When SHTF what material item will you miss the most?

A fucking rope.

For hanging myself.

All the other items I don't really need.

Because humans and their genetic make-up are designed for the species to live on their own without all those items, which are in itself just luxuries.

I will struggle to stay alive until the last moment and just before there is nothing I cannot try but die, I will go hang myself just not to let the environment kill me and give them the final win.

Antibiotics really. While one can stock up on "fish" antibiotics, and some will be available in rural feed supply stores, antibiotics will be impossible to reproduce anymore in a collapse where it's a SHTF scenario.

Coffee doesn't grow in the USA except for Hawaii. That means when the supply of green coffee runs out, the kind that you can roast yourself, and grind as needed, then there won't be any coffee for almost all of us. If trade networks get reestablished, then some coffee is grown in Latin America (Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, etc) and Mexico and some could end up in the USA again.

Black tea will grow in some regions of the USA, but there likely will not be much of it and none for trade. It's really the only safe form of caffeine. Other than that I only know of one rare plant that produces caffeine, and I have researched it for years, so practically everyone will be going through the worst caffeine deprivation headaches at the same time. The one plant to produce caffeine other than coffee or tea also induces vomiting (if carelessly ingesting it) so I doubt anyone bothers trying to cultivate/harvest it.

I'd guess that sugar would be the next most food item. While corn syrup can be extracted from corn stalks, and maple syrup seasonally extracted with the winter thaw, not too many people grow sugar beets. This means a real shortage of sweetener. There probably will not be any more jellies or jams. This means only dehydrating fruits. Forget about pies.

I know a lot of people are thinking bees and honey, but then they probably haven't considered the death of so many bee hives. It's a very dire situation. As the hives collapse more and more, it will be dangerous to harvest any wild bee honey and few apiaries will be willing to part with their honey.

While it's certainly possible to gather wheat or rye or barley, some will still have grains which will rise with leavening. That's likely going to be natural yeasts from grapes or sourdough. Often ashcakes made from the leavening of wood ash.

The main issue is grinding the wheat into flour. While it's possible, in a SHTF scenario, the amount of effort to grind grain into flour creates a situation of using up more calories than gained by hand-milling. Few people have a working quern or even know what one is. Preppers have hand mills, but they will break down under heavy use.

When the pool shock runs out, then there won't be anymore chlorine. While water can be purified with a biosand filter, it's only 95% effective. The only absolutely certain way to prevent illness from pathogens will be to use chlorination.

It's possible to make iodine from black walnuts, something I've discussed in the link below (you'll have to search for black walnut and iodine). Most people won't know how to do it so they won't know how to produce iodine to purify their water (only a minute amount is needed).
Thread: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF (Page 39)

That means a lot of goiters will begin appearing again other than folks who can safely consume seafood or seaweeds. Given the poisoning of the Pacific Coast from Fukushima, or the Gulf of Mexico around to Florida from Corexit, then a lot of the seafood will not be fit for consumption.

Salt will be a major problem.. While there used to be lots of natural "licks" where something like salt could be gathered (it wasn't necessarily sodium chloride), or salt mines used to be prevalent, nowadays there are only a small number of working salt mines. With a collapse, the only mining will be by hand and that will be extremely difficult and dangerous. No salt means terrible issues with meat preservation. I've discussed that at the link too.

Practically everything else will seem like impossible luxuries.

Correct answer.

Washable rags just won't be the same.

Especially when water is scarce!!!

Antibiotics really. While one can stock up on "fish" antibiotics, and some will be available in rural feed supply stores, antibiotics will be impossible to reproduce anymore in a collapse where it's a SHTF scenario.

Coffee doesn't grow in the USA except for Hawaii. That means when the supply of green coffee runs out, the kind that you can roast yourself, and grind as needed, then there won't be any coffee for almost all of us. If trade networks get reestablished, then some coffee is grown in Latin America (Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, etc) and Mexico and some could end up in the USA again.

Black tea will grow in some regions of the USA, but there likely will not be much of it and none for trade. It's really the only safe form of caffeine. Other than that I only know of one rare plant that produces caffeine, and I have researched it for years, so practically everyone will be going through the worst caffeine deprivation headaches at the same time. The one plant to produce caffeine other than coffee or tea also induces vomiting (if carelessly ingesting it) so I doubt anyone bothers trying to cultivate/harvest it.

I'd guess that sugar would be the next most food item. While corn syrup can be extracted from corn stalks, and maple syrup seasonally extracted with the winter thaw, not too many people grow sugar beets. This means a real shortage of sweetener. There probably will not be any more jellies or jams. This means only dehydrating fruits. Forget about pies.

I know a lot of people are thinking bees and honey, but then they probably haven't considered the death of so many bee hives. It's a very dire situation. As the hives collapse more and more, it will be dangerous to harvest any wild bee honey and few apiaries will be willing to part with their honey.

While it's certainly possible to gather wheat or rye or barley, some will still have grains which will rise with leavening. That's likely going to be natural yeasts from grapes or sourdough. Often ashcakes made from the leavening of wood ash.

The main issue is grinding the wheat into flour. While it's possible, in a SHTF scenario, the amount of effort to grind grain into flour creates a situation of using up more calories than gained by hand-milling. Few people have a working quern or even know what one is. Preppers have hand mills, but they will break down under heavy use.

When the pool shock runs out, then there won't be anymore chlorine. While water can be purified with a biosand filter, it's only 95% effective. The only absolutely certain way to prevent illness from pathogens will be to use chlorination.

It's possible to make iodine from black walnuts, something I've discussed in the link below (you'll have to search for black walnut and iodine). Most people won't know how to do it so they won't know how to produce iodine to purify their water (only a minute amount is needed).
Thread: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF (Page 39)

That means a lot of goiters will begin appearing again other than folks who can safely consume seafood or seaweeds. Given the poisoning of the Pacific Coast from Fukushima, or the Gulf of Mexico around to Florida from Corexit, then a lot of the seafood will not be fit for consumption.

Salt will be a major problem.. While there used to be lots of natural "licks" where something like salt could be gathered (it wasn't necessarily sodium chloride), or salt mines used to be prevalent, nowadays there are only a small number of working salt mines. With a collapse, the only mining will be by hand and that will be extremely difficult and dangerous. No salt means terrible issues with meat preservation. I've discussed that at the link too.

Practically everything else will seem like impossible luxuries.

All good points.

However, if the power grid ever goes down for more than a few weeks, these things won't matter.

Nukular power stations melt down and go Fukushima on our collective asses if not fed by grid power for nuclear reactor and spent fuel cooling.

That fact alone makes this whole thread an exercise in mental masturbation.

Did you know that if The Walking Dead was set in real life and if zombies were real, all human survivors in the USA would have been dead by the time of the Season 1 finale? No grid power = the end of human life in areas with nuclear power stations.

Tampons lol

Seriously though...tampons

Air conditioning!

I have a question regarding using Black Walnuts for iodine tinctures. The location that my family lives in, is limited to black walnuts. The further North of the Great Lakes and the odds are you will not have a natural supply. Can you use butternut or white walnut as an alternative?

First, the iodine comes from the crushed boiled down green husks from walnuts. For those who don't know, that layer comes off and contains a powerful black dye. That was used to make ink and to dye clothing. Both are very useful in a SHTF world for black clothes are useful for hunting as well as concealment as well as hiding dirt for you will be washing less due to lack of soaps and enough water. (For fixes for soap and cleaning see that link for I've anticipated those questions too. Urine and plants which have natural sapponins as well as making soap from animal fat and wood ash lye will be part of the fix).

So it's not the nut that makes the difference but the husk. You'd have to ask a botanist about using those other nuts.

As far as I know, iodine availability other than in seaweed or fish was a terribly difficult issue. This means cultivating black walnut is crucial if your region will support it. Some food items may have iodine in them but in lesser amounts. River mussels used to be a common food for those on the pioneer. They used the shells to adjust the soil pH as well as making buttons. I believe that they also contain good levels of iodine. The problem will be pollution in a post-collapse world. Because mussels are filter feeders then they concentrate those toxins in their flesh. As such, it's not recommended, but some mussels have been deemed as safe. I actually discussed all of that in the link I included as well.

If you find out about butternut and/or white walnut, let us know either here or at the Last Minute Tips for Parents When the SHTF link.

Will do. I read your thread regularly and I find it very resourceful. Much appreciated!

The butternut / white walnut is in the same family as the black walnut, it just grows further North than the black walnut. I am assuming that it would also have sources of iodine in the husk, like the black walnut.. I just can't seem to find anything.

I know when I was reading about dosage, it was very vague. Some say to take it internally, others say you can just rub some on a body part and it will absorb.

I've had a SHTF event each of the last two years with Irene and Sandy. I lost power for over a week each time. Granted it wasn't that long term, but you could get a taste of what it would be like.
Irene happened in August, it was warm outside and it wasn't all that bad. It was kind of fun "living in the 1800's." I could sit out on my back porch and have a cigar and beer.
Sandy was worse it happened in the fall. It was much colder. The temperature was as low as 22 degrees. My fireplace heated the house, and I had lots of oil lamps. But I was stuck inside most of the time. Getting dark early sucked because there wasn't a lot to do in the evening.
The biggest thing I missed was electricity. You would walk into a room an flip the light switch by force of habit. Nothing would happen. You would want to look up something on the computer and you couldn't.
In a long term event like an EMP. I could see how most people would be in big trouble and wouldn't make it. This would also include a lot of preppers.

Tv? Internet? Hot Water? Deodorant? Grocery Stores? House? Cars? Electricity? Running Water?

I'm curious...what 1 item would you just not realize you have...until you don't?

Tv? Internet? Hot Water? Deodorant? Grocery Stores? House? Cars? Electricity? Running Water?

I'm curious...what 1 item would you just not realize you have...until you don't?

none because its not gonna happen :/ :sheep::sheep: most of you are tin foil hat wearing sheep.

It is certainly true that complete social disruption seldom happens. It is not true that people who do prepare are tinfoil hat wearing sheep. In fact, if that was the case, then all of our ancestors who learned skills and could grow things were also tinfoil hat wearing sheep.

If you're a young person reading this, while you might feel totally secure about the supplies in your home and the ability to take care of yourself, over your lifetime, what is actually true is that you will experience disasters. Some of those are short like power outages, some longer like severe ice storms, some even longer like a major life adjustment from divorce and affecting your finances, the death of a loved one, a debilitating illness or injury, etc.

What I call the SHTF is not complete chaos and mayhem. All of the above are SHTF events but racheting the severity in each case.

If you do learn practical skills, have seed, supplies, and spirituality, then when those tough life events come along, then you have some cushion. Supplies help modulate the difficulty when times get tough. Seeds give life to new plants and harvesting those. Skills help you to forage to Nature's bounty all around you. It also saves you money by repairing things yourself. Spirituality also helps you to cope with your own smashed morale, helps your family, and ultimately helps your community as you all aid those without those skills and supplies.

This is a teachable moment. Don't be focused on DOOM. Instead be calmly focused on how you could be a healer when life throws you some serious curveballs. Think about all those times friends and family helped you. Perhaps even total strangers did. When the SHTF, that's an opportunity for the truly prepared to help others, NOT fight off zombies.

OK I thought about it a little more. Air conditioning always comes to mind, but damn, not having tampons gives me heart palpatations. Im not being a smartass either. Im serious.

That's dying with dignity.

According to Christians "God" committed suicide, they can't possibly put it down.

Other than TV (I can do without) and the internet why would I loose any of the rest???

Oh we only go to a grocery store about twice a year we can do without that too!

OP you must be totally dependent on somebody else and that tells me no matter how prepared you personally get you won't make it! Do now so it's natural later!