Before you end up growing a sustainable garden or establishing a bartering system with other survivalists, you must survive the first week on your own.

If our power grid crashes or if your hometown gets hit by a blizzard, normal living conditions will be disrupted, and surviving week one post-SHTF will become a challenge.

In some cases, help will likely come, but we shouldn’t take that for granted, and there’s no guarantee that a relief plan will unfold as initially established. To survive the first week you will have to rely on your prepping plans, and there’s no doubt about it. This doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult, and you just need to plan in advance and organize properly.

The harsh reality in today’s world is that many Americans don’t have a bug out location (or safe haven) to go to. Not to mention that keeping a household is already a challenge for most of them. For these people and many others, leaving their home is their last resort.

Since in some cases, you may have more or less than 24 hours to evacuate and take your chances on the road, you have to be prepared to do so. When that bugging-out time-frame comes to an end, you might as well hunker down and make it last as long as you can.

One of the major mistakes of emergency preparedness that people make is to worry about and preparing for long-term survival. They do so without taking into account their immediate needs and how they can cover them. You can’t think about long-term survival if you can’t even make it past week one.

Not to mention that you will manage to understand what you have to deal with, only after the first week has passed. To give you an example, many Californians that are now without power understood that they need a power generator after they manage to go without electricity the first week. And these are the people that weren’t affected by wildfires directly. Some even waited for two weeks to figure out what to do next.

I’m not going to debate here that, if you live in California, you should have a bug out plan and that a generator is a must, this should be common sense by now. However, you can learn a thing or two about the pattern most people follow when faced with such a scenario.

To survive the first week, here are the essentials you should cover:

Vital medicine

Unfortunately, we are one of the nations that gets sicker and sicker, year after year, even though we have high standards of living. Most Americans need vital medicine in order to survive. Health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and respiratory affections are disturbing the lives of many people. Some of them rely on medicine just to make it through the day.

If you happen to be one of the people that require such medicine, you should make an assessment of what medication you need and lay in an extra month. Some insurance companies won’t cover it, but your doctor should be supportive if you explain the reasons why you need to stockpile medicine. He or she should be able to give you a separate prescription of a month’s worth of medicine if necessary. If they don’t listen, I think it would be a good time to change your doctor and get someone who cares about their patients.

Since medical aid won’t be available for everyone, it’s better to have a complete first aid kit, and you should keep it close, together with your vital medicine.

Think about your eyesight

This is one of the most neglected preps, and few people have a plan B when it comes to their eyesight. Many Americans over 40 need readers, and if you happen to be one of the people that need glasses due to various reasons, you should always have an extra pair of glasses (or contacts) and keep them in a place where they are easily accessible.

My wife keeps an extra pair with her at all times, regardless if she’s at the office or if we go on vacation. If you wear contact lenses, I recommend picking those that can be worn for up to 30 days without requiring cleaning or replacement.

Staying hydrated

As humans, we can live for up to 30 days without food, but going more than 3 days without water is impossible. In any SHTF scenario, the time and place play an important role in how you are going to deal with the lack of water.

Storing water is a good practice not only for preppers but for every American family. Even if you have access to a potable water source, you shouldn’t take it for granted, and you should think of ways to purify the water in case it gets contaminated. I can tell you from experience that a Berkey water filter is worth is weight in gold in a prolonged emergency. It can turn any wretched bilge drinkable.

To stay alive long enough to plan for long-term survival, you need water, and chances are you may need plenty of it for various survival purposes. Gathering water or finding ready to drink water sources may be easy for some, but purifying the water may be a completely different story. Always make sure you have ways to purify water and don’t cheap out when it comes to this emergency preparedness plan.

Stay out of the dark

Finding your way in the dark is a hard and dangerous action without a proper light source. Many families have already a flashlight in their home and a dozen batteries. However, is that enough for your needs?  The way I see it, every family member should have a flashlight and the way to power it without struggling.

A quick note here: Many batteries need to be rotated if you want to keep them fresh. They can be depleted rather quickly due to various factors. They have a discharge rate even if you don’t use them.

I recommend sticking with solar or crank lamps for lighting and rechargeable batteries for your other needs.

As I said before, having a generator is ideal during a blackout, but for this to work, there are other factors to consider. You need to calculate your power and fuel needs, and you need to learn how to use a generator without putting others at risk. Not to mention that you being the only one with power in the neighborhood, will attract other survival like moths to a flame.

Plan for your local weather

I kept stressing the “know your region” topic and somehow it always finds its way back to me. You need to know your region, folks! This is a must regardless if you plan for short-term or long-term survival. Your region is known for certain weather patterns, and there are historical records for it. You need always to have a backup plan to stay warm or to cool off. If the power goes out and your furnace dies at 40 below, you will freeze in less than an hour.

The problem with the weather is that most people believe it becomes a problem only during long-term survival. They seem to forget that even experienced campers can succumb to hypothermia due to a single, unnoticeable mistake. Hypothermia kills even in “warm weather” and you should take this seriously. You can’t predict the weather, and you won’t be able to control its actions, you can only prepare for it.

Think about self-defense

This is a sensitive topic, and I honestly don’t care about your opinion on gun control. This is not about that topic. However, what I can tell you is that when things go south, and people are fighting over a can of food, you will need to have ways to defend yourself.

All sorts of conflicts and altercations may arise even from the simplest things, and people will go to extremes to have their ways. Emergency situations have a pattern of bringing out the worst in people, and desperate times will create desperate people. While some of them will turn to looting just to survive another day, there are others who see looting as the best opportunity to replace their old electronics.

If people come “knocking” at your door in the middle of the night, I guarantee that having a decent handgun with a couple of magazines will keep you safe while 911 puts you on hold.

Maintain your energy levels

As said before, you can survive for quite some time without food. Even so, there’s a difference between surviving and being functional. Since our nation is obsessed with eating and we are used to having snacks in between snacks, for most Americans, going a few days without food will make them lethargic, and they won’t be able to function properly.

In a high-stress event, food equals energy, and you need to have the right food to make it even though it may seem that you don’t need it, or it’s not a priority. In such scenarios, MREs, freeze-dried food, canned goods are all proper options you can choose from.

When you stockpile food, don’t just go on a shopping spree and buy everything you see labeled or recommended as survival food. Be at least curious to try the options you have before you buy large quantities. From experience I can tell you that some MREs taste great, but your stomach may disagree after one or two days. I always do the “24-hour test” when buying food, and if my stomach is happy after those 24 hours, I can rate the food as edible.

Some people may say that you can’t be a picky eater during a survival scenario, but I strongly disagree. Some adults may keep anything down, regardless of the taste or texture of the food, but things are totally different for seniors or kids. When in doubt about food storage, keep in mind the following, “ store what lasts and what you and your family eats.”

Statistics show us that a big percentage of Americans don’t have enough food and water stored in their homes to last for more than 3 days. When you think about this, you might understand that surviving week one after SHTF is not as easy as it may seem. If you want to start planning and preparing for long-term survival, you must first plan for your immediate needs.

Selco interviewed by Daisy Luther

I was recently emailing back and forth with Selco and we were discussing the situation in the US right now, with the political polarization, the rage, and the general cognitive dissonance. I asked him if he saw any similarities between our situation and the one in Bosnia when the SHTF there during the war. When he replied I knew I had to share this information with you.

While we might like to think it could never happen here, the current events here are eerily similar to what happened there in the 1990s.

When you read this. think about recent events. The deep rage about the last presidential election and the upcoming one. The scorn, derision, and actual hatred for neighbors who think differently. The way the media fans the flames of dissent between our fellow Americans. The anger about immigration. The destruction of Civil War monuments. The unease between the races.

You’ll realize that it definitely CAN happen to us…and there’s not one darn thing we can do except to be prepared.

What parallels do you see with events in the US and Bosnia before the SHTF?

Would election by popular vote be better than the electoral college?

Would election by popular vote be better than the electoral college?  

US and Yugoslavia (in 1990) on first look do not have anything in common because people are going to say, “The USA cannot have anything similar to any socialistic system.”

This is true but only on first look.

Yugoslavia had somewhere around 20-22 million citizens, six republics (similar to states in the US), 3-4 main religions, and many national groups (ethnicity).

The official state policy was to build Yugoslavian “nationality” (from the end of WW1) and through different ways that effort was successful until the 90s.

We were “something big, united through differences with a strong connection to make something big.”

And then those differences were used to make chaos.

In the late 80s and beginning of the 90s (when democracy came) the problems started and ended up in series of wars and cases of complete collapse.

Things that I experienced in my case prior to SHTF, and things that you might recognize:

Can you explain how the current political polarization could make matters worse when the SHTF?

Strong polarization eventually brings fear and hate towards “others”, and once you get into that state of hate and fear it is very easy to be manipulated, even though prior or later, it looks weird and funny how easily you were brought into that state.

I remember the exact moment roughly 25 years ago when I was brought in discussion and actually rioting over the statue of a general from WW2 which was about to be destroyed because for some people he was a war criminal and for others he was a hero and important political figure.

It was a big event, and people were brought into that event in big numbers, arguing and fist fighting and rioting…

At the same time, the wheels of big events were actually already starting to move, and if I were smart I would have left the country or bought a weapon instead fighting over a historical figure.

Does this sound familiar?

It was only one event that was used in order to polarize people more. “Us” and “Them”.

It is so easy to manipulate people when you throw hate and fear in the game.

Polarization makes things worse when SHTF because it is easier to “dehumanize” others that are different than you. Through the fear and hate, groups are pushed to do whatever the people in power want them to do, even if that means horrible crimes. Remember, once some group of people (religion, political, regional, race…) is dehumanized (for example through smart media work) the rules are changing and everything is possible.

For example, with careful media work even today (in time of the internet, social networks, and independent information) it is possible to make the prepper movement look like a terroristic and anarchistic movement and then it’s open season on preppers.

Did political disagreements go away when it hit the fan or did they intensify?

In essence yes, they went away because it all went to how much food, ammo, or whatever resource you had. You realized that big opinions simply do not matter, especially once when you realize that all was somehow planned, and especially once when you realize how foolish you were because you trusted some things.

But of course rage was fed with again fear and hate for ”others”.

It is like that story about how they tried to explain to a conscript [someone who was drafted into the military] what is war all about: higher causes and honor and everything else, and he simply could not get it. Then later in the middle of a fight he suddenly understands everything and yells: “Oh I understand now – THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL ME.”

When you strip everything down to the bare facts, he was right.

How does it move from political arguments to one day, it has all hit the fan and everything has changed? Is there something predictable we could look for?

Again it is about dehumanizing, no matter who or what group. It is about adopting opinions like “they are so different that they do not deserve…( to live here, to have rights…)

Once that happens a whole new set of rules jumps in and those rules mean that lot of your liberties and rights gonna be taken too, and that is the problem actually.

When that happens, you will understand that it is not really important who is who. The only thing important is that somehow you do not have your rights anymore (for example the right to carry a firearm) and then you are in s..t.

You can be so mesmerized with “important political events” or something else that you might even not notice that you are suddenly not allowed to grow your own food or have a solar panel on the roof, or carry a pistol.

You might say now “it is impossible in the US”  but I think in this moment it is bigger news than if some reality show star had “spicy” video than to understand how food delivery in your city works and how much food is in one average store if everything stops moving.

Yes, it is possible.

Have you taken Selco’s online courses yet?

Taking the online courses are the next best thing to getting over to Europe and studying with him personally.

If you want the real deal from a legend who has lived through the SHTF, these are the online courses for you.

Which events in the US have you seen that made you immediately flashback to your situation?

I do not follow politics too deeply even in my country, not to mention politics in the US, but what I do follow is people’s reaction to political events. By that, you can sense where the majority of people’s opinions go and what you can expect from that.

Maybe a year ago I did comment (through an article) on some events in the US and I got an excellent comment from one of my readers who said “My nation, America, is being abruptly dragged out of a deep and prolonged state of subconscious anxiety and depression. It is being assaulted with hope and this is beginning to produce a state of relief which will be managed into uncritical nationalism if at all possible. This euphoric state of national mind is the perfect cover from which to ambush a nation. The pressing for a one world government did not die under Trump, it simply got a new face. The danger to America and to the other nations of the world is more real now than ever. Extreme sobriety is warranted at this time. Most people I have spoken with cannot see this…”

Hope in something new and something better was exactly what I was experiencing just prior SHTF, new leaders, new democracy, freedom…

It clouded my perception, I trusted too much.

What suggestions, if any, do you have to help us be better prepared for political upheaval?

As always, operate in “small circles” (your family, prepper group, network of friends). Learn useful skills, meet good and interesting people (in prepper terms).

That small circle is what it is all about and what is important when SHTF. Sorry, but your political opinion and worries about state policies are worthless, and can not change anything big- it is the big circle, and it is important only in terms of looking and recognizing signs of future events, so you may recognize the correct moment for bugging out for example.

Do not be pulled into general fear and hate because it clouds your judgment and it simply wastes your time.

Do not be pulled into it.

Do people start to realize that their opinion means nothing in politics or do they still hang on to their illusions even after it all goes sideways?

Illusions were the first victims when SHTF. Here are a few of many:

Anything else to add?

I have seen many people killed, a lot of women and children too, civilians. A huge number of people suffered, were hungry and cold and were terrified through that period.

But I can count on one hand the dead or hungry politicians in that time.

Things were good for them through that period. Some of them ended up even richer. A lot of them are still powerful in the same or different parties, and are still talking about “their people” or “ causes” or “fear from others”.

It is the way it works.

About Selco:

Selco survived the Balkan war of the 90s in a city under siege, without electricity, running water, or food distribution. He is currently accepting students for his next physical course here.

In his online works, he gives an inside view of the reality of survival under the harshest conditions. He reviews what works and what doesn’t, tells you the hard lessons he learned, and shares how he prepares today.

He never stopped learning about survival and preparedness since the war. Regardless of what happens, chances are you will never experience extreme situations as Selco did. But you have the chance to learn from him and how he faced death for months.

Real survival is not romantic or idealistic. It is brutal, hard and unfair. Let Selco take you into that world.

Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting blogger who writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, voluntaryism, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, The Organic Prepper. She is widely republished across alternative media and she curates all the most important news links on her aggregate site, PreppersDailyNews.com. Daisy is the best-selling author of 4 books and lives in the mountains of Virginia with her two daughters and an ever-growing menagerie. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Has Our Infrastructure Collapsed to the Point It Is Dangerous Now

According to a U.S. study,( Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts) the water supply to more than six million Americans contains unsafe levels of industrial chemicals. The toxic chemicals have been linked to certain cancers to include kidney and testicular cancers along with hormone disruption, high cholesterol, and obesity.

The chemicals are known as PFASs (polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances). The chemicals are used in fire-suppression foams, food wrappers, clothing, and non-stick cookware to name a few.

According to one researcher that was part of the study, the chemicals have been in use for the past 60 years. Why are we just known finding this out, if the chemicals have been in use for six decades? One possibility is better testing methods and another possibility is that construction for several decades or so has been expanding to where homes are now being built in places they were never intended to be built 60 years ago.

People need water and the water sources are typically close to large metropolitan areas where industry is humming along. Industrial areas are always close to railroad and highway hubs around large cities.

Even though you may not live in town, as it were, runoff from heavy rains can get in the rivers and streams from far upstream and thus, get into reservoirs that supply cities and towns with their drinking water. Some rural areas do get their water from local municipalities, because you are inside the city limits and yet do not live in the city proper.

Most of the waste treatment plants that supply water to city dwellers do not have the capability of filtering or otherwise removing the chemicals mentioned above from the water source. Filtering, boiling, and/or chemical treatment will not remove the toxic chemicals.

There are methods, of course that would reduce the chemicals to a so-called safe level, but they are extremely cost prohibitive.

Drinking water from 13 states accounted for 75 percent of the unsafe supply, led by California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Georgia, Minnesota, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Illinois.

The study conducted did not test water from smaller public water systems and private wells that serve roughly one-third of the U.S. population or about 100 million people.

Yes, private wells can become contaminated if they are not designed properly, in other words, not capped correctly, or dug deep enough. Improperly capped wells allow ground runoff to enter the well from the top. You do not have to live near an industrial site or city to have your well contaminated. Runoff from farms, septic systems, roadways, and parking lots can contaminate your well, as would any floodwaters from rivers or streams in the area that may contain toxins from industrial sites miles upstream.

The Earth is a Natural Water Filter and Water Purifier but It Has Its Limits

As water seeps through the soil certain soil clay particles, which have a negative charge will attract any constituents in the water that have a positive charge, such as some heavy metals, salts, organic chemicals, and pesticides. Another mechanism is the formations of covalent bonds (sharing of electrons).This sharing helps soil retain many organic chemicals, pesticides and some inorganic constituents (Pierzynski, n.d.). 

Well-constructed wells receive water from aquifers, underground springs, or artesian wells deep underground. Water has traveled many feet, hundreds of feet in some cases, through the soil to replenish the underground water supply, and for the most part the water is safe to drink unless the soil in the area is heavily contaminated.

It is important that you test your well water and take corrective action at the user end, such as more or better filtration and purification methods. Mother Earth at times needs helps to purify water so make sure you test regularly and make changes to your system as needed.

Those receiving your water from a municipality must keep track of testing and read the reports carefully. All public water supplies must be tested and the findings made public. You can test your tap water as well, and if you find and abnormalities, then call in the professionals to do a follow up test. In the meantime consume bottled water, and depending on the contaminates you find, you may be able to shower, water plants and do laundry without any ill effects, but knowledge is key along with regular testing.

As we have stated in previous articles, when a crisis strikes you may very well be on your own. As the government expands into more and more of our lives the more it seems we are on our own. Fair, unfair, right or wrong, it doesn’t matter, you as an individual must do what you need to do to ensure the safety of you and your family. Waiting on the government to do what is needed is not the answer when an emergency arises.

Pierzynski, G. M. (n.d.). Retrieved 2016, from http://www.wqpmag.com/soil-earth%E2%80%99s-largest-natural-filter

Reuters. (2016, August 10). Retrieved 2016, from http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/08/10/toxic-chemicals-in-drinking-water-for-six-million-americans.html