Hi all,

I’m totally new to the whole prepping thing and have also gone down the EDC rabbit hole.
As a reference I’m a F(40) living in a city in Europe. I always carry a backpack when commuting to work and otherwise o always have a bigger sling or crossbody bag with me.

I’m in the process of changing up my EDC. Im a bit stuck because I don’t want to go overboard but also don’t know what makes sense to carry in an Urban environment. Do you just carry the basics- SAK, flashlight, lighter, small boo boo kit, wallet, phone, keys and a charger? Or do you have a small pouch with more inside?

Should I carry a Sillcock key (I have one) or a small fixed blade like a ESEE Izula or Candiru or an emergency blanket, firesteel, some rope? As you see I think Im overthinking it. I don’t want too look like I’m going camping since this is for EDC Urban, also I try to keep my pockets lighter (SAK, flaslight, phone) since well not all my jeans/pants have beautifully deep pockets.

Any suggestions or pointers in the right direction before I run out and buy the whole store!

Let's say a cyber attack happens and your entire country's power goes out. No internet, no cell towers, nothing.

How do you prepare for that?

How do you deal with not being prepared enough, during the situation?

How long do you think it will take to resolve, likely by international aid and intervening?

Do's and don'ts?

Most important things? Bare minimum?

It's one thing to have a flashlight at home, but another to actually find it when everything goes dark.

Do you keep one in each room, by your bed, or just have all your emergency lighting in one spot?

Curious what works best for you.

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.

We're in the middle of hurricane season and after losing power twice last fall I started looking into backup options. Called two electricians for Generac quotes. Both came back around $12,000-15,000 installed for a whole-home natural gas unit.

That's a lot of money for something I might use 3-4 times a year. And the maintenance contracts run $200-300/yr on top of that.

On the other end I looked at small UPS units but a 1-2kWh battery keeps the fridge going for maybe 6-8 hours. Our outages are usually 12-20 hours.

Turns out there's a whole category of 4-5kWh portable battery stations now that sit in that gap. No installation, no permits, no maintenance contracts. You charge it from a wall outlet and wheel it wherever you need power. They've gotten small enough that one fits in a closet.

I did the math on what I need during an outage. Fridge, chest freezer, router, lights, coffee maker, microwave for reheating, and charging phones. Continuous baseline around 250W with spikes for the kitchen appliances. For a 12-hour outage that's roughly 3.5-4kWh. A 5kWh unit covers that with buffer.

Not a whole-home solution by any means. But it covers the stuff that matters during a typical outage at about a fifth of the cost of a Generac install. Figured this might help somebody staring at a $14k Generac quote and wondering if there's a middle ground.

We know there are people prepping to live underground for years, especially elites who have the funds for bunkers, etc. A movie comes to my mind a lot, one where the characters find an unused bunker that has food growing indoors and the ability to live sustainably for years. How is that done exactly? How do people plan to survive underground or in sealable bunkers like that? Furthermore, what if there’s no access to sunlight at all? I guess I could try asking AI, but I prefer to talk to humans, if possible. What do you know about this? I can’t wrap my mind around it.