Stockpiling popular SHTF bartering items

http://offgridsurvival.com ^ | 11/3/11

[Kartographer]

If you’re fully stocked and prepared to survive anything, you may want to take that next step and start stockpiling popular bartering items.
The exact items you choose to start stockpiling will depend on the situation your planning for, but in general the following items will all probably be in high demand after a total collapse:

Water Purification Most people don’t realize how hard finding clean drinkable water will become in a post-collapse situation. When the water treatment plants stop running, people are going to be scrambling to find a way to purify their drinking water. Iodine tablets, bleach, water filters, canteens and even cooking pots will all be needed and in very high demand.

Ammo
1 out of every 3 Americans own a gun, but how many of these gun owners actually stockpile an adequate amount of ammunition?
In a SHTF situation Ammo is going to be a highly sought after item and will quickly become a very popular barter item. I recommend stocking up on calibers that you actually use followed by the most common calibers (.22, .223, 9mm, .45, 30-06, 12ga, & .308)

Guns & Accessories
If the SHTF those 2 out 3 Americans who don’t own guns are going to be wishing they did. From people looking for parts to repair broken guns to those who are currently anti-gun, I can almost guarantee that guns will become one of the most wanted items after a collapse. Even pellet guns might be a good items to stock up on. They’re cheap, easy to find and would be easier to part with.

Alcohol
Let’s not beat around the bush here, in an apocalyptic SHTF scenario there’s going to be a huge number of people who will want to drink their sorrows away. Hard liquor is going to be the best option because of it’s shelf life.

Medications
Almost half of all Americans are currently taking at least one prescription medication. In a post-apocalyptic world prescription medications will be another highly sought after item. From people who need to treat life threatening illnesses with antibiotics to those that will just want to forget everything that’s happening, medications will be worth their weight in gold.

Food
Check out our list of some of the most important foods to stockpile. These will all be in high demand and are all a good idea to start stocking up on.

[bgill]

Sounds good.

[Bitsy]

Down south it is hard to get anything cooled to 70 degrees in the summer to last for years.

[darth]

How about tobacco seeds?

Nicotine addicts will trade for a leaf of their favorite plant.

[MrB]

Never store alcohol - MAKE IT!

http://www.imakemygas.com/

At the link is a “countertop distiller”, plus more information on making alcohol from various throw-away starches.

[MrB]

I’ll repeat the link that I posted to someone else:

http://www.IMakeMyGas.com

[Uncle Ike]

” How about tobacco seeds? “

From the bit of reading I’ve done on the subject, tobacco plants are fairly easy to grow, but the curing process is more difficult and time, and resource, consuming...

Not saying it can’t be done, and I still may take a crack at it myself, one of these days - but it’s a bit more complicated than just picking the leaves and smoking them...

[outofsalt]

I Cuba we buried our milk cans in the ground and it kept for a week. Under ground storage will keep things cool even in very warm areas.

[listenhillary]

I’m almost out far enough. I plan on maybe dropping some trees to block road access to my place and hope the looters move on to easier pickings.

If they are determined to find me, they will. The casual looter will look elsewhere.

Plant native plants that provide food, but aren’t obviously food. A well tended garden or field of grain and wheat are easy targets. Food that looks like weeds / native landscape plants will be overlooked. Make your plantings have multiple uses. Plants can be used for shade, shelter, windbreaks, water channeling, supports for other crops.

The idea is to set up food systems that require only energy to harvest with minimal energy input to maintain or provide water.

[MrB]

A pioneer trick was to put a silver dollar in the milk can - the silver is a natural anti-biotic and preserved the milk longer.

[wyokostur]

Bookmark bump

[Stonewall Jackson]

Costco has 50# buckets of salt for $37. If someone does buy one or these buckets, I’d recommend splitting the salt into smaller containers and then resealing them. This would give it a much longer shelf life.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

I like your ideas, but you have to be careful with the farming model you suggested. In a SHTF situation which may last for a couple of years, we can’t take chances with the food.

The best food-producing system that I have found is an aqua-ponic greenhouse. If the temperature can be maintained (if you are in a very cold zone), they would provide all the nutritious food that you would need year-round. Yes, they would be identifiable, but that’s where being remote comes in to play and that’s where being surrounded by neighbors who are a part of the system and who are looking out for you (as you are looking out for them) becomes so vital.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

That is a good item and I have it on my list. Growing tobacco would provide a useful commodity.

Be sure to purchase non-hybrid (heirloom) seeds; otherwise, you will not be able to guarantee a second growing season.

This is true of all the seeds we purchase for SHTF times. We must be able to take a percentage of our crop to harvest seeds to sell and barter and to plant next year.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

By the way, if you haven’t read it, read Fortschen’s “One Second After.” It’s a novel and the literary aspect of it is not at the Cormac McCarthy level, but the very likely reality of the effect of an EMP will put you on edge and make you think very realistically about what to expect.

Is there a ping list for “Preppers” or “Survival Info” or “SHTF” issues?

[Iron Munro]

I’m almost out far enough. I plan on maybe dropping some trees to block road access to my place and hope the looters move on to easier pickings.

If they are determined to find me, they will.

Good point.

The strength of a remote location is that it is more or less hidden - you hope no one knows you are there. The weakness is that once you are located, you are on your own.

If there is a path, a trail or a road sooner or later someone will follow it.
If there are signs of life, fresh cut trees, smoke in the distance, tracks and footprints they will be there sooner.

"If you can get there, others can too."

That is a qoute from this firsthand account of the SHTF collapse in 2001 Argentina:

The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse

[Iron Munro]

Costco has 50# buckets of salt for $37.

Where I live the regular cartons of salt are $ .50 (50 cents) in the local stores. The containers are 26 ounces so that works out to about $ .31 a pound.
At that rate you can get 50 pounds for $15.50.....

[tacticalogic]

I would never store alcohol for barter. If people who crave alochol know you have it, you’d have to be on guard all the time.

You could buy both grain acohol and denatured acohol, and switch the containers for storage.....

[Kartographer]

I have a Preppers Ping List.

[hattend]

bump for later

[GeronL]

You are right about salt and spices, they were very expensive and hard to come by in the olden days.