If I asked what would be your preper dream, most people would say think of a House-fort with lots of guns, medical equipment and a few friends trained and equipped for survival.

However I think most of us don´t have millions of dollars to invest in preparations for a fullblown-apocalyptic scenario. So what would be your most EFFECTIVE way to prepare considering:
1) The weapons and equipment and food you need
2) The price of those equipment and the space they will occupy in your house
3) The probability that something crazy bad or nothing really bad ever happening
(and to make the discussion more fun, say “why” you would take your decisions)

So I’ll start.
For weapons :
I would have only a pistol, a Swiss army knife and a pepper spray. This way I have a main lethal weapon, a secondary lethal weapon (does not need ammo and has many other functions) and a non lethal weapon.
For food I would have about 200lb of dried grain (rice, oats, beans lentils) so I would have a cheap and long term food supply, with lots of carbs and proteins.
For equipments I would have just a $30 basic first aid kid and matches.
Note that I’m not stocking water, because they occupy too much space and I doubt that any crisis would not allow me to acquire at least “dirty” water to boil.
Everything would fit under my bed and would not require much maintenance.

What you think?

I really don't know (and don't care) but if there's a zombie invasion, I know I'll die fast since I'm fat.

Haha, prepper spray. Get it? Haha!



Ok, I'll leave now.

I'd just put a bullet in my head and prematurely end the apocalypse.

Same.

OR WE CAN JUST MAKE A BUNKER TOGETHER OR SOMETHING

I have a machete and uh... uh.... well I'd probably end up finding a group because I don't have all the necessary survival skills, but I'm a team-player and cut-out to be a scout, forager, stuff of that sort.

Of course, zombie apolcalypse is the only worthwhile apocalypse.

I'd order a bunch of souvlaki, eat the meat and use the sticks to stab my way through the zombie/post-apocalyptic outlaw hordes.

Then I'd go up to Acropolis and barricade myself in the Parthenon.

What in the flying fuck is a preper? Urban Dictionary calls it the lowest form of a prep meaning someone who's preppy. If you're asking how to be like that,

Other places are talking about the term being someone who prepares for a zombie apocalypse which seems to be what this thread is actually about. If that's the case, this is all I have to say:

I read the title of this as "what's the effective way to be a pepper". It's thoroughly disappointing that's not the case.

When the nuclear holocaust takes place and we find ourselves in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, you'll be the numbnuts that skimped out on a gameplan

Water purifiers/filters are a big one you left out if you aren't keeping a potable supply of water. Maps of your surrounding area may be helpful if you plan on being on the move, also dry foods like nuts and dried fruits are a good thing to remember. That's all I've got for the mean time.

I'd hit up the docks and acquire a decent sized sailboat (Yes, I know my way around boats), and also try and get a desalinization device. Some basic and very useful tools can be lifted from building supply stores: Machetes, axes, prybars, etc. Dried goods would be a must, as would seeds for future agricultural output, these are all fairly abundant if one acts quickly. Good to get some gerry cans and raid the gas stations for fuel too. Would also be nice to have a 12 gauge shotgun.

After securing as many of these basic as possible I'd make my way for the Discovery Islands. Good amount of uninhabited territory well away from dense population centers, and plenty of sources for fresh water. Hopefully the zombies are stereotypical enough that they can't swim.

This is what I was thinking. Stupid fucking term done by those with a boner for netspeak.

And who says you or I won't be the unlucky fellow who gets killed in the initial blast?

Well in that case you can mock me in the afterlife. Not that I'll be there with you, though; I'll be in my Parthenon multi-purpose fallout shelter. No mass nuclear extermination is catching me with my pants down!

Bear with me, I have an exam in 4 hours and need to release some tension (by dreaming up hypothetical doomsday scenarios).

I've never understood those people...who wants to go on living when everything and everybody around you is dead? it's pointless...

It all comes to down to how badly some people want to help "repopulate" the earth.

As for me, I already have a few thousand rounds of ammunition for various weapons. I'll just pick a high spot and break out my 308. Anything / anyone comes closer and it's onto the AR-15.

Some of us may just be very stubborn about not being dead. Depending on the circumstances, it could be as simple as the adrenaline rush. Or how about freedom?

I think the most effective way to be a survivalist is to make sure you have useful skills to make yourself valuable to a community. Going it alone or with a tiny group in some kind of post-apocalypse world seems like an unrealistic goal for anyone but the healthiest, wealthiest, and most obsessed. And if nothing else, a bigger group can always come and take your stuff, no matter how well armed you may be.

I could never make it alone and I don't have the time, money, or interest to learn how. My plan after the apocalypse is to find the biggest group I can and make myself invaluable.


My useful skill? Brewing beer! We won't be able to count on clean water....

Doomsday scenarios are actually not that crazy. The fact that we live in a time of political (and military) stability is an exception in history.

Open a history book and you will see that as a rule, human being are always fighting each other and doing horrible things to each other. In history governments and public systems break down all the time and the civilian populations suffer the most.

Considering that the superpowers of the world have been fighting each other since the dawn of time to 1947, I’d say spending a thousand bucks on a gun and non-perishable food is not such a bad idea.

I read this thread title as ''What is the most effective way to be a leper'' and was tremendously excited.

I'd join the first faction/enclave/marauding gang I can find. Individualism is a luxury and the best way to end up dead when civilization shatters.

If I get to choose, though,

It's like you watch the doomsday films, ibserve as the assholes with the guns rob the heroes and leave them for dead and think to yourself "yeah, I wanna be that guy".

Which reminds me, DayZ is an incredibly realistic doomsday simulation and really shows us how little faith we can have in the human race.

Nah, groups always clash with others and end up perpetuating the same mess and statelike deviousness that inevitably collapses and leads to the situations of people becoming prepers. Most people will die anyways because they wouldn't be able to take care of themselves after everyone kills each other due to looting/bedlam, so going with a group is a non-issue for those that actually can handle themselves without the need to be coddled/having to be burdened by taking care of others.

Since I live in an area where practically everyone and their grandmother owns a gun, I'm willing to bet that I would get pillaged pretty early on...

Kind of off topic but since zombies were mentioned, is anyone else disappointed at the way that zombies went from shambling, necrotic abominations to just an outlet for people's power fantasies? They're not even monsters anymore, just something for people to point their guns at.

My best friend lives in a tiny town with a population of about 60 people. I'd 'escape' to his house and wait until all this blows over.

If you don't have seeds, some basic agricultural/farming/ranching skills, good bartering skills, the knowledge to skin/salt/cook the animals you hunt, an herb and plant cheat sheet, and a huge supply of medicine, you won't get very far unless you've taken every nature survival course imaginable. You need the seeds to plant food to hold you over when the game is meager, and if not that it will at least be useful as a commodity or currency. You need to know good farming techniques for the same reason you need the seeds. You will have to know how to drive a good bargain because eventually you will need something you don't have, and it is safer to barter for it (as opposed to shooting someone and stealing it). You can have 100,000 rounds of ammunition and it won't matter a damn if you can't skin the game and salt it for storage, and of course you will need to know how to cook it as well (as a side note, lots [most?] hunters don't even prepare their own meat, they pay professionals to do it). You will need the herb/plant/botany book so you know which wild plants are poison and which are safe, because inevitably you will find yourself in a situation where the game is slim and the crops have failed and you need something to eat, particularly if you go the hunter-gatherer route. And medicine is self-explanatory.

In other words, at least half of all "preppers" probably wouldn't last two years in a post-apocalyptic world without resorting to force to take everything they need. Guns (or bows), clean water and rations/dried fruit are essential, yes, but not sufficient by themselves.




PS: I bet over half of the people in this thread don't know how to properly wash their hands and can't even explain the basic mechanics of soap. Combine that with the prevalence of "go-it-alone" mountain man chest-thumping in the prepper community and the obvious lack of readily-available doctors in a post-apocalyptic world and you have even more disaster.

I refuse to pay anyone to butcher my deer. It's not hard, it's kind of relaxing and you can get the exact cuts you want. If you want to be a good survivalist, all you need is a meat grinder: ground meat goes with everything.

can zombies swim? if not then steal a boat and hope i can fish

Most zombies I've heard of usually just drown themselves. A large freshwater lake would be best... just boil and go.

Yeah, right. Zombies can swim, AND they are known to fuck with sharks too. Didn't you see Lucio Fulci’s 1979 release Zombie?

qft

What does Quantum Field Theory has to do with this???
Anyway, I am really (and I mean really) concerned about a biological attack. Why? I don't fucking know. And I don't fucking do anything about it either.
I'm just too lazy and would die in a minute in any disaster.