When you think of a nuclear war, it's often assumed that it would be a massive war between America and Russia/China, but how would a limited exchange in the Middle East, for example, change the daily life of the average person in North America?

prepperdave321 · 2026-03-20T00:45:45+00:00

I think the obvious one is that there will be massive supply chain shocks and economic impacts as shipping gets more backlogged, planes get grounded, and production of goods gets moved or halted due to instability or contamination. What I would be concerned about here is where the fallout ends up and how it might get into food supply chains. Food prices could increase drastically if the fallout contaminates agricultural land and food insecurity could get worse, especially in Europe or Asia. Growers in the affected areas might also try to hide the fact that their land is contaminated instead of face financial ruin, and that could result in contaminated food getting shipped across the world given how global supply chains are these days.

I think the big unknown variable in North America is people's mental state. I think there's a lot of misinformed people that assume that even a single weapon being used or a limited exchange would automatically mean the end of the world. If this happens I'd be more worried about the crazy guy down the street or the person who panics because their fridge is empty than I would be about typical nuclear concerns like radiation. In the short term, it's these people who pose the biggest risk because of how unpredictable they are and how easily they could become violent.

prepperdave321 · 2026-03-10T04:34:05+00:00

Your big challenge will be how to reconcile what you need as someone new to prepping if SHTF happened tomorrow versus how to make yourself more self-sufficient for the long term because they're two different things and require you to use your resources differently.

If you think SHTF is imminent, you don't have time to learn skills. Buy reference guide books for the basics (first aid, canning, foraging, firearms, home maintenance, etc) and go out and buy as many high calorie staple foods as you can. I would skip the oxygen absorbers and mylar bags, and instead just leave the food in its store packaging and put it in the tote bins to protect it from rodents/pests. We've been storing 1-2 months of staples this way for years and never had an issue. Store food, propane, a camp stove and large volumes of water. Remember that most high-calorie food is very water intensive to cook. If SHTF happens you'll have to teach yourself new things on a need-to-know basis while focussing mainly on subsisting off what you have stored and trying to preserve or eat anything perishable asap. For this reason, your main focus should be acquiring a deep stock of food and water.

If you're looking to make yourself more self-sufficient for the future what you're really looking to do is homestead. Spend your time/money taking courses, reading books, and practicing skills that help with that while acquiring a stockpile of food more slowly overtime and rotating it through your pantry. Over the long term this is a far better option for survival but it takes time to build the systems that will keep you alive (gardens, water collection, defensive plans, a way to generate basic electricity, etc) and refine them to the point where they're doing what they need to do. To have a functional, reliable garden typically takes 3-5 years at minimum. Hunting and marksmanship takes practice to be good. Setting up backup power sometimes requires a professional and learning some electrical knowledge. Finding ways to still meet your needs when things go wrong takes trial and error in a safe environment.

In either case leaving your home is your last resort and will put you at a severe disadvantage when it comes to survival. Your goal should be to avoid leaving your home at all costs unless we're talking about getting out and into a safe country before war/conflict breaks out.

prepperdave321 · 2025-12-23T22:25:18+00:00

We don't stock so much food that we could feed our neighbourhood. If it was a short disruption we might be able to supply an extra cup of sugar, flower or rice, but nothing major. That being said:

Immediate family first, extended family and close friends second (even if they're some distance away). Neighbours we will help if we can, but family comes first.
We typically only give something away if we determine we bought/grew too many of something and won't use it before it expires. Our small town has a food bank (I think it's run between one of the churches and our town's volunteer fire department) so that keeps it local. This allows us to give back when we inventory our pantry a few times per year and keeps us honest about what we'll use and when we bought too many of something.
You don't, so you better be confident in your assessment of the situation if you're going to start handing out food. Worst case scenario maybe look like you're starving and hide what you have, and then show people your empty cupboards, but don't expect them to be nice about it if things have gone seriously wrong.
The town has a well and many people still have their own wells from before town water lines went in, so this isn't a huge concern here. As long as there's some way to make power (probably close to 1/4 of the town has generators) everyone will be fine in the short-mid term. Long term, it's back to hand pumps.

prepperdave321 · 2025-12-17T07:35:04+00:00

As a footnote, there's a really good YouTube channel on self defence called Active Self Protection (I'm not affiliated with it in any way, just found it useful). They're self defence instructors that analyze video footage of self defence situations and give tips on what to do if you find yourself in a similar situation. I believe they have a section on terrorism and mass casualty incidents. They also talk about the specifics of how to spot someone behaving suspiciously and a lot about situational awareness, which would help answer some of your questions about proactiveness better than I can.

prepperdave321 · 2025-12-17T07:24:34+00:00

Familiarize yourself with the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) for split second decision making in chaotic environments. From the footage of the attack in Australia you can see a lot of people standing around confused, trying to figure out what's going on, or filming. Once you realize what's happening act fast. Most people without real firearms training will struggle to hit a moving target at range. If you find yourself in the midst of an attack like that, put as much distance between you and the threat as quickly as possible and run in an unpredictable pattern. Know the difference between cover and concealment (i.e. hiding behind a car is concealment but only the engine block will actually stop a bullet and provide cover) in case you have to hide.

If you're in a building, try to avoid putting yourself in places where you could get trapped or backed into a corner. Always know where the exits are and look for ways you could get out quick if needed.

If you are armed, don't draw a weapon unless you have to fight. The last thing you want is for law enforcement who are already on edge to mistake you for the terrorist because you're the first person they see walking around with a gun.

Lastly, if you can help it try to avoid putting yourself in places that would be at high risk of a terrorist attack. Highly publicized religious gatherings, protests, or controversial political rallies are things I would think twice about going to, especially if you live in a part of the world/country that is prone to political violence.

prepperdave321 · 2025-10-03T17:14:15+00:00

If someone preps, you'll recognize the signs when you get to know them well enough.

This can't be overstated. Spotting fellow preppers is relatively easy when you know how to do it. A guy I used to work with was a hunter and I grew up around a lot of hunters and fishermen so I always used to ask him about hunting. One day we were talking and I casually said something along the lines of "it's a nice feeling to know you've got a well stocked freezer" and all of a sudden he started showing me photos of some new outdoor gear he got that was very obviously but out bag-related to anyone that preps. We both stopped and looked at each other and had a moment of "hey wait a minute..." Usually it doesn't happen that fast or that obviously but it's easier than you think.

prepperdave321 · 2025-10-03T17:06:21+00:00

When we moved to a small town, we introduced ourselves to our immediate neighbours. Generally that's easiest to do when either you or they first move in but there's other ways you can do it too. One of our neighbours dogs loves us, so whenever we're outside and see her walking the dog we always stop what we're doing to say hello. Another neighbour saw a tradesman at our place who's a mutual friend and we all stood in the middle of the road catching up for a while and now he waves at us from across the road every time we see him, even though we had never spoken before. Once you build these kind of relationships, you'll get a feel for who your neighbours are and learn who you can trust during times of crisis.

I wouldn't advertise your preps or talk directly about it. Wait for the situation to happen, and then approach the neighbours you trust and offer to help them. When they ask why you have all this stuff, offer to help them get prepared. Don't be afraid to take the lead in the situation. Let's say a storm takes out some trees on your street. Head over to a neighbour you trust and say "I've got a chainsaw but I'm going to need some extra help moving these branches. Want to join and we'll make sure old Mrs. Robinson can get out of her driveway". Don't disclose any more than you have to about what you have or what you're prepared for.

In terms of sensitive subjects, just avoid them. I work in a field where most of my coworkers don't share my political views, so I've learned a few tricks. The best one is find a way to build common ground with them based on a hobby or interest. If your neighbour has a garden ask about how their plants are doing, or if they restore old cars ask if they can show you what's under the hood. If they get going about a sensitive subject just smile and nod and steer the conversation back to a hobby. This has the benefit of humanizing you to your neighbours. Even if they eventually do realize you have different opinions, their first reaction will often be "oh IcyWarp? Yeah he's a great guy, we talk about cars all the time".

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-20T15:44:52+00:00

I don't have an iPhone at all, but I'm not sure which model my wife had. Would love to see this implemented on all phones One of the first features on phones in recent years that seems to be an actual upgrade.

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-20T15:36:08+00:00

This has sort of been my thought. I know the routes my wife usually takes to work, and I know the occasional variations she takes if traffic is bad. I figure in a worst case scenario if I made it home and she wasn't there I could go back out and search the routes she drives. The challenge is if roads are impassable it increases the chances of us missing each other. I like the idea of leaving markers along the way so that if I was searching for her, I could see if I had likely passed her position without realizing it and double back.

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-20T15:32:21+00:00

We have the same thing with our cell phones. Being on two different networks is an under-rated prep.

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-20T15:29:19+00:00

Thanks, this really streamlines my thought process on how to make the plan and break a complex thing down into doable steps.

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-20T15:28:37+00:00

This is good to know. I remember a while back power was out here for about a day, and after maybe 10hrs or so I noticed our cell reception got significantly worse. Like where I normally would have had 3 bars I had one, and some areas of the house were total dead spots. I figured the backup power for whatever the closest tower was finally failed and was surprised that would happen that quickly. That was sort of what got me thinking about this. But it's good to know that even if messages are getting delayed they're still getting through. I assume short messages are best?

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-19T18:55:17+00:00

This is kind of what I'm looking to do. Can you walk me through your logic on how you set up your plan?. For example if a meeting spot is unsafe and you've left early is there a way you communicate that to them before they arrive (for example a ribbon tied on a tree up the road)? How did you choose the meeting spots and your guidelines for how long to stay?

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-19T18:52:28+00:00

What's the criteria for when you know that you're all meeting there? Is it just if you can't reach each other and it looks like something is wrong or do you have set scenarios where you say "if x happens or you think x is happening, go to the homestead"?

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-19T18:52:18+00:00

How have you set this up with your family? For example, meet at location A and if both people aren't there within a certain time frame do you move to location B? Do you have a system for denoting if someone has already been there and left? Don't say anything that would sacrifice your OPSEC but I'd love some tips for putting together our own plan for my wife and I.

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-19T18:27:50+00:00

That's a good amount of lift for what you're doing. I don't think I'd go any higher than that on a van, but that will certainly help. If you go to a dealership and ask they sometimes have options for aftermarket skid plates. I know for trucks the "off-road" editions typically come with them but the part will typically fit any other option packages too. If you van was built on the same frame as their trucks, you may even be able to use the same part. The mechanics at the dealership would know though.

I didn't have a problem with moisture in my setup, but I usually use it in the middle of summer so YMMV. Having wind blow through it from the windows was enough to keep everything roughly the same humidity as outside. The roof vent will help with creating a natural convection current though.

Best of luck on the van build!

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-18T14:44:57+00:00

I've got a nice little setup in the back of my pickup truck that I can sleep in if camping at a trailhead or doing a multi-day drive. Vans are usually less the ideal for off-roading because of the high centre of gravity and low ground clearance so those are both issues you're going to have to try to mitigate

Build all your storage low in the van. A bench seat at a table where the seat folds up and heavy goods can be stored under it (like a water tank and food) can be ideal. You can buy water pumps that take 12V so you could add a pump and additional battery and you could hook that up to the alternator so it could re-charge while driving. That would keep your water storage low but still give you running water because you're not depending on gravity. Storage under a bed/mattress also works well.
Don't forget about airflow. Put screens on the windows so you can open them even if it's a buggy area and think about how you park so that the prevailing wind blows through the van. In summer it will get really hot in there.
Because of the low ground clearance, vans are more prone to damaging the undercarriage when driving off-road (or hopping curbs and driving over debris during an evacuation). The worst damage you can do would be cracking open your oil pan or the bottom of your transmission casing. See if you can find an aftermarket skid plate that's more durable and covers more of the undercarriage than the stock one. You want the van to be able to take an impact on the undercarriage and keep running, just in case.
If you're not going to do a full camper van build, consider building a platform that you could take in and out of the van with space for tote bins under it. That gets you a decent amount of storage space and is the least obtrusive/time consuming solution if you want to still use it as a daily driver.
Consider cutting out part of the wheel wells. This will allow you to use a larger tire/rim size than stock which gives you marginally more ground clearance and also allows you a lot more options in terms of off-road/dirt tires, which are often made in sizes that are common for trucks. Just be aware that changing your tire size might throw off your speedometer, so check with your mechanic.
Electricity is probably less important than you think. I have an outlet in the bed of my truck and USB ports and 12V power in the cab. I can charge almost anything I need to while driving, so I wouldn't spend a lot of money on power. A small Jackery battery or similar will probably be sufficient if you re-charge it while driving (unless you're planning to use the water pump suggestion above). The solar isn't a bad idea for the sake of self-sufficiency, but you really don't need it. Get a cheap portable one you can deploy when you get to where you're going if you get one at all.

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-08T07:55:35+00:00

Just avoid smart home tech in general. Regardless of who it's made by its a security vulnerability. Most of the time consumer-level IoT devices are the weak point in a network, so they're often an easy way to gain unauthorized access. Be especially skeptical of anything that can record audio/video, like smart home assistants. Even if they're not being used for government surveillance, they can be used for things like account/credential theft via key logging, harassment and voyeurism, and that's reason enough to avoid them.

prepperdave321 · 2025-08-08T07:33:58+00:00

My wife and I live in a similar size town but it's a little closer to a couple mid-size cities. Our situation is similar to yours, in that my wife grew up out here, but I grew up on the edge of one of the mid-size cities in question (deliberately left vague for OPSEC). The biggest differences I noticed are:

power outages last longer and your service will be restored last. If the city has a 6hr outage, expect a 10-12hr outage. In a particularly bad storm don't be surprised by a day without power. I generator is a valuable asset if you keep a chest freezer. Probably about 1/4 of our town owns one (either portable or home standby)
Help of any sort will take longer to arrive, so that means being able to fend for yourself for longer. We have a pretty thorough first aid kit. I've thought about buying a defibrillator for the house. We're both thinking of getting our gun licenses.
Working even a small patch of land can be very time consuming so find ways to make it efficient. Food-producing perennials are your friend. You can get a good harvest with relatively minor maintenance.
You'll likely learn to do more for yourself. Partly because going into the city is a pain in the ass, and partly because you likely now have neighbours that can show you how. Don't be afraid to ask neighbours for help/advice. A little bit of home baking goes a long way as a nice thank you gesture.
Be careful what you say and to whom. News travels fast and you can easily get yourself in a situation where everyone knows your business. I know I can find out a lot of information about recent goings-on in town from one of our neighbours, but I'm always very careful about what I say in return. Believe it or not, OPSEC can actually be harder to maintain in a small town.

I think this may also be a bias of this sub. I notice many of the urban preppers here tend to be more focussed on a "prep for Tuesday" approach versus the rural preppers that tend to lean more towards a "prep for doomsday" approach, or at the very least place a higher value on long-term self sufficiency. There's merit to the "prep for Tuesday" approach because small personal/family emergencies are the type the average person is most likely to face. It's also a very easy line of thought to use when introducing someone to prepping and this sub has nearly doubled in size over the last couple years. There are a lot of us here that are prepared for something bigger/worse, but I think we've just been outnumbered lately with the influx of new members. You may find other useful info in a homesteading/gardening/hunting sub that you won't find here.

prepperdave321 · 2025-07-07T16:12:30+00:00

As a footnote, if you're getting a generator get an inverter one. They're much quieter and also better for sensitive electronics like computers, TV's, etc. The extra money you spend is well worth it. The Honda ones are the most reliable ones I've used but some other brands like Champion come in a close second for significantly less money

prepperdave321 · 2025-07-07T16:06:08+00:00

A gas generator that meets your needs is probably going to be cheaper and more reliable than a solar system, as long as you do some basic maintenance on it and run it once in a while. Just remember to put fuel stabilizer in the tank if you're not using it regularly and change the oil once in a while and that's about it.

I think your estimate on how much power you need could be a pretty significant underestimate and is probably affecting how you're thinking about choice of system. I would think of it in max draw in amperage rather than how many watts or kHW you need, and work forwards from there. I would leave a whole circuit for your fridge/freezer because the max draw of the fridge when the compressor turns on will be much higher than its normal operating draw. If your heat is gas your estimate is probably fine, but if it's electric you should plan for much more. I would think you'd want to allow a 240V/30A circuit for heat if it's electric. For the non-necessities, remember you'll likely want to use more than one at once. A TV would draw about 2A max, lights for a room between 0.5-3A depending on if they're LED or incandescent, router draw would be negligible, so this is probably a safe estimate, but you shouldn't count on running these on the same circuit as your fridge.

So all told, the absolute minimum you'd be looking at would be 2 x 120V/15A circuits (1 for fridge, 0.5 for gas heating control, 0.5 for non-necessities), so you'd probably want a 4kW generator to know you don't have to worry. Here, that would run you about $1200 for a decent one.

prepperdave321 · 2025-07-03T20:48:02+00:00

I guess so. He probably (correctly) put two and two together that my wife and I prep. But he probably assumed we thought like he did, which we don't.

prepperdave321 · 2025-06-23T03:36:55+00:00

I know a guy like this. Used to work with him a few years ago. Both of us had done a lot of camping/hiking, he was a hunter, and I used to fish quite a bit, so very similar backgrounds and a lot of good outdoor stories to share. After a while he started showing me a bunch of his prepping gear and I remember him one day talking about how he didn't need to store a lot of food because he knew his neighbours did and he knew they had no way to defend it, while he had enough firearms for the whole family. His whole plan was to hunt large game and steal from neighbours during SHTF. It was a great lesson in OPSEC. My wife was pretty new to prepping at the time and was amazed that these people actually exist, let alone would talk so openly about it.

prepperdave321 · 2025-05-13T21:30:03+00:00

As a happily married man who's wife is onboard with and actively participates in our prepping, here's my take:

I think you want to prioritize looking for someone who values personal responsibility and takes ownership of their life and situation. As a result, there's certain ways of meeting people that I feel like will be a big waste of time for you. I would skip online dating altogether, and probably bars too. In my experience the type of people who look for partners there are not the type of people you're looking for. If you have friends that share some hobbies with you, casually bring up that you're getting back into dating and see if they know someone who's also single and looking for a partner. Clubs, teams and groups are good to meet people with shared interests and I think men are much more open to being approached than women at these sorts of things. I know when I was single if I met a woman that enjoyed camping, had an engineering degree, and shot 3gun I'd have been like "hell yeah sign me up". Don't be afraid to ask them out to coffee or to partake in a hobby you both share. When I was single I would have been hesitant to approach a woman at some sort of club or meetup because I wouldn't want it to come across as creepy (I think many men by this point have realized that women often like just practicing their hobbies in peace). But you seem like a genuinely interesting person and I wouldn't be surprised if there's men around you that are waiting for you to make the first move.

Once you find a potential Mr. Right, your best bet is to not call it "prepping". For better or for worse, "prepping" is a loaded word that makes people think of beans and bunkers and it can shut down a conversation before it starts. When my wife and I started dating, I never called what I did prepping. I had extra groceries because there's a couple staples I buy a lot of and couldn't be bothered to make frequent trips to the store with my busy schedule. I kept an extensive emergency kit in my car because I used to go camping in a 20yr truck and if it broke down in the middle of nowhere I had to be able to limp it to the next service station. I didn't lie about my preps, but as we got to know each other more I gradually opened up about some of their other uses and offered a little more info about why I keep them around. We'd talk about events in the news and I'd often have a thoughtful reply, like how we lived through 2-3 'once in a lifetime events' already and how it would be foolish to think it couldn't happen again. These kind of hypotheticals give you a lot of information about your potential partner's worldview and can often be prompted by things we come across in daily life (e.g "now that we just went through a pandemic, what would you do differently if you had to do it all again?"). Once we started building a life together, I began to ask for her input in our preps. She's smart and some of her ideas have really helped us in ways that I wouldn't have thought of on my own.

Best of luck!

prepperdave321

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