Bartering Supplies That You Haven’t Thought Of; And Some You Have!
3 min read

When I think of bartering supplies my mind automatically goes to a SHTF scenario. There are a lot of lists out there for such scenes, but ultimately what you choose to barter is up to you. Many people stock things like silver, gold, cigarettes or alcohol or coffee. While these can be great items, they are also expensive.
I will admit, stocking up on cigarettes, coffee and alcohol do go against my health and religious beliefs, but it doesn’t stop me from storing it. I would much rather barter an item that I will never use or need, than to barter precious items I do need. In the end, what you decide to spend money on is your choice.
Below is a list of items I feel would make good barter items if, and only if, I have enough extra to get a way with it.
- Salt: We store a LOT of salt. It has multiple purposes and back in the day people actually used salt as currency because it was considered such a high trade value and hard to find. Salt can/was used to preserve food and it helps to eliminate the season availability of certain foods and allowed long distance travel. To read about the many uses of salt, click here.
- Toilet paper: Take the cardboard out and put them in a large vacuum sealed bag storage bag.
- Kitty litter or dehydrated lime for sanitation or easy clean up of human waste in buckets.
- Matches/lighters
- Bleach
- Sugar
- Feminine supplies
- Flu/Cold Medicine
- Allergy Medicine
- Antibiotics/ Pain killers / fever reducer
- Bar Soap
- Seeds
- Toothpaste/toothbrushes
- First aid bandages
- Hydrogen peroxide (You could trade this by the cup or half cup.) I encourage you to read this article on the uses of Hydrogen peroxide so you will understand the benefits of storing this item.
- Powdered milk (One can of powdered milk cost approx $20 and makes 20 Quarts. This means I could trade a whole quart of milk and it’d only have cost me a dollar.)
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We store small bottles of alcohol for trade. We also have bigger bottles for refills if they want to bring it back for more. 😉
- Coffee: We vacuum seal coffee in smaller portions with 1-2 coffee filters in each bag of coffee. We also have 2 percolators to prepare the coffee if the person has no way to do so.
- Cigarettes: We do not store these but many people use them as barter items.
- Pipe Tobacco: Vacuum seal it to keep it fresh longer
- Spices
- Ramon Noodles: Very cheap and if someone is hungry then this would be good trade value.
- Beans: We stock the 15 bean soup because it comes with a spice packet in the soup. You could trade these by the bag or by the cup depending on the size family they have or if it’s an individual.
- Razors
- Coats/Warm Clothing: We purchase used coats at goodwill and thrift stores. All different sizes but especially kids coats. These can be stored in large vacuum sealed storage bags and hardly take up any room.
- Small candles (or wax , wicks and wick tabs for making candles.)
- Chickens: Chickens produce meat and eggs, both of which people will want.
- Fly tape/mouse traps
- Pesticides
- Baby supplies: Wipes, creams, ointments, Ora-gel, diapers, formula
- Socks/underwear
- Information on growing food or slaughtering animals. You could print off some easy instructions and place them in binders.
- Fish hooks, weights, fishing line, bait
- Glow sticks
- Laundry soap powder
- Measuring spoons
- Tampons
These are just a few ideas to help you get started. Notice, I did not put silver or gold on the list. While this is a great item to have, I believe that if we are in a grid down situation, not many people are going to barter for something they can not eat or use to stay alive. Please don’t misunderstand me, it is alright to have these items for yourself, but for bartering, I just don’t feel it will be helpful in that area.
Please feel free to add your thoughts, ideas or more items to the comment section. 🙂
Keeping It Spicy,
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Something I never see on a list-marshmallows. Cheap, kid food, kid toy!
I think that the best thing on the list for trading is the chickens (goats might be a good thing for the list as well). I think the most valuable thing we will have to trade will be our survival and gardening type skills.
Another barter item (if plenty is available) is water. In your planning, know how to obtain and make water drinkable. Drinking water could make you rich in the barter world.
Thats a good idea but it makes me wonder because as it stands now, in a lot of places it is illegal to collect rain water in barrels so where would we be then?
JG
I think if you plan on trading in the short term the items like coffee and light sticks are fine. Personally though I have no use for either trading early into a SHTF situation just draws attention to you having supplies. Light sticks are a use it and toss it item and coffee is for that WANT for caffeine not a need and after the headaches go away you will feel better and have more energy without it. I agree with the video The Patriot Nurse did on what Medical supplies to stock on a limited $50 budget and why, they will be like gold to those needing them.With stress running high, power, and sanitation loss sickness will be deadly when shelves of supplies are gone.. Cover the basics to the max of their shelf life vs your speed of usage. Watch the video of items and think about their use and usefulness realistically.. I also like the seeds being listed however they should be non hybrid heirloom seeds so you can get seeds each year from your harvest and possibly have extra to continue trade with seeds or crops. OK enough for one rant.. 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLwI9PSAdy0
Condoms! No one ever mentions these. Once the birth control pills run out it doesnt mean people will stop having sex. Pregnacy is difficult under normal circumstances. In a SHTF scenario it could be a disaster. I think people will be very willing to barter for these. Just a thought…
I also store ammo and reloading calibers for guns I don’t have. Ammo can also be good trading supply. Being I do reloading , I can barter my services as well.