Merchandise and Food Shortages in a National Crisis

[Ninurta]

As for prepping ... I suggest my fellow rogues and the wider audience members get a clue and understand that heirloom seeds are worth their weight in gold literally and they are food and can grow more food etc ... and ... a gun and the right ammo for hunting are important survival tools that are also worth their weight in gold and I would source both if I could, and some salt as well, way before I'd get some gold and more silver than gold ,to store value but personally I'd go for cheap pain medicines and the highest proof white alcohol you can find and also packets of ciggies,  with a lighter as peoples addictions are a luxury which they will trade much stuff that you want in return for a few minutes, hours of escapism for the SHTF clown world come a cropper eh!?

My tobacco seeds are all heirloom - about as heirloom as it gets, as it is the same tobacco American natives were growing and using when the Europeans first arrived. I shot for some heirloom corn and bean seed this year, but missed the mark, Sunflowers are on the agenda as well, for the oil and fats they provide.

I'm with you on the notion that folks will pay a premium for their vices, especially in hard times for a few minutes of escape. The last carton of cigarettes I bought, about 5 years ago, I paid 30 bucks for. now they are in the 65 to 70 dollar price range, proving that there are folks out there who will pay a premium to keep their nic-fix happy. Grace got me a cigarette machine, and now I can make them for about 10 or 15 bucks a carton, a substantial savings. When the tobacco comes in, that will go even cheaper, since that is the bulk of the cost to me at the moment. So, yeah, I can make at home what folks will pay a premium for, and moreover they have a will have a vested interest in keeping me safe and healthy so the smoke supply doesn't dry up.

If the fixings for cigarette production were to dry up, I can make pipes to smoke the loose tobacco in. I used to make my own pipes all the time, and it really ain't that hard if you've got some corn cobs and box elders or prickly ash  available (for the stems). so one way or another, the nic-fix is covered for folks that have an urge to trade.

Grace makes our own vape juice as well, so back before the USFDA choked on their own petards and make it too difficult to obtain, we stocked up on pure nicotine to make it with. We've got a 20 year supply of it at our current consumption levels, so plenty for trade. Also stocked up on PG, VG, and flavorings to produce it.

I can make my own spirits, too, for trade, but in a SHTF scenario, I imagine the sugar is going to be hard to come by. Yeast not so much, as it floats in the air all around us, and can be got by mixing up some sourdough starter. So the trick is to find a high sugar content crop to make white liquor out of, and around here that has traditionally been sweet corn - but apples and various fruits also have a fairly high sugar content.

I have enough ammo for hunting to do us for a while, assuming I don't have to burn too much of it up fighting. The whole purpose behind getting the black powder gun and accoutrements is that I can make my own ammo for that, from scratch if it comes to that and I run out of ammo for everything else. that's one gun I'll never run out of ammo for.

What I'm short on is arable land to squeeze food crops out of. This land around here is for shit when it comes to enough crops to keep body and soul together. Hence the need or trade items.

Cheap pain medicine? Did you know you can make a legal opium substitute out of wild lettuce? Imagine that!

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