The supermarket cyberattacks across France, Belgium and the Netherlands this week are a good reminder that disruption doesn't necessarily mean empty shelves or a power cut.

In France, hackers tampered with refrigeration systems in hundreds of supermarkets, causing food to spoil. Separately, Ahold Delhaize had to take some systems offline following a cybersecurity incident, affecting online services and operations at brands including Albert Heijn and Delhaize. The incidents have not been confirmed to be connected.

What stands out to me is how much of our everyday life depends on systems we barely think about. A supermarket can still have a building full of food, but if its refrigeration, ordering systems or distribution network stop working, things can go wrong surprisingly quickly.

I've been trying to prepare for these kinds of disruptions by keeping a rotating stock of food at home, having some meals that don't require electricity to prepare, keeping cash available and storing important information offline. Nothing particularly extreme, just trying not to depend on being able to buy everything exactly when I need it.

But supermarkets are only one part of the picture. Pharmacies rely on distribution systems, petrol stations need functioning payment and supply systems, and many of us depend on online banking, digital identity services and mobile networks for everyday tasks. Even getting a delivery or accessing an important document can become difficult if the relevant systems go offline.

I'm curious what other people have identified as weak points in their own daily lives. What have you changed after seeing incidents like these, and what do you think most households still overlook?

Personally, I find these real world examples more useful than imagining some extreme collapse scenario. They show how an ordinary disruption can affect several things at once, and give us a chance to address the gaps before we actually need to.

For those that also prep for potentionally having to travel long distances by foot for whatever reason. I'm looking to get a good pair of shoes/boots that are long-lasting, comfortable, offer protection from the elements. What do you guys recommend?

Bonjour,

Je souhaiterais savoir si certains d'entre vous apprennent aussi la médecine en amateur, de façon autonome ?

J'ai bien conscience que le niveau que l'on peut atteindre par un apprentissage uniquement théorique et autodidacte est à des années-lumière de celui d'un étudiant en médecine contemporain.

Par ailleurs, précisons qu'une démarche purement autodidacte et théorique ne remplacera jamais un professionnel de santé dans une société qui fonctionne normalement.

Cette compétence peut néanmoins valoir de l'or en cas de catastrophe, aussi bien pour les soins qu'il sera possible de prodiguer en l'absence de médecin plus compétent ou de secours organisés, que comme compétence « monnayable » dans le cadre d'échanges avec d'autres personnes.

Peu importe qui vous êtes, combien vous êtes et ce que vous faites : il serait insensé de se priver d'une personne capable de soigner en cas de blessure ou de maladie en lui faisant du mal.

Par ailleurs, si vous suivez le modèle du médecin de campagne du XIXe siècle, qui se déplaçait au domicile de ses patients dans son secteur, vous vous assurez de quoi subsister grâce au troc, en échange de vos soins.

Il faut à mon sens, dans cet objectif, développer une pratique de la médecine résiliente. C'est-à-dire accepter d'être impuissant face aux limites qu'impose la médecine de « brousse », liées au manque de matériel, mais aussi à l'absence des formidables médicaments que procure l'industrie pharmaceutique actuelle.

Cela demande de l'anticipation et une approche différente du traitement des maladies/blessures, davantage fondée sur la phytothérapie (soigner, soulager ou guérir avec des plantes médicinales) et les techniques rustiques.

J'ai acheté de nombreux livres de médecine et de phytothérapie, et j'ai réussi à mettre la main sur d'anciens ouvrages de vulgarisation médicale.

Avec l'aide des IA, je peux approfondir certains points ou demander des explications sur des sujets que j'ai du mal à comprendre. C'est formidable de disposer de ces outils pour acquérir ces connaissances de façon autodidacte.

Voici les livres que j'ai actuellement :

\\- "La médecine pour tous" - Dr F.Goust

\\- "Atlas de l'anatomie humaine" - Franck H. Netter, M.D

\\- "Physiologie humaine" - Sherwood

\\- "Guide médical de la famille" - Donald G.Cooley

\\- "Traité pratique de phytothérapie" - Dr Jean-Michel Morel

\\- "Mycoplasmes et chlamydiae" - Jean-Claude Nicolas & Christiane Bébéar

\\- " Manuel de secourisme" - Dr Norbert Vieux, Professeur Pierre Jolis, Dr René Gentils

\\- "Sémiologie médicale" - Baptiste Coustet

Si certains d'entre vous sont dans la même démarche, je serais ravi d'échanger avec eux !

Par ailleurs, si vous avez des livres ou des ressources à me conseiller : je suis aussi preneur.

Belle journée à tous.

Source NYT

What are your takes on this.

Her argument are very convincing. Highest number of armed international and noninternational armed conflicts. Ol' Pete-Boy seeking to execute people. Germany and France investing in defense.

I guess the next 5 years ~2030 are decisive.

Also interesting

The Ambitious Dragon

I'm trying to stop grabbing gear just because it looks handy.

I'd rather build my kit slowly around stuff I'd use anyway, emergency or not. So far that's been pocket knife, a pair of mini pliers, my flashlight, a multi-tool, and a USB multi connector charging cable.

For those of you who've been at this a while, what's one thing you've owned for 5+, even 10+, years and still think is worth keeping?

So I just hovered above the Send button for a good 10 minutes with my mouse before I finally decided to send that email to my townhall, enquiring about any public shelters in the area in case of SHTF.

I'm not sure why the hesitation, seems like valuable info to have available, just in case.

Did any of you popped the question, or think about doing it? Were you taken seriously?

TIA

UPDATE: got an answer: there are no public shelters in our commune, we don't have any view of any shelters in the surrounding areas. Signed: the Emergency Plan Coordinator.

First time poster here. I'm in France, where there's some significant student uprisings going on at the moment: more than 200 teenagers have been injured in the protests over the last week. I've put a link in here to a news clip of what one of our neighbourhood schools is like at the moment.

That's not my son's school, but my 16 year old has to walk through some of this to get to his own school. Plus, we've had a few other near misses recently:

• police unleashed tear gas at a large group leading to some crowd panic around him
• at a recent concert, he barely caught the last metro and had only 2% battery left on his phone

With this in mind, I was thinking of creating a pocket-sized EDC pouch as an upgrade from his current keys/phone/wallet/metrocard EDC. Stuff that would allow him to get around safely and be able to communicate with us in emergencies. It would need to be stuff that could be carried in a school environment, so no knives, for example.

Here's what I was thinking of including:

• Flashlight
• Micro-sized Nexttool (model without a blade on it)
• Emergency cash
• Power bank + mini phone cable
• Mini first aid: Doliprane, biseptine wipe, bandaids, hydro alcoholic gel, "serum physiologique" (basically a mini tube of saline solution that can be used to flush eyes or cuts)
• Mini hygiene kit: disposable toothbrush, mini cologne
• Safety pins
• Zip ties
• Duct tape
• Dyneema cord
• N95 mask?

Any input/suggestions from experienced preppers?

Hi there,

I've been living all my life in a mountainous environment so I had very little exposure to fishing.

Though, I recognize that fish would be a relatively easy source of protein in case of SHTF. Being my target mainly river or small lake fish, what would be easiest way to fish to catch in this scenario? Pardon my total ignorance

Just trying to assess my odds of survival and trying to understand what to prep for / how to prep. Any guides welcome! I live alone and I have a dog. Please!

In the case of gas shortages (the uk stockpiles only 12 days worth) and super El Niño coming I’m looking to get a portable gas stove for this winter.

Anyone got any recommendations? I’m looking for something pretty small to keep us going maybe a week or so - should freezing weather & Russian interference coincide.

I'm reserve military, and if some bad NATO-Russia shit goes down, I'm expecting to be called in. Probably not to deploy abroad, but who knows... But that would leave the family without their main pepper.

Anyone else in this situation? Have you done any special prepping for when you're not sure you'll even be around once SHTF? I'm not in a frontline country btw.

I live on a small homestead in rural hungary and this situation happened this evening: i was sitting in my livingroom next to the window, with my back facing to the wall/window and i heard someone walk past my window, i grabbed my headlight, it took me like 30sec and i take a look around the house and down the road in front of my house but i saw nobody. Im sure it was human stepps.

I just told this to my wife and she is a little bit scared now.

This area where we live is a pretty calm and paceful place, only a couple people live here. We have a neighbor, i can say he is a friend of mine, we help each other a lot. There is other to neighbors beyond a smaller corn field, two old couple. The only shady people around here is some christian hermit, who completly rejects modern technology, but he caused no problems so far, he looks like a paceful man. Sometimes he talks with my neighbors mother in law because she is a christian too.

I had no problem with people living around here before, but it bothers me someone walked in my property at this evening without a question.

About the homestead, its only a small homestead, we moved in like a year ago, this is our first home with my wife, we are both 26y olds. Homesteading was our dream, but we are on a tight budget so there is still a lot of things to do around the property, we still dont have fence on one side of it for an explame. The area around the house is full of fruit trees and we have a hedge in the edge of the property in the part where the house is. There is motion sensor lights around the house, but they are pretty cheap so not always working. We have a strong wooden door and wood panels we can close on the windows, but i still need to attach some locks on the panels because you can open and close them from the outside. We also have some old outbuildings not far from the house.

We moved here from a city a year ago and started building this homestead, so i didnt think much about home defence until now, because we had and still have a lot of things to do. So any advice is wellcome.

A swiss focused prepper library in english, italian, french and german

https://prepperguide.ch

reticulum Node: 5b5de6ff1fc1687189f93d95cf500ca4

My cousin is really into preparedness and camping. I want to get him something nice this year as a birthday gift, but I don't want to pick a random cheap survival-kit type gifts. My budget is $100+, and want to find something:

- will last for years

- is genuinely useful in real prepping

- could actually earn its place in an emergency kit

He already has most of the obvious basics, so I want to pick up something experienced people use and like.

What’s something in your own setup that you’ve had for years? Thanks!

https://www.fe-ddis.dk/da/nyheder/2026/vurdering-af-truslen-fra-rusland/

I live in the countryside so have a stove for heating an add a bulk lpg tank to supply the gas cooker
so can keep warm cook even if the power is out , I also have solar pv and am planning to get a battery and isolator switch fitted. i have waterbutts which can be used for flushing toilets but realise drinking water will be an issue if the power goes so storing Drinking water is something I need look at and no non persihable food , what else should i be thinking about ,