16 SHTF Barter Items to Stockpile

Debt Reckoning.com ^ | March 12, 2012 | Tyler

[Kartographer]

16 Things to Stockpile with High Barter Value

Cigarettes. Soap Bullets Alcohol MRE's Silver Coins Detergent Water Bottles Matches and Lighters Sugar Toilet Paper Water Filters/Purifiers Bleach Batteries Candles

[RC one]

reloading supplies i.e. large and small pistol primers, common military projectiles for pistol and rifle and powder.

[MNJohnnie]

Growing my own tobacco again this year. Seeds ARE collected/stored around here. ;)

Oh that is smart. Thanks for the tip!

[bigheadfred]

There was a thread or maybe an article I read. Shelf life of most prescriptions is well after their expiration date. Years.

[Iron Munro]

Growing my own tobacco again this year. Seeds ARE collected/stored around here.

How do you process it to prepare it for use?

Everything I have read specifies a lengthy complicated process of drying, etc.

[rangerwife]

LMAO...we have a fat little doxy that is also ready...my husband keeps saying the same, if we have no food, he’s getting eaten. Haha.

[jboot]

SHTF School site says the #1 thing was disposable lighters. It turned out that everyone needed them, not just smokers.

[JRandomFreeper]

It's no harder than killing a pig and making sausage or bacon. Yes, it takes time, some steps, etc... But folks have been doing it a LONG time.

I've smoked my own this year, so it's easy enough that a cook can do it. ;)

/johnny

[Kartographer]

Johnny use his wit, there’s nothing drier than that! ;-)

[bigheadfred]

10 second blasts in the microwave. All the drying time you need.

[JRandomFreeper]

Actually, I dry it here in the house, hanging in the kitchen. Turns out that my old shotgun shack kitchen maintains a proper temp/humidity to dry it appropriately. Curing also takes place in the kitchen.

Ammonia in uncured tobacco will teach you QUICKLY how to cure it correctly.

As with any other skill, it's best to learn it before SHTF, and have that skill-set, instead of just book-learning.

/johnny

[bigheadfred]

If you hang it next to the garlic will the garlic flavor the tobacco?

[wtc911]

condoms

[Salgak]

Also, look at Pet Antibiotics. You can buy vet-grade antibiotics for fish, which are identical, down to the capsule colors and markings, from the “pharmacy grade” antibiotics.

[WKUHilltopper]

Why just limited to vodka? Cheap bourbon will be more in demand. Besides, it’s good for snake bite. After awhile, you really don’t give a crap what’s biting you.

[JRandomFreeper]

10 second blasts in the microwave. All the drying time you need.

I haven't found that technique to result in an adequate product. Curing, as well as drying is required.

/johnny

[Kartographer]

Just buy Night Train!

[bigheadfred]

I believe that. But if you have a jones.

[Captain Rhino]

I understand silver’s function in a precious metal currency/barter economy but why would silver have utility in the strictly barter economy envisioned after SHTF?

(Gritting my teeth while I click “Post” because I’ll probably feel real stupid when the obvious answer is pointed out to me...)

[JRandomFreeper]

If your garlic is giving off odors, you might want to dry your garlic a little better. I just stuck my nose in a batch of hanging garlic, harvested this year, and there is no discernable smell. ;)

/johnny

[SampleMan]

concerning EPI, it depends mainly on how it is stored (cool and dark is best). If kept in car, it won’t last long.

Look at the color of the liquid. If it has gotten dark, don’t use it.