Just moved to a house from a small townhouse, have room to store more stuff now.  Say I have $200, want to stretch every penny as far as possible, and want to have enough preps to last 2-4 weeks.

Keep in mind, this is just a start.  Water, food, misc supplies, etc.  Assume worst case scenario of no electricity.

Not being a jerk, just trying to make the pennies scream for you. Are we assuming this is from absolute zero or do you already have means of storing water, some run-of-the-mill canned goods, flashlights, blankets, a means of defense...?

I would stock up on the canned foods that you and your SO already eat.  Keep them rotating.

Not fancy, but that is just me!

Doc

Candles , batteries , bottled H2O , Rice , Beans , flashlight , headlamp , blanket and a deck of cards.

-JC

If you don't have anything, start with basics. Water storage would be the top on my list (this is a discussion all of its own), followed by lots of emergency candles and lighters, AM/FM radio and extra batteries, LED flashlight or headlamp with extra batteries.

After that I would think about easy to eat food that doesn't require refrigeration or cooking. Next would be hygiene. If you loose water pressure, I would keep wipes for keeping clean and a 5 gallon bucket to fill full of non-potable (pools, lake, etc.) water to flush the toilets with.

If you have some extra bucks I would stock up on some extra paper towels and toilet paper.

Quoted: Not being a jerk, just trying to make the pennies scream for you. Are we assuming this is from absolute zero or do you already have means of storing water, some run-of-the-mill canned goods, flashlights, blankets, a means of defense...?

Yeah, I've that sort of thing covered (especially the defense ) just the basics.  I've got a little bit of everything (10 gals of water, misc canned goods, etc) but it's just things I've haphazardly gathered up over the past several months.  My space was limited before I moved as well.

How many people?

Buy a hand pump water filter.  If you have a small home, you can get a lot more gallons out of filtering than you could store.  

Canned goods and gallon jugs of water.

If your already have the basics, More FOOD and WATER. as someone already said, things that DONOT require refrigeration. Cangoods, pastas, water, toiletpaper. And remember to look at stores that have a scratch and dent section. Cangoods as long as there intack taste just as good if there dented. same as broken pasta. Just helps push the pennies that much further..

Zar

Sam's Club water and First Aid kit, canned foods, preferably of the tasty kind that taste good cold.

Quoted: How many people?

2, and 2 large dogs who will also need water.

I mean yeah, I know canned goods and pasta, I'm just interested to know what kinds of canned goods you guys get (since some mentioned things that are good cold).  I have probably 50 cans of tuna (because it's cheap and high in protein).  Beans, rice?  What kind?  And if there's no electricity and for whatever reason I don't want to/can't go build a fire outside, how would I boil water?

Let's assume that you have enough food and water or can find room in your grocery budget over the next few weeks to get there.  This would be the things I would look at spending my $200 dollars on.

A Coleman propane stove.  The single burners are only around $20 and the doubles run about $50 I think.

Sleeping bags or blankets so that you can sleep with little to no heat.

A Heater Buddy that will at least take the chill off of a bedroom.

10 or 12 1lb. bottles of propane. (Just buy one or two every time you go to WalMart.)

LED lanterns for light.  Better and safer than candles.

A battery powered radio.

If you want a water filter, look at the Katadyn Camp Filter.  It beats the heck out pumping if you're in a fixed location.

Hope this helps.

Damn - waited too long and all the good replies got taken . I'd add a bunch of Neosporin, band-aid, gauze and ACE bandages (or the like).  Also bleach for water treatment. If you're thinking of a bug-in situation, you could order a WaterBOB for ~ $25 each. Stick them in the bathtub and fill them up when SHTF. If you lose pressure, you could build a quick/dirty catchment system feeding into it, then pump it into a sturdy secondary container for filtering/bleaching. DON'T FORGET CAN OPENERS (plural)!

Winter or summer, you've got to stay hydrated and fed or you're going to be in bad shit. And accidents *will* happen so stave off blood loss and infection as much as possible. The rest you can improve to a good extent.

Not to discredit opinions of others, only offering my ramblings.  Regards, BSR


Rules of three:

You can survive three minutes without air.
You can survive three hours in extreme weather conditions.
You can survive three days without water.
You can survive three weeks without food.
You can survive three months without hope.

one more......

A bullet can kill you in 3ms.

So look at your new house:  as you described there is no electricity....
- it probably has plenty of air.
- it probably provides shelter from extreme weather conditions, may need to supplement heat.
- How many gallons of water are in your water heater, figure out how long that will last you at one or two gallon per day per person.
- You can not eat your house, so go to Wal-Mart with your solar powered calculator and start doing the math to find the most calories per dollar - buy something that stores well that you will actually eat.

From this point many will argue/discuss that everything else is a luxury item - it depends upon what you are willing to endure during a worst case scenario.

Some luxury items you might consider:
TP
Candles
Some ammo for the gun you forgot to mention
Some plywood to board up windows incase of storm
Some storage containers for more water

The lists go on and on.....

food,water

Quoted: ...And if there's no electricity and for whatever reason I don't want to/can't go build a fire outside, how would I boil water?

Personally, I went to Sportsmans Guide, and bought this, then went to Wal-Mart and bought five gallons of denatured alcohol.  That'll boil a /lot/ of water.

Why has nobody suggested a couple of cases of MRE's?

Dried fruit and nuts, peanut butter, powerbars...

And a good water filter, pump type.

Quoted: Why has nobody suggested a couple of cases of MRE's? Dried fruit and nuts, peanut butter, powerbars... And a good water filter, pump type.

Price, mainly.  a new case of MREs is $84, at the .gov price.

Quoted: Why has nobody suggested a couple of cases of MRE's? Dried fruit and nuts, peanut butter, powerbars... And a good water filter, pump type.

Because MRE's, while useful, are very expensive (at least around here), and harder to find then before Katrina, or before Afghanistan/Iraq, for that matter.  A quick look at eBay shows that two cases of milspec MRE's would eat up most of his budget.  The cheapest BuyItNow, unopened case I saw was $50, + $19 for shipping.  That leaves $62 for "Dried fruit and nuts, peanut butter, powerbars... And a good water filter, pump type."

MRE's are great, but not cheap.

Just remembered I had this...  You can get one of these from ACE Hardware for about $25, and the refill cartridges are $2.  Safe to use indoors, unlike the alcohol burners.  Just crack a window.  The high setting boils water /damn/ quick, and will burn for about 90 minutes on a full fuel bottle.  Lower settings, of course, will last much longer.  Also, since it's a gas burner, it's UL listed, with all that goes along with that.

You know, I was watching a case of 72 sterno's on ebay and forgot to go back and bid on it at the last minute, it was local too.  Sold for $11

You ever tried to boil water with Sterno?  It's sucky-slow.  :P

I would ask for LDS members in your area to 'chaperone' sp? you to the local cannery and spend it all there.

I found a site that sells MRE entrees in cases of 24 or 72 (approx. $60 and $170). link

Seems a decent deal.

GL

I'd add one or two LED Mini-Maglites into the mix, the ones with the 3W Luxeon LED bulb, along with an Uncle Mike cordura holster (the one with the flap) and extra batteries. Get the real Maglite brand and not a Chinese clone, those stop working almost right away IME. The Maglites you can get at any Walmart, you may have to order the holsters from CheaperThanDirt. These will go for a LONG TIME on a pair of batteries, is bright enough you can dazzle someone in pitch darkness for about 15 seconds, and make a GREAT kubotan (a type of pommel) - if you know how to use it. It is also usable as a lantern when you remove the bezel... One thing I learned when in a primitive area, is that you can never really have too many flashlights (and batteries). If you spot one of those shake-up LED flashlights (no batteries, just shake it) ONE of those might also be useful. (This should be under $40 worth of flashlight, holster and extra batteries)

ETA: Get one of those pocket CPR kits from your local Red Cross. It will cost you under $10 for the basic one and under $20 for the better CPR mask. If you don't know how to do Basic First Aid and CPR, then learn. The Red Cross or American Heart Association can teach and certify you.

+1 for a good water filter and extra canisters

Canned soups and ravioli(carbs) and mixed veggies(packed in water).Bottled water(min. 1 litre per person per day).2 kerosene lanterns and 2 flashlight's(for personal use). Will the water still be running? If so,that will get you started. Remember,if the power stays off very long,your public water supply might become contaminated if the treatment plant losses its generator. Use it only for flushing the toilets,etc.

For Some Ohioans, Even Meat Is Out Of Reach

"The rising cost of food means their money gets them about a third fewer bags of groceries — $100 used to buy about 12 bags of groceries, but now it's more like seven or eight. So they cut back on expensive items like meat, and they don't buy extras like ice cream anymore. Instead, they eat a lot of starches like potatoes and noodles."

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92592545

But yet the are both fat pigs.  Hey girl in the pink put the Twinkes down and go buy a bra.

IMHO, Best bang for your buck, food and water. I know it's not fancy, but it's the most important. Get a good supply in of both before you worry about all the other stuff.

Water is a no brainier. Buy it in flats, fill old milk jugs, buy 5 gal water containers, 55 gal drums if you can find them cheap local.

Buy what you like to eat. Think about shelf life and how your going to be able to cook it, and how your going to prepare it with what you have available. With no power to run your stove top, you do need to figure out how you will be cooking said food. Plain white rice and beans ( pinto, red, kidney, navy )on there own suck. Think outside the box! Mix it with cans of veg's and some seasoning, or think about making some kind of bean, meat and veg stew over rice for a tasty treat.  

I prefer pasta or egg noodles then rice. Buy it in bulk and throw it in buckets with mylar. I have spaghetti sauce, country gravy, Alfredo, etc: etc: to go with it along with meat, ( frozen, canned and freeze dried ). All our bulk food is stored with certain meals in mind, planning meals is a must. Like I said it's not taci-cool, but sit down with paper and pen and write out a want list, a need list, a meal planner, and of course a gotta have taci-cool shit list.

Later on don't overlook the comfort foods for you and your spouse ( assuming you have one ) and of course good old TP. It is always nice to have on hand....ur....not on your hand.

Once you a good base of food and water in, then start on the other things. Just make sure you buy food that you all like and can eat. Rotate out as necessary.

Did I mention the importance of writing up and having a plan?

Just my .2 cents worth.

BT

Edit: Just reread your post.

Quoted: But yet the are both fat pigs.  Hey girl in the pink put the Twinkes down and go buy a bra.

Wow.....how old are you? Comments like that are actually not that funny mate!

You must have thought you were in GD, but we are not. I won't be an asshole and hit you with the nazi spelling and grammar womp'n hammer of dipstick.

Grow up, and next time try to add something positive to a thread or don't bother.

BT

Nothing to see here folks....move along.

Protus is right.

Food and water.

Check what you have on hand that could be used during a SHTF incident where services are out.  You might surprise yourself at the items you already own that could be useful during a SHTF incident.

By this, I mean extra blankets, sleeping bags, first aid stuff, flashlight, gas grill, any camping gear, ect.

But if just starting out, I'd go along with food and water...

In Missouri, would you need to worry about ice storms in winter?  No power and cold temps for a week?  

If so, I might focus more attention on a heat source for bug in.  Halfast mentioned a Mr. Buddy heater (got one), or even a screw on heater for a propane bottle will work (a little bit -- got two).  If you don't have a fire place or woodstove, maybe a keresene heater too (although that will blow 5/8 of your budget).  Alternately consider budgeting for heat source into the fall before Winter hits instead of right now.

The best deal on MrBuddy heaters or kero heaters is the spring clearance at Lowes (in like February when it is still freezing) for 1/2 off.  There will be a thread here, has been the last tow or three years.  Consider a 'just enough' plan this fall and fully outfit on sale in Feb or Mar for half price.

Quoted: food,water

Water,food