Prepping for barter

[iceprep]

While I was clearing out a cupboard, I realised that I have a lot of unopened alcohol!

Spirits, wine and port etc

I was think why do I need to keep them, they won't get drank, unless we have a Christmas or new year party.
But the I figured, "keep them", I'm a SHTF scenario, they could be valuable for barter for other essentials.

So unless I do have a party, they are styling put.

Is anyone actually prepping items for barter or trade for SHTF?
I guess: alcohol, cigs, medicines and other drugs, gold and silver are items of exchange value.

[Quercus-robur]

I don't yet own my own land but it is something I am considering. Although I am not there yet, hypothetically I would keep bees to pollinate my crops but also to produce mead. I would also grow a variety of fruits that I could ferment to produce alcohol. Producing something that can be bartered is a vital prep in my opinion and people will always want alcohol.

In terms of what I am working on at the moment, I am thinking about buying £1000 of gold and silver to store for bartering (do not buy shares in gold or silver; shares are worthless when SHTF, buy physical gold and silver).

I have just bought a variety of seeds to start growing my own herbs. I do not have a garden so I will be growing them in pots in the backyard and on the window sills. Growing herbs will allow me to make natural remedies for ailments as well as supplements for a healthy diet. Not only will these be useful for me but a great bartering resource.

And in terms of seeds, over the next few weeks I will be putting £100+ into having my own seed bank. A vital resource should I manage to procure my own land or allotment but another great bartering item.

Qr

[ForgeCorvus]

Why do people always talk about buying PMs for barter?

Would you accept a yellow metal coin I tell you is a Krugerrand in exchange for a car?

How are you going to get a market trader to swap you spuds for silver ?

Gold (and to a lesser extent Silver) only has value because everyone agrees it has value.....Just like banknotes.

As a way of storing my excess money and to safeguard it from hyper-inflation, PMs anyday.
But as trade goods for barter and everyday deals, nope.

Alcohol (spirits have many uses besides partying)
Tobacco (if you're a smoker)
OTC medicines
Useful things like lighters, needles, fish hooks etc
TP and feminine products (assuming that you have someone who needs such )

All these things are stuff you can use or trade depending on need at that time, we say "Store what you eat and eat what you store" don't we? Well I think you should trade what you can use as well, just store extra.

Like the idea of herbs and seeds...might have to 'borrow' that

[Quercus-robur]

Why do people always talk about buying PMs for barter?

Would you accept a yellow metal coin I tell you is a Krugerrand in exchange for a car?

How are you going to get a market trader to swap you spuds for silver ?

Gold (and to a lesser extent Silver) only has value because everyone agrees it has value.....Just like banknotes.

As a way of storing my excess money and to safeguard it from hyper-inflation, PMs anyday.
But as trade goods for barter and everyday deals, nope.

Alcohol (spirits have many uses besides partying)
Tobacco (if you're a smoker)
OTC medicines
Useful things like lighters, needles, fish hooks etc
TP and feminine products (assuming that you have someone who needs such )

All these things are stuff you can use or trade depending on need at that time, we say "Store what you eat and eat what you store" don't we? Well I think you should trade what you can use as well, just store extra.

Like the idea of herbs and seeds...might have to 'borrow' that

Although I will still be looking into gold and silver i accept your well made point about PM having real value in safeguarding your finances against the future but little in terms of trade/bartering.

Needles and fish hooks are a good idea. I will add a surplus to my own supplies. I will also look at what other tools would be useful but inexpensive to stock up in bulk as these would made good trade items.

As for the herbs and seeds. Food and medicine are two of the most important things (perhaps the two most important things) people will need. The reason I like the idea of growing my own herbs is because they have more importance than alcohol, need less land to procure them and will be in higher demand (and therefore higher trade value) post SHTF.

Qr

[izzy_mack]

I am still building up my own supplies, albeit more slowly than I would like but I am using any spare money I can find, as getting rid of debts is a big prep to me. I see finacial freedom as a goal to my own wellbeing. So I do have one barter prep I have a lot of and that's salt. it's cheap to buy, easy to store if you buy it in plastic drums, keeps a long time and if we're all reduced to growing our own and hunting, salt will make the food taste better , can be used to preserve stuff and is neccesary in our diet, especially if we're doing a lot of physical labour.

[bettersafethansorry]

worth buying a couple of these every payday, make sure u have a very safe safe tho and tell no one of this as you would tell no one about your prepping.
http://www.bullionbypost.co.uk/gold-bar ... -gold-bar/
M

[vassili]

Bought a pack of a hundred disposable lighters for I think twelve quid delivered, not everyone will know how to rub two boy scouts together.

[chrisred]

I've put away gold and silver in case of hyper inflation, collapse of the fiat currenct or more likely long term savings. I was watching the keiser report last night (for what it's worth) and if the world economy was to go back to a gold standard to solve the debt, you'd be looking at around $80,000 for 1 oz of gold. I have a 1oz brit and 4 sovs so fingers crossed
I have quite a bit of food stored for bartering and a few thousand organic seeds which could be currency. Also, a little alcohol, cigs would be good currency and also have plenty of coffee and powdered milk. I have a little solar generator which may charge up lap top computers, mobile phones rechargable batteries etc. Of course this will all depend on severity and how living standards become.

[vassili]

A prep often overlooked is rodent control, people think that they will just pop a trap down when they see evidence of their valuable stores being eaten and pooped and peed on, but as someone who does this for a living I can say with confidence it's not always that easy.
So you should be keeping some of this as a prep, it usually comes in quite large quantities, certainly more than you would need on a domestic front, so you will have a very valuable bartering commodity that most will need but won't have.
As for the recommendation for what to get I would suggest the buckets of bait based on cracked wheat that are already in plastic sachets, this will serve two purposes, much longer shelf life being double packaged and secondly easier to handle and swap.
However in a non prep situation I am not a fan of this type of bait, but that's not relevant here.
V.

[junmist]

Bought a pack of a hundred disposable lighters for I think twelve quid delivered, not everyone will know how to rub two boy scouts together.