Yes, storage is a temporary solution, but should last long enough to develop a stream of survival in an environment of scarcity. Nothing new here because it's the age old harvest to harvest plan where obtaining food or whatever else from around the world on a daily basis doesn't work anymore.

:-D

I have also looked at other locations and not found any that are less threatening. The main indication is how every country has submitted to the same Covid19 requirements no matter how small, large or already totalitarian. A friend once suggested being a permanent traveler moving about but that was quickly restricted. When the plandemic first struck there was a man solo sailing across the Pacific and when he arrived in the South Pacific no island nation would let him land for supplies. His desperate pleas finally convinced one (I don't remember which) nation allowed him to land and resupply then sent him away.
If there is a method of living parallel within a society without being noticed or tracked that may be the best option. I don't have an idea of how to do that either.
Small communities may not be as high profile and knowing your neighbors gives more options and support.
If there is a place such as Galt's Gulch it would have to be removed from many supplies and day to day living. Anything coming in would alert and focus the slave masters.
If anyone has an idea I would like to hear it.

The winters are chilly, the summers are warm. The folks are quite friendly, the bars have their charm.
And it is still illegal for single men to own sheep.
https://www.zillow.com/manitowoc-wi/

What countries do you think are good options for moving to from the U.S.? I've looked into quite a few, but they all seem to have their own risks. (Not to mention that they each have a government which can become tyrannical at any time, unfortunately.)

wow. you are taking the bull by the horns to be sure. I am 75 and live in las vegas. probably too late for me to move to an independent location.

My timing and general lifestyle was fortune. Began the moving plan in early 2018 just to rid myself of the Minneapolis environment. Fortunate for a really good job in my shop that I tuned for great profit over a 3 year span. I managed to pay off two properties and minimize expenses on a third to a payoff of 5 years max. The slaughterhouse butcher shops are getting backed up for up to two years with private party demand from small farms. We are in the que with a 5 year history of patronage. Property demand is all time high for residential...the City exodus. The Amish have been buying up a lot of farmstead as they come available....intelligent folk.
This may seem like independence. I am free to act as I will. Interdependence, rather than co-dependency makes my life full.
Community.

the things we REALLY need are housing, food, and water, and maybe some clothes. We are going to have to give up a lot of what we consider essential if SHTF

I think we all have to accept that living high on the hog as we have become accustomed to is just over with with the rise of collectivism and the sestruction of money. We are just going to have to return to living off the land and being independent for the most part.

its very difficult to maintain a somewhat acceptable lifestsyle for any length of time without just being totally independent of people and live on a farm . I dont think its practical to store enough goods to be independent over the long haul.

I wish you the best of success in this endeavor, Commander!

If there is any method for the individual being the one in control of outcome and maintaining ownership of anything is contrary to those who want to be the slave masters will always be trying to plan a method of control and surveillance to ensure compliance. There is nothing you can have that can't be taken from you by the mob.
Would owning a farm be a good idea to supply your own nutritional needs? Yes. Until the government agents show up telling you that you can't have the food for yourself; or, they decided to give the farm to someone who obeys the state and your not it. Leave, now. The best possibility remains in finding ways to avoid detection and attention of the state and any of its lackeys including your neighbor who may turn you in for not participating.
How to remain unobserved by a state that now has the ability to monitor every individual every moment, and every transaction, not by hiring enough overseers who are loyal to the state but simply writing an analytical program and tasking enforcers to apprehend any anomaly.
Having supplies and alternatives is a good idea, making all of them work will be impossible and making some work might only be modestly possible.
The move to a complete confiscatory and controlling state is underway and for the most part most people are complying, some complaining but always waiting for permission.

I removed 65 feet of Cedars to stop the sporangium transfer to the apple trees. Dormant oils are necessary for the fall and spring to repel new fungi. That goes on Friday, after a rain forecast here. Researching natural product pesticidals/repellents is on the docket for this summer. A lot has to do with soil conditioning as well. This is one of those "How do you eat an elephant?" projects.

GMO crops are not worth raiding unless starving.

For a while I had dwarf plums, nectarines, peaches, apricots, and pears. I liked the small trees because they yielded nicely for me and my family and I have a postage stamp size lot. Then one year following a damaging ice storm they all got some sort of fungus disease (except the pears). I fought it for a couple of years and then cut them down in disgust. Years later the pears weren't doing well, either, so I took them down, too. The whole tree thing was a wonderful experiment (delicious fruit and I made some awesome plum wine), but sad in the end.

I'm not entirely ready for the ass kicking to begin, but more ready than most.

Working on it, but I still live way too close to a city. Actually, the old suburb I live in is practically a city all on its own. The big farm at the end of my street seems to be shrinking and they don't bother planting corn anymore. They've switched over to certain vegetables, pumpkins for Halloween, and gardening stuff like shrubs and flowers.

Scary but it has been around forever. The collapse of the Dollar started way back around 1913. It has been devalued and denigrated but it still stands despite what they do in Dirty City. This last debacle with $1.9 (call it $2) Trillion with a T. If you are staying in the US, then definitely the Food, Water, Bullets and Booze but if you go somewhere else (Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Portugal or wherever the newest hype is), how are you going to transport that or better yet, most places outside the US do NOT like Guns or Bullets and you would be denied access or arrested. Need a Gulch but maybe in Texas or Florida, buy some property and set up a network. I prefer the Mountains of Colorado but the Pot Culture has turned it into a casino on property values that is bound to collapse (It has turned in California East).

My "Gulch" is nearly prepared for mccannon's idea.

On the finish leg of sawing 7 tons of felled timber for garden beds. Plenty more where this comes from; It's like it grows on trees.
Have room for over 200 beds if necessary. Two years seed stock and germination plan documented. Five fruit trees pruned for bearing already and 12 more to do over next month.
Capability of storing "well" (pardon the pun) over 3000 gal. of non-potable water. And the great fresh water ocean of Lake Michigan close at hand.
Munition casing manufacturer on outskirts of town and plenty of raw materials and 3 foundries to convert metals.
One "still" is operational and parts to build second are at hand.

I'm ready for the ass kissing to begin!

My precious metal of choice is lead and just a bit of copper.

Very rational.
There are 2 alternatives and neither are "normal".
1. Strike against all who participate in the casino.
2. Armed revolution.

imo, the courage for either is lacking in nearly everyone under age 60 (and most over 65 who understand this are dependent on ss to survive.)

Last chance for revolution ....

IMHO. When the dollar collapses and we return to a metal backed currency., the powers that be will not be the powers that be of the future. They will most likely be in prison or the gallows. The banking elite or the Davos crowd will have done so much damage they will not be able to walk down the street. Today even the poor folks who aren’t in the “club” as George Carlin called it have information and knowledge that historically was inaccessible. The censorship that we see today on the internet is done for a purpose but it is not working. History repeats itself and Gold and Silver
We return as the basis for currency. If you are very wealthy a piece of Bitcoin for a hedge may make some sense but if you can’t touch it and have to rely on electronic wallets to store it and access it there is no security.

This article take Schiff's strawman argument for gold over bitcoin vs the strawman argument for bitcoin over gold and comes up with a new strawman argument for neither.

The US will not give up the dollar as the world's reserve currency unless and until it is forced to by some other group of (likely sanctioned) countries that have no choice. And, given the amount of dollar-denominated debt in the world, the demand for dollars will likely keep it as the world's primary reserve for some time.
It would probably take a war in the ME and the collapse of the Saudi regime for the dollar to lose its status in the near future.

Jeftovic leaves the door open for alternatives--although he didn't mention yours specifically. Good thinking but you may have to pack it.

Yes, thought provoking and a scary prognostication.

Food, water, bullets, and booze. Have a tap on the supply of those when the SHTF and you won't need metals or fiat currencies like reserve notes or bitcoin. Think, if you have can supply the elites with good food and booze they will kiss your ass for it - and they don't even have to like you.