Do what do you plan to buy when you go shopping right after the Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF)?
It’s a commonly asked and debated question on many prepping forums and websites, and it’s also a question that Spice and I have a rather non-traditional answer to.
Shopping Right After The SHTF
What would Spice or I go shopping for if the SHTF?
Absolutely nothing.
In fact, instead of shopping we have plans to consolidate around our preps, communicate with the rest of our extended prepping group/family and coordinate our actions.
Wait, What? Give Up What May Be Your Last Chance To Shop For The Duration?
Absolutely.
Here’s why.
Both Spice and I believe that the best way to keep safe in almost every SHTF situation is to be consolidated with our group, whether that’s just the two of us or an extended group of people… and that we should be at least to some degree isolated from others.
The LAST thing we want to do is to go to a mass gathering of people who will be moving emotionally from concerned, through annoyed, on past angry on into a desperate emotional panic.
When people realize that they may, in fact, be in real trouble and unable to feed their children or themselves, they will start doing stupid and violent things… and we have no intention to be anywhere near them.
Will There Really Be A Panic?
Take a moment and watch the following video:
People literally about to be crushed to death in a stampeed, and for what? Cheap prices on TV’s & game consoles.
Here’s another Black Friday story as store associates literally fear for their lives at a Victoria’s Secret shop in Tennessee:
Black Friday mob at Tennessee Victoria’s Secret terrifies sales associate
Seriously, lives are on the line as people scramble for discounted (but still overpriced) women’s underwear? You can’t make this stuff up. Well, OK, I suppose you COULD make this stuff up but nobody would believe you if you did.
If The SHTF It Would Be Orders Of Magnitude Worse
In the above examples, people were just getting discounts on stuff they don’t really “need”. If the S has truly HTF and people rush to the store to buy food to feed their families, bottled water, etc. they are realizing that the very survival of their family is on the line.
Add to this the following: If the power is out, then most stores (the vast majority) will close. Even if the store has a backup generator, it still is very likely to be unable to process credit cards, causing HUGE issues as desperate people without cash get told they can’t buy the supplies their family needs to survive.
That’s a scene that’s going to get ugly very quickly, and in a lot of areas it will be an hour or even less before shopping turns to all-out looting.
I don’t know of a single sane prepper who wants to be anywhere near a looting mob, let along being a part of it.
We sure don’t.
So What Do We Do?
Here’s a great thought exercise.
Let’s say you want to play the game and think “OK, the S has HTF in a big way, what would I rush to the store and buy?”
Go ahead, make a list. We will wait.
OK, got your list made? If not, please stop now and write it out.
Now, you have your list let’s continue.
Take the list that you have made, stick it in your pocket or purse if it’s on paper or take a picture of it with your phone or whatever, then head on out to the store.
Select everything that isn’t immediately perishable (i.e. no milk, eggs or bread) and put all of it into a shopping cart. Take that cart to the cash register, and go ahead and buy it.
Take it home.
Now? You don’t have to go to the store at the last minute any more, except for bread, milk or eggs,
For those two things, you will need to come up with some type of longer-term storage substitues, whether it’s keeping four on hand or buying canned bread (yes, that is a thing) and powdered milk or whatever.
Start Yourself A Rotation Plan
You doubtless picked up a bunch of stuff that doesn’t have a long shelf life, so you need to either develop a rotation plan or add this new stock of supplies to the plan you have.
We use a can rotation system at our house, and that can system contains foods that we do eat on a regular basis, so it’s a rare thing if we have a can go bad (we’ve had one can go bad on us in the last 10 years, and it wasn’t even out of ‘best by’ date, which means it was defective).
Find A Way Now To Stock Up On Your Medicines
Even worse, perhaps, than a grocery store or big-box center for post SHTF shopping will be the pharmacy. Everything is computerized for them now, and they depend on having 100 percent online capacities, due to all of the legal and insurance stuff they have to go through.
Can you imagine what it would be like after the S has HTF to stand for hours at a line in a pharmacy as people are finding out that they can’t get their medicines?
I can, and I want no part of that.
Seem Silly?
I’ll bet that not one person who reads this has actually done what I suggested, which is to go to the store and buy the stuff yet.
It sounds silly.
It’s not. Go back up and watch that video again. Let that sink into your mind… if the SHTF, and if your family is depending upon you, do you REALLY want to be in a situation like? Or even worse, as a rush for food might be?
No sane prepper would say yes.
Our advice is to pull the trigger now and get what you would buy at the last minute except for perishable items… and buy some long-lasting substitutes for the perishable foods.
If the SHTF, consolidate around your preps and stay away from angry mobs of looters.
Pro Tip: If you for some reason MUST for some reason, take cash. LOTS of cash. Grab what you need and get out as quickly as possible.
Pre-Y2K Central Texas weather forecast was for freezing rain, sleet, snow the coming Mon night.
On the way home the prior Fri – stopped at the store – no problems, shelves and such were full. Talked with a Mgr I knew, asked him if they were planning/stocking for the big rush that was going to come. He laughed and said, “We’ve got it covered.”
Sun just after Noon, wife had me go to the store to get a couple of items she needed for a cake she was baking to take to work with her Mon AM. Went to the store. ALL checkout lines were 10 to 12 customers deep. I saw the same manager and he showed me the food and camping gear and such aisles.
Except for a few loves of Artsy Fartsy Artisan bread, the bread aisle was empty, including all the flour and corn tortillas. Most of the canned aisles were obviously very picked over, a number of areas on the shelves were empty. No bottled water, milk, or beer.
AND THIS was just a once every 5 to 10 years “snow” day. So, if you wait you can take the list noted above with all the stuff that you haven’t already purchased and have at the house and set it on fire for as much good it will do. The food will be gone already.
During 9/11 I went into the gas station, on my way to grab the kids outta school, and filled up and while everyone was glued to the tv I also bought the 1 gas can they had and filled it up too. I had plenty but was there so I did what t thought was smart at the time. People were still stuck on X though.
I’d never go out after an hard event but I’d love to watch. In the first few hours when they can still buy things they will buy frozen foods etc. I’m betting the first few hours, of uh-oh this is bad, 2/3-3/4 are taking useless items like electronics and makeup.
Around here there’s gonna be a bunch of carjackings on super heavy duty molon labe spartan sticker pickups who pretend to carry guns but really just have selfie safe queens to compliment their beards and tats while wearing really flip flops in public. They have no food cause it isn’t cool like their ATV, Seadoo and things mentioned above.
Sad as it sounds people will still be breaking in doors to steal TV’s and Game controllers. Most sheeple are stupid as well as clueless and won’t believe that the world won’t come back. That being said I an with you. if I don’t have it now I won’t have it after SHTF cause I ain’t going anywhere near a store if the balloon goes up
A very timely article, thank you! A semi-prepper old buddy asked me about the lack of civil discourse and possible violence. Between Black Friday mobs and depending on WHAT is the root cause of the SHTF situation any prepper should have even less reason to head out into Chaos. Power Failure, Bank Holiday, EBT failure are you willing to be injured-killed for that bag of food? Severe Flu etc. want to bring home an exposure?
Scared trigger happy Law Enforcement will see all parties in “Looting-Riot” as Bad Guys. Even preppers simply trying to buy some extra eggs. Showing your armed will bring a BAD response. Look to Katrina for details.
Slightly off topic so feel free to edit out but a few of the critical items for Chaos I never see mentioned are Pre Cut heavy wire to cover your windows ready to install to prevent rocks/flaming bottles of gasoline from visiting. With a little thought you can protect sliding glass doors likewise. Rolls of heavy black plastic and clear plastic to provide quick repair of broken windows (it’s 2 degrees outside right now a bunch of broken windows would be awful) Black out curtains as so your house does not become a “Please ROB Me” Beacon at night. Repairs of holes in roof/walls, rainwater collection with 550 cordage and pebbles as tie points and many other uses. As I told my buddy when you KNOW it’s Trouble Wal-Mart and Home Depot will be gone. Nuff for now. Otherwise this would become a dealing with Chaos article in it’s self.
On your tie off point idea lifting weights are great. Cheap at yard sales too.
After reading all the reply’s I think Matt has it about right. I think if your smart you will have already what you will need.
It depends on what type of S has HTF, and the situation at the store. If the crisis is severe and the situation at the store is calmish, it makes sense to load up with more stuff. After all, if the crisis is bad, cash may not be worth anything in a few days. Also, does anyone really have enough food? What is enough? If you have enough, isn’t more still better? I wouldn’t jeopardize my safety to get some last minute items, but for me it would be prudent to at least scope out the situation and get more stuff if it looks like the risk is minimal. Assuming a normalcy bias for most people, if you move fast enough, you may be able to get in that last minute shopping with minimal risk. If things look bad, go home, no harm, no foul.
As much as I agree there is a small family owned farm/feed store near me, no traffic lights and only 1 stop sign between us and them. Very tempting, depending on the nature of the event. Rural, so we may have the benefit of some extra time before things go completely sideways, and that might be true in a lot of rural America. They stock injectable Pen G, oxytetracycline, and tetanus toxoid among other medical perishables that might have very good barter potential in a severe event. Plus back up the truck and purchase as much field corn, apples, and sugar beets (game bait, mostly) and Dog Chow as they’d sell me for cash or PMs.
Depends on the event and what the radio scanner says is going on locally of course, just very tempting. Some ‘really might want to have’ perishable items are difficult to stock in SHTF quantities without wasting money restocking them when they expire / rot unused. Those that have been preparing for more than a decade or two might agree anyway, I’m spending about $50-100 each year to restock long expired (5-7 year old) medicines now as example. Sometimes the S doesn’t HTF when you thought it would, and it’s only possible to rotate so much without it spoiling.
I’ll admit I didn’t actually make the list you commanded, but I have given a LOT of thought to what I would want to run out and buy if I had an hour notice. Animal feed is HIGH on that list. I can’t stock enough, but I am working on a way to keep a few hundred pounds on premises. The only other thing I feel I need more of is batteries. ( I recently found that on of my best lights uses “C” batteries…who has C batteries put back? Not me and how long this light worked on the original pair is why it is my “best light”.) So, I am going to get an 8 or 16 pack of C batteries the next time I am out at the battery store (yes, there actually is a battery store in a local city. LOL) And once I have the animal feed situation worked out I will have no reason to go out after the SHTF. Thank you for the nudge to get those items now.
it’s pricey, but you can get C rechargeable batteries and an all-size batter charger. I’ve got some and they work well, but they are not free by a long shot. Still, the fit both our “reduce, reuse, recycle” mentality and our prepper needs.
Nothing, Absolutely nothing.
I read the comments and think to myself “how do ya know what’s really going on? How does one make the determination to risk that ‘one more stop’?”
911 is a good example, Boom, the first plane hit, everyone sat watching the TV or listened to the radio like a bunch of Zombies, Boom the second hit…. I’m out of there; I headed home without even saying a word, and without stopping anywhere.
Sorry, I don’t need that dozen eggs thank you very much.
Why? Because we really had zero idea what was really going on…. Correct?
Y2K, rolling blackouts, the Flu season, AND Black Friday, those are easy, we ALL know what’s coming, and we know we’re short on eggs, so why the heck don’t ya have 5 dozen in the fridge?
Same way with the upcoming Economic crash, or whatever the heck you want to dream up, why are people not ready for TSHTF? UGHHHHH
AND why are people not thinking 3 days ahead? Tis frustrating, to say the least, to think that 95% of the people will die if an EMP, Facts not fiction, look it up on the .gov sites.
So stopping at a store if/when…… No thank you, preparing is cheap if you look at it as Insurance…. AND you’re going to eat it anyways, so why not stock up for a year than cycle it out as you need food/water/meds, whatever???????
If/When, get yourself home or wherever, Hunker Down, and find out what’s going on before you go to Wally World for that flat of eggs.
I no longer need to stop at wally world but up until 2 years ago my wife was a cashier there. The plan was I would stop as I headed for home. She would be outside away from the madness and I would pick up. No store clerk in there right mind would be inside trying to deal with the crazies. She doesn’t work there now so I will just get home asap.
“last load of laundry.” That might be the best last minute prep I ever heard of! Good one DMWALSH568.
Living in Florida, I see the Un-Prepped Freak-Out Show during every Hurricane that comes to Florida. No bread, no canned goods, no bottled water, lines for gas, etc. No thanks.
I, too, see the un-prepared freak out show before every predicted snow storm. I call them the “French toast crew”….Milk, bread and eggs. LOL
I wash all the laundry before snow storms (and would do the same just before/right after a SHTF event). Run the dishwasher and fill EVERYTHING I can find with water. Ok, I’m exaggerating, I currently fill every empty jug I have left unfilled that week. But if the SHTF I will be filling everything I can find with water and keep doing it until the power goes out…I love my well, I hate power outages because NO water comes from my tap instantly upon power out. This includes dumping the out of season clothing out of the totes I store it in and filling those. Pots, bowls, jugs, wheel barrow, lined trash cans, etc. As long as the power held out I would be filling things. I have always wondered why the un-prepared don’t refill those jugs of water they panic buy every snowstorm and put them in the garage for the next time. But I guess that’s why they fall into the “un-prepared” category. (Yes, I have prepped a way to get water from the well if the power never comes back on. But if I am just facing a couple of weeks I don’t want to have to break that prep out of the box, so I would be running taps full blast for as long as the power held )
Wouldn’t it be nice to *see* though that the pump solution worked? I’ve had ugly surprises when what I thought would be a great prep had a missing part upon unboxing. You know your situation best; just a thought.
Spice, I did unbox it and made sure I had all the parts, bought some redundant clamps and salvaged some piping. To be honest with you, I can draw the water up in a bucket if it fails, I am just thinking how labor intensive that will be for a group, so I invested money in a back up hand pump. (now to do those sit up to keep my back in shape, cuz even hand pumping is labor intensive. LOL)
Some genuinely excellent info , Glad I found this.