Some recently discovered tips,
Some sticks of spearmint chewing gum will keep bugs out of your stored dry bulk foods. Not sure if this is true, but hey its an idea worth researching, I think there is even liquid spearmint extract.

Surviving in the City
March 22, 2008
Author Unknown

Purchase lots of olive oil. Not only can you cook with it (and besides, it's a lot
healthier than corn or vegetable oil), olive oil also burns as a clean candle
fuel. You can float a wick in a jar half-full of olive oil and light the wick. Viola, a
home-made candle. Olive oil is a fantastic item for your storage anyway
because even if you purchase all the grains in the world, you'll still need
cooking oil, and you obviously can't buy powdered cooking oil. Well-stored
olive oil can last for thousands of years.

Did you know that people won't steal giant logs? Although they may easily
steal wood you've already chopped, most people won't have any way of
stealing logs. They're too heavy, and the vehicles won't have any gas left in the SHTF. For
this reason, your best bet in regards to stocking fuel for your house is to stock
up on UNCUT wood logs.

WATER WELLS
By far, the best solution for obtaining long-term water supplies is to drill a well.
Buy the best-quality hand-pump available (cast-iron pumps available from
Lehman's) and a good cylinder. They will last a lifetime if installed properly.
With this setup, you'll have a near-unlimited supply of water.
The total cost of doing this, depending on where you live, ranges from about
$4000 - $6000. Is it worth it? If you've got the money, I think so. However,
many cities simply don't allow the drilling of wells, so you may not be able to
get one drilled even if you want to.
The deeper your well, the more expensive it gets. Most well drilling companies
charge by the foot. When water is deeper, you also need a bigger pump and a
more powerful cylinder, so the costs tend to really grow the deeper you go. If
you can find water at 20', you're very lucky and it might not cost you even
$2000. If you have to go down to 200', it might cost you $7500, and you're at
the depth limit of hand-powered pumps anyway.

Thanks to the unknown author
Lumpy

Great post
we use olive oil with most of our cooking and now we can use it to light our way.
giant logs is a very good idea too. when people come to take all, they will take logs too.
and of course the well. if i could i would definitely choose to have a well because if TSHTF water will stop coming out of our faucets.
if you live by a stream, it could be dammed up at some point before your area.

A thought on scaring the sh!t out of bad guys. Buy a several of the cheepo laser pointers and hand them out to un-armed or young preppers in your nest. Bad guys should have a sever 'pucker moment' if they see a bunch of lasers pointing their way.

Semper Veritas

some good ideas!
Actually, you can buy shortening power...reconsitute it and you have cooking oil. BUT olive oil lasts forever if stored right and it much better for you and more useful.
We have a shallow well for our water and I'm trying to get a hand pump for it. Hubby is also trying to rig up a pump system using solar power. If you can, try and get a couple of portable solar set ups. We got ours from Harbor Freight for under $200 ea. It's a 3 panel system and works very well. It will run our water pump, or small appliances, a tv & vcr, charge tool batteries.
We keep a lot of large logs. We cut them down a year in advance and start the drying process. We leave them accross the only path into our property, making it difficult for people to approach the house. We get them in early spring and bring them to the house, but cut down more to leave scattered to trip up intruders. If people don't know the terrain, brush and hidden logs will not only trip people up, it will make noise. We've found also that the brush harbors game birds too, not only is this a source of food for us, but they sure make a racket flying up if someone walks around near them. (not as much fun as a punji pit, but it's legal!)