Ive only met my Father in law twice, hes to himself and doesn't like company. He has more guns than any person could need, a vault he won't talk about and "8 to 10 years of food depending on you dietary needs". Today my wife thankfully got in contact with him. He lives on a mountain, and all the roads/bridges are gone totally separated from civilization. Not only is he doing well, he is feading and taking care of the other 7 families on the mountain and that is some super hero shit.

I don't want to inudate with questions, just point me to a trusted YouTuber and maybe a book of basics and a book about what mushrooms not to eat. Appreciate ya.

Like I said I'm not interested in an argument. I'm legitimately curious how EVERYONE here has adjusted if they have. Was it an inflection point or starting point for anyone?

Also not looking for a who's right or wrong.

I just purchased property and can finally have a solid prep system and y'all have been doing this for a while.

Edit - thanks everyone! I did not expect as much traction on the post as it's gotten. So much good advice here and I'm still reading through!

Best of luck to EVERYONE on their prep endeavors and general wellbeing.

So l am going to pay off student debt and credit card debt which should be about 10k ish total, and get my car fixed up, but after that what should I do?

Should I buy some cool guns and ammo and food and water?

I am going to be starting working in tech soon and make a decent income; so should I just save it all in a savings bank or invest it into something like a SP5000?

Or will none of that matter if SHTF? Should I take it out in cash?

I don't really want to buy anything at the moment besides maybe a trip to Thailand before I start working or before the world ends and we can’t travel outside to USA.

Edit: I live with mom in house in suburbs and we have another house in the mountains up north.

“Prepping and forgetting a weapon is prepping for someone who didn’t forget” is something I’ve learned from this sub by now.

I understand the need for a weapon for self defense in case SHTF. Issue though, in the Netherlands most weapons are banned.

I could get an illegal firearm but the odds of me having to prep for jail would be pretty high. I’d rather not😂.

Since firearms are not that common here either it’s safe to assume most other people don’t have one either. And want to focus on the defense side of things: if it looks like it’s not worth it, move onto a more easy target. Same how a dog and cameras deter thieves; not worth the risk if there is some low hanging fruit elsewhere.

What weapons other than guns would you advise that don’t break the bank either? I thought about a catapult, air pressure gun, bow/crossbow.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

From Adderall to Lithium, the side effects of these medications can be severe, this is also true of the effects of withdrawal. How reliable are your local pharmacies? Is there a presence for mental health outreach? Are there regular AA meetings?

So I'm in NYC and I'm a father to 3 small kids all under 10. I don't want them to be scared or concerned about what's going on in the world right now (drones over NY/NJ) but I want to prepare for the worst. My wife loves me very much but I can tell she thinks I'm a little crazy.

We rent a 3 bedroom house in the city and we have access to an unfinished basement. I want to start to buy cases of water and stock them in the basement along with other essentials slowly and build up something decent just in case.

Since in I'm in NYC, I can't prep with pew pews. As much as I would love to be THAT prepared, rules are rules it seems. That being said - what's a good alternative to those that I can use to prep and defend my family?

Folks, I'm from Australia but original from African country and lived in Europe and currently staying in South East Asia.

I have seen my fair share of humanity and most people just want to live a good normal life.

So most people in all the countries I've lived in aren't really prepared for anything bad happening. Most people either rely on the government for disaster management (e.g Australia) or help each other as communities.

Why are Americans especially North American folks so obsessed with prepping? The US is one of the wealthiest country in worlds history, why are they so doomsday obsessed? is it due to historical founding of the country by rebel minded folks? or is it due to Hollywood grade braind washing? I just don't understand why Americans and to some extent Canadians want doomsday to happen. I think prepping is really a pessimist type thought pattern.

How would you explain the someone who is bewildered by the obsession with prepping?

I'm talking EMP, major weather disaster, terrorist attack, etc.

I'm young and only now beginning to prepare. I'm worried I don't have enough time.

Edit: What's the best way to get started if I'm completely new to this and have nothing?

If you HAD to do a crash course in buying as much food as you could in one trip to last the next 3 months for yourself (or others too depending on how you want to play this hypothetical), what would you buy from a purely food perspective?

Hey r/preppers
We all know the bsasics of a first aid kit: bandages, antiseptic, gauze, and pain relievers. But I’m curious—what are the uncommon items you’ve added to your kit that have proven valuable?

Maybe it’s a specific tool, a multi-use item, or something you learned from experience. For example:

• Duct tape: Surprisingly versatile for everything from splinting to sealing.
• Super glue: Works wnders for closing small cuts in a pinch.
• Medications: Anti-diarrheal or antihistamines aren’t always in pre-packed kits can be very handy in case you need it.

I saw some nice discount codes and resources at the below but I'm wondering if I'm missing anything that I haven't thought of besides the above and antibiotics.. https://new.reddit.com/r/preppers/wiki/antibiotics/

From my understanding as we’re seeing more cases it’s also become less deadly. If I were to guess, it becoming more viral will also lead to it becoming like most other types of influenza.

Either way keep your cats inside!

So working in EMS for the last almost twenty years has me thinking with going out on Covid calls and now h5n1 becoming a thing.

Would it be weird to start stocking up on n95’s and 3m half face respirator?

I have two boxes of the nice 3m N95’s that I use for work because they’re better than the shit version we have at work. I also have a 3m half respirator for work that I had in 2020 but wanna replace it with the 7502 and 7903 filters.

I’ve been fit tested with them and know how to use them.

I have an online cart ready to go but haven’t bought it yet, is it overkill or not? I feel like if anything, if I never need them, I can use them around the house for cleaning and stuff like that.

But just worried it’s weird and “extra”.

Hello, I'm Korean and after the martial law was declared, stuffs looking a bit sketchy in Korea rn. I'm planning to buy a Ontario machete and a chinese aluminum shield for SHTF (I'm gonna bug in). any advice you guys can give me on weapons? Even crossbows are not allowed here. Would appreciate all the ideas you guys would give me.

Hey everyone. I’ve seen many many people talking about a coming depression (worse than the Great Depression) likely starting next year (2025). What did some people do back then to not only survive but to thrive during that time? (Obviously many many didn’t…) How can someone plan for financial success coming out of a depression? What will be the currency? Gold? Silver? Food? Bullets? How can someone legitimately thrive in an economic collapse? Or is it all just hopeless?

Serious question, since I live in eastern NC, so it’s just by luck that the hurricane didn’t pass our way. Short of keeping an inflatable raft in your attic, how would one prep for a catastrophic storm? I have some emergency supplies in plastic bins in my garage, but I feel woefully unprepared. Where should I start?

Clotting powder, Israeli bandage?

The door is always locked. Any suggestions for other things?

Everyone bought a genny, used it, it was great, lasted for up to 14 hours, powering up lights, fridge, AC, internet etc. Then, they started rationing gas and in less than a month of no power across the land the gas stations started putting up signs that they were out of gas. Literally. Quiet panic and riots here and there ensued. This scenario can surely happen in today's climate of uncertainty. Question is, then what? Temps are soaring and food is rotting. What do you do when there is no sun to rely on (constant cloud obscuring and rain). Do you revert to primitive living? Any innovative course of action, new tech out there to survive?

I have been thinking a lot about how long I could realistically last in a collapse of society. I live near the cascade mountains in a city of 100,000 people and I can't help be feel once existing supplies run out most land based food would be decimated by local survivors fairly quickly.

My thinking is that 95% of people in the ruralish county I live in wouldn't know how to hunt or process animals, myself included. But even with only a few thousand people with the skills that still feels like a lot of people for a relatively small area. Even in today's world it feels like if you was to hunt in your local area it could be days before you found any game. Then throw in a few other hundred or thousand people doing the same thing. It just doesn't feel realistic.

Does anyone have any perspective on how they could survive in their local area without being near a lake or the ocean? It just feels to me like survival would be pretty difficult for anyone without the accessability of fishing. Thoughts?

Our minister of defense said in 2021 that by 2025, the people's liberation army (PLA) will have the capability to launch a full scale invasion. CIA director William Burns said Chinese president Xi Jinping instructed his country's army to be "ready by 2027 to conduct a successful invasion" of Taiwan. 2027 is also the end of Xi's unprecedented third term which I bet he wants to take Taiwan as his achievement to justify his fourth term.

I'm worried that when war breaks out, Taiwan would suffer blockade from the PLA Navy, and there would be hyperinflation. My grandmother told my mother a story of hyperinflation during the Chinese civil war, she had to carry a bag of paper money just to buy some noodles, and by the time she got there, the prices had gone up again forcing her to go back home and get more paper money. Now in Taiwan a bag of 5 kg (11 lbs) rice is now around 300 TWD (9.72 USD). I'm worried if history repeats itself it would become a million TWD and making the Taiwanese dollar basically worthless.

So to prep for that, I've already bought some US dollar cash, 28 hundred dollar notes and 70 ten dollar notes. I'm hoping that when TWD becomes worthless, cashiers at supermarkets would accept USD cash, like I would just grab stuff about the same value of 100 USD and give them a hundred dollar note without the need for change, and the ten dollar notes are for one item at a time, like one bag of rice for one note, it's basically bartering at this point.

I'm a young adult with a job living with my parents, single, so I only need to consider the needs for three people. We spend like 30,000 TWD (1000USD) a month, but in war times I think we can do 2/3 of that, so we 667 USD per month. According to Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Taiwan defending by itself (if US doesn't send troops) will last 72 days before being defeated (of course I hope we win, but I'm pessimistic about the outcome), so I'm assuming we need USD cash for three months, that's 2000 USD, and I now have 3500 so I think it's enough.

But I'm also thinking about stocking up on gold and silver. My dad has like a couple of 1 oz nuggets, but I think they are too valuable to be useful. They are worth about 60,000 TWD now, remember a bag of rice is 300 TWD so bartering would get you 200 bags of rice which is impractical. Even if you sell the gold, lets say the inflation makes prices go up 10x everyday, when you first sell the gold 10 days after hypeinflation you have 6,000,000 TWD, a bag of rice is 30,000 TWD, you can buy 200 bags and you bought 2 (probably limited to 2 bags per family due to shortages) and lasted 10 days. 10 days later a bag of rice is now 3,000,000 TWD, your 5,940,000 TWD can now only buy one bag of rice, that's why 1 oz of gold is too valuable to not to be wasteful.

Now I'm thinking about buying silver or small quantity of gold for this purpose. I found a place that sells 10 oz of silver for about 7000 TWD and 1 g of gold for about 2600 TWD. If it's still possible to sell, sell it and buy goods, even if the unused money shrinks a lot, it's ok it's not a lot of money anyway, just sell the next little piece of previous metal (PM) when needed. If economy collapses and selling is not feasible, just barter with the PM. I plan to buy 34 pieces of 1 g gold, so at least it would barter me 34 bags of rice/other goods.

I've looked up the prices and done the math for a few options I have in mind:

1. 10 oz silver nuggets cost about 7000 TWD and can be sold to local gold/jewelry place for 74% of its price
2. 1 g gold nuggets, about 2600 TWD, sold for 69%
3. 1 oz silver coins from bank of Taiwan, 1200 TWD, sold for 45%
4. 1/2 oz silver coins from BOT, 800 TWD, sold for 34%

I'm not sure which I should go for, the higher the return is of course better but it's also more valuable and bad for bartering.

I also heard that liquor is good for bartering, might stock up on some Kinmen Kaoliang, my dad likes to drink them anyway so they wouldn't go to waste if war didn't break out (plus they become more valuable after a few years in peace times and it's easy to sell anyway). I also heard coca cola is good for bartering, I like them too and will stock up on some.

I'm still hesitant to stock up on food, since we eat dinner outside everyday and we can't rotate through the food and they'll all go bad one day. I did tell my dad to stock up on bags of rice and we now have like 3 bags, I guess it can sustain us 15 days.

We also have land since my dad wanted to do farming when he first retired, but he's given up for quite a few years and it's now just wild grass. I've tried to grow potatoes in spring a few times, the first time they flourished but was devistated by pests, the second time they didn't even sprout. I have zero confidence that we can survive by growing food when war comes, but any advice on this is welcome.

Edit: Thanks for caring about me and telling me to escape, but I love Taiwan and I'm willing to die for it, I'm not going anywhere. I've discussed immigration with my parents as well and they didn't want to leave either.

I lost mine, and I am cxompletely done, I csn not read, squiting is really hard. My glasses have to be in this room but I can not find them. Its something I never thought before

If you could only carry one book into a doomsday scenario what would it be? I know people keep “internet-in-a-box” and other similar systems. But what about physical books packed with relevant information and how-to’s?

I mean isn't that kinda like quite literally being prepared for when/if you would get it? I dont see the argument to be prepared for likely or even quite unlikely scenarios, but not for a world wide pandemic happening right now. Whats the reasoning?

Edit: I want to thank everyone, who gave an insightful answer. It helped me understand certain perspectives better. I'd like to encourage critical thinking. Stay safe everyone.

Edit2: All that Government-distrust stuff just makes me sad.

For me: Hand Gel

Cleans wounds and can be used to get fires going.

Let’s say you’re at work, 10 miles from your house. And something happens that requires you to use the bag. Do you just keep it in the car everyday? When the time comes to need it, why not just go drive then instead of taking the bag and walking away?

What should I look for when "reading between the lines"?