When I was a kid something happened that made an impression. The state had a three day storm of freezing rain. The ice build up broke limbs, trees and telephone and power lines across the state and most roads were impassable. No running water, heat or food other than what you had in the house. I had a great time, but was very aware of other in our neighborhood that weren't. My parents were raise in the depression and had lived on farm way out in the boon docks. They were in the habit of keeping a pantry with two weeks of food and had a chest freezer. Meat is less expensive if you split a hog or a side of beef with another family. Buying basics in bulk makes sense if you'll eat them before they go bad. (I suggest Alton Brown's Good Eat sub series 'Pantry raid' for ideas if your interested. Food network and youtube) We had a wood stove. (Everybody liked a fire and the stove burnt a lot of wood, the stove not so much. Also Dad had a boy, me, split wood. We were set when bad times happened not so much for doomsday, but because my parents had lived in a location an hour from help or comfort and during a several times when money was tight, so they learned to not only save a little money but save wealth. The decisions made for each of items were not 'planning for the day' but in making a decision in buying something apreaching its utility in the long term and if things went wrong. You didn't think they would but it was nice to know.

A short side note wealth is not money. Money is something, gold, paper, credit or an idea (think I'm kidding? What's electronic ones and zeros in your online bank account?) Wealth is Food, drink, shelter, clothing and luxury items like computers, book and porn. Money is convent when there is a lot of wealth, not so much when there's not. Wealth is good to have but not very convenient. (that's why I pay more in a year on a storage locker than the value of the contents.)

The reason for this is I like to target shoot; its fun. I reload and when I visited the place I buy the stuff needed. The store owner looked punch drunk, his phone is ringing off the hook and I have more in stock than he did. Customers were talking about gun bans and buying like it was food an the hurricane was about to hit, Maybe they are right. I just wished they all had full panterys. My parents weren't the only ones with full ones, and between them everyone in our neighborhood ate when it all went bad.