Exactly. When things go really, really, really bad, all that matters is what you can eat, or burn, or kill with.
Right in line with my 3 preps - food, BBQ supplies and a reasonable 2A. Can’t cover every situation but some effort is better than none, IMHO.
People in a subsistence economy still take gold and silver, knowing that others will then accept those metals. People living on $2 per person per day still spend a surprising amount of that money on coffee, tea, beer, and other "luxury" goods. [And those are luxuries if you are accepting reduced calories in order to get caffeine/alcohol.]
I would not trade stored food/ammo/medicine that I thought I needed for gold or silver, but I would trade my labor for precious metals, and I would trade extra berries, fruit from my trees, and other extras for silver and gold. And I would give silver or gold in return for some venison jerky if my hunting skills could not keep up, for tanning services for a deer skin since I don't know how to tan, or for other goods/services that would still be needed.
Kind of ridiculous to think everyone turns into murderous idiots as soon as government goes away. Sure there are going to be bad seeds but just be ready for them. Kind of funny how you think.
Sometimes things just go really bad or bad at the personal level.
It isn't always the worst case scenario.
To plan like it will be is to miss planning on stuff like I'm running into now.
My 'bad' is a personal level thing. It doesn't involve large groups of people.
/johnny