The economy has gone silent, power plants, public utilities have stopped....

[sks_shooter]

You have no power coming from the electric lines, no water flowing through the tubing coming into your house, no natural gas as well, grocery stores/markets are looted or too dangerous to risk seeing if anything is left, no phone (land or cell) and no internet access. All you have is what you have with you or stocked up.

None of the above services will be online again in any foreseeable time....What do you do? How long can you survive?

Well you didn't provide enough information. Specifically, I would want to know if this is a bug out situation or a hunker down and shelter in place situation. I am much more prepared for shelter in place. I don't really have bug out location hidden away out in the hills loaded with food and weapons. That's pretty much what we call home.

We have our 72 hour bug out bags, laptop computer with all necessary records, some food, water, fuel, cash and a couple of weapons ready to go. If it is a bug out, I am only confident of the first 72 hours, maybe a week if we stretch it or run into some hospitality.

Shelter in place? Then we are good to go for 3 months. We thought about doing more, but it was too morose of a thought. If things get so bad that there is no electricity, no grocery stores, etc. for more than 3 months, then, we are probably talking nuclear holocaust. We just didn't think it was worth it to plan for something that severe. Not sure we want to still be around after that.

What percentage of the population do you think would survive 1 week? 2 weeks? 1 month? 3 months? 6 months? 12 months?

I would assume that the majority of the population could last a month or so, even with out food. It takes a couple of weeks to starve to death with no food stored. I am guessing that most people can retrieve water from a local river/pond. The infirmed or the very young/old may die off quicker. After more than a month or two, I would expect less than 25% of the population to survive. Folks out in the country or on a farm will do better than urban dwellers I suspect. Beyond 2 months, with total infrastructure failure, I would bet less than 5% would survive. All of this assumes that FEMA doesn't swoop in with food and other aid.

Are you prepared? Could you survive 12 months?

No. I am not sure I want to either. That would be the end of life as we know it. Honestly, what's so magical about 12 months? If the situation is that bad, I think you need to prepare for 12 YEARS. If the free market system can't get these services turned on in couple of months, I suspect they are never coming back. At that point, food storage only delays the inevitable, which is a return to self sufficiency, the family farm, etc. You need to learn how to start farming, hunting and gathering again.

 

[Chris]

Our ideal situation would be to begin the 'survival' in the spring. That would allow time to convert lawn to farm. If it were to happen at this time of year, we'd struggle to reach spring.

The key for our house would be to drain the heating system to prevent freezing. We could live off the fireplace if needed. (and hopefully the biomass stove will be back on the budget this year) I'd prefer to do all the 'prep' work with the warm summer days than trying to do it now. (^_^) To do it right, I'd have to hook up the compressor and blow out the lines. Not a really hard job, but time consuming and bleeding the lines later to get the circulator pumps going takes a while.

We do a lot of our business with local farmers. It costs us some extra $$ to buy things like milk, eggs, etc from the guy down the road than from the supermarket, but if things went sour, I have friends I can at least barter with. Heck, I'd work for food if I had to.

Funny story.. My wife has always complained about how hard it is to peel the boiled eggs. So one day I mentioned it to Buddy and he just laughed. Seems Supermarket eggs are so old, some moisture in them has actually evaporated through the shell a bit. So, when it cooks, there is an air pocket that forms making it easier to peel. Fresh eggs do not have this and thus are a royal PIA.

We are also thinking of raising chickens. Seems they are fairly easy to keep and the cost is low compared to the value of the product.

Don't forget that rice stores well. Shop at an Indian or Asian market and buy the large Burlap bags. Flour and Sugar also store well if you do it right.

Fuel is a HUGE issue. Right now I keep the truck gassed up when weather is looming. That's 35+ gallons of fresh fuel I can tap if the regular fuel cans run dry. But you'd be amazed how fast that will go if you needed to run a generator for any length of time. Storing fuel is hard. Even with Sta-Bil, it will deteriorate. Diesel is better, but can gel in the cold. I have an old Black and Decker Jackrabbit pump for fuel transfers which really helps. I keep looking at those 30 gallon fuel caddys but always balk at the price.

I wonder... Perhaps a visit to a boneyard would score me a decent sized truck fuel tank at a reasonable cost. Have to look into that.

Anyway, if the WAWKI were to end, there are possibilities. Lets face it, our forefathers managed to survive in New England just fine with far less than we have today. We'll learn how to do it again. The Foxfire book has a lot of the old methods in it.

 

[Gonzo]

If things turn into the end of electricity and petroleum products, there's gonna be a major shift in priorities, a return to the lifestyle of the early 1800's.

Plenty of people still get along just fine without all the crap we're used to. Survival is mostly attitude, a little ingenuity, the ability to think on your feet, and the willingness to work hard. Preparation helps, but are you mentally prepared?