when to crack into the prep

My basic advice is to never buy stuff without having a well-defined plan that defines the criteria for when you're gonna use your prep, examines the consequences of being wrong, etc. There is no single correct answer, but if you don't exercise this kind of discipline, you're just gonna end up spending a lot of money on useless junk, and then make bad / rushed decisions when something actually happens.

But for food, the basic criteria is, don't deplete your stockpile unless the alternative is worse. Right now, you can presumably still get groceries. Trips to the grocery store put you at some risk, so it's best to minimize the frequency and rely on online ordering where possible. But you know, if you're in New York and all other options are unavailable, then yeah, probably good to use what you have stored.

id hate to wake up martial law

Not particularly likely right now.

/r/preppers Thread