Ask Lemmy

Gin, I don't plan on surviving in an apocalypse

Pregnant women. Because they're hot and their milk supply is easy to induce.

Condoms, in case we need to repopulate the earth

Not a single mention of bullets? Seriously?

In an apocalypse, ammunition will be worth more than gold.

Beans. Not only about the most important food source, legumes are also natural nitrogen fixers for soil health.

Will "fully equipped cruize ship" count as one item? Then I can scavenge them for all parts required to build new civilization.

And if it is not, then question to OP, what is the limit for the composite items to stop being counted as one item?

weed

A machine that allows me to travel across space-time so I can just nope-out of the universe amd find a new one in a timelime where the apocalypse didn't happen.

Heroin. Either build an army of addicts who're completely loyal to me or I can just off myself depending on how things are going.

Paracord. You can weave it into just about anything. Can probably also weave a water filter.

Nanobots!

AA-batteries

Fully-stocked cruise ships.

You guys were smart to say water, first thing I thought of when I read the question though was peanut butter.

Fully loaded guns. Watermelons (provides nutrition and water) are also a good candidate.

Economy Wonderglue. I've played Fallout 4, I know what you need.

Ongoing? Fresh clean salad 🥗. This assumes I can scrounge/ kill/ for other kinds of food. It implies there's a source somewhere, so perhaps I could trace it, for water and arable land. It contains clean water, and while lettuces are not a super food they have C which I can't store and K which is good for cuts. And if necessary I could wipe my ass with a leaf of it .

a thermos of fruit smoothies that is forever cold and will not run out. This kinda work with all kind of apocalypse because foods and drinks is the number 1 thing that would hard to come by, and smoothie is both food and water.

A) Something to trade (rely on others)

B) Something for ME to survive on (rely on nobody)

C) Something to rebuild (everyone relies on me)

I generally lean towards rebuilding, but it really depends on what apocalypse we're talking about here. Zombie? Nuclear war? Asteroid? Nazis? Waterworld?

So, assuming I can survive enough, I'd pick rebuild critical tech like rubber or a way to forge steel or a critical chemical. Think, "Doctor Stone".

But if I need to survive like a water world or a desert world or a zombie outbreak, what I pick is going to be pretty fucking different. Cigarettes don't mean shit if there's no water. Water don't mean shit if that's all you have. And none of that matters if you're stuck in a world with aerosolized zombie infection that results in smart running zombies that fast heal.

Post-apocalyptic enough for that item not to be 7.62x51?

Lighter is a good choice, but I'm thinking toilet paper rolls for bartering.

I think alcohol would be useful for trading.

Ok so some people are asking what type of apocalypse but I feel that's mostly irrelevant because you said it's a post apocalypse scenario. The apocalypse has already passed.

So there's kind of two options. One is where I would be the sole survivor on the planet, and the other is where there's still pockets of survivors out there.

Most post apocalypse situations involve other people surviving, so I'll start there.

You didn't put a limiter on what the item could be, whether it had to be realistic or not, and how this supply would come to be. So I'll give three answers, each with different degrees of what I'm assuming your intention behind the question is.

The first would be an infinite supply of non tricky, non malevolent genie lamps. Infinite wishes baybee, this trumps pretty much everything.

Something more fantastic but more reasonably grounded would be computers, with a complete set of data on human history, art, music, science and schematics, with instructions on how to rebuild society in a more equitable way, translated into all languages possible, with a pictogram of how to charge it up etched on the outside. Pass those suckers around, rebuild society, got infinite of them, everyone gets one and it has the windows space pinball from the 90s on it just for fun.

But since you said lighters, to play with the idea of things that exist, I'm gonna go with tents. Probably those onion shaped ones that are designed to be permanent housing, or yurts. Sure water and food are important but without shelter you're fucked, and I could house everyone.

Now if it were an apocalypse where I'm the only survivor, I would want an infinite supply of one thing.

BACKUP. GLASSES.

Flour. Maybe rice. Something of that nature. The only alternative option that's even close to food might be fuel, depending on the nature of the disaster.

Water is everywhere outside of deserts, and there's enough raw materials for a thinned population to recycle for a long time. Food and medicine is what separates the living from the dead, and medicine isn't a single item. Edit: Although antibiotics or water treatment tablets are probably the closest approximation.

Pleasantly surprised to not see more throwing star-type answers.