Well, that leads to the really primary question, doesn’t it?
How long?
I think there is a point of diminishing returns.
Several philosophies, several ‘worst case’ scenarios.
I will postulate that the cost goes up almost geometrically for the time frame between two weeks and a year or two; that is to plan to be truly self sufficient for a year is going to be much more than 26 times as expensive as being able to be self sufficient for two weeks.
OF course there will be situations, such as people already highly sufficient, or potentially so, or who have easy access to large stores of goods, but as a whole, for a city or suburban dweller who does not have a spot in the country to run to and does not have an extensive start on prepping, to go beyond two or three weeks is very expensive and highly consumptive of space and time. On the other hand, there is no one in America so poor that they can’t have a few cases of water, a few thousand calories in food bars, a first aid kit, flashlight and radio at hand.
It’t not only realistic but a moral imperative to not be a burden on other people trying to survive and/or the people dedicated to and risking their lives to try to help. No harder or sillier than keeping a spare tire in your car, to prepare for a complete breakdown of society is more akin to building an airplane and learning how to fly it- it can be done but if you’re going to do it at all you are looking at thousands and thousands of dollars and/or years.
Thus, the more specific one is about how long to prep for, the better one can spend their money and mental energy.
Well, that leads to the really primary question, doesn’t it?
How long?
I think there is a point of diminishing returns.
Several philosophies, several ‘worst case’ scenarios.
I will postulate that the cost goes up almost geometrically for the time frame between two weeks and a year or two; that is to plan to be truly self sufficient for a year is going to be much more than 26 times as expensive as being able to be self sufficient for two weeks.
OF course there will be situations, such as people already highly sufficient, or potentially so, or who have easy access to large stores of goods, but as a whole, for a city or suburban dweller who does not have a spot in the country to run to and does not have an extensive start on prepping, to go beyond two or three weeks is very expensive and highly consumptive of space and time. On the other hand, there is no one in America so poor that they can’t have a few cases of water, a few thousand calories in food bars, a first aid kit, flashlight and radio at hand.
It’t not only realistic but a moral imperative to not be a burden on other people trying to survive and/or the people dedicated to and risking their lives to try to help. No harder or sillier than keeping a spare tire in your car, to prepare for a complete breakdown of society is more akin to building an airplane and learning how to fly it- it can be done but if you’re going to do it at all you are looking at thousands and thousands of dollars and/or years.
Thus, the more specific one is about how long to prep for, the better one can spend their money and mental energy.