I think all of the above is outrightly suicidal!
Now, before I am flogged and then drawn and quartered let me elucidate my point. All of the above is VERY IMPORTANT and of greatest prudence. It is important for people to arm themselves (and train, and I don't mean shooting at a paper target but dynamic reality-based training), and ofcourse having food and water reserves is simple common sense. It will be extremely helpful in the first two weeks after the cogs in the system get stuck.
The reason it is suicidal, however, stems from the fact that many Preppers I've read about have these caches of food, precious metal and firearms in suburbia! They will be dead in a month! I remember one FReeper who was saying how he even has a generator at his suburban home. Imagine the middle of week 3, when all your neighbor's are starving in darkness, and your home at the end of the street is the only one with electricity? With a nice loud monotonous drone of a genny? Goodness, even a c-grade Italian zombie movie director from the 1970s wouldn't include such an obvious 'come-get-me' in his movie script. What about all the guns? The 10 Mosins and 5 Kalashnikovs (and one AR-15 with the secret automatic adjustment)? Let's also assume one has 15 cousins living with him in the house (rather than the more likely wife and kids), and all 16 of you are crack shots. You live on the end of the street, and you have several dozen families with nothing to lose converging on you?
Goodluck!
I think a lot of people have fantasies that it will turn out their way. Some personal version of Omega Man, with the Heston role being played by them. The problem is that, very quickly, a lot of placid nice neighbors, when driven by hunger and sickness and despair and desperation, will become marauding beasts that will form huge scavenger 'sweeper' gangs that will make the minority urban youth gangs seem like jokers. A mother seeing sustenance for her starving child cannot be stopped by anything less than a headshot. You would need veritable claymores around your property to fend off the inevitable crowds that would be sweeping suburbia.
Not to mention other viable but non-human perils that will exist. For example the huge outflow of sickness that will arise due to improper sanitation, water, and buildup of dead bodies. Or, and this one will be there a-plenty, huge fire outbreaks (due to arson, nature, or accident). It is quite interesting how combustible suburban estates can be, especially when there are no fire fighters (or flowing water for that matter) to put down the conflagration! Most preppers I've seen don't seem to consider such issues, and just talk of how many bricks of .22 ammo they have. The truth is that TEOTWAWKI will not be a fun experience - even for those best prepared for it in every way. It will be a veritable nightmare for 99.999% of people.
The way I view prepping for TEOTWAWKI is similar to how a weapon owner would view his pistol - as a way of fighting his way to his rifle. Same thing here - urban prepping is only useful for one thing! Making you survive the first 2 weeks so you can 'fight' your way to a previously prepared hideout that is FAR from the suburbs. As I said in a rural setting one has similar minded people, can share food production and protection duties (and can actually sleep ...the 'urban rambos' maybe think they can stay constantly awake to fight off Ramone and Tyrone), and they are a much harder target to attack. Unless people leave the suburbs in the first 2 weeks, before the roads have started to be blocked and well armed scavengers are up and about, they are dead.
Obviously the time to develop (and fund) an exit strategy is now, since when things 'are elephant' there will not be enough time to waltz to some rural community many miles away and charm them into feeding you and your get. But most people are developing (and funding) suburbia survival plans, and I wish them a lot of luck since they will absolutely need it. It is not impossible to do so, but it is beyond the reach of most people who currently consider themselves 'prepared' due to their coin collection, 10,000 rounds of ammo, and 'proven skills' shooting paper targets at the range.
Apologies for any spelling errors (using my iPhone, which has an interesting habit of twisting certain spellings) and faulty logic (I may be 100% wrong, but I really think a lot of preppers are 'pimping' their handgun when they should actually be practicing getting out of dodge before 2 weeks are out - and prepping NOW - because once things go belly up they will be very successful shooting the Ramones and the Tyrones, only to be killed 2 weeks later by 'gentle' Mr Davis and 'sweet' Ms Tracy ...and dozens to hundreds of similar 'gentle and sweet' souls). Any prepper plan that doesn't involve active plans to get out of suburbia the moment things look 'seriously funny' is an exercise in futility.
Bump
I don’t think the collapse will happen that fast everywhere. The collapse of the cities will provide plenty of warning to most other areas. The cities with their unique problems will go without food before the suburban and rural belts. It might be Zombie Apocalypse in the cities, but only Argentina elsewhere. Nobody can predict outcomes with certainty amidst such chaos and disorder. A total food supply everywhere the first month is only one projection. But in any case, it will hit the places with a 2 day supply of food in the pantry a few weeks before it hits the places with a 2 week supply. That difference will be vital. But in any case, I’d recommend NOT being near a big city, for when it hits it will hit there first and worst.