes), I had left the garage open cuz we were still taking things upstairs, etc. Somehow, someone forgot to close it at night and the bear of course sniffed out my stash. Next morning I found the whole bin raided. He didn't touch the flour or dry goods, but did a good job on the granola bars, nuts, jerky, etc. He had very clear preferences of what flavors he liked.... some of the granola bars had one bite and were left untouched, other items were ALL gone!

And to clarify...I used some religious-sounding terms in the OP, but was not making that analogy at all. It's just that those words seem to encompass the level of disaster I'm thinking of.

And to clarify more... I know most people live in more densely populated areas, so the prospect of unlawful or apocalyptic crazy would look different for them compared to myself being more remote. My town has less than 20K people spread over a 50 mile radius of very rugged terrain. While I am sure there's still the prospect of roving bands of gun-nuts...it's really more about surviving the elements and figuring out daily living.

A lot of truth to the suggestion of getting to know neighbors. we have already bonded over 20' snowfalls and being stuck in the road... so there's that. I wonder if my neighbors would want to maybe make a little "neighborhood club" for backup if things go south..not a bad idea

Don't worry about it.

Work on improving interpersonal skills and spend your time helping others.

When the shit goes down, who do you think people will trust, include, and help; twitchy gun-wielding morons with stupid survival gear products sold to them by con-men or helpful people with good problem-solving skills?

Never did get a reply.

"Interest in forming an Emergency Preparedness Group
Earlier this year DU member maryellen99 started a thread asking if anyone was interested in an emergency preparedness group and a number of members responded positively. Doing a search on site, I see that this has been brought up before. I think a group where one can discuss preparing for emergency's ranging from a temporary loss of power, gas, water up to natural and man made calamities such as Katrina, Fukushima and climate change would be useful. Discussions about the use of firearms for self/home defense or hunting for food would be restricted to the Gun Control & RKBA and Outdoor Life groups.

My question is what steps are needed to be taken in order to form such a group?"

https://www.democraticunderground.com/125912877

I mean...there's a number of natural disasters we all are exposed to from wherever we are. I'm down to learn more about earthquake and blizzard prep...even drought is something to be prepared for...

keep me posted! I would be willing to sign onto a list for the Admins...

Not the same but in some way similar

We're not about to buy a $5000 ready-made "survival" pantry to throw away in a few years because nothing happened. And that's probably the case for most sensible preparation. No $20K emergency-powered AC systems for most of us, but maybe planting a $12 baby shade tree now instead?

I just buy a few months' supply of things we're going to eat anyway -- almost always when they're on sale --and rotate it. We do eat more canned veggies that way because we have to eat them down, but no big problem. Rice and beans combine to make a complete protein and will last in storage a long time, so I lay in no canned meat and just the seafood, again, that we'll eat anyway.

Participation there is not overwhelming. Let's give it a shot?

an expansion of purpose.

Not that active a group

trees and vines on my tiny RV coop lot, for sure. The only people to be offended there, though, are a couple of anti-charm nazis who wistfully admire the rows of unadorned metal boxes baking under the Florida sun in other parks.

Resistance!

It's always a good idea to have something stored and a plan if whatever goes south. Up here, electricity could be screwed simply due to a storm. So planning ahead doesn't always have to be a conspiracy theory

i dont really like it, so i figur I could eat it in an emergency.

it will still be safe to drink, you can also add some cans of corn or peas or fruit that you are indifferent to, to help the potted meat go down (the richness of the potted meat after the first day might be hard to handle without a dull side dish).

Your stoic, basic approach to being able to deal with a short term emergency is good advice for those who just aren't into all this.

...of the food chain was in using their brains to imagine tools and develop skills.

Can you figure out how to find a rock that can be knapped into a knife, an axe, or an arrow?
There, you can make tools.
Do you know how to plait or braid?
There, you can figure out how to make rope or twine.
Primary shelter making starts with a stone axe and rope or twine.
Trees, leaves, moss, sagebrush, pallets - all can be used as building material to create your shelter.
Can you start a fire and keep one going?
Now you can start building the basics of thriving instead of just surviving.

Do you know what clay looks like? If not, can you figure out how to make adobe (adobe - a mix of mud and straw with lime or manure)?
With clay and/or adobe, you can both roof and insulate your shelter (and keep it habitable for a few years before having to rebuild), and make cooking utensils - pots, cups, bowls, basic spoons - and a basic fireplace/forge where you can safely heat your new house and fire those clay artifacts, or break down bog iron (if you can recognize it) and other metals to start creating metal tools and artifacts like nails, hinges, knives...

Do you know how to weave?
There, you can make clothes and blankets. Coverings that last. Curtains and rugs to keep bugs out. And sandals or slippers to save one's real shoes for the work of hunting and gathering.

Do you know the basics of agriculture? Of planting and keeping domestic animals?
Can you drive a goat and cart?

Do you know cooking and distillery? Can you make alcohol, preserve seasonal foods, process grains?

Can you clean, filter and/or distill water to remove microbes and bacteria that are harmful?

Do you know basic medicine? Can you keep yourself and members of your group alive long enough that this sort of knowledge can be shared?

All these skills are basis of survival and building civilizations. Far more important than buying a "ten year supply" of dehydrated food and a crapload of gun and ammo that need to be maintained. Especially since most "preppers" nowadays rely too much on infrastructure (gasoline, power, phone service, tap water, medical services) and bought items with the expectation of maintaining a level of comfort that is just not going to be available if something catastrophic occurs in their locale. They've got a romanticized "Walking Dead" view of what it would be like, with cliques and caches, clans and wandering biker gangs.
Real life catastrophes play out quite differently. Healthy communities band together and share resources until they can stand up on their own.

Haele

We caught a rattlesnake
Now we got something for dinner
we got it, we got it

There was a shopping mall
Now it's all covered with flowers
you've got it, you've got it

If this is paradise
I wish I had a lawnmower
you've got it, you've got it

- The Heads

amazing how you really do not need much
i grew up camping.....
some shelter yes
dry is good and warm
drinking water is good
food that does not need a fridge is good
fire is good
place to pee and poop is good

sleep when its dark
awake when its light

won't be forever
think of it as an adventure

up to its eyebrows in "things?" Some good, paper how-to books to assist with immediate needs would be desirable, though.

It depends on how bad the disaster, etc. was, but I’m speaking of a total SHTF situation below, where society totally breaks down. Kind of unrealistic, but whatever.

Long term survivability is a lie survivalists tell themselves. In reality, 99% of people would be dead in the first year. You could be as ready as possible, and it still wouldn’t matter. People who are building underground bunkers for long term survival are just digging their own graves.

Supplies run out. Guns for defense are only useful if someone doesn’t sneak up behind you in a moment of inattentiveness and kill you.

Humans need to be together to survive. It’s why we formed tribes in the first place. SHTF survivalists would all be dead very quickly. Your best chance of survival would be to form a band of scavengers and take what you can. That, or try to get enough people to try and form some kind of tribe. You would literally be fighting for your life every day.

Going it alone means you’ll be dead very quickly.

If the disaster were over in a few weeks, on the other hand, supplies would be very helpful.

If you can stomach it.

Buy 3 cans of canned ravioli (yes, you can eat it cold) and 3 cans of canned peaches - one day's worth of food.

Probably under $5 if you go to the dollar store.

Build up to 3 days when you can.

If you can really stomach it - buy a few tins of sardines in oil (veggie oil., protein and calcium) to stretch things - under a buck each and you don't have to cook them.

Buy a 3 gallons of spring water and you have 3 days worth of food and water,

2000 calories a day and most of your essential vitamins, minerals, protein, carbs and fats.

(I'm from Maine where they are made)

everything tastes better with spam but if you need to change it up, use sardines, tuna, salmon or whatever you like. Take a 3 day camping trip, pitch a tent, eat what you brought without going to the convenience store. That will give you a point of reference.
I'm not worried about eating, I'm worried about a neighbor down the street that has no clue and 76 firearms.

Remember home fallout shelters?

Learn how to be McGyver or Survivor man/woman.

No, but really, knowledge.

How many people even have non-power tools anymore? Like an old-style hand drill or a regular hand saw that only works with elbow grease? Can openers, wooden matches, candles, there would be so many essentials needed. People who have never camped out or "roughed it" wouldn't be able to conceive the requirements. Very important would be a water purification system that operates without electric power. I believe most Americans would lose the will to survive if things become that difficult.

One thing you should really keep on hand is a bottle of regular bleach.

Every day in Alabama is the Apocalypse , we know how to survive the Apocalypse at Birth .

[link:https://www.costimates.com/compare-costs/general-costs/hurricane-preparedness-kit/|

In upstate NY i had an emergency supply kit that would last the family 3 days. Then there was a storm that knocked out power for 2-3 weeks north of us. I expanded the kit to 3 weeks. eventually i used everything up but the water for one reason or another.

Water. recommended 1 gal per person per day. 5 family members x 21 days =105 Gallons.
I split that into 50 gal. of potable stored in garbage bags in bins and 55 gallon drum of non-potable for flushing toilets.

Now I am barely surviving near Tampa... there is no way I can afford to keep a hurricane kit updated and ready.

I live out in the sticks with some good neighbors so I'll be OK for a good while.


P.S. I hate that orange mutha for putting us through having to worry about so much.

I'm going back under my rock now.

you should atleast be prepared for a natural event.

Here in Central Texas we have can have some severe rain events: Flash flooding, tornados, hail and sometimes ice that shuts us down. I always make sure I have a weeks worth of water and canned good and batteries stored. Once a year I go through and make sure nothings expired or spoiled.

I'm also on a budget and tend to buy when things are on sale or I buy a few things extra and store it instead.

The people who will survive when the SHTF are the people who live in strong, resilient well-organised communities and have useful skills they can trade, not people who cram lots of shit they can't really afford into their basement. Prepping is mostly just a gimmick to sell canned goods, MREs and camping supplies anyway.

Depending on where you live and what types of emergencies you face, you should consider having a few weeks worth of supplies to live without power if you need to (or try to save up enough so you could minimise how much you need to spend if you're out of work for a few months). In a total breakdown of society to the extent that emergency rations and water supplies were cut off for months at a time, you wouldn't be able to stay in place anyway so all the stuff you have hoarded is going to have to be pared down to what you can carry anyway.

Get to know your neighbours. Get in the habit of helping each other out. Coordinate buying supplies with them if you feel comfortable doing so.

Unless you have a 5-15 acre farm you aren't going to be able to be totally self-sufficient anyway (and even then you probably won't be able to work it yourself). That's why we invented civilisation in the first place. Cultivate it in your area and you'll be fine whether the SHTF or not.

There's almost no one too poor to not have a case of bottled water or two, that's life and death but only a few bucks. has to be rotated after a few months but you will die without water.

Sanitation is the biggie.

But in disasters, when the toilets stop working and garbage isn't gotten rid of is when people start dying in droves. Dysentery, related diseases and food poisoning kills more people than nearly anything in the world. If you don't have a place to poop you're worse off than the person with no food.


Canned food can just be rotated, so it doesn't really add to your cost too much - you're not buying stuff you're never going to use, just keeping a couple weeks stash of what you'd buy anyway, and canned food doesn't need to be heated or reconstituted (water will be precious and possibly hard to get. a simple water purifier could save the lives of your kids and pets)

Poor folks were the original preppers.

The point is to prepare for a few days or weeks, not far-fetched 'end or the world' scenarios. You could spend a million and not have everything you'd need to last out a year or three, OTOH for a few bucks your odds of surviving can increase by orders of magnitude using stuff you'd spend money on anyway.

I've thought about this a LOT, being neither rich and living on a fault line. Sanitation isn't as 'sexy' as guns, ammo, high-tech freeze dried food, camping gear, etc... but next to water it's the most important.

I’ve being doing that for years, but only because I hate going grocery shopping! I also have plenty of dry food like pasta and soups and canned food and tuna fish, etc., because sometimes shopping every week is just more than I can stand.

when you have enough to buy some extra.

No one survives alone. The idea of a rugged, lone survivor is a myth; we evolved to live in communal groups and take care of one another. Build up a resiliency circle, where everyone can bring something to the table, be it material goods or knowledge. If you can't afford more than a few basics of survival, hit the library and YouTube and study skills that might be important to have.

Look at how the people of Puerto Rico survived months without running water, electricity, communications, etc. They banded together and shared what they had amongst their local communities.

(Forgive the Washington military department link but it’s actually really good info.)

https://m.mil.wa.gov/emergency-management-division/preparedness/map-your-neighborhood

I decided to learn how to garden. My late mother inlaw taught me the basics. I did pretty well growing tomatoes and lettuce for a few years.

But it takes YEARS to really establish a good food garden. (as well as some labor intensive work that as a single mom I am ill-equipped to do)
And being in a bad growing region (high altitude, late spring, short grow season) I'd be lucky to get enough to live on.

Besides, the bear and deer would most likely eat it all and leave me nothing! LOL

The Big Con is walking and talking...

Lots of fatty nutrition there!

and they are too slow, probably don't own their own guns, and then you can take over their big house and make it a commune for the "resistance"

I'm likely to get shot by some RWNJ who figures to make the world a better place by shooting anyone with more than 2 functioning brain cells.

Create a community garden if that is allowed in your neighborhood.

Trade jobs with people. If someone is too old to mow their lawn in the heat but can fix a nice meal do trade offs, you mow and they feed your family that day.

Find your skills and barter them when you have the time. Even if your system rarely gets used you will have created a community of people who will first off think of how you each can help each other rather than grabbing for themselves and being mercenary about it.

Garden and garden some more and then garden, learn to can and dry can.

It is all a little work but if you can just start small you will be surprised. I know women who get together and can every summer and split what they have amongst them. Remember how people used to be when they had to rely on each other for almost anything. Amish communities do these things but you don't have to have all the other stuff thrown in, just be a good neighbor and start trading now. It might even be fun.

It really is sad that we have lost so many skills...both community-wise and practical...All in the span of a generation or two.

I love my mom's stories of how they traded eggs for beans, etc...

I will be creating a flyer for our neighborhood soon collaboration instead of competition is always best!

This is what Obama called "community organizing"

for emergencies like fires, tornadoes etc. But an apocalypse...no thanks.

Feudalism will return. Those with followings will set themselves up as barons, and extend protection in exchange for service. Those lone doomers will be targets. You have one hundred guns and two hands. I have one hundred men with one gun each. I will win.

Wolf

(who knows how to use a rifle, a pistol, a sword, a pike and a crossbow. Tho' at 63 I'm too old to be a soldier.)

because I would end up eating it every few months, I finally had to start storing canned cat food in the car so that it would be there if I was truly desperate, you may need to try some version of that by storing a small supply of cheap emergency foods that
your family will choke down if desperate, but that you won't be tempted to tap into otherwise.

A couple of weeks could seem like an eternity though without power. It is estimated that 90% of our population would perish within a year if everyone lost power. That's not even bombs hitting earth, just a sufficient GMD or EMP bust to knock out the grid. ugh.

Still it's not being fatalistic to be prepared for storms, or earthquakes. I live in the bulls-eye of the cascadia subduction zone and a big shake would render everything useless. No power, no bridges, no roads, no running water or sewer. Just waiting for the airlifts or ships. However, ready.gov has some good things for all to look at...

https://www.ready.gov
https://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit
https://www.ready.gov/food

This is just my personal general reminder of things, it's not made for you, you make your own.

Prepper stuff:
Take Stock~
Water, Food, Shelter, Pharmaceuticals & First Aid, Protection, Kitties, Communication, Plans & Prioritize

(Most likely > Least likely)
(Need to live > More comfortable)

Hydrogen Peroxide
Propane tanks/full
Paracord
Rubber boots
propane bottles/full
holsters/slings
Small fishing pole/reel setups
buckets
“fire”
rain gear/poncho
Plastic bags
4 quart pressure cooker
solar gadget charger
Solar charger
Solar lights
Rechargeable batteries.
Coleman® HyperFlame™ Technology stove
Cast iron cookware
Aluminum foil Heavy Duty

Garbage bags
Pharmaceuticals, bandages, antibiotic cream, filter masks...
———
Garden seeds
powdered milk
Powdered cocoa drink
coffee coffee coffee... instant.
Liquors
Water (water treatment)
canned meats
beans, canned and dried
rice
pastas
canned fruit
canned veggies
cake mixes
—————
Place to put trash et.al. far from house
Fire suppression ; dry chemical and water.
window, under door black out
—————
http://survival-mastery.com/skills/scouting/paracord-knots.html

A "list" works for me too...Little by little to feel I am checking it off, at least gives a small sense of "control"