Ask Lemmy

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.

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.

Fuel cans probably.

malted barley In the end of the world, or even just at the collapse of civilization as we know it, these can be used to make beer. Yeast is naturally occurring, hops just grow on vines, but malting grains seems to be the hardest part of the process to me.

Potable water is good, perhaps wheat berries or ibuprofen would be good too.

As for an unorthodox answer, I'm going to say survival guides. Most people have some idea of how they might survive, but it couldn't hurt to have a resource to fill any knowledge gaps.

Genies in a lamp

Something like Soylent. You can live off of it for a very, very long time. Enough time to get your garden growing.

I choose an unlimited supply of cell-phone minutes so I can say "told you so" to all the apocalypses deniers.

Sorta depends on the apocalypse but for most I will take the airline bottles of a high end vodka.

Mainly maps, but also other informative reading materials such as natural medicine, almanacs and other foraging guides.

Paper, good for lighting fires and keeping people honest. Also I'm guessing pretty hard to make

AAA batteries

Waterproof matches.

Gout sufferer checking in, Prednisone

ammunition could get you anything you could need. drinking water would be a second i guess, but you could with effort gather drinkable water.

ammunition is heavy, but no where near as heavy as water for trading purposes,

Depends on the apocalypse.