Gold. Is it any use?

[Me_Again]

BP, you're missing the point. Since we don't know how smelly TSTHTF will be, how prolonged and whether things will go to a 'the Hunger Games' level afterwards or what, it is a fact that historically, no matter what is happening around you -so far- having a bag of the shiny yellow stuff gets you and your family things that others don't get. I will be as selfish as possible if it happens, it will be the devil takes the hindmost, I won't be the one standing at the barriers with my family watching the lucky few get on the last boat/train/plane out as Britain becomes the Islamic republic of Britainistan or the 28th region of of a fcuked up 'Europa' after a fixed referendum.
Yes it also fraught with danger to possess some -so would it be to have the only potato field that grew spuds in a world that is starving.
Yes everything will change -except basic human nature i.e. greed
Even if a really bad SHTF event had occurred, I have to say I'd be thinking about what will happen afterwards and if someone offered me a bag of gold for some food, and I had enough for my people, then I'd take it as a hedge against the future.
You mention the Black Death, I reckon you'd discover the yellow stuff was really handy for getting out of cities that had been sealed, or getting past blockades outside other settlements. They of course didn't realise that it wasn't person to person transmission and that strangers were not bringing death with them.

[bigpaul]

maybe your right Me_again, but I don't think i'll be lugging around a bag of gold while I'm desperately trying to get to my BOL in a post collapse world.

[Me_Again]

BOL? sorry mate, not familiar with that acronym/slang.
Significant quantities/value of gold isn't too heavy. At the moment a kilo of gold is 25K ish
I'm guessing even half that would get you through most circumstances where it was still being used as a kind of currency.

[TOF]

(16 December 2013, 14:43)Me_Again Wrote: BOL? sorry mate, not familiar with that acronym/slang.
Significant quantities/value of gold isn't too heavy. At the moment a kilo of gold is 25K ish
I'm guessing even half that would get you through most circumstances where it was still being used as a kind of currency.

BOL= Bug Out Location.

I'm with you on the PM's front.
It doesn't really matter which historical era you view, Gold and Silver have always been coveted. Greed will always be a human condition. Maybe not you personally BP, but most civilisations through time have always had a hankering for it.
I look at it as just another prep.

[Me_Again]

Right, BOL. Ok I hope to stay here and 'hunker down' as our American cousins say. However I do have my eye on a couple of isolated walled farmhouses with good views in all directions, if they become available.
I have some special seeds for my garden and all approaches should it come to anarchy.

[bigpaul]

(16 December 2013, 15:24)Me_Again Wrote: Right, BOL. Ok I hope to stay here and 'hunker down' as our American cousins say. However I do have my eye on a couple of isolated walled farmhouses with good views in all directions.

ditto here, bugging out is plan B! I'm putting any extra case over and above my preps into "barter goods", lighters, matches, candles, torches, compasses, knives etc.etc.

---

sorry, delete case insert cash!

[Me_Again]

Good thinking. I need to sit down and review my calorie and meal options again. It's been a while.
When I do it this time I will actually start setting aside for barter.

This may sound mad but one of the things I think will become valuable is 'taste/flavour.'
If you throw a rabbit in a pan the result will be edible but not flavourful.

If you threw in some salt/pepper/garlic/rosemary/oregano, you'd end up with a feast.

Things like rosemary, garlic, borage, sage, chives, onions I grow in my garden already. There are salt pans within three miles of me. Oregano and pepper do not normally grow in this country, same with cloves, turmeric and a shed load of other ingredients we take for granted.

So I'm thinking I use all this stuff to cook now, much of it it won't be around afterwards AND will increase in barter value. So I will keep a stockpile of these dried herbs & spices and rotate them as time goes by so I have barter goods.

[bigpaul]

you'd be surprised what DOES grow wild in this country in terms of herbs etc, personally I'm not in favour of spicing stuff up with sauces and stuff, I like to taste the meat not whats smothered all over it.

[Me_Again]

I would have been surprised just a few months ago BP but not now.
Food is a matter of taste I'll grant you, I tend not to smother things but add herbs which bring out the flavour of the meat rather than swamp it. It is truly surprising the difference a little bit of 'this and that' can make.

I've just posted on the medical thread, under alternative medicine [a name I do not like since it was first, not alternative.] regarding using some of those things that grow wild.

[bigpaul]

(16 December 2013, 18:15)Me_Again Wrote: I would have been surprised just a few months ago BP but not now.
Food is a matter of taste I'll grant you, I tend not to smother things but add herbs which bring out the flavour of the meat rather than swamp it. It is truly surprising the difference a little bit of 'this and that' can make.

I've just posted on the medical thread, under alternative medicine [a name I do not like since it was first, not alternative.] regarding using some of those things that grow wild.

exactly, wife is the herbal guru in our house