I agree that gold is a strong value holder in extreme depressions. Thats why central banks and official organizations still hold about 20% of all mined gold as a reserve. However, I was thinking of gold as a more immediate tool. Even in not so major disasters, carrying gold or silver could be useful. Someone here mentioned making payment with a silver coin on a trip overseas. The circumstances were unusual, but not completely bizarre. Gold and silver also have the useful property of being hard to spend in normal times. You aren't going to decide to spend your bug out money unless you have to spend it.

Again, I'm not advocating hoarding large amounts of gold. However, I already keep a couple hundred dollars in emergency cash, why not split that half cash, half in fractions of ounce weights of gold or ounces of silver. Tenth and twentieth ounce Krugerrands are available. Which translates to 80-100 dollar and 40-50 dollar values respectively. I think a lot of people think they'd have to buy full ounces or more which is prohibitively expensive (800-900 dollars) and impossible to use to buy pretty much anything with. I personally think American silver eagles (.999 pure silver 1 ounce coins) and 1/10 ounce Krugerrands would be ideal. Easy to carry, easy to store, easy to hide, easy to sell. It would be a hedge against cash not being accepted and against having to buy something absolutely vital to survival.

Here's a website with a little more information on the subject: http://www.cmi-gold-silver.com/small-survival-gold-silver-coins.html

And unlike a closet full of diapers, you can always sell your gold and silver when you're sixty and buy a fishing boat.

Addendum: Trading is also something I see being a better option if you're on the the move. I can't see you inviting people to your home and offering things to trade. But I can see knocking on someones door and asking if they have something they'd be willing to trade to you. From that perspective precious metals are good idea for a bug out bag. Ten twentieth-ounce gold coins can buy a lot of good will for a traveler. That's less then an ounce added to your pack weight, but it could reward you more then a similar weight of any other tool.