2. To Gorgoroth with the anti-poaching laws, shortly followed by getting over the cultural barrier to eating dogs and cats. The first to do these will live longer and travel farther from the centers of disruption than those that only figure it out after the Spam runs out.
3.a. Avoid contact with strangers.
3.b. Avoid conflict with strangers you cannot avoid.
3.c. Avoid losing unavoidable conflicts with strangers by such brutality and treachery as may be necessary.
3.d. In the aftermath of a conflict, take the opportunity to increase your stock from the losers’ resources. In the extremity, this may include harvesting fresh meat from the losers themselves. (Epic Win if you find some fava beans and a nice Chianti.)
4. Team up with your friends, and learn to trust their friends. Form communities based on private ownership and free trade. Accept the fact that the patriarchal dictatorship may be the norm if your group consists mostly of one extended family. Seek to bend it towards a representative form by appeals to reason and history. Failing in that, head out on your own again.
5. Listen to the radio. The presence of entertainment radio with advertising of useful items for sale may be your first clue that somewhere, civilization is being reasserted.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST: Think about this stuff OFTEN, if not ALL THE TIME. The right mental attitude will give you a head start on the rest. Let your weekend getaways be practice for finding out-of-the-way evacuation routes and temporary hole-up shelters. If you pay close enough attention, you may notice a problem and take action hours, even days ahead of any official announcement or general panic.
I don’t know about your neck of the woods but there there are enough deer, turkey, grouse and fish around to avoid eating our cats and dogs! Too many little Bambis in fact.