I have been reviewing John from The Prepared Mind’s youtube videos, in which he gives his best advice to survive the coming economic collapse. He admits in his videos that some of the best advice comes from his viewers in the comments section.
Here are the best comments taken from some of his videos:
Take Into Consideration Violent Crime Statistics When Determining Where To Re-Locate- First, I assume you will decide to remain in the USA. Next, FBI violent crime statistics by Zip code are the first data set to look at. Then exclude all prime and secondary nuclear war targets. This will get you on the right track. You will also need to decide which SHTF scenarios are plausible in your lifetime. Yellowstone caldera blow-out? Solar flare kill-shot? Financial-fiscal collapse? EMP strike from foreign power? Limited nuclear strike from Russia-China? Full-scale nuclear strike from Russia-China? Massive respiratory epidemic of Mega-Influeza/bird flu? Cascade mega-earthquake? San Andreas fault mega-earthquake? Killer eruption & blow-out of Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, etc.
Edible Wild Plants On AmazonFind Dozens of highly rated Wild Edible identification books On Amazon
Teach Your Children How To Locate Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants- GAME
Learn How To Forge For WILD Food, As This Knowledge Will Be Hard To Learn Overnight -Go vegetarian/vegan people! Learn to know which plants and fruits to eat if sh*t ever hits the fan. You dont need to go killing every animal in sight if youre out in the wilderness. By the way, theres plenty of plant life available to eat in the desert as well.
Stick to the high ground, remote and mountainous preferably in a cooler climate. It’s easier to sustain heat than to endure heat and try to stay cool. Heat will sap a human body whereas if you can create a fire pit in the cold, you’re going to be okay, plus in the high ground of mountains, game is readily available as is fresh water.
Cooler Climates are often overlooked, yet snow is can be valuable for keeping food longer. Wood is fire and shelter. Snow and ice keeps food. Water abounds and can be navigated. I already know which set of mountains and where to winter, and rowing to Hawaii takes to long. Mountains are my first choice.
Move to the ideal location long before collapse happens. Don’t expect to move there last minute – Ive lived from Alaska to texas to Indiana and drove truck through every state in the country hundreds of times.. my personal favorite place as far as climate. population. wildlife. timber for cover from air surveillance. not easy for people to travel in other than roads in the Ozark mountains of Missouri and Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. lots of caves. timber. rivers. wildlife. catfish.water. etc. and its the highest elevation between the rockys and Appalachians. kind of an island in the middle of the country so to speak. just my personal opinion. I would strongly advise moving where you wanna be in a shtf scenario LONG before it happens. there WILL NOT be any traveling freely down the road folks. and there will be no time outs or regrouping. trust me. better get your sh*t wired tight now.when it comes you are exactly where you are gonna ride the sh*t out. period. so make a decision and get on with it asap.
Southern California is probably the WORST place in the USA. About 25 million people & no water.
USA states population map 2010
Northern Maine is overlooked Where I live – northern Maine and NH – is widely overlooked. Yes, it’s cold in winter, but warm woolen and down clothing and blankets are available for not too much $$$. Plenty of trees for firewood, and rapid forest regeneration. Low population density. Low cost of living, Low prices for land and houses. Besides, I can’t stand southern heat!
Look for a location with access to firewood, not only used for warmth, but for cooking -I’m in Northern VT, besides the cold winter, which is not a huge problem because of the ease of getting fire wood, it would be an ideal place. I live in a town of about 600 people and not very populated all around. Lots of helpful country folk and plenty of guns and ammo for hunting/security. Plenty of wildlife around. City folks probably wouldn’t last long up here if they aren’t used to rural living, winter survival and hunting/fishing for food. I’m staying put when SHTF.
British Columbia has plenty of remote locations -Don’t go to Canada? Really ?? Safest place in the whole da*n world if you ask me. Especially the most Western province of BC. Plenty of remote locations with fresh water everywhere. Ocean to fish and travel on if necessary. Temperatures are pretty consistent with Washington and Oregon so totally doable with a small amount of preparation.
Avoid areas around Yellowstone -I have to disagree with your map. The area of Yellowstone….Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, and regions immediately south and east of it will be a cauldron of hell with the potential for a cataclysmic event.
The key to survival in Canada is to be prepared for a very harsh winter climate Canada wouldn’t be the worst place to go if the shit did hit the fan. I’m Canadian, and have lived in Canada all of my life. I can tell you that the climate is harsh… in the winter months. In the spring, summer and autumn months, it can be as warm and pleasant as it is in many parts of the northern US. Canada’s most southerly mainland point, Point Pelee (which is located in Ontario), is on the same latitude as Barcelona, Spain and there are a few other points that are more southerly than some points in the US. Canada has tons of arable land and virtually unlimited water, and in the wilderness regions well outside the major cities and towns, there is a lot of game available. Growing seasons are shorter in Canada, but it’s quite possible to grow crops even in a lot of the more northerly areas. The trick to surviving in Canada, of course, is to be prepared for the harsh winter climate – proper clothing and stores of food and water are essential. Get all of those things and proper shelter, and surviving not only the winter months but all of the other seasons will actually be quite easy. People won’t be so much of an issue as Canada is underpopulated. However, that said, remember that most of Canada’s population lives in cities that are located within a one to two-hour drive of the US border. Because of their proximity to the US, the fact that Canada is an ally of the US, and a member of NATO, most of these centers (that is, medium-to-large locales) are going to be nuclear targets. What this means is that many Canadian cities will be in ruins and unable to support those who survived the strikes, never mind refugees from the US. Southern and southwestern Ontario would be a bad bet as a refuge because it is the most densely populated region in Canada with relatively little arable land or forested areas where you could hide out. Even if none of the cities in these areas were hit with nuclear weapons, they are in the path of the fallout plumes that would be emanating from many targets in the US – specifically the Minuteman missile silos located in the Dakotas, Nebraska and to a lesser extent, the ones in Kansas, as well as from ground burst targets in the US midwest.
Consider an area with a prepper mindset I posted a response earlier, it was there for about 15 minutes then gone, so I’ll give it a go again. I used to live about 70 miles south of Chicago, Not Good! A year and a half ago I moved permanently to our bug out location in the boonies of NW Tennessee. We are 1/2 mile from a very large lake, we have 3+ acres with deer and squirrel. What few neighbors we do have are all preppers. I will not be going anywhere in a SHFT situation as this is it for me, well maybe that final destination of heaven if it got that bad and we were overrun. I do have to admit though that I’m about 110 miles from The New Madrid fault in the event it ever let lose with an earthquake, which it has been known to do. They say anything larger than a 7.0 and where I live could be in for a rough ride.
A boat could be valuable -The ideal place for single families when SHTF is on the water on a sailboat. You don’t need fuel to travel, you have ready access to food (seafood). Buy a water maker that converts saltwater into potable water. Most thugs that would try to rob you probably have no idea how to sail nor will have fuel (after a given time) available to come after you in a gas-fueled boat. Stock on Vitamin C and multi-vitamins as scurvy is a real issue living off of a strict seafood diet. All in all, it is probably the fastest, safest, most effective way to get out quickly and be able to survive for a long period of time.
The Mountains Of Virginia –I live in the blue ridge mountains of VA, it has plentiful mountain springs, game big and small, It’s mountainous so the population isn’t really dense, plenty of rivers and streams with fish in them. the winters are iffy, sometimes cold sometimes not cold.
The Rocky Mountains might be a refuge location. Seriously plan for a war invasion to happen in the United States. See those prophecies here The East coast wont be a safe place, when the Russian strike wit nukes many major cities in the east will be destroyed and after the a nuclear attack follow by a great invasion , they will destroy everything your homes hey will burn everything. the Chinese will strike with Nukes also the west coast is out of the question Cali will be cover with Chinese much of Arizona and New Mexico and much of the southern states will be cover wit enemies, The Rocky Mountains will be a place of refuge and safety many areas will be safe the some areas in South east of Utah the western Co Montana , North eastern Idaho, though the truth is the destruction of the wicked by the wicked militaries they will flood our nation, this is latter day prophecies, WW3 will be the cleansing of America and many other nations will greatly suffer also. about the only places where there be places of safety and refuge will in and around the Rocky Mountains. Good Americans should help those in need because h will be god people that lost everything and had to leave the east and the south. WW3 will be about destroying the wicked, THe Wicke Chinese and the N. Koreans which are wicked many Mexicans will group and build up gangs and if your white you can be sure you’ll be a major target, though there are many good Mexicans that will join up with militias and the US Army will have it’s hands full and police and States governments will be taking apart there wont be and law and order though there be groups of Christians that will stand and keep order but there will be gangs of criminals all over hunting for food and water an they will kill just for the fun of it. 70% of Americans are not prepared for these future event they will suffer greatly , it will come to the point that you be meat on the table people will end eating each other to stay alive
Stay away from the north east and the southern areas of the United States – I’d say Eastern Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, northern Utah, Colorado and Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin. Possibly northern Missouri but I’d stay away from the northeast and most of the south. The northeast is just too densely populated while the southeast and gulf regions will attract too many survivors due to the weather and the southwest is mostly desert, not to mention that Mexico factor……
Eastern WA, OR, ID, MT are some of the most active homesteading areas in the country with the exceptions of Alaska and the Ozarks. -I grew up in B’ham WA, and just bought 40 acres in the Okanogan Highlands this year to build a homestead. I have lived and traveled around the country though. I am not just focused on a region because it is all I know. I know the different areas of the country and kept coming back to Cascadia. I would actually prefer Western WA/OR if not for the issue of the Cascadian Subduction zone. In fact the Willamette valley is almost the perfect location minus the subduction zone issue. The West side is actually one of the most biodiverse regions in the country, offering so much wild edibles that it would be hard to starve if you bother to learn what the wild edibles are. But the earthquake, tsunami, and volcano threats are too big an issue to risk for me. So I moved inland to the Eastern side. Eastern WA, OR, ID, MT are some of the most active homesteading areas in the country with the exceptions of Alaska and the Ozarks. The area between the Cascades and the Continental divide has become the hot spot for homesteading and the new back to land movement. There are a lot of like minded folks in the region working to make some great homesteads. Something a lot of folks don’t realize is how much agriculture is done in Eastern WA. The famous WA apples for example come from Eastern WA. The soil is actually some of the richest soil to be found due to glacial and volcanic soils build up. Especially since so much topsoil has been lost around the country from erosion.



