I opt for live it now. Test new lifestyles. I went back in time, about 200 years back in time. I went on a 2 week, 200 mile wagon train, in 2008, you know with horses and wagons. I'm a city gal born and raised. I went down to the US wearing sneakers, hiking pants/shorts and a 30 pound pack and finished off in jeans, a cowboy hat and boots. I showered 4 times in that 2 weeks. Two of those times, there was 3 of us sharing a 5 gal. solar water heater bag and the shower "stall" was in the hay truck. It was August. I slept in my tent next to where the horses were tied up, or if the weather was really nasty I slept in the hay truck. I ate whatever was offered, learned how to drive a team, groom a horse, pick hooves, and of course shovel. No internet, my cell phone hardly worked because of the hills, but there was square dancing every night and a real sense of community. The toughest part wasn't learning all of the new skills, and giving up technology, it was being around people 24/7. I was greatful I had my tent I could slip into for a little alone time.

Maybe it's just me, I'm a go with the flow sort of person. I adapt. Mind you I put myself in that position. I didn't have to go, I wanted to go. I love adventure.

What a great question.

I kind of do both but it's something that I have been taught as a child. My grandparents were farmers. They did not have a lot of money. If they did not store it then they basically did without. I have been out of strawberry jam for months but I would never buy it at the store. However I did trade off with my sister for grape jelly. For things that I normally buy such as cat food and kitty litter, I do that shopping only once a month unless there is a really good loss leader.

I hate to admit that the food part is closest that I go to life after tshtf. I was better in my last house. This place I am still trying to set up

We're just coming out of summer so most things in my garden are "brown and crunchy" not green and luscious like they should be. The next couple of months should improve the vegetable garden, the fruit trees are doing well and producing (but they're still young), mainly vegetarian diet for the humans but with two dogs (one little and one huge)and two cats I have to buy meat (and kitty litter for the cats). I walk a lot (good exercise for when I can't afford fuel anymore - it's currently 144.9 a litre here). We live a fairly simple lifestyle (partly necessity but mainly lifestyle choice). We are also grid connected for power and water (but we have a 1000 litre rainwater tank and hoping to get a couple more). Alternative power is next on my wishlist. I will shortly begin construction on a homemade solar oven and a homemade solar food dehydrator (I'm not much of a builder so the results won't be pretty! but hopefully they'll work). I do the jam thing, and preserve fruit when it's really cheap/free from friends gardens or markets. I'd really like chooks too ... maybe it'll happen soon.

I should also add that, like everyone else, I do "collect" the things that I can't make or grow. Batteries, toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, tools, heritage vegetable seeds, fruit trees, hardwearing clothing and footwear, small propane gas cartridges for the BBQ, etc etc - I'm sure you get the drift. I do also shop for food. I buy the stuff that we use often - when it's really cheap - to supplement what I'm growing and for stocking up the cupboards for emergencies.

Both

I do live it now to a degree, I raise my own fruit/veggies (last year just over two tons for the year) raise my own meat, egg and have milking critters, cut and store my hay and a portion of my critters feed. Make all my own bread, pasta, yogurt, and cheese etc. I have a hand pump in the on the deep well, so that if out of power, not a issue, I have a number of things I do regular to cut power costs, like using a shuttle chef, use a outdoor cold smoker and during the summer a far amount of solar drying etc. I tan hides and practise outdoor skills and do all my own butchering for home use etc. I knit and now even make all my own lucet ropes for the critters etc

Having said that, I have lots of things I use and do that are in the here and now, and I don't look forward to the day if it should ever happen that I have to make my own dresses raither then be able to buy them, There is a reason I store at least a hundred pds of different nails and screws, I don't want to have to make them! and the same can be said about why I go to farm sales and have a store of good quality metal tools, while we only need two at the moment, I like to build up a store enough that if I ended up with six to eight extra hands on the farm, that everyone would be able to work side by side.

For me, it's a transition...sometimes a slow one. Last year we moved to our country house. Renovations took up most of our free time so not much else got done. This year, we plan on growing most, if not all our veggies and freezing/canning them. Other plans for next year include making our own maple syrup and possibly trying a hand at sugar beets. Chickens are also in the plans for spring 2013, laying hens to start, then possibly a rooster. Perhaps a year after that, I would try to get a meat flock going and (don't tell my wife) I would love to get a milk goat or two. As for right now, we use utility power to cook, light, and entertain, but are ready and able to use alternate means for that. Heat is wood and can be sustained for a few years, given what we have growing on the land. Water is not a problem either...we have a deep well now and also a shallow well and a lake that we can draw water from to purify sustainably. Ultimately, I would like to be as self reliant as possible, but it is something that will take us a few years to achieve. We have and use all the modern conveniences, but are either ready to lose them, or are planning to be.

I live in the city, so I'm clinging to my electricity and indoor plumbing until the bitter end. I have no bug out plans, other than going over to my dad's, if need be, in a different part of the city. I consider it a challenge to see if a "city folk" can survive a great cataclysm. Kidding, not hoping for a cataclysm.

When my daughter moves out (within the next couple months) I plan to spend more time at prepping, organizing, experimenting, implementing. I have an enclosed balcony in which I have longed to grow things, preferably things that the cat won't eat. 😕 Guess it'll be a hanging garden. lol. I will have more time to forage wild food. There is a long street full of acorn trees nearby, want to try making acorn flour. Have yet to actually eat a dandelion salad. Is this the prepper version of a "bucket list?" (things you want to do before you kick the bucket) I have acquired many useful books, (reference, how-to) that I have yet to read/study, gotta do that. (I do read a lot but mostly stuff that, while fascinating, is not useful in the same way that "how to garden" is.)

I will have lots of time because I plan to cancel the internet, cancelled cable almost a year ago. I will have radio and my great indulgence, dvds.

I try to think of it as testing the water now so you don't drown later.
It's nice to try making your own electricity while you can still go flip the breaker back on. Trying to grow your own food while the stores are still filled with cheap produce.
Learning to hunt while that cellophane wrapped steak is in the fridge. Explore alternate heat while your toes are toasty warm.

It would suck pretty large to do all that in the dark while you're hungry and cold.

I am living it now, in the next two years, full time. By choice not because the sky is falling, or even if the sky will fall. Sustainable living is my goal, mostly self sufficiency is my goal. I do not think anyone can be 100% self sufficient, as an example, you want a knife are you going to go bang the rocks loose and extract the metals.

No, you will either buy a knife or get some metal and make one, reshape one. Now think on that, we are not miners, but most have the skills to get a knife or reshape or create one from a piece of metal, so that is what I mean by almost self sufficiency. Want to grow your own food, me too, hoping to get to the 95-98% mark there as well, in the next few years.

WOW... just reading some of these posts and I realise just how much more I need to learn & do. Great posts people!

We are on the way. So much to do but in much better shape than when we lived in town. We dumped the TV and found lots of other things to occupy our time.

I feel as well that there needs to be a balance when prepping. I'm sure there would need to be a LOT of adapting no matter how prepared we think we are. I enjoy learning and at this point it's mostly fun and adds to our lives - but I know full well there are stores not far away. I live a happy busy full life and I don't focus on gloom and doom. I'm sure when I die my kids will be able to tell you my most famous quote: Soooo - what are you going to do about it? I get tired of listening to people argue about what they are worried about or what will happen and then sit and DO nothing. If you have a problem with it - DO SOMETHING to find a solution - don't just yak about it! (cough - getting off soapbox now!)

Prepping and self-sustaining is a lifestyle, it needs to be practiced. Stockpiling only foods that you regularly use and cook with. Living without TV, cell phones, and internet. When we go camping and hunting, its in the middle of nowhere. Light comes from candles and firepits. Most of the food is cooked on an open fire. For my cabin property ( pre-building stage) there is no power, water or gas, but there is an outside pooper 🙂

At home I have water for six months , firewood of six months, and food for a year.

Point is: if the problems arise, there should be little to adapt to. Think about it, the people who live off the grid or way up north won't know there is a situation unless someone tells them. Solar flares? EMPs? My Gosh , why didn't somebody tell them?

My health issues have kept me from gardening the past few years but we do have blueberry bushes, cherry trees, grapes, blackberries and raspberries. We haven't grown enough of anything but the grapes, so most of my plans include getting those plants to PRODUCE! And I need to get making stuff with grapes besides jelly. 😛

I started planning in January "to prep", and we are still working on it of course. I suspect it will become a way of life because it really does fit in with the way we live. We now just have more supplies in the house than we had before.

So the new part in all of this is the organization and intent. Instead of buying 3 toothpaste because they are on sale - I buy 5 and put them specifically in the non-food panty built just for that purpose. And we won't use up all 5 tubes before buying more.

I need to start on a spreadsheet to get a good visual of what we do have and what we need. When the cupboards and pantries look full, so much stuff can be missing, but it looks good.

We haven't had TV for decades, but we have our granddaughter living with us now, so she watches DVDs. I'm not sure I could survive without my internet. lol We do watch a few programs on line, so we aren't totally weaned.

We live in the city, and we "live it now" as much as possible.

We don't really shop at grocery stores. We buy meat twice per year in bulk freezer orders from local producers (bison, pork, chicken) and freeze and can it. We buy grain (wheat, oats, rice, barley) in bulk from a local farm co-op and grind/bake our own breads etc. and make our own granola. We get eggs and cheese from a local farmer. We do buy milk every month or so from the grocery store and freeze what we don't use fresh, but our family has some lactose-intolerance so it wouldn't be a huge loss if we couldn't get it anymore. We make our own yogurt and kefir, but don't drink a lot of milk.

We garden and preserve as much as possible, supplementing our garden with food from the farmer's market, and over the winter we take care of all of our fruit and veggie needs this way (tomato sauce, jams, pickles, frozen veg, onions/cabbages/carrots etc. in cold storage, canned peaches/pears/applesauce--out of all of this all we purchased was the peaches and pears).

We have a month or two of drinking water stored, depending on usage, and cycle through it on a regular basis. We also have rain barrels for the gardens and non-potable use. These freeze in the winter, so they're not very useful for half the year, but they are good during the warmer months.

We have a year's supply of non-food items, but we don't rely on a lot of things in this category. There are "natural" alternatives to just about everything, and we've tried/used most of them, most notably cloth feminine supplies (3 women in this family, so this saves us huge $$) and personal care and household cleaning supplies.

We live pretty close to the land, despite living in the city, and we also do so quite inconspicuously unless someone were to look in our freezer and various storage closets and see our stockpiles. Our large backyard garden and greenhouse are noticeable to our neighbors, but not from the street.