Starting Point
Let's assume the supply situation has collapsed: no electricity, no water, no food supplies, gas stations closed. The cause doesn't matter — natural disaster, sabotage, war, or terrorist attack. Public order is severely restricted. After a short time, even mobile internet (4G/LTE) stops working (based on recent experience from the ANTIFA attack in Berlin, September 11, 2025).
Let's leave aside uncertainties, like being away from home during the crisis (e.g., on vacation, at work, visiting friends) and unable to reach your base.
Goal: Survive ten days until the situation normalizes.
Our Action Options
- Staying at home
- Escaping by car
- Escaping on foot (e.g. fleeing from the front lines, military service, martial law)
The primary plan should be to get home — that's where your gear is, and you want to avoid long traffic jams caused by commuters and failed traffic lights, and inform yourself about the scale of events. At home, you have space, a roof over your head, and a fridge/freezer you can raid or power with emergency electricity.
Your situation matters a lot. City, suburb, village — there is a big difference, whether in an apartment or house, living alone, as a couple, or as a family with small children. For example, in multi-family buildings without water/sewage, sanitation becomes critical after 24–48 hours.
In small village communities, where everyone knows each other, you can get through ten days quite relaxed in many scenarios—generators, fuel, water, farming, food, everyone helps out — but in case of a deadly epidemic, you would also have to isolate here.
In urban areas, things get uncomfortable quickly if no supply for the population is set up fast: hunger, thirst, looting of stores, etc.
Every reader’s starting point will be different, but the equipment, thought process, and pragmatic precautions should help everyone.
Which equipment and gear do you need? What can you use in most or all of your scenarios (home, car escape, on foot)?
- Ecoflow-Delta 3 Max power station for emergency power & solar/generator (charges quickly via grid, has two solar ports, LiFePO4 battery, portable, can power fridge, freezer, internet)
- 2x 180w flexible solar panels, additionally a Y-MC4 cable (allows car charging at the second PV input of Ecoflow)
- Water (18 liters per person reserve, plus filter or tablets)
- Food (freeze-dried MountainHouse, 14 portions for 7 days, and one box of energy bars per person)
- Tea/instant coffee (e.g., Starbucks White Mocha sachets)
- Cooking (gas cartridges): Highly recommend Jetboil stove, fast, efficient, lightweight; plan gas cartridge supply
- Freeze-dried meals avoid the need for a pan, dish, washing up — only cutlery is useful
- Dry separation toilet (no water, no flush) with 100 dog waste bags and 2 airtight bio bins
- Sleeping bag, sleeping pad, blanket, tent, clothes
- Flashlight, headlamp, tablet for internet/TV, Starlink, efficient continuous lighting
- Regionally independent internet (e.g., NordVPN and Starlink)
- Drone for reconnaissance (to scout the area)
- Required medications in reserve
Except for drinking water, the usual hassle of stock management is simplified, as these foods have a very long shelf life. With the above equipment, you can last ten days without having to change locations for your basic supplies.
Everyone has varying amounts of supplies at home, but this preparation ensures you won’t be caught off guard if it’s been a while since your last major shopping trip.
If you leave by car, all the above gear is also useful on the road. On foot, personally, I would only take the essentials: stove, food, and what’s needed for nights depending on the weather.
If you treat Starlink purely as emergency internet, test it for a month first: Download the app on your tablet, update the hardware, create an account, then permanently pause or cancel the contract after a month.
These “hot days” can be managed calmly — you won’t have to procure water or food, you won’t need to mingle for “news,” you’ll stay informed, which is worth the investment. Personally, aside from the food, I only missed the dry separation toilet from the list. Buying everything new today for two people based on my product recommendations would cost 2800 euros.
Why only 10 days of prepping?
If emergency supply for the population can’t be restored within ten days, conditions will break down so much that survival — even with supplies — becomes unlikely in urban areas.
Whatever remains after ten days will be taken from you, by looters or emergency decrees.
Without emergency regulations and government intervention, a struggle for survival begins. Experience shows the “good” do not prevail, but rather the stronger, organized, and ruthless. Anything beyond this — prepping for weeks or months — requires a completely self-sufficient, remote lifestyle: livestock, crops, craftsmanship, medical skills. This is not prepping anymore, but a whole different way of life.
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This article is too available in german language
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