Both places I call home have never seen a war. Or at least not in the last 300 years or so.

I am insured so in all those cases, I would go to the other place and file a claim. Done.

Well prepared...for my dog and I...we can live for an indefinite period of time.

People who say they aren't worried or it can't happen, know this:

During hurricane Rita that hit the Eastern US there was a 100 mile traffic jam outside of Houston that lasted over a week. Upwards of 2.5 million were involved.

When Katrina hit NO they had such a poorly constructed evacuation plan in place that the resulting traffic jam was mayhem.

Massive flooding in Austraila (queensland), Eastern and Central Canada (Saguenay River, Red River Valley in Manitoba), etc, in recent years left tens of thousands of survivors stranded and literally hooped without power for weeks and longer.

In fact google virtually any major hurricane, flood, tornado or earthquake, in recent years or older, and you'll find the same thing. Same with major nuclear reactor accidents.

Now sit there and tell me it can't happen where you live. Is buying an extra few cans of beans or a sack of rice and maybe a case of bottled water really too much for your busy schedules?

The casual dismissiveness some of you have on this is astounding.

I fear you (and me both) would starve if it came down to relying on that.

Canned soup and fruit should last a couple of years and costs less than a dollar a can. Every Thanksgiving when charities have food drives I turn over everything and spend a few hundred bucks to replace it. (I seldom eat canned food) Rice and pasta are almost free.

I drink a lot of bottled water anyway and just rotate new into my reserves each week. I don't plan on wrecking my car, having a heart attack or losing my home but insure them anyway, same with necessity shortages.

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There are a couple of guys on that preppers show who were into this. One guy lives right in LA and knows how to gather edible plants and greens for salads etc just by looking around underpasses, along rail lines, and nearby reservoirs etc.

Of course those types of plans, while useful to a degree, don't take into consideration the effects of, oh, say any kind of radiation or nuclear fallout, acid rain, etc. In the case of the environment being compromised such a forager would definitely need a plan B.


Another guy has taken to growing edible algae/fungus, spirulina I think it was. It's naturally dense in a wide array of nutrients vital to human survival. He says he has enough growing that he could feed himself and a large group of his neighbors indefinitely with it. The look of it reminded me a lot of cooked spinach, which I like. (Although I think I'd need to re-hydrate a freeze-dried NY strip steak every once in a while to go with it)

i'd really ask myself if surviving in a world where i need to live from algae would be worth it.

i've already asked myself that. the answer was based on a more than likely scenario: i will survive the situation and then be left to my own devices after that. in that case, i would rather take care of myself than run around like a chicken with its head cut off post disaster, dying slow by starving, no water, bleeding out with injuries that could be treatable with a 1st aid kit.

Yes, I'm not all that gung-ho on that one myself. But as a dietary supplement say, where you have a lot of other stuff you can ration along with it, I could operate that way for a long time.

Me being the uber chef that I am I have no doubt I could come up with some creative ways of adding it into things and making them still taste good. Algae lasagna anyone?

Pasta: check
Canned sauce: check
mushrooms: check
dried onions and peppers: check
blend of various dried cheeses: check
Precooked jarred and preserved ground beef: check
powdered garlic: check
algae: check

Now, with the power out all I need is an oven.

if i lived in an area of potential natural disasters (earthquake, tsunami, hurricane), it would be stupid not to be prepared

but since i can rule all those three things out over here, i have never given this a single thought.

As for me I would be completely fucked. ZERO preparedness. Of course, if the world is fucked why would I want to survive anyway? With my disability there is no way I'd be able to defend myself so just take me out of the whole equation.

JohnnyClips has already worked out which Taco Bells will be open within biking distance in case of national disaster.

We should all follow his lead.

I have five scenarios for this:

1) Can we make it to the farm? If so, we're set and can live there forever. We have well water, can grow just about anything, have livestock and chickens, can trade with neighbors for anything we may not have.

2) Are we caught in the city where we spend a lot of our time? If so, we can be OK for a little while, a few weeks, but that's it. The goal is make it to the farm, which is a 10 hour drive.

3) Do we get caught somewhere else, like on holiday or in another country? If so, we're FUCKED.

4) Something big happens such as a massive earthquake. Supplies are lost and it is impossible to get to the farm. There are possible injuries. Our home is destroyed. We're on our own. No idea how that one will play out, as it is going to depend on how the community handles it. If things went south, I'd do what I had to do.

5) The worse case scenario, the entire power grid is down for whatever reason and an EMP or massive solar flares have knocked out all electronics. We would have to travel by foot, bicycle, or animal to the farm, and that would be a trek. There is no telling what we may encounter along the way, such as others trying to take what we have. I would do what I had to do.

There are always things you just can't prepare for. No matter how much you try, you can always be caught by surprise by something. The only wrong move you could ever make it thinking nothing could ever happen to you.

That said, where I'm at is mostly farmers. So for food I think we would be OK, as the rural areas are still pretty rural so they could lose power and not miss much. My girlfriends village just got electricity about 20 years ago, so these types of people, survivors, know how to live off the land and have been doing so for 1000s of years. Be it from homemade medicine from plants and certain tree bark to knowing what plants, grasses, roots, and berries you can eat from the jungle. It's impressive.

The real question is... at what point do you resort to eating humans?

day 16..

if i may be so bold, 1 thing everyone can benefit from at the very least is a solid first aid kit. they are inexpensive too.

Make sure you can protect that farming area, after all that's where all the city/suburban people will head.

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yup, my 5 day bag is to get me to my family rendevouz point.

The majority of SE Asia is country. They can have their pick of where to go, cause it's farmland EVERYWHERE.

I would guess each village would protect itself from outsiders. That's the way they do it now so I can't image it would change, other than they would probably shoot people a lot quicker.

I'd probably start eating people before I even opened the canned food :thumbsup :1orglaugh

Gotta keep an eye out for guys like you.

During such an extreme emergency that you are talking about your stuff would be taken by gangs or criminals, I mean if there is such an emergency that you would have to go camping without possibility to buy food at stores.
Living for weeks without power is not an actual emergency. And only thing you would need is generator, not all that other stuff you could buy.

I'm prepared for about a month right now. I live in an earthquake zone and on and island which could be cut-off from supplies if docks were damaged during some major event.

Let me tell you about generators, from experience. If you live in a community with houses nearby all you are doing is broadcasting hope to people not prepared. People hear the noise and it represents food, ice, water even air conditioning. Turn it on and they will come, believe me.

Then what? Sharing is something that should be your choice not the choice of every asswipe that shows up in your front yard.

Also storing enough gas to last any real amount of time is dangerous. I know it sounds good and people rush to buy them but think about it.

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you're suggesting doing nothing because there are bad guys. smart thinking.

it must be like a cattle call for everyone around.

I am pretty well prepared. During an earthquake in 1989 we suddenly went without power for a few days. While this might be common in some areas, it was not common for us city folk and we learned some harsh lessons. More recently last year we had the propane tank train fire where nearly all of our town was evacuated. Since then, I've learned to keep large amounts of food handy - we have a huge pantry, lots of canned goods, water, tea, and tons of sterno.

I learned how to be prepped for hurricane season when I lived in florida, especially since I worked at an outdoor juvenile facility (think brat camp type, but with a permanent location) and we would have to evacuate for a week or more depending on the damange to the facility. Usually I kept about 2 weeks worth of food and water in the back of my car along with things like changes of clothes, sleeping bag, etc.

Now? Not so much. We could probably last a month with the stuff in the pantry if it doesn't end up under water.

canned poop?

This is why I bought firearms. At the end of the Bush term I was seriously worried that society was about to collapse. So I armed myself "just in case". If riots broke out I'd be okay.

Not exactly whats I was trying to say. Most likely there won't be such an emergency that people would actually starve to death. And if it was so then half of them would be killing for supplies. You are preparing for very very very very unlikely situation + if that situation comes you would still most likely be attacked for your goods. Chances are that you won't, however I am not sure if doing this is a worthy "investment".
I mean its more likely that you would be killed in car accident than in doomsday starvation. So avoiding driving a car could be better "investment" in your life than preparing. Just an example, there are many other more likely ways to die, so prepare for them before you prepare for actual doomsday.

when did i ever say i was preparing for doomsday? you think a 14 day emergency kit is preparing for doomsday? you think ~$200 on this kit is some sort of unworthy investment?


again, smart thinking.

getting criticized for being prepared- it's the gfy way!

fucking awesome.

My ex-wife deciding to come over could easily make me go camping for 5 days.

I ain't really into the whole self-preservation thing ...

I wasn't even talking about you. Just about people who prepare for some unlikely scenario before they prepare for lots of other scenarios that could more likely lead them to death. Priorities.

you wrote this in reply to me


i replied to it.

Funny, isn't it? It is an actual mental state called the Normalcy Bias.

These are the same type of people who have to be saved from their rooftops after a flood or hurricane, even though they were warned first that it was coming and it wasn't safe to be there. It happens in every disaster.

oh wow, i've never heard of that, but damn, it's spot on eh. thx for that link. i like the part about relying on the government after a local disaster! hahahahahahahahahah

Not really, not all of preppers' opponents are stupid enough to stay at home when they are warned floods are definitely going to happen. Not even close.