After World Wide Cyber Attacks, it's time to think ahead...

Common Sense Preparation if the World goes Blah!

After recent events of Cyber Attacks worldwide and the threat of possible wars, it is not silly to have some basic common sense preparation. I don't believe there is a need to go overboard, but it is something you can do within your weekly shopping. A couple of extra cans here and and a couple of extra jars there.
When thinking about preparing for hard times, there is two categories you need to contemplate; Survival items, such as food water and ways to cook them. And Tradable items which can be used for bartering. I will go more in depth with these for you later on.
Firstly I would like to give you my insight to why it is a good time to prepare. If the internet were to go down, basically the would comes to stand still, and if it were to come down to war then everyone will panic and buy out the stores within a day. So common sense says to slowly start putting some things together now.
If we look at estimations from well scholared people, they suggest that in the first month of disaster there will be much anarchy, but in the ensuing months is when starvation sets in and the population will decrease in great numbers. So a little common sense forethought could go a long way. So here are some tips that I am taking, but your decisions are yours, and trust me when I say that I will only share with my family. But now lets get into the practical side.

Survival Items: Water is key, whether it be bottled or you get yourself a purifier. BBQ and extra gas bottles, for boiling water. During hard times you won't be cooking much meat unless you kill it.
Rice and Dried food, such as lentils, beans, soup mixes and the like. These can be stored in vacuumed sealed jars that you can get at any thrift store.
Canned food such as soups, vegetables and anything with a long use by date.
Toilet paper (cheap stuff is fine as you won't care in tough times), bandages and disinfectant.
Cooking oil, this also a good tradable item as well.
Canned fish is a great source of protein and has long storage dates.
Two minute noodles and popcorn don't carry much sustenance but are good gut putty.
But the thing is not to buy things you like to eat for storage as, well you know why.
Also some good camping gear like axes, knives and basic tools.
If you want to look further into the future, the seeds are also a good option.

Tradable Items: The best tradable are addictive products, that people will be desperate to trade for.
Coffee, Tea, Sugar, Salt and Spices. These can all be broken down into smaller quantities to swap for many other things.
Cigarettes, Alcohol and Pharmaceuticals. These may bring up ethical issues for some, but if you can stock up on prescription drugs, you will be able to barter well.
Fuel is not easy store, but if you have the ability then go for it.
Sealable bags will be useful to stock up on as well to separate your items to trade.

Now I haven't written this blog to send anyone into a panic, as you will need to remain very calm if it come to a situation where you have to survive. Now in Australia we can't stock up on guns, but carrying a few baseball bats and plenty of big knives could also come in handy.
Good Luck everybody..