9 meals from anarchy.

does any one here realise that 3 days worth of food is what the supermarkets keep in stock at any one time? we have a "just in time" delivery system which under normal circumstances is just enough but if anything were to go wrong with that delivery system then chaos would result, I think we all saw in the UK a few years ago during the "Fuel Protests" just how quickly things would go south, my local supermarket(I was living in Somerset then) emptied of milk and bread within 24 hours and the rest went within 48 hours and the petrol station was empty in 24 hours.

Thanks for the grim reminder!

a reply to: On the Edge

A necessary grim reminder ! Now you can remember to avoid the grimness of a fallout

a reply to: On the Edge that's why we have food stocks .

Too true. I've seen this several times in hurricane/blizzard events. There's also the complication of being unable to cook/warm foods with no utilities (see NJ after Sandy). I've heard stories about people walking up and demanding access to private generators and even stealing same. If suburbia is like that imagine what some inner cities would turn into.
this site is good for more info/discussion www.survivalistboards.com

a reply to: Emerald53 we aren't all near a nuclear power station or a nuclear target, some of us are out in the countryside. nuclear war is not winnable by any side, just losers all round, we have something called M.A.D.(mutually assured destruction) I know Putin is the bogey man of America at the moment but I don't think even he is that crazy or stupid.

You're correct....so what's stopping you from being prepared for whatever might happen ? Food , water and shelter are just basic necessities.

I agree..."a necessary grim reminder".

People can get so comfortable in this life at times that they fail to prepare for those times of emergencies.
Too many just "live for today".

The best thing is to pick up a little extra here and there, at least so in that time of trouble the store is the last place you'd want to be!

I just don't think the unprepared masses are aware just how fragile the system is.they think everything is hunky dory and it is until something goes wrong, then the whole thing falls apart.

originally posted by: works4dhs
Too true. I've seen this several times in hurricane/blizzard events. There's also the complication of being unable to cook/warm foods with no utilities (see NJ after Sandy). I've heard stories about people walking up and demanding access to private generators and even stealing same. If suburbia is like that imagine what some inner cities would turn into.
this site is good for more info/discussion www.survivalistboards.com

We had something similar in the English cities due to the floods. In places where roads were partially blocked by rain, everyone panicked and raided the supermarkets, stripping them bare within hours.

Home owners were fighting over and stealing sandbacks placed to stop water from flooding critical equipment like electricity substations and telephone exchanges. Homeowners had to stand outside their garden gate to make sure nobody came along and started pinching them. You can just imagine the consequences if somebody nicked enough sandbags from a power transformer to cause a power failure.

a reply to: bigpaul

Do these supermarkets not have tinned food?

Living in blizzard country, it's pretty much a no-brainer to keep our home well stocked and a means to cook and keep warm without electricity.

Every fall I head to the city to do a major grocery run ($1500+ worth of food and sundries)... we're well stocked all year round, but I load up even more just before winter kicks in.

Been through far too many nasty winters to not make prepping a common everyday thing.

And besides, buying in bulk actually saves you a lot of money in the long run.

So it's a win win all around.

we do a top up shop 3 weeks out of 4 and then do a "big shop" once a month when we buy all those little extras.

i am a years worth of meals and ammo away from anarchy though.

There is a tertiary (according to old soviet doctrine) nuclear target 11 miles away though. in the modern era i doubt it is on the target list as it is a minor hydro power dam and they have fewer nukes and bombs to target with these days. Chinese nuclear doctrine involves hitting a few major population centers to cause chaos and tie up response forces. so the dam is not on the Chinese target list. it would not be on terrorist's target lists or iran's or NK's or pakistan's after any radical coup there. those all have too few bombs to try a soviet cold war style targeting campaign. unfortunately they would try for a symbolic population center or port or two.

if they did hit the dam it would be with a small nuke these days and not one of the mega-bombs because they have better accuracy now and don't resort to high yield to compensate for huge CEP. Even so; a strike on it would only be problematic for about three days at worst and maybe not at all depending on prevailing winds and fall out dispersal patterns. still the most likely thing is no strike at all. the power plant contribution to the grid is miniscule and it only generates part time on a sporadic basis when they have to open the spillways to adjust the lake water level. there are no large population centers in the flood plain if the dam is breached either.

the other targets which are primary or secondary wave are in OKC, Tulsa, McCalister, Altus, and Lawton. the nearest of these is McCalister Army Ammo depot. its about 60 miles down wind from here. So it is likely I only need to worry about 72 hours of initial high radiation fall out.

we do have some minor earthquake faulting and an ancient magmatic upwelling thought to be extinct. though there seems to be a largely unrecognized super caldera immediately east of here. our primary disasters here would most likely be severe storms or tornadoes; perhaps wildfires. though all it takes is a thunderstorm outbreak or minor snow or ice storm to empty our local supermarkets and walmart in a couple of days.

a reply to: stormbringer1701 that's a different thread entirely.

originally posted by: bigpaul
a reply to: stormbringer1701 that's a different thread entirely.

since i am well stocked the only anarchy threat i have is from the less prepared. the three day thing is true but since i have a years worth of stuff the threat for me is different than not being able to find a box of twinkies in the local walmart. Hence i had to talk about the other threat considerations. Though mind you that fact that i am prepared does not negate the fact that that if the zombies get hungry enough the 3 day problem will begin to affect me too.

a reply to: stormbringer1701 I have started a "threats and Risks" thread, maybe you could add your thoughts to this. I am trying to keep things on thread and not go off topic.

the O.P. is 100% correct and the worst feeling is being behind the 8 ball especially in an oncoming natural disaster when by the time you make it home from work the local supermarket is just about done for, fuel station is shut as its been emptied and you are # out of luck and time.

the larger the place you live in the quicker the supermarkets/filling stations will be emptied.