I have sent emails to my family over the years urging them to keep more than 1 week's worth of food in the house, to keep some bottled water around, and not to invest in hopeless items like General Motors stock and dollar-denominated paper. (I don't know what they invest in, if anything, but I told them all this past year to sell any stocks they had.) They all ignored me, except my Mom, who said that I was crazy. The question is- how can I get them, or SOME of them, to prep- or is it hopeless ?
I always figured that if they wont prep it is their problem, but NOW it is more urgent than ever.

This is a question that haunts all preppers I know. I talked in a calm and rational way to friends and family. I gave them the sensible reasons such as storms, power outages, and unemployment. Then I started getting smart...not only did I make gifts of the book One Second After, touting it as a fantastic book about a small town in NC (nothing about how it could really happen), I started treating people like they are : SHEEPLE, and letting them know that I thought THEY were crazy, uninformed and just plain foolish. I turned the tables on them. Then I let them know aboutthe popular theory that most preppers have that those who don't even listen will not be allowed to share the bounty of our efforts in an emergency...
This was followed up by serious "talks" with my loved ones that went some where along the lines of: This is important to me, I love you and want you to be safe. If you love me and have any respect for me, then you will listen again to what I have to say, have an honest discussion about it and if you still don't believe me, I will pray for you to have a good journey to the Summerlands (heaven).
I follow all discussion with "ya know, even FEMA reccommends that you have 2 weeks of food and water on hand" and let them know that if they are interested, I will make them lists, help them with setting up a prep area and so on.
If that doesn't work, I let the memory of what I talk about fade. Let the friends know I have enough to get by and have found other things to do. Most of those friends are left to fade and aren't invited over much. (I don't have time to waste on sheeple that are that stupid). Family who doesn't believe are told that since they think so poorly of me they don't need to hang out, visit or anything else.
Yes, it seems harsh, but I've given it my best shot, offered all I could and if they still want to remain that foolish, then I'll mentally say my good bye to them and that's it.

No easy way that I have found.

Well, I'm not asking because I think they will show up here begging- they all live over 1000 miles away. But I worry about them- they are all liberals who think the government will save them. I even gave my sister 8 or 10 cases of canned food- she donated them to their church. (And paid me for them although I didn't ask.) My sister and her family were the poorest of them, except for me. So I can't fault her except I wish she had kept the food. Oh well.

you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.

Your best bet is to prep a package up for each of them, few days supply of food and put in alot of non-hybrid gardening seeds...

Print out information for them, such as growing a garden...

We all know there alot of people, loved ones that we would like to see the light, but so far they are blinded by life...

If we love and care enough about these people to warn them , then we should love and care enough to prepare for them also...things that don't take alot of space in our houses..practical things...

There is always the chance that they won't make it to were you are and if they do there will be great relief, the extra set of hands in a SHTF situation will be appreciated, even if they come empty handed(without preps).

Lately with all the financial news that has been coming out, I can imagine that these people have the deer in the headlights look...and when that happens all rational thinking stops, it gets froozen in time.

After watching the one Jessie Ventura program, I realized that not everyone is going to get it, and in the one program they mentioned the garden seeds...it seemed to me that it was the only part of the program that made sense...when SHTF we will have to be self growers and you will need alot of gardening seeds to get that done...

I can understand your frustration and annoyance at these loved ones, prepping in a way is like thinking about death..we all know its going to happen to us one day,but we don't want to think about it just yet..we want to live, we want to be able to smile just one more day before it happens...

Love these people as much as you can, cause when chit does hit the fan you will be more worried about them getting to you, then you will how much food they bring....

to paraphrase herbal

you can lead a horse to water
but you cant make a fish ride a bicycle

Kelee pretty much put a cap on it, I think, and we hope for the best for all our families.

You can lead liberal to reality,
but you can't make them think.

Thanks, everyone. Kelee, that was a BRILLIANT idea about the garden seeds. I will be giving them out for Christmas. If they don't plant them, they will KEEP them. I can't imagine them throwing them out. ;-]

Kelee has it spot on! You can talk till your blue in the face and it will do little good most of the time. I tax my grown kids each month for the family stash of food, this way they do something without having to really do anything other than handing over the cash.

Claws, that is about as good an idea as I have heard. The education will come quickly, after the reality of the crash sets in. Kelee, That was a good idea also. Now I know what to give for Christmas

I have it in my own house.

Wife is a DGI.
And she thinks I'm crazy.
Maybe she's right

She has canned some stuff but also is quite willing to let it rot.
Stocking up? She gets downright mad if there are 2 things on our shelf

I've related the stories my parents told about the other Depression and how people from her home town had to go through garbage cans for potato skins to have something to eat.

But, she does know who's on American Idol or Dancing With The Stars

And she watches (and DVRs) every show on the Food Network but doesn't cook

At the end of the day, when some of my friends or family are unwilling to to prep, I remind myself of a quote from The Guardian (2006) with Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher.
Jake Fischer (Kutcher): How do you choose who to save?
Ben Randall (Costner): I swim as fast and as hard as I can, for as long as I can. And the sea takes the rest.

If the SHTF there will come a time when you may have to choose who to save. I will save as many as I can, but I know I will not save them all. And yes, YOU should be on that list, or why bother prepping. Have your priorties figured out before that day comes. It will NOT make it easier, but hopefully you will remember why you made it.

eventually you have to come to the realization that you simply can't live their lives for them. The ones that get it will and the ones that don't will be a liabiltiy, and there is no room in survival for a laiability.

When SHTF, we will not be entering the twilight zone, we will be entering the food chain. Make no mistake about that. dreadstalker nailed it, and as in nature, there will be no kindness among the competitors for food.