This was, sadly, one of the first things i thought about. I am huge fan of apocalyptic movies/books/tv shows.
I saw a couple posts on other forums that give some step by step methods for extracting insulin from animals (as was done in the very early years after that method was discovered) It involves a lot of horrible things i wouldn't have the heart to do to animals, and then you still need a decent lab setup to purify it.
However, if anyone has watched World War Z, i would think diabtetics would be on the list of 'immune' diseases the zombies/virus would avoid because technically we are sick. Which means we would walk undetected through the zombie hordes..
My plan would be as follows -
1) Stock up on insulin, all kinds, especially long acting ( I know i can go days without bolusing with low carb diet and exercise). This means getting out there in 'panic mode' before the news fully sinks in. Acting early and acting quick is crucial here.
2) Get my new found insulin cache to a safe place with plenty of food, where i can wait things out. The reason here is it will be at its worst at the start, after a year things will be much much more settled, and i should have a years worth of insulin by now anyway (i always keep at least 4 months of supplies in case i loose or change jobs i will have enough during the period before when my new benefits plan kicks in lol)
3) After a while, my quest would be to travel to the nearest Novo Nordisk, lantas, humalog etc factory..
Repeat step 3 until apocalypse blows over or i die.
I honestly think i could last min 2 years by rooming around raiding pharmacies, if i find a factory or packing plant they will likely have LOTS of insulin stock kicking around that hasn't been shipped out and expire insulin is better then none right? Maybe its as simply as throwing a switch to turn production back on? No idea though lol