Problem is, in the event of a disaster, for every person who is prepared to last a couple weeks, there will be a hundred who are not.<<<
You are correct, it will not be a fun time.
All we can do is have as much stored as is reasonable and most important of all, the knowledge needed to survive on very little.
Do join in, we all know something, that might be worth sharing with others.
Simple storage of items and gardening is not enough.
We will have to be prepared to make the hard decisions to restore social order of some sort.
Given that the situation might get pretty dicey, if you explain it to people and say something like “What about the death penalty for looters”, most will say that that would be a good thing.
Until “the looter” turns out to be somebodies 13 year old nephew.
You know what I mean. The physical discomforts IN THE EVENT OF SYSTEM COLLAPSE are nothing compared to the mental extremes people will be pushed to.
The people with the big gardens will be the first to be overrun by the have nots.
And the neighbors will know from all the years of having the big garden that there will most certainly be big stores of canned goods inside.
Hungry people will kill. So be prepared to kill unless you want to share your stuff with the have nots.
Have you seen this site? http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm
Helps you figure out what you need to store for a year per person.
I’m basing my stock-up on it.