I now exceed the minimum standards suggested by the checklists on ready.gov.  Of course I am more prepared in areas they don't cover such as self defence equipment, survival skills, and outdoor gear but it was nice to check off everything on the list and go over it with my wife.  She is a huge obstacle still in my preps but she is coming around slowly.

What you said here-

"She is a huge obstacle still in my preps but she is coming around slowly."

Needs to be cleared up FIRST. Bullets, beans and band aids are great, but trust me on this, you won't get far with a spouse that is against what your doing. To quote Robert Morris "I've seen it before pal." Too many times have I seen a husband get all gung ho on prepping and within a few short months the wife has squashed it.

I won't get into any more than that at this point, but suffice to say a house divided against itself can't stand.

The common little survival myth that the gal that "won't allow" preps is going to jump into your arms in the PAW and yell "MY HERO!" when you show her the stash of stuff you've been hiding is just that- A MYTH.

You need to have the leadership of your family and with that freedom of action. Initiative is the freedom to act rather than being forced to REact.

I'm not saying this will happen to you, but I've seen literally DOZENS of wives sabotage a family's survival efforts to include sabotaging a bugout when the time was necessary to bug out (hurricanes, etc.)

I've said it online numerous times and it isn't popular but it's true- your family is either going to be your greatest survival ASSET or you biggest LIABILITY. The choice is YOURS, life is what YOU make it.

Taking care of this is worth more than having 10K of ammo or a year of freeze dried in the closet.

Good luck!
Lowdown3

I've made this statement several times, I have used this action several times, works 90% of the time

take your wife/GF/Kids on a sunday drive, get some coffee or hot chocolate or what ever their morning fix is, make it like your going to see the christmas lights.

then drive to a "poor neighborhood" and say,,so, how many folks live in this area?  10k 100k etc..lots of folks, lots of poor folks, lots of folks with no where to go should there be a problem

then take her to an area of amassed apartment complexes, Upper class area, young professionals by the 1000's living in cubes stacked on cubes
Dallas has several areas such as this,,then say,

so, lets say there are 50k apts here with in a few miles, lets figure 1.5 persons per apt,,young, aggressive, up and coming professionals. thats 75,000 people with in a few sq miles
thats a lot of folks in the middle of a concrete jungle, with no where to go should things go bad, a gas leak starts, a train derails..

then go have coffee,,a coke, something light and simple a nice place, not just a McD's

after a few minutes and your all settled in..

say:
I know your wondering why we viewed all these places the last few hours, I know you think I am A bit Nutty in wanting to prep, buy food "we dont need" store water, etc,,but,,

all those apartments, all those people living pay day to pay day, out of all of them

not a one can butcher a chicken or think of eating a pigeon, 90% of them could NOT grow a tomato plant, or fathom where bread comes from or how it gets on the table, most cant change a tire or bandage a simple wound.
99.9% of them, would NOT give up there seat for you on the bus in the morning or let you get on the expressway to get to work.
where do you think these people are going to go looking for food, water, first aid?  WE saw NEW ORLEANS, WE Saw Galvaston, we Saw the devastaion in Kansas where the whole town disspeared over night to a tornado, I dont want YOU to ever have to go to the SUPERDOME or shuffled off to another state, or not be able to quency your thirst or be hungry, as long as Im alive, I wont let that happen for long IF EVER cause I love you, want to care for you and insure your comforts as well as I am able...

Thanks for the very well thought out and written replies.  The main reason my wife doesnt want huge preps is because we are in an apartment and space is at a premium.  She has mentioned that we should hold off until we build our house.  So it is not that she is entirely against it.  Also though I read The Road by Cormac Mcarthy and just hope that my wife isnt the kind that would give up hope like the women in the book.

If your wife isn't on board, you don't have a plan. What you have is a potential sore spot in your marriage, and a looming problem.

try urban master 1 at www.survival.com my wife watched it and really got into putting food and stuff away for rainy days. there great videos the hoods put out. there is lot of good info in the video to help u with other things as well.

stuck