ScalyFreak: haha. Yeah, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get at least something together for an emergency. While I don't see any "end of the world" type scenarios happening in my lifetime (even if one did, my health would automatically rule me out as being one of the possible survivors anyways, so why bother worrying?) despite being someone who loves writing about them (I don't expect to see interstellar FTL travel in my lifetime either, but I still write about it. lol), there are plenty of smaller scale ones that do occur from time to time that you should be prepared for. Up here in the great snowy north they typically consist of a few bad storms, both summer and winter, and that's about it. For someone out on the west coast the stakes are a little higher. But simple FEMA recommended preparations are typically enough for 99% of scenarios.
Even so, all the research I've done while writing and preparing for my doomsday books has lead to a LOT of interesting information on how to do normal day to day things better. Those in turn can both be translated into your day to day life, as well as that of your characters. Even though you're unlikely to focus very heavily on what people do from day to day in an extreme survival scenario, it's still good to know WHAT they would do and WHY. Things like collecting food and water, fending off roving gangs, dealing with formerly docile wildlife, or even naturally hostile ones such as wolves, providing heat, cooking, and just generally living without all the modern conveniences we take for granted every day.
Case in point, on the TV show "The Colony", in season one the survivors went like 9 days without coffee and when they finally got some it was like the nectar of the gods to some of the team. lol. That's also something that needs to be considered when doing your research, or building your story.
PS, if I'm overshadowing anyone here with what I know, I apologize. I'm not trying to belittle anyone or make them feel dumb. I'm just taking all the things I've learned in my research (survival fiction is a new genre to me, and not as natural to write as scifi is, hence all the homework in advance to get it right) and sharing them with you guys here in hopes that it'll help you. I know you guys have helped me a ton over the past couple years, so it's only fair that I give back a little.
Even so, don't let me intimidate you. This is an incredibly fun genre to write in. It's also one of those quintessential "David and Goliath" stories where David is the survivors, and Goliath is the disaster and its aftermath. I think that's also one of the reasons the genre is so popular is because it's one of those "rooting for the underdog" type scenarios that people just love to no end.