What would you do with $1000 to be all-around prepared for economic collapse

What would the best items be to buy now to prepare for dire times for $1000 (i'm not talking about sex tapes, lotto tickets, prostitutes, etc.).
I'm talking about the best all-around items such as food, supplies, special products, etc., etc. in order to maintain a nominal level of existence?
Thanks for all relevant answers...

Depending on how you live now and will be living after the "collapse"

The best thing to invest in is in reproducible and sustainable goods.

Chickens > Eggs, food
Rabbits> Fast "producing" food
Aquaponics> Veggies and Fish
Rain collector > Water
Water purifier
A Biodigester to turn your garbage into fuel/heat

And last but not least something to defend/secure yourself and your stuff.

It is not so much as buying stuff . You can buy food and such but when it runs out you will still be screwed . One can buy guns but bullets do run out . You need to learn to be self sufficient grow your own food . How many people know how to make bread from using a wheat stock . Or how to build proper shelter or how to make a fire without matches or a lighter? How many people know how to skin an animal , let alone how to trap one ?

Long term storage type canned foods and a water purifying system.
Some folks say buy gold ...but you can't eat gold.
Food will be more precious than gold. Water even more than that.

Buy Gold from people who don't know the value. Get as much as possible, it'll be worth a lot more than the $1000 you paid once there's economic collapse.

But on a serious note, get matches, lots of em'. Get lot's of canned foods (of course). Get lots of water, the cheapest stuff will suffice. Start purchasing jugs and filing them up with the water from your house if you feel you can save more that way. Purchase first aid equipment. Have a radio and batteries on hand always. Make sure you have proper equipment to carry all of this stuff if you have to leave from where you are for any reason. I can see your locations says NY, where I'm at... If you live in the city, you aren't goin' anywhere so you wont need any carrying equipment. If you live Upstate NY, in the woods, you need some hunting equipment, so start brushing up on your hunting.

reply to post by AtlantisAgain


It depends on the time frame you are expecting. If you need to be immediately prepared, then I say rice, beans, spam, water purifiers, powdered milk, cocoa, salt, and other basic staples. Depending on your home situation, you need some alternative heat source, you need at least one room that can be heated and cooled and secured.

Now, if you expect to have a year or so to prepare and a $1000 budget, then definitely go with renewables. I just spent $93 on 4 blueberry bushes, 2 strawberry plants, 2 blackberry vines, and a bunch of greens for a little garden plot. You could get chickens and rabbits with very little need for space. You might want to buy some books identifying local edible and poisonous plants and animals. You might want a tent and some basic survival gear.

There are some great do-it-yourself threads in teh survival forum to help you make things from common household scraps. We make firestarters and candles at my house. We garden for fun. We've learned to collect water from many sources and purify it.

With a little prep time and a small budget, you can make survival a hobby and a pasttime, and you are guaranteed to be prepared if and when you ever need it!

ETA:
I seeing others responses, personally I think gold is worthless. You will need a couple of good knives. I just bought a nice machete from gerbergear.com. I have plenty of shells for my shotguns and handguns alike. I have a small surgical kit, and a snakebite kit, and some stored antibiotics. I didn't go out and buy these things all at once, I got them over time.

Each grocery trip should have about 10% dedicated to food reserves and useful survival gear.

Gun, non-perishable food, rope, hand tools, arctic wear. To start.

given i live in the UK guns are a no no so the basics water purification/seeds/gardening equipment to start with so along with buying a bit of forest for fire wood/hide in and as much long life tinned stuff as i can with the change left over

If your thinking about a fire arm (or already own one). Consider purchasing reloading equipment rather than ammo. After your initial investment, the ammo you load yourself will be better quality, and MUCH cheaper than off the shelf ammo.

Also...
brass can be reused
you can make your own gun powder
you can cast your own bullets
(an old timer even showed me how to reload primers)

or consider archery

First, it owuld depend where you live on how you would prepare for a collapse.

If you live in the city or surbibia, I would use the money to prepare myself to be mobile so I could leave a populated area and prepare along those lines....

I would think that millions of others will also be trying to figure out what to do and it will get ugly ...

I know weapons will be needed, mobile food like sprouts and many other things I won't think of...

water or a way to get water
food
protection

most important is knowledge ....

how to build simple mechanical devices like ram pumps or buckets ....
natural food sources .. like dandelion greens which may people don't think of that are edible in dire times.....

hemp seeds offer more souable protien than soybeans

there is much forgotten knowledge that can be combined with modern know-how from making methane gas digestors

I have a plan for a low power/voltage ice maker wich uses single digit voltage to make ice; solar ovens and such which you can find allover the Internet

I went to Youtube and watched many different videos which you can learn from and more important "understand" how and why they work ... then you would be able to "macgyver" them as needed on the escape......

learned how to get water out of almost any well pipe and make ram pumps to solar ovens which you could make temporary in minutes......

it all boils down to understanding mechanical concepts that most of us have forgotten since we never had to use them

Even with the economic collapse, i think i would still probably buy a prostitute

reply to post by getreadyalready


Rice, beans, and salt as well as matches are very important to stock up on. Could eat those alone for a long while and thrive.
Just thought of stocking up on a multivitamin and addition Vit. C.
An alternative heat source, i'm thinking propane gas, is good (can always heat and cook food on the gas-barbeque).

Originally posted by Ixtab
Even with the economic collapse, i think i would still probably buy a prostitute

Yea, but she better want a burger or something......I'm not going for one of those snicker bar chicks.

I would definetly consider buying at least 100- 200 pounds of Rice, and canned food and buy at minimum a few thousand seeds of different variety, I think people overlook this all the time when talking about being prepared, I have 50,000 seed stored up, keep them in a dark place, away from humidty and sunlight as this will just shorten the shelf life. that will give you enough time to learn and become selfsuffient. definetly have a weapon, best would be a Shotgun, or Rifle along with a crossbow, or Bow, you can easliy make your own arrows if you know what your doing. Also stalk up on water, and water purification, consider buying a couple of really big barrels to catch rain water. Of course all of this will depend on where you live.

reply to post by FidelityMusic


Living in Suffolk County, NY isn't great (it's the suburbs but slightly more crowded than some suburbs).
We have a backyard and i'm wondering if digging a small pit to store some valuables from theft may be an idea too.

My first response would be to have spent it 10 years ago before the prices of everything went up.

The folks here have all given good ideas. Here are a couple currency items.

Fish hooks. even if you dont want to eat the fish, these can be bought in boxes of 100, and they will be just as much a currency as silver coins. And 200.00 in hooks will get a very large supply of "silver coins".

Rolls of braided dacron cordage and rolls of tar coated bank line. Rolls of paracord. Will also be a very sought after currency. As well as spools of fishing line.

Water filters. The ceramic bucket style from monolithic domes. With lots of extra filters the currency is obviously safe clean bacteria and virus free water. You should have filtration capacity to produce many times more water that you need. Because everyone is counting on straw filters and iodine tabs and bleach and if the event duration is longer than 30 days many of those things will be all used up.

Bulk spices. Nothing you get to eat is going to be well received without them. They will also break down into the tiny ziplocks for trade, and mot spices can be bought now and sealed in mylar with oxys for about 5-6 dollar per pound, when bulk purchased.

Last.....gardening supplies. Seeds and good balanced fertilizers such as Jack's Classic and Jack's Bloom. No matter how poor your soil is if you can get some organic material into it so it breathes they have everything else a plant needs to grow, and use a modest 1/8 tsp per gallon. Jacks products are suitable to use in unprepared soil or in a wild patch garden for the woods. Also a non battery PH and water meter, as well as up and down adjusters. Store bulk hot dried peppers and soap for pest control.

tools tools don't run out

a heavy duty sewing machine that can sew leather and heavy canvas and the tread that it needs

machining equipment and a forge wielding equipment stuff like that.

Originally posted by AtlantisAgain
reply to post by FidelityMusic

 

Living in Suffolk County, NY isn't great (it's the suburbs but slightly more crowded than some suburbs).
We have a backyard and i'm wondering if digging a small pit to store some valuables from theft may be an idea too.

I'm sure you can find info on this on the net somewhere. Years ago (when the govt. started getting "assault rifle" ban crazy) people began stashing weapons in sealed off lengths of PVC pipe. Dig a hole, put the pipe in the ground, and plant a bush or tree on top of it.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
Long term storage type canned foods and a water purifying system.
Some folks say buy gold ...but you can't eat gold.
Food will be more precious than gold. Water even more than that.

I see the buy Gold thing as advice for those who have considerable assets, not the average person looking to survive.

There's a lot of good advice in this thread, but don't just think for the short term, think for the long term. Buying canned goods is a great idea, but they're only useful if you have a solution for when that runs out.

Buy what you need to in canned goods to last 3 to 6 months on ration, but also buy the things you'll need to start becoming self sufficient during those months. Enough for two locations if you need to abandon where you are. If you have to move at any point you'll want enough to start again.

I plan to have everything I need to grow produce ready to get started when needed. The canned goods are a stop-gap.

Incidentally, there are some great little kits the size of a tobacco tin that have a little of almost everything you need short-term on a survival trip. They are invaluable for those factoring in a move out of an urban area.

reply to post by Glassbender777


Costco sells large bags of rice and i'll stock up on 20lbs at a shot now (I use the parboiled white rice and whole brown rice from a local Chinese store).
Lots of canned foods (especially veggies) too.