this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2025
86 points (98.9% liked)

Ask Lemmy

34271 readers
1577 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I’m thinking either Bic lighters or cigarettes, just to trade

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] toomanypancakes@piefed.world 3 points 51 minutes ago

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

[–] figjam@midwest.social 2 points 43 minutes ago
[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

can I get them all in one lump sum or do I have to use them up before getting another?

[–] Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Milk, given an unlimited supply i won't have to worry about it spoiling. Gives a decent amount of nutrients and water and can use it to make cheese or butter eventually, And is a life without cheese and butter really worth living?

[–] RangerAndTheCat@lemmy.world 2 points 2 minutes ago

I’m lactose intolerant… but damn if you didn’t sell me on this OP

[–] AngryRobot@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago

I'm diabetic. I choose insulin.

[–] Ceedoestrees@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago

Goats. Food, friends and defense.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 2 hours ago

Drinkable water.

[–] Lukaro@piefed.zip 14 points 6 hours ago

Along those lines antibiotics would be better.

[–] e8CArkcAuLE@piefed.social 3 points 4 hours ago

AA-batteries

[–] LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone 18 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Hugs from a nice person. The apocalypse is going to be really depressing I'll need the love

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 10 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

thank you for being on this platform and being so positive. I enjoy seeing your posts and they somehow give me motivation to keep my chin up and be more outgoing with someone I recently met at the dog park who's acting curiously shy and different from most people.

[–] brown567@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)
[–] LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone 6 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

That's a lovely thing to say Fiivemacs thanks so much

[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 hour ago

I second the sentiment. You and other frequent posters of delightful posts help this place to feel more like a community. It's also nice because you make me reflect on my own online presence in a manner that provides a positive pressure to be the kind of person I value in my community; I see usernames like yours crop up again and again, and when I find myself noticing that organically, it makes me wonder what kinds of patterns people notice across my own comments — it's introspective, but in a good way

[–] AngryishHumanoid@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 5 hours ago
[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 115 points 11 hours ago (4 children)
[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 46 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

This really is it. Sure, a high water ratio soup would provide both nourishment and fluids for living, but basic clean water allows for cleaning and the ability to grow food or trade for other stuff.

Plus truly unlimited means you can start your own river to help society recover!

[–] pdxfed@lemmy.world 30 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

We're putting Gatorade on the crops and they don't grow. Ground is broken!

But it's got what plants crave!

[–] Libb@piefed.social 5 points 8 hours ago

I would never have imagined I would witness this becoming our reality but it looks more and more like it.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 14 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

If you are going that route: Rule of 3

3 minutes without oxygen. 3 days without water. 3 weeks without food (I think it is also "3 hours without shelter" but that is a much more environmental factor and feels shoehorned in). And, depending on the apocalypse, clean air can be hard to come by.

[–] DecaturNature@yall.theatl.social 3 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Yeah, obviously need the first that that will kill you. We take breathable air for granted. But if you need an infinite supply of clean air, you are probably dead anyway. An infinite supply of water has many uses beyond drinking and hygine -- irrigation, power, and cooling come to mind as very useful post-apocalypse.

[–] meco03211@lemmy.world 6 points 7 hours ago

I've heard it phrased "3 hours without shelter in inclement weather".

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Carrolade@lemmy.world 46 points 11 hours ago (3 children)

What flavor of apocalypse matters a lot. If it's zombies, ammo becomes critical. If it's nuclear, ammo is less important and water filtration probably becomes critical. If it's a gigantic asteroid that blots out the sun, water is easy to find but food is critical.

For an unknown apocalypse, I think I'll go with gasoline. Not critical in and of itself, but helps a lot more generally with a lot of stuff, being able to power a generator and move camp more easily.

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 12 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

In the zombie variation, might want to cheat the system and ask for loaded guns. Because guns wear out and get jammed sometimes.

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 17 points 10 hours ago (4 children)

What if it's like impact winter? Asteroid, forever blocked out sun, winter, and vampires.

[–] Carrolade@lemmy.world 10 points 10 hours ago

Vampires...? Uh, garlic. lol

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 29 points 11 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Sergio@piefed.social 9 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Evil Genie: "Granted." It starts to rain. It never stops.

[–] GrantUsEyes@lemmy.zip 9 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Like that time it rained for two million years

https://youtu.be/_1LdMWlNYS4

[–] iii@mander.xyz 8 points 8 hours ago (1 children)
[–] GrantUsEyes@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

'Twas such a drag, ʕ ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°ʔ

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 23 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Fresh, hot pizza from Ray's.

Not fresh at the time of the apocalypse. Fresh at the time I seek it.

Of course that would mean I would also get a steady supply of clean water and of all the ingredients required to make the pizza. But that is simply a secondary side effect of having made my choice for the one, single thing.

[–] ook@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 10 hours ago

For all you know it would be a drone coming to you to deliver the hot pie directly, not a delivery of all raw ingredients. Then again, you know the old saying, to make a pizza from scratch you first need to create the universe.

[–] shaun@lemmy.world 18 points 10 hours ago (6 children)

Toilet paper. During apocalyptic scenarios, it's worth is apparently uncountable, so I will be able to trade it and live a life of opulence.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world 12 points 10 hours ago

Bottle caps.

[–] riquisimo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 10 hours ago (7 children)

All you big brains saying water.

My first thought was soybeans, since they're so versatile. Or corn for the same reason. Granted, I don't have any way to process them so I didn't think it through.

But a food source that also provides water would be a good idea. Watermelon is too sweet to be your primary food though.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 5 points 10 hours ago

Food sources don't provide water unless there is water to grow them, and if the water is contaminated that will just end up in the food.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] bizarroland@lemmy.world 8 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Army MREs, the modern ones.

Assuming I'm not teleported elsewhere, the place I live has plenty of drinkable fresh water and other supplies, so the only real concern is having consistent high-quality food available, and MREs are engineered to support people in the wild for several months, if not years. In case of a major war breaking out, so it would contain everything I would need to stay alive, or to trade to other people.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] bluGill@fedia.io 10 points 10 hours ago

Iodized salt. I live in iowa, we have planty of water (i can figure out how to filter it), and a great climate for growing food. However our soilis naturaly low iodine and there is no salt around so those are critical nutriants I don't think I could get here.

second would be iron - we don't have any and It is usefur for a lot.

load more comments
view more: next ›