What do you need to survive? I'm fairly sure most of us know that we need food, water, shelter and heat, but is there anything else? Humans have developed as a social animal, so other human interaction could be put there, in fact we could introduce all of Maslows hierarchy of needs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs )in there. At its most basic we MUST have these to live after whatever happens.
pt 1, Food
FOOD, Many prepper's have stockpiled many different types of food, freeze dried, tinned, frozen, and even having kitchen gardens for produce and Chickens or Rabbits.
The key, as with everything, is to start small, if you normally go to the supermarket every month, but an extra week of fortnight when you go.
Alternately you can get freeze dried food in cans that last up to 30 years, not as cheep than getting Heinz soup, but they contain 10 servings, so maybe you want to looks at these. The favourite brand seems to be mountain house food, http://www.mountainhouse.eu/, though I have to say I haven't tried them yet, I prefer https://www.fuizionfreezedriedfood.com/default.aspx but these have a shorter shelf life, not that this matters because I use them regularly for hill walking and expeditions with scout and youth groups, or even just on my own in the back country, though there are other brands such as travel lunch and Pack 'n' Go Lightweight Rations.
If you don't want to invest heavily in freeze dried food, then there are main stream dry foods, Bachelors do a soya based mine meat alternative that just needs heating in water over a low heat, call bean feast they come in mine meat, bolognaise and chilli varieties, and are normally around a pound in supermarkets if you can find them.
While your in the supermarket you may like to pick up other dried foods, beans/ peas, lentils, pasta, rice and even porridge oats and instant potato will all save for a considerable time. For a handy guide to how long certain foods can be stored it is worth looking at the Church of Latter Day Saints website. ( http://www.lds.org/topics/food-storage/longer-term-food-supply?lang=eng#1 )
Frozen food can be a handy source of protein for when the end is at hand, though it may be a bit tricky storing it if you lose electricity, again, just buy a bit extra when you go to the super market. Normally food frozen at home will only last a few months, so if you are planning to go this route it is worth getting frozen food that has been specially packaged. Specially packaged frozen food can last up to 2 years in the freezer if it hasn't been thawed or the packaging hasn't been interfered with before it was put in the freezer at home.
Growing your own veg in a small kitchen garden or allotment is an ideal way of supplying yourself with fresh veg all year round, survival situation or not. It will also reduce your "food miles"(the amount of distance that your food has travelled before it reaches the shelves of the supermarket), and it allows you to know exactly what has gone into the ground to grow your food. If you can this is probably the best option for food open to anyone, prepper or not.
Fresh food, whether you have grown it yourself or whether you have bought it can be stored in a number of ways, it can be pickled/ preserved, it can be canned or it can be stored in wet sand to last over the winter. I'm by no means an expert on these matters, so I'll let you do the research on that point for yourselves, there are plenty of websites and books that can be used as resources.
Pt 2 Heat
and
Pt 3 Water coming soon
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