Um, the gold is not for "buying groceries."
Bartering for the food you haven't already stocked up on in the form of other tangibles is how one would obtain groceries in a meltdown.
IOW "I'll trade you 500 rounds of .308 for your cow" presumably with another equally prepped individual, not with the hoards who ignored the stormclouds.
People who wait and then try to exchange gold for basic neccessities will be known as "victims."
The gold is for a brief period as things really spiral in a panic. OR one can exchange gold for land/large purchases AFTER things start returning to normal, but before people start trusting printed scrip again.
Gold's only real function is to store your wealth for when a veneer of civilization exists. It won't make you rich or save your hide when the poo hits the fan but it will help you prosper and rebuild later.
Gold has its place but bullets and food come first!
If we do indeed meltdown to that degree, printed script will not be trusted again until it is backed with gold and silver.
Governments are starting to take a little more interest in tracking purchasers of bullion. You can gauge how things are going by how soon and how much that interest escalates. When the government demands to know who is holding, and how much, you will know we are close to the tipping point.
And if Hussein et al do a FDR and make private ownership of gold and silver illegal, we are there my friends.
One thing I have not seen much emphasis on is medications for serious conditions. Screw your insurer and their 30 day rules. If you (like me) need a medication you can't live without, you'd better start stockpiling it. I bought a one year supply (legal prescription limit) and the pharmacist said they couldn't turn it into insurance. I told her I didn't care. I told the other pharmacist I was stockpiling it and he said "smart move".
and trying to buy something with gold?.....well...you won't get nearly enough to cover the cost of any gold bought in the last year or two....IMO