I agree the best choice is bugging in. I likewise have 4 little ones all under 8 and a protracted trek in winter conditions would be very hard for them (of course IF we had to leave and it was in winter and our vehicles were not running). I think having the safety and security of the familiar family home and their rooms around them would help my children to cope with the whole situation.
However I feel having plans in place for if we have to leave is the smart thing to do. If I am going to prep in the first place to protect my family and then things turn ugly and unsafe, I am not going to keep them in a city of over a million people. So to protect them further I will plan for the possibilty of having to leave behind the family home. I also think that those of us who live in large cities will more than likely be the ones who really have to consider this compared to those who live in rural or small communities.

What would happen when my food, propane and gasoline runs out?

Even if you had a farm you're not in a far better position. When food runs out in the city people will go where they know food is. At that point I would like to be in a place 500kms from the bigger cities, not visible from a road and with no visible access to it.
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I wouldn't be so sure. There are a lot of rural people with a lot of ammo, knowledge of the landscape and choke points. If city people think it will be a leisurely drive in the country, they are sadly mistaken. As soon as word gets out there is an exodus from the city, there will be about 7 Front end loaders and 4 backhoes removing road and blocking with trees in my area ( have a FEL and my neighbor has a backhoe, and I have seen more in the area) . You live in the city, this is a risk you take for the chosen lifestyle, so get out early or assume you will be there awhile.

Bugging in is clearly the best option if you are out of immediate danger, however a plan should be made regardless of security. For someone such as myself who lives within the city (relativley close to the core) my home is absolutley the last place I would want to be in a shtf or wrol situation. A bugout will almost be a certainty. The problem lies with trying to find a secure place to go BEFORE you get going. if someone plans on hitting the open trail with a duffle bag full of beans and a rifle on their back, they will be in for a rude awakening. From where I live, it takes me almost 3 hours to hit the city limits at a walking pace. That is without a BOB, and assuming I don't hit any problems. Not very ideal to say the least. Now factor in a 50-70 lb BOB, crowds, etc, and you've got a very long exodus ahead of you. But getting out of the city would only be half of the battle.

Where do you go once your out? March to the first farm house you see? Wander into the wilderness? Not likely. Plan out where you are going before hand, otherwise you will die. Period. Hard truth, but truth none the less. If you are willing to take your chances in the city and bug in, then by all means go ahead, but I plan on being the first guy out of town when shtf. I have established several temporary BOL that are within a days walk from the city. This would allow me to recouperate and establish a permanant plan if needed, or at the very least sit tight until everything blows over. As I am relativley new to prepping I am still trying to establish a location for a long term bugout, and hopefully I will find one before the time comes.

In the meantime, it will be me, my bag of beans, and a rifle on the road... At least until I get to where I'm going. I suggest having a plan no matter how well you may be secured. The same goes for those who are not in the immediate hot zone, because the time may come where you will have to leave for a number of reasons. Having backup plans for your backup plans is always a good idea.

I have posted this info before and I am not sure if anyone actually checked it out.
This is especially aimed at people who want to have a BOL whether for themselves or for their group. If you can't afford to go buy a piece of land outright, but can afford a deposit & payments this may be a good solution for you. People always say "oh yes I have been wanting to do this for years" ... well inside 5 years you could do it and stop saying that every time it comes up in conversation.

The principals at this land link are pretty basic. You can select one of their pieces of land make a deposit ( my research showed me and average of deposit around $5000) they basically become your financier. The general contract is based on 5 years and the amount you pay monthly is listed right there, yes there are taxes and stuff to pay as far as I know, they do a pretty good job of full disclosure. You can pay it out early or just pay till the term is over. They have land all over Canada and publish a new list every month usually on the 1st or there abouts. There are rules about no permanent occupation of the property until it's paid for but you can develop it and stuff as long as you don't live there as a permanent residence till it's paid for.

Disclaimer ... I have no association with this company other than as a client on a property I bought a couple years ago, and I liked them well enough to recommend them. I also take no responsibility for anyone else's relationship or dealings with this company or any general comments I made regarding them.
Basically you should all be adults or I hope you are and that you make your decisions for your self and if you screw it up you don't expect to hold somebody else responsible for what is basically being shared as friendly advice.

Okay so Search this ( that way I am not actually providing the link ) WWW dot DIGNAM dot CA

I wouldn't be so sure. There are a lot of rural people with a lot of ammo, knowledge of the landscape and choke points. If city people think it will be a leisurely drive in the country, they are sadly mistaken. As soon as word gets out there is an exodus from the city, there will be about 7 Front end loaders and 4 backhoes removing road and blocking with trees in my area ( have a FEL and my neighbor has a backhoe, and I have seen more in the area) . You live in the city, this is a risk you take for the chosen lifestyle, so get out early or assume you will be there awhile.

Yep, and many rural areas still have the little local town in the center surrounded by enough farms to support it. There would be no shortage of backhoes, bulldozers and tractors uprooting and blocking roads. Farms will have enough diesel on hand to take care of this ASAP. You can bet your sweet bippy that some rural folk stand a better chance. In my neck of the woods, heavy horse pulling contests and antique tractors and machinery are the big hobbies and we have Amish, so along with making bio-diesel, we've got lots of potential. On top of that with the Ontario microfit programn, there are huge arrays of solar panels everywhere that can be diverted back from hydro. The other benefit of rural, is the number of people who can work with their hands and cobble stuff together out of nothing.

Just a point about leaving the city lifestyle and 'reaping what you sow" kind of talk; not everyone has the ability to simply uproot from an urban center and move to the middle of SK to become a farmer. Depending on your education, work experience, family situation or health situation, many people simply do not have the choice to 'not live in calgary'.

Hell, if it was that easy to find work we wouldn't have a million newfies giving up self-sufficient villages to work in the 'patch. My brother wouldn't be in africa 6-8 months a year to support his family, and so forth.

To assume that people choose the urban lifestyle and that they will be punished for it is short-sighted. The jobs are in the city and that is why Canada is an urban nation, not a rural nation anymore. Corporate farms will take care of the last rural families in a few more generations I'm sure.

That doesn't mean I'm happy with any of these statements or the movement to an urban lifestyle; I've simply heard that statement too many times in too many other threads before.

thank you all for my rant for the month.
ps We're set to bug in for 6-12 months currently. I'm too fat to run around in the woods.

Lots of truth in what you say.

You can get a really inexpensive home in some of the small prairie towns in part of AB/SK/MB...... but there are no jogs. That is changing in some areas, as oil and gas invades the prairies.

You are also right that you just don't decide to be a farmer one day and head out and buy land etc and do it. Unless you are independently wealthy you will be toast in about 2-3 years.

You also better know how to do everything...... electrical, plumbing, carpentry, mechanic, animal husbandry, good with machinery, etc etc................. it is not for most urban people who do not know how to do shit, just call someone to do it.

Well to someone who is sick I can see living in the city, for anyone else it is a matter of a lifestyle change and you can get by.

No family vacations more than 100km away.
No sports that require distant travel.
Grow your own food.
Sell excess food to city people for a profit.
Build your own home yourself.
Drive a vehicle that is 10 years or older.
Wear hand me downs.
I drilled my own well by hand without machinery. (finished yesterday)
Am bartering my time and skill with others for their skill. (This is in essence what money is)
Chop firewood for heat.
Built own furnace.
etc etc.

It can be done by able bodied people but many choose to have others do it for them. I was a city boy for 34 years and have learned all of this stuff over the last 4 years and was able to make it work with no savings. Heck my neighbor is living in a bus right now. Its all a matter of things like Maple cabinets or pine, Painted floors or hardwood, 1600sq ft or 800sq ft, well water or city water. More work yes but it is worth the savings.

My costs living in the city were over $3,000 per month (mortgage, 2 vehicles,gas,food,utilities etc). Now they are $1,500 (includes 600 a month groceries). Get a job part time as a farm hand and you can pay that. But many can not stand the thought of working for 10-12 dollars an hour so they say it is not even possible. So yeah it is a choice if you are able bodied. If not then there is no choice. Communes exist but some don't want the lifestyle of that. There are some cropping up in the area that are not of a religious nature. Theres a choice. Either way, we all make easy and hard choices in life so whatever the reason we have why or why not to live out of the city is a choice we personally live with. 10 acres is what I have.

That is my rant 🙂
My new neighbor wants a community trout pond, totally pumped about that one. I am making the aerating system and the digging and he will do the fish maintenance.

Just a point about leaving the city lifestyle and 'reaping what you sow" kind of talk; not everyone has the ability to simply uproot from an urban center and move to the middle of SK to become a farmer. Depending on your education, work experience, family situation or health situation, many people simply do not have the choice to 'not live in calgary'.

Hell, if it was that easy to find work we wouldn't have a million newfies giving up self-sufficient villages to work in the 'patch. My brother wouldn't be in africa 6-8 months a year to support his family, and so forth.

To assume that people choose the urban lifestyle and that they will be punished for it is short-sighted. The jobs are in the city and that is why Canada is an urban nation, not a rural nation anymore. Corporate farms will take care of the last rural families in a few more generations I'm sure.

That doesn't mean I'm happy with any of these statements or the movement to an urban lifestyle; I've simply heard that statement too many times in too many other threads before.

thank you all for my rant for the month.
ps We're set to bug in for 6-12 months currently. I'm too fat to run around in the woods.

So very, very true. We're in the inner city right now and hoping to get out ASAP. However, if SHTF, we're here and we have to deal with it. I would absolutely LOVE to be living in the country right now, far, far away from here but it's not feasible right now. We need my job for the benefits as my husband doesn't have any. We need those benefits for heath care that doesn't get covered by Alberta Health. My husband has more flexiablility with where he can work as he's working from home, but for networking and product pick up and delivery, he needs a UPS around and there's not a whole lot of those out there in rural Alberta from the searches I've done.

We're stressed to the max right now trying to get our house on the market so we can get outta here and somewhere we'll feel safer. But...if we can't does that mean that my husband, my toddler and I are dead? Will we be just waiting for the roving gangs to find us huddled down in our house? Not bloody likely. I'd love to believe that the good in people will shine through and all of us in the city will gather together to help each other...but I'm thinking that's not going to happen. Water will be a BIG need right off the bat and the river will be a perfect place for desperate people to get killed while trying to bring home a few gallons to those desperately needing it at home.

Not all of us in the city want to be here, trust me. But while I'd like nothing better than escaping to the country, land and properties are BRUTALLY EXPENSIVE around here right now. So much so that even if we wanted to, we couldn't move to our ideal location. Everything in the country seems to be priced for those people from the city looking at having a second home and the funds to supply that second home far away from here. Yeah, we don't have that kind of cash. Everything seems to be for $500k + right now and that is so far away from our budget it's laughable. Being stuck in the inner city with no BOL or BIL (bug IN location) that's safe is really starting to wear on us over here... 🙁

Guess it depends how close to a city one needs to be, and what city.

Graviore........ exactly. Sometimes when you make a move it needs to a big one, far from what you are familiar with. There are places in the prairies where you can buy a whole quarter section (160 acres) of mixed bush and cultivated land for $50,000. But, most people do not like change and if they do make a change it is rarely far from where they live now. Our society is quite polarized.

My wife and I have moved 3 times in the last 20 years. Each move has been to a different province and well over 1000 km from our previous home. All moves have been to bigger pieces of property and less people than the place before. It needs to be looked upon as an adventure........ what is life without adventure. 🙂

People are afraid of what's coming ... But they are more afraid of the actual sacrifices needed to change their future.

There are so many options out there, but you may have to give up some things to get other things, that are better for for ourselves and our families.

My gawed people, listen to yourselves, go back over what you just wrote - it's like you have already given up on life before it's really even began!

Wow, - I am just in awe of how short some of you sell your lives! "... waiting around for roving gangs" - man alive, you've already given up!

Total sarcasm on my part. Pardon. Completely not giving up, trust me. Just wanted to put the point out that that yeah, we're inner city but that doesn't mean we ARE screwed. But we are realistic and know that it's gonna be a hell of a lot harder with a million people surrounding us than it would be if we were to be in the perfect spot in rural zones. That being said, it could actually be a bit easier if everyone pulls together and helps out! You'd at least be guaranteed to find all the skills you'd need! But after reading "One Second After" I'm still a bit creeped out being here in the middle.
Sorry if I came across as someone without hope...that's what you get after working a long shift and coming home to a teething toddler, a house half finished and bills on the table! HA! 🙄 😆

Try this:

go to .... realtor.ca ... go to advance search. select a province unless you don't care where in Canada you move,select residential because most people at least want a house to move to. I never pick a city just use the province as a search parameter that way you don't limit your options as much, select for sale ... not rent and a price range,I usually choose Max 50,000 as a start point if that search price fails I increase at one set point at a time. pic options: select freehold for ownership, then house and detached, this is basically where and what I select if you select more options you just knock more options off the table.

Today in:
Alberta there are 20 listings
BC there are 41 listings
In all of Canada there are more than 500 listings. ALL $50K or less

Some of these are actually on pads or rentals or leases that have been entered wrongly placed, but look around at the listings and options. If you select acreage as an option the choices become less, but you can find choices or bump up the price some more. Take "I want this I want that" out of the equation and open your eyes to options. Using this I bought a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom attached double garage house with a small barn on 1.75 acres right in a small town with a postal service ( they do courier too I believe ), elementary school, gas station, community hall, fire department and it is 60 km from a city and it cost me less than $40,000.00 including taxes and legal fees to close. Like everyone else I don't have pockets full of money so yes I am always looking to make the best deal, but I do not blind myself to possibilities, the real estate finds I have made are based on a couple years of searching websites at least once a week, because good deals don't last very long so you need to be ready.

Albertaborn you are 100% right. "People are afraid of what's coming ... But they are more afraid of the actual sacrifices needed to change their future.

There are so many options out there, but you may have to give up some things to get other things, that are better for for ourselves and our families."

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Everyone has a goal but it just depends on how extravagant that goal is. Before I got married I wanted to live in a 10X10' shed on 1 acre. People live in tent cities all around the world and I bet anything they would have sold their home 2 -3 -4 10 years ago just to live in a 10X10' shed. Some wait until they are forced into situations and by then its too late to even dream about anything.

Start really small and build a home that can be added on to easily. Keep your receipts for one month and look at how much is beyond food, rent, utilities and go from there. Just a suggestion.