[PaulGray]

I'm physically disabled and my basic GHB pack has been stripped to a minimum.
It now weighs in at between 7-11kg (which varies though the year according to the weather).
My foot range in one hit is 2 miles. Yep, just two miles.
Then I need a rest for an hour and take more "I feel no pain" medication.

So, dropped into the boonies, desert, open rural, city, or other sort of wide space!
I reckon I would struggle big time.

Only I don't live in anything like that and live in a small township by the coast.
Out of season population, 7000.

Town's like cities have their own dangers, disadvantages and advantages.
Ours is little different to many East Coast UK small coastal towns.
Lousy road infrastructure, no rail, well light on facilities, and next to nothing in the way of warehousing.
Resupply when the supply chain fails would be a major panic as would the "9 meals to anarchy" threats.

My whole survival plan is basic prepping backed up heavily (scenario permitting) with foraging for what we will need.
Two miles? One out, One back. Pretty 'doomy' isn't it?
Na, not if you plan for it.
The good news is my Tac pack (actually a vest), weight drops to just over 3kg.
That includes a light sling bag for carrying what I have foraged.

No mention of weapons or comms? That's covered.

So what's been my thinking?
Water. Without it your basically stuffed, finished.
We have 3 lakes, 4 known active wells, and a host of drainage ditches.
Plus a standpipe and 4 'low lying' water hydrant points.
Even with no pressure, somehow gravity keeps those 14 inch pipes full.
Aside from that, we have 330 liters of covered, and can be isolated by tap, rainwater.
A shopping list of the basics has been drawn up of what is available and where it is.
That includes fuels, food, and medicines. Plus the tools to extract what we need.
That also means security has been tested, and multiple routes trialed at night.

Did I mention I'm old school,

Meanwhile, the sea is just a few hundred meters away so provides us with a (already practiced) varied diet of greens, shellfish, and fish. There is also three fishing lakes with fish and feather under a mile away. There is local farm land heavily loaded with rabbit and deer. (ex-gamekeeper, no problem there). Provided it is NOT a major CBRN event, we could be OK.

Which leaves a couple of problems most everyone is scared about.
The possible results of the "9 meals to anarchy" i.e. threats to personal safety.
What possible obstacles local government could impose and how they would enforce them.

This is the one time small urban and semi urban locations can aid survival.
The police station is 40 minutes away.

The dangers of enforced evacuation.
To even get to our home means getting through a locked gate or over 8 foot high fencing.
At most it has a deterrent value and by not letting anyone know we are there might be enough to deter the average idiot. Unless absolutely necessary, we will not leave the safety of our home.

If we have too, we may try to use our car, but exit routes are limited, 6 in all, two more 4x4 capable.
However I have driven one of them without too much bother.

My fortress prepping only amounts to 6 weeks provisioning and 16 weeks medication.
By which time the heavily contaminated, or not prepared, may be too ill to present much of a threat.
That's the old style prepper thinking about "A Big Die Off".

As for personal safety threats.
Yep, in a small town, most everybody knows somebody, so prepping has had to be private and never discussed.
Home defense is always a problem to consider and we have 3 ways out of the locality by foot, and two fast ways out by car, if defense isn't an option.
Advertising our presence (smell of cooking, lighting, heating running, and looking fit and well or as close I can get to that) is also an indicator that might just deserve a knock on the door. So our stores are all 'cold capable' and doesn't need electricity or gas to prepare.

Yet with no power, marshal law, and most importantly, no fuel for transport.
We consider that the home invasion threat, after a short while, should peter off.

So that's the basics of my urban survival planning.
Any thoughts?

 

[charliemeyer007]

Wheels! At least a game cart or a bike with a trailer. Hauling water or wood can be much easier on wheels.

Forage is good if there isn't too much pressure. Slingshot or snares plus fishing stuff can help.

 

[JakobGriffin]

If you have 16 weeks of medication, why not 16 weeks of food as well? Rice and beans are cheap. How are you planning to stay warm?

 

[hatchet jack]

Most canned food can be heated up without sending out food smells. Especially cooked indoors. Canned goods will last for years if stored properly. One thing I got from reading one of the original preppers, Mel Tappen was that he kept fence lines grown up and undergrowth around his property instead of clearing it off. That provided a home for small game. Bow and slingshot hunting is silent. I have killed a few animals with a slingshot. Its cheap to practice and is good practice for bow hunting.

Encourage small game to come to you by setting out food they like. My mother used to have a large flock of doves come to the field next to her back yard because she threw out wild bird seed every day. A person could have set up a falling door type trap with a screen mesh on the frame and had a stick holding it up with a pull chord attached and trapped a limit of doves about every day. I even threatened to do that but she had a fit about trapping "her doves". But it would have worked very well.

 

[Herkemer]

If you're counting on foraging to get home, or foraging for any reason outside of being on a TV reality show, you're gonna die, and its gonna hurt, a lot.

Its fun to think about, like winning the lottery or something like that, but if "Foraging" has any place outside being a hobby in your preps, you are making a gigante mistake. In fact, foraging sounds like a good way to twist your ankle or be discovered by some unsavory folks and then....yeah...the you feeding plants and animals part begins

I think I understand what you are saying and where you are coming from, and your problems are a lot of our problems. You need to figure out how to feed yourself and move without relying on rando wildlife/plants to sustain you.

A shopping list of the basics has been drawn up of what is available and where it is.
That includes fuels, food, and medicines. Plus the tools to extract what we need.
That also means security has been tested, and multiple routes trialed at night.

​

You also need to figure out how to feed yourself without relying on being a raider. If you know where it is, every dipshizz in the next ten counties knows where it is.

 

[Dunerunner]

Wheels! At least a game cart or a bike with a trailer. Hauling water or wood can be much easier on wheels.

Forage is good if there isn't too much pressure. Slingshot or snares plus fishing stuff can help.

An ATV, anything that makes transport easier on the body. unfortunately, unless prepared with a preps, in a remote local, a garden and a constant protein source it will be hard.

 

[GunDog]

Consider a bicycle with a trailer to haul wood, supplies and water.

 

[arleigh]

Have you planned for freezing weather?

 

[hatchet jack]

If you're counting on foraging to get home, or foraging for any reason outside of being on a TV reality show, you're gonna die, and its gonna hurt, a lot.

I agree with that 100%. Foraging is a way to add to your preps. Not a good way to stay alive. Even small game can be hunted out and you can go to the berry patch only so much. Knowing what wild foods you can eat and where they grow is a good prep but nothing that will sustain you long term.

Its good to be thinking about it now. The next step is getting prepared by stocking long term food that you like to eat and stock it in quantity. Then when you want to forage go to your well stocked food pantry and do your foraging there. Its safe and reliable.

Not a big fan of beans and rice? Its not the food, its how you are preparing it. Learn different ways to prepare it now while learning is easy. Don't be afraid to try new stuff either. That will be my wife's downfall. I don't know how many times I have heard her say "I don't like that". Well how do you know? You've never tried it. Don't be afraid to try new foods. If they are for sale its because somebody likes it. Give it a try. I will eat about anything that ain't fast enough to get away.

The OP has come to the right place to learn. I learn something nearly every time I come here and do a little reading in the preparedness sections. Plus I am a big fan of the Backwoodsman magazine. My newest issue just came today. Its like reading here. You aren't reading "experts" you are reading and learning from others who are doing the same thing. Its amazing the amount of knowledge you can gather by reading here.

 

[PaulGray]

If you're counting on foraging to get home, or foraging for any reason outside of being on a TV reality show, you're gonna die, and its gonna hurt, a lot.

Its fun to think about, like winning the lottery or something like that, but if "Foraging" has any place outside being a hobby in your preps, you are making a gigante mistake. In fact, foraging sounds like a good way to twist your ankle or be discovered by some unsavory folks and then....yeah...the you feeding plants and animals part begins

I think I understand what you are saying and where you are coming from, and your problems are a lot of our problems. You need to figure out how to feed yourself and move without relying on rando wildlife/plants to sustain you.

You also need to figure out how to feed yourself without relying on being a raider. If you know where it is, every dipshizz in the next ten counties knows where it is.

Lets put everything into prospective.
Nearest other town, 18 miles away.
They have bigger and better resources than we have.
Did I mention the road infrastructure being dire?

There are two 7-11's and one supermarket here, a butcher, garage (no fuel), 3 pharmacies, one doctor, one veterinary, and a useful warehouse where vendors store their excess. There are 117 other businesses, mostly tourist in nature so that's fast food, hotels, bars, and whatever. Which leaves a small industrial estate and that distribution hub. All toast time? From your view it looks like, after 9 meals, the town would be picked clean.
Not so.

There are storehouses and disaster supplies held in secure locations throughout town.
Old school town, and the local gov are prepared.
Rare thing is that in this useless country of ours.
Not advertised and with strong physical security.
Further out the same.
One man entry if needed? Possible but we're not the only preppers in town.
Small town life makes for tight bonds.

In winter, there are a load of property that get locked up while the occupants enjoy the sun elsewhere.
Mid winter? The population shrinks by over 50% in those areas. The benefit of being rich I suppose.

YET, none of them need be looked at depending on what scenario is happening and how long the event lasts.

Flood. No brainer, we have to get out of town. Probably never to come back.
The last flood took 5 years to rectify the damage.
No electricity. Doesn't affect us.
No fuel. Chuckle. Nearest fuel, 18 miles away.
Civil disorder. Normal Saturday night occurrence here. Or daily in the summer.
The idiots all know that in some areas, it's better to play elsewhere.
Last time that happened big time, the police arrived (after an hour) to clear a 'disturbance' and found 7 youths, stripped, battered, fire hose wet, and chained to lampposts.
Took them hours to free them. Funny how the temperature drops at night isn't it.
After that, for some reason, where we live, it's relatively safe.
Small town, close bonds.

CBRN. Now we're talking. Run to where exactly?
Shelter in place during such a time is way more important than 'browsing', hiking, or driving around in and out of a chemical or radioactive soup.
A few are prepped and hardened for such an occurrence.
The same few that will work together come what may.
Remember. Small town, tight bonds.

Foraging.
IF and it is a HUGE IF, the worst happens, then what would you do?
A town that has been evacuated or partially destroyed.
Historically, everyone who can, runs. Those who can't just die??
If they are all millennials and snowflakes? No great loss.
Others are usually more resourceful and caring of the immobile.

That last big event? There were evacuations.
Which left a couple of hundred people.
Who ended up cut off from the 'outside' by floods.
Nothing in. Nothing out. No help from central government, only the lifeboats.

How did they survive?
When the government and emergency services didn't appear, those left foraged.
Simple enough, you do what you have to.

What did the authorities do when returning people found their cupboards were bare?
Precisely nothing as no one saw a thing. (Small town, tight bonds).
All the properties were entered without 'breaking'.
If you want to know how, you've got a serious skills problem.
However, cash was left in the cupboards to cover the re-supply in the majority of cases.

Meanwhile, the sea is a one stop food supply.
What if it is contaminated? If it's that bad, who would be there to see it.
Land foraging, and CBRN, that could be a problem. Yet, the shelter in place still stands.
When it's safe, the prepped will go foraging. Dealing with contamination?
That's not such a problem if you know how.

Running out of options if both apply.
Na. Because there is always something else you can try.
Funny thing about preppers, most know the importance of working together.
That and whoever has the expertise is allowed to lead.
Not forgetting local knowledge is king when foraging.

Meanwhile, those who would run to the woods to camp out and forage are all after the same tucker.
Possibility of sickness, hypothermia, dehydration, inadequate shelter, conflict, and anything else? Fair to high.
Resupply? Same problems except they will have to travel further, Need medical help? Further to travel.

Those with BOL's may be alright until someone finds them.
I don't really care what defenses they have, eventually someone with bigger bangs, more reach, more skills, and better resources will defeat them. Its just a matter of time.

Plus this is not our family's first rodeo when it comes to living off the land.
Or by choice. We having been homeless. Something we're not in a hurry to repeat.
It's also good that I have gamekeeper and other outdoor skill sets.
Plus I have an important advantage gained by having to provide in conflict zones.

Meanwhile, cities and larger townships will have their own unique problems.
Mainly caused by hoards of self entitled gerbils looting and burning.
That and gov control is better and has more 'control' resources to suit a bigger population.

So be it, but that's why we moved to semi-rural bliss.
It's way easier (and cheaper) to live when not under tight government controls.

 

[beaner]

Since mobility is such a huge issue, I would suggest three things. It’s an easy trap to over estimate ones ability to forage. Right now there is plenty and no competition. What happens when 7,000 are all scavanging the same area for food? No more plenty and the things that are easy to get are long gone. Who goes home with food when the father with a starving family sees a disabled guy with a rabbit? A two mile range is only going to decrease with hunger, fatigue, need to secure your house, and no medication.

First, have more supplies on hand. 6 weeks really isn’t that long. Don’t stop at just food and water.

Second is to produce food. Plant veggies and medicinal herbs, something to augment is better than nothing. Landscape with edible flowers around your house. A greenhouse is even better. Plant stealth gardens near your house (think root veggies like Jerusalem artichoke, potatoes, carrots). Most wouldn’t recognize the plants. Try backyard livestock like chickens, meat rabbits, and quail. Do passive hunting with traps.

Finally, work on knowledge and skills. Not saying you are dumb and incapable rather EVERYONE needs to do this. Also, strengthen relationships with those around you. Those things will help you be included in and contribute to a group. It’s better to be a part of a group than be competing for limited resources against a group.

 

[Littlebits]

Any thoughts?

Well if you are roaming, what about some wheels? Check out 123Free on Youtube... he's a charecter but his wagon is pretty nifty and he has lived in it for years and he forages... Either you love or you hate his personality so I won't discuss that. But he's surviving and fighting for his rights.

 

[GunDog]

Can’t locate “123Free” on YT. Is there another name?

 

[Littlebits]

Can’t locate “123Free” on YT. Is there another name?

ah misremembered the name slightly, here you go: https://www.youtube.com/user/123Homefree

sorry about that

 

[US RIFLE M1A]

Your post is mostly rambling and difficult to read. However I picked up on one point: 'if defense is not an option.'

Fifteen years ago I gave up a comfortable career and a house in a crowded suburban area to move to an area in which defense WAS an option.

In the words of Ronald Reagan; 'There is no place left to go. This is the last stand on earth.'

 

[citykittyatheart]

Honestly, I give you kudos for thinking things through so thoroughly. IMO there's no such thing as the perfect prepping plan, which is why some say to have Plan B and more so you've got options when Plan A fails. And honestly, having a warehouse full of stuff is only beneficial if you can defend that stuff. It's good that you're looking at a wide range of options.

I agree that wheels to haul stuff would help. I don't drive and my hand carts are very helpful. A garden at home for both food and medicinal/culinary herbs can help. You might consider looking into tabletop hydroponics units to increase your growing space. Yes most of those require power. Kratky jars are passive power-wise but they too have their quirks. It's excellent that you have tight relations with your neighbors. I'm not sure how you are with your food preservation skills. If you lack, that's a place to improve. As for foraging, that's part of how our ancestors survived before grocery stores. It definitely has its problems but what method doesn't. Lastly, remember that after the big die-off those left are going to be smarter, more capable, and possibly meaner so they may become a threat if the opportunity arises. The die-off will clear out the weak, incapable, and unlucky only. Those that are left will be neither weak nor incapable. It doesn't hurt to remember that the person you give a can of food to today will be back again tomorrow, so you're right to not advertise. Happy prepping!

 

[PaulGray]

Well if you are roaming, what about some wheels? Check out 123Free on Youtube... he's a charecter but his wagon is pretty nifty and he has lived in it for years and he forages... Either you love or you hate his personality so I won't discuss that. But he's surviving and fighting for his rights.

Trying to go back to boat living.
Only it's not so cheap as it was.
Licenses are needed for everything and then some.
YET, with the cost of living explosion, and energy costs out of control.
The UK's RPI (retail price index) only has to increase above 15.0% (Current at 12.7%) and what do you know.
It will be cheaper to go back onto the water.
All we need then is a boat, potable water, DERV, and wood to burn.

 

[PaulGray]

Your post is mostly rambling and difficult to read. However I picked up on one point: 'if defense is not an option.'

Fifteen years ago I gave up a comfortable career and a house in a crowded suburban area to move to an area in which defense WAS an option.

In the words of Ronald Reagan; 'There is no place left to go. This is the last stand on earth.'

Rambling and difficult To read?
LOL You sound like my wife!

Anyway, good man was your Ron. Always respected him especially with:-
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"
How right he was then, and how well his words resound today.
Meanwhile. Home defense in the US is way different compared to the Untied (not a typo) Kingdom.
Here the police actively support criminals, and courts are full of examples where self defense is punished "to make a 'clear message' to stay within the law".

 

[PaulGray]

If you have 16 weeks of medication, why not 16 weeks of food as well? Rice and beans are cheap. How are you planning to stay warm?

REply.

UK restrictions won't allow for stockpiling meds.
So medication is definitely going to be harder to come by.
Plus, while foraging, a 'visit' to a pharmacy, doctors, vet, and pet shop, is kinda compulsory.
Our Meds are all standard stuff, nothing exotic.
So after the junkies have finished looting, what they won't have taken is a wide range of 'useless to them' meds.

Why not 16 weeks of food?
We thought about it a lot, packed a couple of packs with our 6 weeks provisioning weight and what we needed to live weight (not including water), and tried to walk around our town.
I stopped at my customary mile. The boss stopped at just under two miles.
Now try 16 weeks weight worth of provisions (not including water)?
The bulk alone is prohibitive enough without the weight plus our kit.
So, leave stuff behind?
OK. Give me a list of what you would leave behind voluntarily.

Keeping warm. Rule of three's. Shelter, fire, water, etc.
Shelter will be what we can enter.
Each have a hammock and lightweight 15 tog bag for winter. 7 tog for warmer times.
The dog? Dunno about that one yet.
A work in progress as when the dog tries to join us in the sack it never works for some reason.
Heat? Depends on the shelter. Plus out little collapsible multi fuel stove.

 

[PaulGray]

Consider a bicycle with a trailer to haul wood, supplies and water.

We thought about that but discounted it.
Wood, local forage and burn,
Water, we process what we need.
Supplies? We take what we need to replace what we have used.
Trialed, and found to work for us.
Trapping and shooting? Ditto as above.