Better than money

festus

God Bless Our Troops!!!
Money may be useless in a post fan scenario.

Barter items such as batteries, ammo in very limited quantities, food and medical supplies will come in handy.

Think about a renewable resource you have and how you may be able to exploit it to posture yourself ahead of the game in bartering.
 
+1. I agree. Make sure you have the essentials first like festus said. I would say then after that if you have a little extra money convert some of it to silver or gold. The time may well be coming when the dollar is worthless however hard assets may be worth its weight in gold. No pun intended.
 
+1. I agree. Make sure you have the essentials first like festus said. I would say then after that if you have a little extra money convert some of it to silver or gold. The time may well be coming when the dollar is worthless however hard assets may be worth its weight in gold. No pun intended.

Let's take a micro example.. New Orleans after Katrina...

Things were pretty bad, Nothing coming into the city, people couldn't get out..
When people ran out of $$$ what did they trade?? What was of value??
It was more as Festus suggested, Water, Batteries, etc..
You didn't see everyone trading their gold chains or gold bars or diamonds.. In bad times though, these items have worth, but they don't have much value.. You can't eat gold or stay warm with diamonds..
Now some clean water or freeze dried food, or some propane, Now they may has value!!!

I know Gold is at an all time high right now, but looking over the long term it is not a great investment...
I hear what you're saying about "when the dollar becomes worthless" the question is, will all $$$ be worthless?? Maybe investing in another currency might be wise under your senario. If you can buy a currency that you believe will stay solvent, then as the dollar goes down, your currency choice becomes more valuable.. The question is.... Which one??

Buying anything (like Gold) at it's all time high level, is not usually wise.. (buy low, SELL high)

Just some thoughts..
 
Short term and perhaps even mid term I would say yes food, water and things you can trade is what you want to concentrate on. As I said gold and sliver only if you have necessary items well covered. I am thinking hard assets like these for long term if and when the economy does come back eventually. Gold and silver historically holds its value where as nations currencies are only as good to the extent that someone is willing to accept them and inflation will wipe them out. Biblical speaking if what we enter is end times as prophesied in scripture then gold and silver want do you much good.
 
Can you say AMMO? How about MAGS? Or GUNS? Those will be worth more than Gold. I have a buddy who is buying used guns and storing them away, along with all types of Ball ammo, and hi-cap mags for the most popular guns. He's been buying inexpensive single barrel shotguns and boxes of 12 ga. shells.
Next would be food, candy, medical supplies, smokes, coffee, wine or liquor, tea, sugar, salt, seasonings. Anything that runs out, and people want, will get you something in return. Just keep thinking about it. What do people use everyday, that they would want "badly" if it wasn't available?
My stash is simple. Most popular calibers of ammo, 9mm, 38 spec, 40, 45 acp, 22 LR, 12 ga, 30-06, 30-30; all of it ball or inexpensive soft point. Jack Daniels or Jim Beam and Vodka. In the fifth bottles and small flask type bottles. Coffee and Tea Bags. We drink alot of coffee, so after you have a hundred pounds, start rotating it out. It stores for much longer than you think, especially in the sealed foil bags. I remember in the 80's, there was a coffee shortage and the prices went sky high. People were raiding and holding up coffee delivery trucks and breaking into warehouses. People can make liquor, but most people can't. How long will it take to get to the point where moonshine takes over like it did in the 30's. But will there be enough corn and sugar to make it? Ammo is self explanitory.
 
Batteries are pershibles, my ammo wouldn't be for trade. Try tobacco, coffee, liquor, toilet paper, femine products, sewing kit, and canned goods for barter goods
 
Things that will have value...

Eggs...an excellent source of protein.
Vegetables...vitamins and nutrients
Fruits...more vitamins and nutrients
Fish...brain food/protein

poultry...meat, feathers/down
livestock...more meat/leather
Rabbits, meat/fur

These are all renewable resources that can be exploited/bartered in a post fan scenario they are all labor intensive but really what worth having isn't?
 
Water! That is why the center of my Bug out Bag is a portable water purifier. A guy on a bridge in New Orleans that could have cleaned a liter of water an hour for the first few days could have named his own price in barter.

Of course, I want my ammo to keep someone from simply appropriating my water.

Of course, in the slightly longer run, the most likely items of highest value and ease of exchange will be what they always are ... Liquour and Cigarettes.
 
might be time.....

the time to get these items is now, if possible. and use the k.i.s.s. principle. we are working on beans, bullets and band aids. coffee, though, that i need to store........ boy, it's gonna get tough.......
 
+1 on the most portable water filter available +1000 on putting your money into gold ASAP!! Can't stress that enough, gold broke its value recently, the dollar is, well, you know...
 
+1 on that.
Reminds me of when I was in Iraq and I ordered a pallet full of AA batteries. We were trading them for everything. The grunts used them in walkmans, flashlights, gameboys, radios, etc.
There were so many I think we threw a lot of them away.
 
Don't forget the BEANS, they help keep you warmer at night too.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Freakin new guys....... what do you do with them?
 
i also have ammo,not for barter,a military type first aid kit w/ sutures,scalple,wound probe,firearms manuals,and lot's of old military manuals on shelter building,firstaid,how to build solar stills ect. and if you have specific skills that can be bartered.
 
My hens have started laying eggs

My hens are laying eggs a rate that is currently faster than I can consume them! This will be a very good barter item if need be!
 
My hens are laying eggs a rate that is currently faster than I can consume them! This will be a very good barter item if need be!

Yeah, us too! Man once you start eating fresh hen eggs out of the barn, the store bought ones just don't taste as good anymore.
Here's a fun thing and a treat for the chickens every now and then. My wife would stop at the bait shop and buy about 100 crickets. They would put them in a small paper bag and tape it up to prevent the little critters from escaping. She would walk into the chicken yard at feeding time and all of the chickens would come running. Then she would dump the entire bag of crickets on the ground. Man you talk about a wild free for all. They would go crazy. The vet said the eggs were better if you kept up a natural protein source. The yolks in the eggs were orange instead of yellow. Very rich, and good for baking.
 
We've been getting a couple of extra cases of canned goods every time we go to the local warehouse club. And, every plastic bottle that gets emptied (Coke, Arizona Tea, Milk, etc) gets put through the dishwasher and filled with tap water and put into storage.

I'd rather have it and not need it.....
 
yep!!

We've been getting a couple of extra cases of canned goods every time we go to the local warehouse club. And, every plastic bottle that gets emptied (Coke, Arizona Tea, Milk, etc) gets put through the dishwasher and filled with tap water and put into storage.

I'd rather have it and not need it.....

us too. we live by that quote or try to.....
 
Sugar, Salt, Rice, Beans and canned/dried meat will all keep a VERY long time and are VERY cheap in the current economy.
So are several spices, anything from common pepper to chili powder will be VERY necessary to make otherwise bland/spoiled food palatable.
Remember, there have been wars fought over Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg, ect. and there is no reason to think that they won't be in great demand in the future.

Things like baking powder, baking soda, yeast will be in demand.
Yeast cultures can be kept alive indefinitely with a little water and something for them to feed on...
Anyone familiar with sour dough cultures transported in crocks in the old days or fermenting yeast cultures used for everything from cheese to brewing beer/distilling spirits?

Renewable produce like tobacco, Aloe, ginger and any other medicinal plants will be a very good thing to have.
Dill, peppers, and produce to make vinegar/wine like apples, grapes, strawberries will be a 'Currency' commodity.
People WILL have to preserve food, and the basics for that process grow wild in some places,
But for most of us, having them cultured in the back yard will be a HUGE benefit that is immediately available.


Don't store 'Ammo' unless it's for yourself and you KNOW the caliber is 'Usable'...


Stockpiling .22 LR ammo for small game will ALWAYS be a very good bet!
Everyone I know has a .22 rifle or pistol, so that ammo will NEVER go to waste,
And it really is the only 'Universal' ammo that would certainly be used up or traded.

If you are going to 'Stockpile', then concentrate on popular calibers RELOADING.
If you stock .30 caliber bullets, powder, primers, then all you have to do is change dies, which ARE NOT perishables.
I see used dies in strange calibers every gun show or swap meet, and if I can get them cheap enough,
I put them back for later use.

Common calibers would be anything from .30-30 to .300 Belted Magnums and everything in between.
They all use common primers (Large Rifle) and common bullets (.30 Cal.) and for the most part, common powders so you can RELOAD pretty much anything in .30 cal. that walks through the door and vastly expands your capabilities and usefulness to the community...
Useful people are protected.

If you choose to stockpile .22 Caliber supplies, do the same thing,
.222, .223, .220 Swift, .22-250, .25-06 dies, ect. will make what you stockpile more usable.

Midway USA is advertising a progressive press for pistol and up to .223 calibers for $150 right now,
And that's a pretty cheap production scale way to do things if you intend on doing something like this.
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Something as simple as a clean, deep water well is a barter commodity.

Canning jars, but especially lids, paraffin for canning jars will be a very long lived in storage,
And if you can food or anything else, it will be invaluable.

Like I said before, stuff like welder and welding supplies if you can afford to store them will be a GREAT thing to have,
If you work in a paper plant or warehouse, then stockpile the 'Factory Seconds' you run across cheaply at work,
If you work in the medical profession, then stockpile the stuff you see thrown out every day, something as simple as tweezers or sutures or hemostats will come in VERY handy to have.

In a world where the electrical grid breaks down, the guy that carted home a bunch of electrical components will have some very serious barter material...
Someone will need to keep all those 'Improvised' generators working!

The guy that works in an auto supply house or parts store might have those bearings or brake pads you need for a vehicle or project...

The 'Junk Man' might be able to sand cast parts or cast brass parts not available anymore, and that would be a VERY good skill to have.
Raw material of any kind is always money in the bank when someone needs it.

No single person is going to be able to stock pile EVERYTHING they will need,
But a network of stock pilers will QUICKLY develop a trading community for goods and services,
And if you have 'Skills', then you will be on the fast track to getting what you need and making 'Friends' along the way...
 
Stocking up is a great idea I don't know how much trading I'd want to do. As soon as people find you have "stuff" you'll be run over from those that don't.

How long do you guys figure you need to hold out before somebody sends in supplies? Or is the the apocalyptic end of the world?
 

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