As a few here have commented upon -self sufficiency is almost an impossible utopian holy grail.
Trying to compare living in more sparsely populate rural wild game rich areas of Mainland Europe to population dense Middle England isn't going to work.
One thing, which people don't seem to appreciate, is the psyops wars that are going on ... quite literally people are trying to play with our minds. That is because the internet and particularly social media makes people particularly vulnerable to "nudging" types of attack. What those do is to change people's "world views" ... by which I mean their perception of "what is normal" ... which means people start to accept things which they would never in their life have believed they would accept (like literal house arrest for covid)
Another type of attack, is one that undermines the social integrity of society. These may be intentional (I'm particularly suspicious of China), but we are also now suffering from what I call "delusional feedback loops" ... which is that delusional ideas spread like a virus, particularly when scepticism is being censored as is happening now. And it has been my observation that what I call "Group-thinkers" who include journalists, civil servants and politicians are some of the most vulnerable to accepting, without critique, delusional thinking.
However, social media also spreads the truth that the old media don't want us to hear. The Old media call these truths "conspiracies" ... but it is strange how many conspiracies over the last two years were true. And, for example, you will hardly get a grain of truth on the climate from the old media. So, it may be that we are for the first time in history, actually getting to know the truth particularly about what the elites are planning for us ... and that is why so many are prepping.
Recently, people have been talking about food shortages. These are made to look like ordinary people expressing genuine concerns. But, I am sceptical, because I have seen the same pattern before when there is a concerted campaign to spread disinformation by government, by foreign government or by malicious organisations. Are these shortages real?
If so, one possibility is that government is deliberately sabotaging the food supply. The most likely reason would be as insane part of the "green agenda", which long ago adopted psyops propaganda as a mode of working. Here, a very possible scenario, is some campaign started to get people to grow their own food ... but as happens, that morphed into "destroy the type of farming greens dislike".
Another possibility, is that world food production was so severely disrupted by the stupid covid restrictions and the cuts to fertilisers and pesticides, that government now know we are about to get a global shortage of food. Government know it is coming ... so they are trying to get us used to the idea before it hits, to prompt a bit of home growing, but mainly to reduce the anger when the effects hits.
Another possibility, is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with global food productions, but that foreign powers are trying to stoke up discontent in the west in order to distract the west whilst they take over Taiwan (not being too specific ... LOL)
And a final possibility ... it is just delusional thinking spreading like a virus, feeding off a few quite normal events.
How do we prepare?
I don't have a clue. The only thing I do know, is that we are getting episodes of mass delusional thinking which seem to be growing in magnitude as I predicted some years ago would be created by the internet in something I called a "crisis of truth" ... where we just wouldn't know what is true any longer.
So, I think the first thing, is to take everything we are told with a massive pinch of salt, from those who are saying "the end of the world is nigh ... you must prep", to those who are saying "there is absolutely nothing to worry about ... just follow the latest government guidance ... and you'll be fine ... the government are here to help".
But, if you look at the worst episodes in human history, from the Nazis, to Stalin's five year plan, to Pol Pot, what we find is that most people went along with them. These appalling episodes occurred because the press and most people agreed that ... they should accept the "five year plan" or "we are the master race", they were delusions and almost everyone went along with it. So when they occur .. we are very likely to be caught up and go along with it (at least initially). So, the idea we can grow a few carrots as a way to stop being caught up in that type of delusion is ... delusional.
When we look back at history, the "prepping plan" that works ... is to be aware of what is happening, to be sceptical and know where "the groupthink" is leading, and to have a plan to get out of these insane cultures that can develop as early as possible ... and well before you are caught in them.
And, the other thing that history teaches us ... is it is far easier to spot the developmnet of these insane Totalitarian cultures ... with the benefit of hindsight.