[SoothSayer]

Just as a matter of interest, the UK Govt was believed to have stored chocolate & booze for use as a currency after a nuclear attack.

I believe that this would have been used to pay work crews.

[Andrew_S]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SoothSayer', 'J')ust as a matter of interest, the UK Govt was believed to have stored chocolate & booze for use as a currency after a nuclear attack.

I believe that this would have been used to pay work crews.

[SoothSayer]

The UK used a system where they held back medications etc for 6 months in nuclear bunkers before releasing them to the supermarkets, pharmacies etc.

This prevented problems with shelf life.


Cholocate shelf life? I believe it ranges from just 3 weeks for luxury chocs to nine months or longer for cheap chocolate bars. If cooled it will store longer. And if you don't mind the "bloom" of fats which can appear on the surface maybe even longer.

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SoothSayer', '
')Cholocate shelf life? I believe it ranges from just 3 weeks for luxury chocs to nine months or longer for cheap chocolate bars. If cooled it will store longer. And if you don't mind the "bloom" of fats which can appear on the surface maybe even longer.

[Grifter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SoothSayer', '
')
Cholocate shelf life? I believe it ranges from just 3 weeks for luxury chocs to nine months or longer for cheap chocolate bars. If cooled it will store longer. And if you don't mind the "bloom" of fats which can appear on the surface maybe even longer.

[newhunter-gatherer]

Silver can be used an anti sceptic and water purifier. It might be an idea to carry a few oz on you if you're on the move.

[Wednesday]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JoeCoal', 'F')eminine Hygene (Tampons). Women will KILL for these if the time is right. I know, I almost died, once... Camping trip went bad...

Good thing to stock up on, though.

[Falconoffury]

Copper wire will probably prove useful, especially if people want to build crude windmills.

[strider3700]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Falconoffury', 'C')opper wire will probably prove useful, especially if people want to build crude windmills.

[mmasters]

I've consolidated all the items mentioned so far, I guess you could call it a "PO shopping list"

Vice Items:

Popular liquors
Rolling papers
Quality brewing yeast
Candy

Personal Products:

Soap
Shampoo
Condoms
Toilet paper
Tampons
Nail clippers
Underwear
Shoes
Boots
Toothbrushes

Medicine:

OTC and prescription-- pain relievers, antibiotics, anti-diahhreal, etc
Special presription drugs for disorders/empairments (e.g. allergy sufferers)

Equipment/Tools/Survival Gear:

Disposable Lighters
Industrial lubricant (e.g. WD-40)
Sharpening stones
Rolls of window screen
Solar power equipment
Stainless steel pipe and fittings
Rechargable batteries
Popular ammunition rounds
High precision tools
Faraday flashlights
Plastic containers
Bread yeast
First aid items (hydrocortizone, iodine, band aids, etc)
Binoculurs, gun scopes
Vitamins
Razor blades
Matches
Fishing hooks
Fishing line
Tweezers
Needles
Thread
Seeds
Knives
Candles
Salt
Sugar
Safety goggles
Face masks
Work gloves

[Jellric]

Good suggestions everyone.

Salt is one item one should not ignore. It is crucial to human life and a great condiment that will be sorely missed by many. Remember the phrase "worth his salt"?

"“He is not worth his salt”, is a common expression. It originated in ancient Greece where salt was traded for slaves.

Roman soldiers were paid “salt money”, salarium argentum, from which we take our English word, “salary”.

The early Greeks worshipped salt no less than the sun, and had a saying that “no one should trust a man without first eating a peck of salt with him” (the moral being that by the time one had shared a peck of salt with another person, they would no longer be strangers).

The widespread superstition that spilling salt brings bad luck is believed to have originated with the overturned salt cellar in front of Judas Iscariot at the Last Supper, an incident immortalized in Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting"

We have forgotten how important salt is because it is incredibly cheap and readily available, but it was not always so. So stock up now at bargain basement prices. You could probably buy a ton of it for a couple hundred dollars.

More from the above quotes on salt:

http://www.mortonsalt.com/consumer/abou ... /index.htm

[Jellric]

Ok, it has to be asked: Michaelkaer, exactly how does one go about making their own toiletpaper?

*Me envisions future toilet paper Empire!!*

[spear]

Since so many like thread and string,you may want to go with 1/4lb spools of dacron.Its tough and has many uses from mending leather,boots,shoes,to fishnets,,and making bowstrings.

[ironborne]

Bowstrings for sure. I've been thinking about buying a Flemish string jig. They're not that expensive then I could make strings. I can already fletch arrows. This would make me a double threat.

[kjmclark]

A bunch of people said alcohol. I gave that suggestion a lot of thought and read the "Collapse of the Soviet Union" series at From the Wilderness. Dmitry Orlov makes a convincing case for stocking some alcohol. However, I don't know much about the stuff and it's value for barter. What kind(s), how much, how much does it cost, where should one get it?

[mmasters]

Oh yeah, I read his writings to the russian collapse as well and it further inspired my thoughts about collecting certain items as an insurance policy for the coming catastrophe.

Far as alcohol and why it should be high on the list comes down to when people in mass realize their current way of life is seriously threatened and the world becomes very dark and confusing how will they react? Well there's two ways people react when threatened: fight or flight, you either remove the threat by taking passive or aggressive action. And as we all know with peak oil this threat to our current way of life isn't going to be simply "removed". The only real option is people are gonna have is to let go of their current way of life and for the majority that will be an absolute psychological hell. I'd wager a lot of people wont be able to handle what's coming and you'll see a lot of people die, whether through drinking themselves the death, jumping out of windows, or simply falling into a downward spiral type of depression until they simply convince themselves there's no purpose to live. This will surely happen to tons of the rigid inflexable and materialistic types of people. I know I'm getting a little on a tangent here but the bottom line: Escapism will be the order of the day and the preference will be the old favorites people have "conditioned" themselves to the "Jim Beams" "Jack Daniels" "jamesons" "grey gooses" and whathaveyou. And on that note I can't seem to see a lot of people sipping margaritas and relishing white zinfendel.

[seven]

Chocolate, liquor, razor blades, old-fashioned barber razors with leather strops, pre-sweetened Koolaid packs, salt, salt tablets, soap/shampoo, aspirin, antibiotic creams, powdered soup packs, powdered milk, ace bandages, allergy/cold medicine, ammo, MRE's (I would stockpile MRE's if I could afford it) coffee beans, cheap grinders, beef and chicken bullion cubes, tea bags, sugar, sugar cubes, copper wire, piano wire, wire cutters, cheap candles, lamp oil, small oil lamps, oil lamp wicks, vegetable/herb/plant seeds, swiss army knives, brewer's yeast, baking yeast, water purifying tablets, fish hooks, fishing line, duct tape, lightweight nylon rope, hunting knives, beef jerky, disposable lighters, matches, striking flints, sharpening stones, toothbrushes, dental floss (many uses) tampons/pads, condoms, tweezers/nail clippers, lighter fluid, zippos, lighter flints, pocket acetylene torches, bug repellant, stocking caps, leather gloves, tube socks, down vests, cheap compasses, bicycle parts, cig rolling papers, tobacco, jewelry with gold content 10K and up, blah, blah.

[thuja]

After having to do a rotation in a nursing home this week, I'll just say two words...

Plastic diapers.

The hell of having to clean babies' cloth diapers is far outweighed by the hell of having to clean older people's shorts, pants and bedding every time they take an unexpexted crap. You will be ale to trade plastic diapers for bullion to the right rich families with newborns or old incontinent grannies.

[seven]

Plastic diapers - great idea!

[warmh2o]

How long will fishing line keep without getting brittle? I thought it was about a year or two.