Finished buying all you want for your preps and still have some spare? Looking at putting aside some things for pleasure and barter?
I’m not at that stage yet, probably will never be but I feel more comfortable every day that goes by because the longer we stay in this state the better it will be for my preps. Less time to prepare for and more time to prepare for that time, more money available and more advice to be picked up.
I’ve been looking at what I have put aside for barter and besides the perishables like coffee, tea and other treats I have a selection of cheap items that will be next to impossible to find or make after an event. Things that are cheap enough now so that any of us can put aside a few for ourselves and others. There are several items that have been discussed previously here and can be found as suggestions in many places. I’m going to look further afield and make different suggestions for things in addition to those items.
I feel that one thing that will be sorely missed is any sort of measuring tools. We will have measuring scales in the kitchen but how many will have scales with a very high resolution. Tools that can measure fractions of an ounce. The same with measuring distances, many will have a small measuring tape, 3M, and that will be it. What about liquid measurements, we will have a few liquid jugs in our kitchen but little else.
How about getting down to the pound shops and getting a few measuring scales, measuring jugs, spoons and tapes. Not forgetting thermometers, for medical and cooking purposes.
One of my other favourites is solar powered calculators. Sure you can do without them but you can get them for a few quid, plus some are given away as advertising. Seal them in an EMP proof box and away you go.
There are several other items available in many shops that won’t break the bank that are non perishable. Think of pencils, work books, paper, kits school kits (protractors, compass, rulers) pencil sharpeners and other such items. I tried not to mention my favourites, books, but they will be treasure after an event, especially reference books on how to make and do things. Duplicates don’t matter as they can easily be bartered.
Their advantages are that they are non perishable and whilst others are treating themselves to coffee, booze, drugs and tobacco they will eventually run out and they will be forced to make their own.
Growing tobacco is easy, do you know how to make a pencil or paper? What about an accurate measuring device such as a measuring cup. Thought not. It may not be a treat now but it will be after an event.
Worth thinking about and cheap too.
In addition – for the mobile prepper –
One of the most common trade devices historically was a v.small set of scales with a few fixed weights. Most trade could be done with this. Larger items eg foodstuffs could have a small volume weighed and then this be scaled up in volume measurement to apply to the complete load. The calculator could be useful for this, but is probably not necessary. I am not sure how much value a calculator would be PSHTF when dealing with local barter & exchange. The calculations would most likely be fairly simple.
For liquid volume measurement, marks could be scribed into a drinking vessel at set ml volumes. This would then be dual purpose. For distance measurement, then non stretching cord can be used – knotted at fixed measurement intervals. This is lightweight & compact and will measure irregular shapes. For reference, a fixed meter length can be scribed into a permament fixed object or even say a half meter onto a frame of a rucksack as a semi permament measure. A small steel engineers ruler would be a useful item and will have a number of other uses. One of these steel rules is very robust & accurate and is unlikely to wear out in a users lifetime. To measure fractions of an ounce without tools – just half it, then half it again etc etc. You can convert the weight to a volume measurement easily by eye and using a suitable expedient container or possible linear measurer.
Well I was thinking that very cheaply we can upgrade this to finer detail and this could be an area which we could do so very cheaply. Halving something sounds easy but is not accurate and in some cases we need to ensure accuracy. Think medicines, powder loads, etc.
The Pencil is a relatively modern invention and extremely hard to manufacture by hand (the steam engine was developed before the pencil) yet today you can buy 5 or 10 for a pound (pencils that is, not steam engines).
A calculator probably isn’t useful when buying or bartering but any design/assembly that requires calculations of Sin Cos or Tan of angles aren’t calculations I want to have to rely on doing accurately by hand.
The slide rule is a good non enrgy consuming machine that was used for most of the engineering achievements of the British Empire.. Sin Cos Tan logs etc are usually catered for.
Downside is they are complex to use:-(
I’ve got two slide rules from my school days that I could use at the time but not now. Someone will find them useful as some people at school were whizzes on them.
Slide rule? I may have to go to night class to remember that one.
The most important measuring will be for cooking, I think. There is a conical measuring cup which has loads of measures written on it. Ideal for 99 percent of kitchen measuring. Both small and cheap. look around online or local hardware store. don’t get the habitat one for 10 pounds.