What's in your post-apocalyptic shopping basket.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Last night I had the dream where you find yourself one of a very small percentage of survivors of some global apocalypse.

And I was shopping.

The basic scenario is:
[ul][li]99.9+% of the human population is simply gone[/li][li]The cause of the apocalypse is uncertain[/li][li]There is no electricity; there is running water, sort of, but do you want to risk it?[/li][li]Vehicles are available, but the roads are blocked with piled-up vacant vehicles; refuelling is difficult, as there is no power for the pumps.[/li][li]Most buildings and human dwellings are intact[/li][li]It is uncertain what proportion of non-human life has survived[/ul][/li]
So you’re initially on foot and you happen to be in the locality of a large mega-mart or mall. You are restricted to items that are actually available in your locality (so in my case, guns will be comparatively difficult to source and certainly unavailable at the supermarket)

Lets say you have about an hour in which to grab your items and go; you’re uncertain as to where you will have to go and what will happen after that. You are familiar with the layout of the store.

What’s on your immediate shopping list and why?
(NB: By all means give the basic reasons for your choices, but perhaps we can go into longer-term detail of survival strategies later or in another thread? - this one just deals with your first-grab items and why you grabbed them)

Mine would be something like:
-Sturdy, capacious and ideally waterproof backpack (to make my other shopping easily portable)
-Warm coat, ideally showerproof, with a hood. (I’ll just wear this)
-Stout, comfortable boots with thick grippy soles - probably Doc Marten’s
-Other practical clothing to be worn immediately, plus several pairs of spare socks
-Lightweight and waterproof pac-a-mac type jacket and leggings
-Sleeping bag
-Small selection of hand tools (screwdrivers, adjustable wrench, pliers etc - with a view to opening and/or forcing entry to other places in the immediate future - but probably not too many heavy tools - maybe a claw hammer. Might as well have a small bag of three inch nails too)
-Large sturdy knife (maybe a meat cleaver) and a couple of smaller ones, ideally with proper sheaths.
-A fork and spoon.
-Something in whcih to boil water - a large tin cup will do
-Swiss army knife
-Surgical scissors
-Matches and/or cigarette lighters
-Candles (for emergency light and firelighting)
-Fairly small lightweight torch (probably a 2xAA maglite) and some spare batteries
-String (nylon and cotton types)
-Sewing needles and thread
-Antibiotics (I’ll have to use my toolkit to break into the locked pharmacy back room - If all else fails, I’ll just bag a few things ending in ~mycin and ~cillin)
-Pain killers (the good stuff, since I’ve already broken into the pharmacy)
-Antiseptic/disinfectant in a tough plastic bottle (decant into one if necessary)
-Adhesive plasters and rolled bandages.
-Toothbrush and toothpaste
-Soap
-Small hand towel
-Chocolate, whole salami, dried fruit (energy dense and ready to eat)
-Bottled water (one litre - pick the most durable bottle, plus a smaller hand-sized drinking bottle)
-Multivitamins
-(say) 10 yards of non-fraying rope that will comfortably hold my own weight
-Plastic sheet or lightweight tarpaulin - not too large, but big enough to sleep under.
-a few pocket packs of tissues and moist wipes (don’t laugh - these can be used as toilet paper and to prevent sores and chafing)
-Gloves - several different sorts:
–tough leather all-purpose ones (wear these immediately - a small hand injury could be catastrophic at this stage in the game)
–thin woolen ones for wearing while asleep (don’t want to wake up in a hurry with numb fingers)
–ski-style - waterproof and thickly insulated
–Synthetic rubber gauntlets (for handling any unforseen unpleasantness)

-Notepad and pens
-Plastic bags - probably ziploc type in a few different sizes - the food items, drugs, spare clothing and other moisture-sensitive items would be packed in these before they get stowed in the backpack, but I’ll want some empty bags left over too.

Wow. That’s a longer list than I might have expected, still, I reckon I could gather that quite easily in an hour and I reckon it would mostly pack into a hiker’s backpack and would not be too heavy an assemblage to carry over an indefinite distance. Important to my calculations is the pre-apocalyptic population density here in the UK; I’m not figuring on having to survive in the wilderness, at least not initially - so my shopping basket is intended to get me set up to find a place to hole up (which may or may not be inside a building) for the next night and plan my next scavenging sortie.

2

I’d probably try to also grab a few packets of seeds from the local supermarket—so I can start growing my own food, if I can settle down. (Wouldn’t want to end up eating Spam and pickles forever.)

3

Salt– I will need it for preserving meat, and salt will become precious.
**Booze and cigarattes-- **probably the number one trade item post-apocolypse, I’m betting.
Warm clothing–, well, that one’s obvious.
My dogs and guns– for both hunting and protection
Books– which I need more than food, and will need for reference as to how to preserve foods, make candles, and everything else our great-great-great-great grandmothers knew.
Cans of Ensure and other high-vitamin drinks.– powdered form, too.
First aid and various other pharmecruticals, for both humans and dogs. Particularly anti-diarrhea medicines, aspirin and any antibiotics/painkillers I can find.
Wind-up radio

Everything else, I can steal. :wink:

4

I’d run home as fast as I could.

I’ve already have just about everything on your list (it’s a pretty good one) except for anti-bitotics and pain killers (unless beer and vodka counts).

‘cept your don’t need a spoon and fork. A good knife will do fine.

I have unlimited water at home in natural springs, and shelter.

The first thing that everyone needs is shelter.

Next – water.

Then – food.

So, if I happened to be shopping when this happened, and I still had my Pathfinder and I was at your basic superstore.

I would.

Grab lots and lots of canned goods. Rice and beans as well. All of it. Seeds are a good idea too, if in stock.

More ammo. We are about to become a total barter society. Bullets and canned goods will become the new money.

Gas. If possible. That would take a few extra trips into town, which burns gas. I would consider looking for a horse ranch for a new home. Transportation will be important.

If 99.9% of the population is gone, there will be plenty for all for a very long time.

5

I’ll have to ask my mother. As that’s pretty much the scenerio of the book she’s writing.

Yes, my own mother is immersed in a first person narritative involving the rest of the human population…including me!..disappearing. Yes I’m in therapy. No I’m not sure if it makes it better or worse that she wants me to edit it when she’s done.

All I know is she’s thinking about a generator. One that one person could set up before the grid goes down. Seems a sensible first purchace. That’s what I’d get…if my mother weren’t imagining me out of existence :mad: .

6

I saw on a documentary of women crossing Antarctica or some such that vegetable oil and oatmeal is the optimal weight-to-calorie food. I would get a lot of that, plus vitamin supplements. No one would envy me for it, but I could live off what was in my backback a long time. The goal would be to never have to eat it, to just scavenge constantly.

Hard liquor has got to be the best trade item, as evidenced by my company gift exchange. On the other hand, maybe you want to avoid the sort of people who are interested in liquor all together, post-apocalypse :slight_smile: .

Tarp and heavy sleeping bag have got to be the optimal shelter. I know from experience that it is possible to fold a standard tarp around your sleeping bag so that you remain completely dry in a rain storm. It is better than a tent, because it is small, so you can hide in it, and stay under the wind.

A top-notch pair of binoculars has got to be indispensible. You want to get a good look at people before they see you, so you can decide whether you want to meet them or not.

7

In some sense, the whole answer depends on this assumption. So, I’m just supposing that the store isn’t randomly choses, but I get to pick it, and that I’m in a panic to get stuff—with no real observable pending threat. Cool. That seems fair and gives me latitude. Time of year is a big issue, too. Okay:

I would go to Gander Mountain, IIRC, for my stuff. I’d get:

A Glock pistol. It needs minimal maintenance. My two big fears will be that one or more of the eighty other survivors in my county will snap, and dogs. I reckon that there’ll be a lot of soon-to-be feral dogs running about, getting hungrier and hungrier. That item includes ammunition & magazines.

A rifle or shotgun for accuracy and range. Ammunition, magazines (if appropriate), and cleaning kit included.

Sturdy clothes that are warm, along with good boots. For warmth and comfort. This is dependent on the time of year.

Backpack, sleeping bag, &c. Obvious?

Lighter, flashlight, & firestarting stuff. Ditto?

Food. Camping food, considering where I’m shopping. And cooking utensils.

Socks & Underwear, including long-johns. Socks, especially, since they get a lot of wear & tear.

Hat. For my head.

Gloves.

That’d probably take my hour right there.

After that, I can just wing it. After all, the homes are standing & unoccupied, so finding a place to crash will be easy.

8

I need a good knife, a sheet of plastic, 6 feet of nylon cord, and a set of spiked football pads.

9

good list to start, i’d take that and add in the following;

a good, simple Singlespeed mountain bike, like a Redline Monocog, or Kona Unit, simple, basic, relaible transport, no fancy deraileur system to go out of whack or break, add on front and rear panniers and a tow-behind trailer, a simple, reliable, practically indestructible form of transport

if i was traveling thru an area that had snowfall, i’d upgrade the bike to a Surly Pugsley, a SS with megawide tires, perfect for biking in the snow or sand

i’m mostly set for firearms (Ruger MK II .22, Taurus 689 .357, Mossberg 500 12-gauge), so i’d just get a good reliable scoped rifle (30-30) for hunting purposes, and load up with ammo, also pick up a few canisters of bear-repellent pepper spray (also works on humans)

battery powered lighting instruments i’m all set on, just load up on NIMH rechargable batteries, a solar charger and some primary (non-rechargable) batteries in D, AA, AAA and CR123a size, pick up a couple Coleman Multi-fuel lanterns and a couple Propane/White Gas stoves/heaters

a couple of tents and bear-hooks to keep foodstuff out of the reach of bears and other opportunistic animals

10

[QUOTE=LissaWind-up radio[/QUOTE]

Might not be real useful. The OP specifies no electricity, which would seem to imply no radio broadcasts.

11

There’s a shopping area near my house where I could get:

Flashlight- A small maglite with lots of batteries.
Lighters, matches, fire-starting stuff.
Backpack, sleeping bag, tarp.
Binoculars.
A couple medium sized folding and sheath knives- I’ve already got what I would need, these are for barter.
A little liquor and cigarettes- for barter.
A scoped lond rifle, a shotgun, and a good, powerful pistol. And lots of ammo.
Cold weather clothing.
Water purifier, Iodine tablets and a few liters of water.
Some camping food.

Aside from that there are several horse stables near the house, and I already have a good amount of stuff like axes, shovels, etc. And there are a few farms in the area where I could take up residence/loot additional tools.

12

Yeah, but at some point, survivors are going to try to broadcast messages. I’d just check it periodically.

I can’t see that generators would prove all that useful after a while, because they’d run out of gas. Gas doesn’t keep indefinately-- it goes bad after a few months. I’d rather get some oil lamps. (Many stores, like K-mart sell bottles of lamp oils and they have a longer shelf life.)

Clothes would probably be widely available, even after store looting, as would cigrarette lighters, and kitchen utensils. I see no reason to take them with me when I escape.

The important factor would be to take goods which will NOT be widely available. Salt, for example. You’ll need a shit-load of it for preserving meats, and most people don’t know how to make it once the stores’ supply runs out. A human will die without salt in its diet. I would go to a livestock supply company and load up on salt-lick blocks.

In terms of long-term survival, the place to go would be a farm with horses. You’ll need them for plowing, and in a pinch, you can eat 'em. :wink: Old farmhouses are usually well built, with thick walls and fireplaces.

I’m probably one of the few people who would do well after an apocolypse. I work in a museum, so I’m used to 1800s technology. I know how to make butter and cheese, preserve meats and vegetables, which local herbs have medicinal properties (including birth control), how to hunt and clean animals and tan hides (well, I know the processes historically used-- God knows how well I’d do in reality) and in a pinch, I can spin wool.

13

And I forgot candles and salt.

14

I forgot half a pint of vodka in a plastic bottle and a couple of hats - a warm one and a waterproof one.

15

Duct tape. At least a couple of big rolls.

16

Duct tape. Very good choice.

Those of you saying you’d grab canned food; what sort of canned food? With the possible exception of corned beef, most canned food items aren’t all that energy-dense.

Similarly camping food; most of this seems to cater to convenience (not that this is entirely unimportant) rather than nutrition per unit weight.

17

Combat boots. Or at least real sturdy leather boots that have a good enough sole that they’ll support you if you put all of your weight on that part of your toe that connects directly to your foot, and good enough to crush a few zombie skulls under your feet if need be.

Luckily, due to my military service I already have combat boots. That fit. Sweet.

18

The serious of Foxfire books would be handy. The pretty much explain step buy step how to live a very, very diminutive modern convienience free lifestyle.

19

Cool, I had forgotten what those were called.

20

If I don’t have to leave town, then all I have to pick up is food. I’d hit the local Sam’s Club and load a truck with 50lb. bags of rice and beans. Everything else I’ve got.

If I have to leave town, then I’d just pare down the food list and load it and the cats into the truck and head up the mountain a ways. All my equipment is already packed into duffle bags, so it only takes a few minutes to pack. Grab a few of the guns, toss the ammo boxes into the truck, crack a beer and head off into the wild.

Oh, I would stock up on rechargable batteries. I have several solar trickle chargers, so they should last for some time, and I also have a battery-powered pump. Gas isn’t going to be a problem.