Best things of value to store for emergency?

In my opinion, currency issued by the government is not reliable. Even in normal peace time, inflation sometimes is a little high. During some kind of emergency such as finical meltdown, all your savings can lose its value overnight.

I am no expert, but I think precious metal such as gold, silver have a better store value at least compare to paper currency. They have solid value of exchange for the last thousands of years.

However, in a real disaster where people are struggle to survive, I think even silver and gold will have no real value when basic food items are hard to come by. In such case, wouldn't basic items such as food, clothing, and some useful tools be more valuable than actual "currency"?

What do you guys think?

 

I think we're seeing now with Brexit and other economical difficulties how little paper money is actually worth. It's a little disconcerting to know we all dwell in empires made large by something as weak as paper. Precious metals are indeed a good idea to have, but even those have fallen in value over time. Sure, the value of gold and whatnot is high... but if SHTF or if there's an economic collapse, precious metals tank as well. So you've hit the nail on the head with your conclusion. I mean, if the world "ends," who's going to want jewelry? Not me. And gold makes for terrible weaponry.

I agree. I think the real currency is the real necessities for life that we all seek: food and shelter. Money can buy these things now, but when money loses all its value, we're going to have to come up with another way to get what we want.

 

Come from top of my head, I think stock pile the following stuff are better options in case of real emergency and disaster.
Food is obviously the number one choice. Especially the food that can last for years. I remember a long time ago someone told me they had found a can of milk powder from 1930s. It was sealed really well. When they opened it in the 90s (60 years later), it smelled so good and was definitely not expired. Such food item can be really valuable. Sealed in air tight metal cans.

Other things would be things like clothing and blanket, but even clothing might not last long if not stored properly. They can grow mold on them if the place is humid.

Weapons, cooking accessories, fuel, medical supplies (not sure if any of them can last for that long). Perhaps some alcohol. Basically anything with a real value and can last for a long time. Things you can use yourself, or you can use them to exchange for other stuff.

Anything else you guys would like to add to the list?

 

Food will be one of the top things, as will any kind of drug or alcohol (this includes pharmaceuticals, illegal drugs, caffeine, nicotine, and even antibiotics). However, if you are talking about real currency, gold are silver will be much better than paper money. Even more better are diamonds. They weigh less for the price and people go crazy for them. If you don't believe me, just ask thousands of children in Africa that are enslaved in mining diamonds or turned into baby soldiers to protect them.

 

Even now a lot of things hold more value than money. Gold and Silver is definitely of more value than paper money, even in the past years the value of them both have went up. Food is a must after a time of disaster your money won't do you any good if there's no food around. Most of the things you've mentioned people would be willing to pay for. As far as storing food it should be in a cool dry place, Gold or silver should be in a safe or something.

 

That's food for thought, I haven't looked at it that way. But come to think of it, why do we work so hard for the money anyway? Isn't it to essentially meet our basic survival needs?

In case I find myself in a situation where I lack the necessities to survive, but have hard cash which can't buy me basics, that's a dead end. If the money can't help me, then its worthless,

While its good to keep some cash, to keep stocking the basic necessities is an important survival tactic. They may come in handy, just in case.

 

Most people fail to realize that the intrinsic value of money is what it can purchase. For instance, it would make little repre to have money but you can't use it to purchasm what you need. I would stock up on medicine, dried meat and glucose as well as powdered milk and toiletries. These are guaranteed to last for a long time and one can't go wrong stocking up on them.

 

I agree with the concept of silver and gold being worthless in a true SHTF situation. The best "currency" is something that is desired by others. Things like food, tools, supplies. However, those are difficult to invest too much money into in our normal lives. A good compromise after a few spare tools / supplies could be buying land though. Land holds value after SHTF assuming you can maintain (and possibly defend) it.

 

In a survival situation jewelry and stuff like that would be worthless indeed, but in other cases it's good to keep gold or silver on you. You can exchange it for money in case something bad happens. In a real emergency situation things like clothes, food and water are crucial for your survival, so make sure to store those just in case.

 

I have some silver 10z coins stashed at home, I believe they would be useful for trading in a collapse scenario, once a new 'order' had been established and society was starting to slowly rebuild. Of course that is just a small part of my preps.

 

I agree with a lot of the "things" listed here, but feel you have missed a huge opportunity as well. Learn old skills. Butchers, bakers, blacksmiths, weavers... these skills will have immense value that can be traded for commodities, that is of course, after the initial ugly calms some. The items I see listed here will help you get through to that point, but all will wear, break or degrade over time. The ability to create them will give you something to barter when you find yourself back into the "barter" economy that will certainly take the place of the financial mess we have evolved.

PD

 

I agree with you on everything except for the diamonds. Unfortunately diamonds hold ver little resale value. The de beers diamond company, which is the biggest in the world, used to buy these diamonds which are uncut for next to nothing from the people, shape them and sell them to the rich for insane prices. Having the same piece of jewelry valued only a year later and it will lose 9/10's of its value.

College humor's Adam Connoway has a great video on why diamonds are a huge ripoff on YouTube. Additionally they are insanely hard and in SHTF you won't be able to form them into useful tools as power tools will be gone.

So in my honest opinion they won't be worth the effort. In fact they might just get you killed.

 

Investing in paintings by up and coming artists could be a wise saving. Once they are recognised by the world at large there is no saying how high their value could go. Promoting the work of these artists may be by helping them have exhibitions and such projections could go a long way.

 

While food tools and general survival gear would be good for bartering after teotwawki I have bin collecting knowledge and skills ( boating hunting navigation blacksmith carpentry farming ect.) which I can trade by teaching others multiple times without lost of food tools or other supplies I need. In the last couple of months I have started to collect books on such skills to increase my knowledge and hav them to trade or pass on. You could hav nothing but the clothes on ur back and with the right knowledge and skills you could survival anywhere and trade your skills for food and stuff you need to make things easier for yourself

Skills and knowledge weight nothing but can't be the difference between life of death

 

I buy an ounce of silver every pay day and gold when I can. Paper money has no value beyond your willingness to accept it as payment and others willingness to accept it from you. A financial collapse is most likely calamity that would befall our civilization, a lot more likely than a sudden SHTF scenario. The breakdown in rule of law would be a gradual effect after a financial and economic collapse. At the beginning it would be hyperinflation and then eventual worthlessness of paper currency. Precious metals will maintain real value up to point that organized government ceases to exist, and even then as the chaos eventually evolves again into some form or organized government precious metals would again be of value as it has throughout recorded history.

 

Throughout history gold and silver have had value anytime there is any form of organization or governing structure. In the unlikely event there is a complete breakdown and collapse of all government and organization then sure only utilitarian devices and food stuffs would have highest value. But even in that type of event human nature is to form tribes and create an organized power structure, even if it is as basic as the strong and aggressive asserting their authority over others. There is a reason gold and silver have always held value... the vanity of the powerful desire its beauty, and they are both utilitarian in many ways other than for decoration which is what gave them their intrinsic value from the beginning. If you really want to be prepared for a chaotic, every man for himself Walking Dead type dystopian future then I would strongly suggest you stock up on fire arms and ammo, they will have the highest value in such a world, for barter and for arming allies and obtaining food.

 

I am a realist, I know it is more fun to believe that when "SHTF" it will be like the movies and you just wake up somewhere in the middle of it or it happens over night, but that is pretty far fetched. Surviving is being prepared from the outset. Just curious what kind of breakdown in society you are expecting? Nuclear war? Asteroid crash? Zombies? Plague? Other than the remote possibility of those events mentioned we are not likely to find ourselves in a world of no organized governments or societies existing anywhere. If there was to be a collapse of civilization worldwide it would come about over time, so the first thing on the list of survival is to be able to see it coming. Economic collapse would come first, and those who have prepared ahead of time will have the means to prepare and thrive. Once currency begins to collapse gold an silver will have vastly increased values, and he who has gold and silver will be in a better position to survive going forward from that point.

 

Silver.
Gold possibly.
Spot prices fluctuate wildly on silver, fairly stable with gold.
I think if one were stocking a bit of precious metals for whatever reason
silver is more affordable and easier to trade.
Spot gold per ounce today is $1,250.00, Silver is $16.61 and spot can change by the
hour.

https://www.jmbullion.com/silver/silver-bars/gram-kilo-silver-bars/

One can by fractional bars/rounds. Silver as small as 1/10th oz.
I think having some silver and great idea.
In a shtf paintings?????????????? Not only dumb but really dumb.
Same with large silver/gold coins & bars.
What are you going to barter for with a 5 pound bar of silver?
Maybe a horse?

I have some money in silver coins.
I have more money in guns, ammo, tools, canning supplies, gardening
implements.
Drinking alcohol?
No way chumpies.
I'm not bartering drinking liquor and when the word gets out some butt wipe
will want to steal it.
I keep my stash of guns, ammo, tools, gardening supplies, to myself and
a select very few others.
Few as in almost NO ONE.
Gardening for food in a shtf is problematic but necessary.
My opinion of course.
It's easy to raid a garden in the deep dark night.
Mine is fenced but that only keeps out some rabbits.
In my opinion the most useful firearm is a .22 rifle.
Ammo can still be had for 5 to 7 cents a round and stocking 10,000 rounds
is fairly easy.
I keep a minimum of 100 rounds per gun for center fire arms.
Don't forget the useful powerful air rifle.
Pellets are cheap. An air gun sufficient for small game and air guns are
pretty quiet.
Just buy a GOOD air gun.
Still the .22 rim fire rifle reigns king.
So many different loads offered from sub sonic to high velocity and in between.

Check this out for 4.4 cents a round .22 rim fire ammo.
Beat that with a sharp stick.
rimfire 40 24s 50 Rd - Aguila Super Extra .22 LR High Velocity 40 Gr CPRN (1B222328) - brass ✔ $2.15 50 4.3¢
Ammo King
Aguila .22LR rimfire 40 29s Aguila - 22 LR Standard Velocity SuperExtra LRN 40 Gr 50 Rounds 640420001050 - brass ✔ $2.20 50 4.4¢
Ammo King
Aguila .22LR rimfire 40 29s Aguila - 22 LR High Velocity SP 40 Gr 50 Rounds 640420001012 - brass ✔ $2.20 50 4.4¢
Ammo King
Aguila .22LR rimfire 40 29s Aguila - 22 LR High Velocity SP 40 Gr 500 Rounds- Brick 640420001029 - brass ✔ $22.00 500 4.4¢
Ammo King
Aguila .22LR rimfire 40 29s Aguila - 22 LR Standard Velocity SuperExtra LRN 40 Gr 500 Rounds- Brick 640420001067 - brass ✔ $22.00 500 4.4¢

And more at ammoseek. com

 

Well, if you mean for just survival, you can store a knife, a needle and thread. A piece of sheet and some salt(don't ask me why, lols). For things of value to store, buy some gold or silver coins and store them. You will find it useful in times of need.

 

Well in addition to common "survival" goods like food, meds, weapons, clothes,
etc. I'm buying silver ounces.
Gold is way too expensive per coin unit but silver is affordable, valuable, and
can be had in 1/10th ounce units for small purchases.
I deal with these people.
https://www.jmbullion.com/silver/silver-bars/all-silver-bars/

You can buy 1 gram bars for $2.13, prices vary by the hour on silver.
You can bet in a real shtf silver will be much better than paper money.

Silver ounces about $18 bucks.

It's possible silver could be worth $25 bucks an ounce if the economy fails.
Perhaps more.
American coins haven't been silver in decades.
One ounce COPPER bars/coins are a mere .99 cents.
Is copper worth buying for shtf?
I dunno.
Silver sure is.

 

It's true that money will be worthless when the disaster comes. Food is the most valuable of all. If we could store food which will have a long shelf life then it would be a great help. Canned goods is better too but there are many ways to preserve food like adding sugar by turning it to a jam or by adding vinegar. Drying the food is one way too to preserve food. I've learned that the honey of the wild bee has no expiration so try to store one.

 

That's right, honey is one food that never spoils!
From:
http://www.eatbydate.com/other/sweets/honey-shelf-expiration-date/\

Dehydrating in an excellent way to store foods for extended times.
Canned fish, such as tuna has a "best date" of about 3 years.
Google others for more information.