Okay. If NOTHING is available (of life's necessities), then we're all screwed. If stuff IS available, but at a PRICE, then you can buy it with gold (little else will do in that situation).
I don’t know the answer to that, I was just thinking out loud.
I am not sure the answer is clear, because in the event of a collapse and there was still a fractured market, how does gold get reintroduced as a medium of exchange? Most people do not have it and prices will need to stabilize before a standard can be naturally formed. I hope to never have to learn those answers firsthand.